throw another bear in the canoe

Ingredients:

One giant dog (~230 lbs)
One Bathtub
Warm Water
Soap

Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub. Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub. Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub. Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub. Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub. Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub.

Repeat until dog gives up.

Wet.

Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub.

Lather.

Lift front end of dog. Place in tub. Lift back end of dog. Place in tub.

Rinse.

Lift front end of dog. Remove from tub. Lift back end of dog. Remove from tub.

Wrap in towels.

DUCK!

And I have Stars down to 354 pages and falling. Somewhere in the middle of chapter fourteen I learned how to write a sentence, it seems, so now I only have to rewrite every fifth sentence instead of all of them. I also found at least one long passage I still like a lot, and discovered that the entire plot of the second book, Sea, is Muire's fault. Why?

This:

I grabbed him around the back of his neck, knotted the fingers of my other hand in his hair, and pushed my face in close to his. "You," I said, into a deathly quiet that was broken only by the gasping sound of his breathing, "are going live long enough to make it up to her, you son of a bitch."

That's why.

Yep. It's all Muire's fault.

Boy is she gonna feel like shit when she figures that out.

Oh my god. WHAT is that bear doing to that poor pink cat?