Bottleneck: 12 Reasons I Cannot Write on the Blog Today

First, there's the end of summer canning and preserving - the warm dry weather has meant the most astonishing harvest, all of which needs attention yesterday. Second, there's the beginning of fall getting everything ready before winter on a farm, most of which involves carrying heavy things (hay, firewood, etc...) around). Third, there's the start of Eric's semester, which is heavier than usual. Fourth, there's my teaching schedule. Fifth, the start of our annual homeschool year and grades 4, 2 and kindergarten for three kids. Sixth, the eldest is off school for two more weeks - and while he is an extraordinarily sweet, good natured kid, like most kids with autism, he strongly objects to major disruptions of his routine, like vacations and requires a lot of time and attention. Seventh, there's that book that I've been ignoring, which has finally reared its ugly head and requires my attention, well, yesterday. Eighth there's the fact that everyone I know wants to come visit in late summer and early autumn, which really is a stunning time of year in upstate NY. Ninth, of course, is the Jewish high holidays, beginning next week and meaning that we'll be booked with guests for weeks on end. Tenth is a five day trip to Virginia with the entire family, also starting next week. Eleventh are my new responsibilities as a board member of ASPO, which somehow are taking longer than the promised 4 hours per week ;-), and the impending conference. And twelfth is the technological failures (cars, trucks, computers) that mean that many things that were supposed to be done last week, well, were not.

All of which means that despite the fact that I have an awesome "end of the Iraq war' post half written, really want to weigh in on the donnybrook between Rob Hopkins and John Greer over Green Wizardry, and would love to do a post about the planning issues of evacuating New York City, Hurricane Earl (which is unlikely to hit New York City - this isn't meant to be fearmongering, just an essay raised by current events on the larger problem of climate change and storms on the East Coast) and Climate Change, what I've mostly done today is take care of my visiting niece, try and move the goat pen, answer emails about editorial policies on another site and worry about the tomato sauce I haven't yet canned.

And I'm starting to get edgy and nervous, and be worried about all the things I'm not doing - and the posts I'm not writing. All of which strikes me as a recipe for trouble. So I'm going to try and get out of trouble by well, releasing at least one pressure - the blog. So for the next month, I warn everyone - pieces will be shorter, less frequent and there will be reruns. I'll be off for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, for a few days for travel and probably whenever I'm too overwhelmed with everything else. I'll run some reruns, and probably hit you all up to provide some fun and content. I apologize for letting things go here - but something has to. By the time the holidays are done, the guests waved to, the hay and firewood stacked, the tomatos hovering on the brink of frost and the jars lining the shelves, I'll be back. I'm not really leaving, but things will be lighter than usual. Thanks for bearing with me.

Sharon