same sun rising
here quiet beauty—elsewhere fire, death, anguish
—JD, notes haiku #2

Being Opal

Little Opal turns 7 months in a few days. Not so little, anymore, ay? She’s nearly 40 pounds (18.14 kg).

She’s reached adolescence and, once she turns 7 months, she won’t get to go to doggie daycare for a while. The daycare has a cutoff for unspayed dogs at 7 months. We take her for a couple of hours two or three times in the week. It’s been great for her socialization skills with other dogs.

New veterinary guidelines call for not spaying female collies before they reach one year. UC Davis did a study which discovered that many breeds are more prone to certain cancers and joint disease if spayed or neutered too early. We will wait to spay her after two things happen—her first heat and reaching the age of one.

This waiting is new for us. Previous puppies, adopted from shelters, were spayed as soon as they were brought in. The veterinary guidelines are in chart form via Frontiers, a science website. There is also a good article about the guidelines on AKC.

Opal will still be able to socialize outside the daycare. Her favorite dog in the world came to visit a few days ago. They are a blur in the photo below, as they are playing. Her friend is much older and is at least twice her size.

Meanwhile, Opal has become an expert at getting out of the car. We are so proud. She had a lot of trouble at first, but finally got the hang of it in the parking lot at doggie daycare. Not a coincidence as she loves daycare and playing with other dogs. She couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.

However, Opal has a lot of trouble getting into the car. Often she’ll refuse to get in, even though she knows cool things happen at the end of a ride. As a friend of ours likes to remind us, she’s only been on the planet for a minute.

We love her so much.

New Mexico as Backdrop or Character

Movie Maker Magazine’s annual list of best places to live and work as a filmmaker has lauded New Mexico several times in the last few years. But filmmakers have been coming to our state since the 1900s.

Today, Netflix films original programming using its huge Albuquerque studio. The last season of Stranger Things was filmed on location in New Mexico. Set in Wyoming, Longmire was actually filmed in Santa Fe and Las Vegas (NM not NV). Vince Gilligan fell in love with our land and people, and made Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Pluribus here. For Pluribus, Gilligan built a cul-de-sac on land on the west side of Albuquerque, just to provide Carol, the lead character in Pluribus, a place to live.

Just north of Santa Fe, Camel Rock Studios, built by the Pueblo of Tesuque, has unique film cred by being the first Native owned and run film studio. Ever. Camel Rock’s first feature was Tom Hanks’ News of the World. Soon thereafter, AMC’s compelling Dark Winds set up its production home at the studio. Tesuque Pueblo has a long storied history of filmmaking, going at least as far back as the 1950s with The Man from Laramie.

Extra Reading

• New Mexico Served as a Secret Weapon for Building Out the Stranger Things World, Pasatiempo

• How Vince Gilligan Built a Creative Hollywood Family Rooted in Quirky Albuquerque, Santa Fe New Mexican

• Three New Mexico Cities cited by Movie Maker Magazine, KRQE TV

• From Casino to Studio: A Native American Tribe Bets Big on Hollywood, Hollywood Reporter

Querying

No news for you on the query front. Looking for an agent to read my manuscript is ongoing. Some writers learn where they stand very quickly. Some find an agent after a year or more of querying. Que sera, sera? The submission process has always required patience and letting go of outcomes. I have gotten some responses. Some were form emails expressing gratitude and “not a fit.” Others were more personal, encouraging words about my writing yet still “not a fit.”

And so, while I send out queries to agents, my next novel has begun its infancy as an opening paragraph, a spreadsheet of characters, and a lot of midnight listening to their voices.

Stay caring and curious, friends. See you anon.—JD

Currently

• Drinking: On Taoism Jingyang Golden Flower Fu Brick tea

• Using: Edison Yellowstone, inked with my Platinum Mix Free recipe, “Olive Oil”

• Reading: Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy