August 7, 2007 – Hot sticky. Attention, people who e-mail me about my perfect life: it isn’t easy to spray the area around a steer’s penis and testicles to make sure the sores there don’t get infected and infested by maggots. This was the morning chore Annie and I undertook. I’ll spare you the photographic details, but it’s not pretty up in there, nor is it easy to get a close look, as Elvis is much smarter than he looks and hops and dances away when he sees the iodine spray (we are getting a longer garden weed spray to nail him from a distance). I brought him a banana, scratched his nose – neither Izzy nor Rose will come within 20 of Elvis when there is work to be done) and he danced around a bit, but I got four or five good sprays up in there. Then, off to Albany for book interviews. No life is perfect, of course, but as I said in the book, you need to experience the imperfect parts to make the perfect parts look so good. Between the flies, muck, bumping and smells, I’d really rather be back in a hotel ordering room service this morning. And we’re heading for a heat wave.