Monthly Archives: April 2010
Pilling the dogs
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We should own stock in the OTC allergy medicine company. I take two a day, the vet has Gavin on three a day, and Patty is on two. Then there are days when the pollen count is high and even DH needs them.
Pilling a Bull Terrier isn’t easy when you have one like Gavin. You want to what? Open my mouth? I don’t think so. Our vet has collapsed in the giggles while trying to get a look inside Gavin’s mouth and he’s a big guy. Gavin will clamp his mouth shut and you can’t get in there with a crow bar. On the other hand, Patty is easy.
At least she’s easy if she hasn’t seen you give Gavin his pill. Gavin gets peanut butter on a spoon with his pill on top. He’d eat a building if you covered it in peanut butter. Patty sees him get peanut butter and she wants hers served the same way.
I don’t blame her I like peanut butter too but I like mine on crackers or in a sandwich with jelly. Have you ever tried a peanut butter and jalapeño jelly sandwich? It’s good. Yeah, I’m weird.
Posted in Dog related, Food, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Food, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Bullfrog flattened!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
No, it wasn’t Goliath. No, it wasn’t Bad Froggy either. It was one of the other three. How do I know? Goliath sat on the bench rock begging for worms after I found the dead frog in the alley. Bad Froggy is our only singer and I heard him later too.
The hadn’t-as-yet-been-named bullfrog was probably heading to the cemetery to hunt. After all, it was raining and the nightcrawlers were plentiful. I’d gone out there to pick up a few to feed the fish and Goliath.
I found his almost Goliath sized body in the alley near the cemetery fence. It was frogicide. It wasn’t an accidental killing. From the position of the body, you could tell that the only way someone would’ve hit him was if they’d aimed their car for it. A hit and run driver took him out. The poor frog never did anyone any harm. All he wanted was to fill his belly with worms on a rainy night.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Dog slave
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We’ve certainly been busy around here. DH runs across town to his mother’s early every morning and stays there for a few hours. On the days that the OT and PT people are there, he stays longer. I’ve been sending along meals that she can easily microwave.
This means I have to get up earlier so the dogs can get out as often as they want. I am NOT a morning person. I never have been, never will be. No, but I am a slave to my dogs. Their needs come first even before my first cup of coffee.
Therefore, while I’m here granting the pups’ every wish, I am also doing things like pond maintenance, laundry, cleaning, and sometime next month, painting the interior of the house. I’ll be starting in the kitchen.
I have two Bull Terriers to contend with, which means painting around here isn’t an easy task. Any daytime painting has to be limited to the higher areas. Dog nose prints on freshly painted walls are not artwork. I hate ladders and ladders with nosey dogs are not secure. At night, I can paint at dog level. It’s a good thing I’m a night person.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Summer siestas here we come
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I am so pleased with Overstock.com. This was the first time I’ve ordered anything from them. I ordered a new rope hammock from them on the 10th and it arrived on the 14th. Wow, that was fast since I only got the E-mail saying they shipped it the night of the 13th.
For several years I’ve had this lovely, heavy-duty stand sitting in pieces because I hadn’t replaced my old hammock that, due to circumstances beyond my control, got wrecked by a couple of visitors.
I sure did miss that hammock. There’s nothing like relaxing in one on a hot summer’s evening or snoozing in the shade of the magnolia in the afternoon after working in the yard. A hammock beats the heck out of any lawn chair by far.
This one is wide enough that DH and I can easily snuggle on it and watch the stars. I can’t wait for the summer meteor showers now. They call it ‘The Presidential’ size. It’s so wide that if I’m in the center and stretch out my arms I don’t touch either side.
My only problem will be trying to figure out where to store it when it’s not hanging on the stand.
Posted in Misc, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, online shopping, Writer, Writing
Toot toot tootsie goodbye
Posted by doggonedmysteries
What is with people and the need to lean on their car horns? No one gets out of their car and politely knocks on a person’s door these days. No, they have to sit out in their cars and honk the horn until whoever it is they are looking for comes outside.
Then there are the idiots who honk their car horns to make noise and irritate people for no reason other than the idiots are obnoxious.
On our street, we have three people who work nights (and no I’m not including me in that), there’s another person, an invalid, who is stuck in a bed all the time. Then we have my next-door neighbor who I know works two jobs and sleeps only a few hours at a time. Do the horn honkers consider that they might wake someone up? Nope.
Whatever happened to consideration for others? Long gone I’m sorry to say, tossed away with that other all-important thing, called common sense. It’s no wonder people’s tempers are shorter fused these days.
Is it because personal interaction is outdated? Has the electronic age brought us to this? What do you think?
Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
April 13th again RIP Mary
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Dearest Sister,
Although years have gone by, your passing feels like yesterday. It wrenches my heart.
At times, I still reach for the phone to share something exciting, joyous, sad, or what has angered me. Then I remember you aren’t there. I miss that sharing.
No one knows me as you knew me. We shared our deepest and darkest secrets. We didn’t judge. We accepted and loved each other warts and all.
We cried together. We laughed together. We shared joys and sorrows.
I will always miss the sound of your voice, your laughter, and your wonderful humor.
A part of me died with you and yet, a part of you stayed with me.
All my love…
Me
Posted in In memory of...
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
A weakness for plants
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Saturday I received one of my favorite spring treats—the flyer from a local farm and greenhouse operation. ‘They offer thousands of healthy bedding plants, annuals, and perennials. Vegetables including over 75 tomato varieties and 68 pepper varieties and large selection of herbs and scented geraniums. They have blueberry and raspberry bushes along with 52 hosta cultivars and 48 different hemerocallis.’ In other words, they are a gardener’s paradise.
G and I will pay a call there after the Pennwriters conference next month. By then, we can safely plant tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, and the many other floras we’ll buy that day. We will load the rear of her hubby’s SUV to overflowing.
Last year I spent more than she did. We’ll see who gets off cheapest this year and I’m betting it won’t be me. I have a weakness for plants, an addiction if you will and not unlike my addiction for books.
I’ve perused their lists and marked what I want. This year the gardens will have, vegetable plants intermixed with flowers. The tomatoes I tried that way last year grew well. I’d sure like a nice variety of vegetables this year.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
When words fail
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I have days where I spend more time deleting what I’ve written than writing. It may be pure, unadulterated crap but it is my crap and I’m allowed to mess with it. At least I’m writing. The best advice I ever got was ‘write every day, no matter how poor the writing is, at the very least, you are exercising that part of your brain.’
Poor writing, sort of what I’m doing here tonight. It has been one of those days. Nevertheless, I am writing—a good thing. Am I writing well? That’s another question.
Tim Esaias says to keep moving forward don’t stop until you hit the end. I wish he were sitting on my shoulder at times if only to slap me in the head when I go back and re-read things. I have a devil of a friend who constantly sends me back over what I’ve written. I re-read chapters I shouldn’t. All of which leads to deleting words, sentences, dialogue, and sometimes scenes.
That’s when words fail. They fail to mesh, they fail to make sense, and they fail to move forward. I need to stop re-reading.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It was bad enough that I had to put a band-aid on the lower half of my left thumb to cover the open blister I got from all that raking. Then there’s the Goliath bullfrog bite on my right index finger. That also required a band-aid because the scratches run the length of my finger. They kept reopening and bleeding every time I bent it. Now, I have another band-aid on my left index finger where I cut that while opening the box in which my new vacuum arrived. I am the klutz queen.
Yes, my new vacuum arrived today. It purrs like a kitten and doesn’t require ear protection. Holy crap does it ever clean! It weighs less than a third of my old vacuum too. It came with a free steam-cleaning mop.
I could possibly go into spring-cleaning mode. My house might go from slovenly to sparkling at this rate. I can picture it featured in House Beautiful. Hah! Whom am I kidding, with two dogs and DH the slob? Surely, I dream. The house doesn’t dust itself or scrub bathrooms. {Sigh.} Knowing me, it will be clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.
Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Bullfrogs can draw blood.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Yes, I do think that most of the people around here are convinced I’m crazy. You should have seen the looks I got from a few cars that passed me tonight when I was picking up night crawlers in the alley. Hey, I’m a gardener. I also have fish and bullfrogs that love worms. Who am I to pass by the hordes of huge night crawlers that were wandering out onto the street because we had rain?
One person understood. A woman about my age pulled her car up even with me and rolled down her window. “For your gardens right?”
“Well, yes. And for the frogs and fish—free food you know. Commercial Koi food costs plenty.”
She pointed back down the street from the direction she’d come. “I saw a bunch of huge ones back there.”
“Thanks.”
She waved and headed on her way. I went looking for more night crawlers.
Goliath the bullfrog was pleased with my midnight snack offerings. Although, at one point, he thought my index finger was more food. Ouch! I actually bled. Ungrateful sod.
The Koi were happy too. I only gave them a few worms and then the rest went into the garden.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, bullfrogs, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, frogs, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The boys in blue
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Some idiot drove around and around the block down on the next street. He was honking his horn and yelling like a banshee. It might not have been too bad except it was 2:15 a.m. I figured someone down there was going to be very angry at the ruckus. I only found it to be annoying but then I wasn’t sleeping. I turned on the police scanner. I heard the dispatcher report a man with a gun at that location.
Nothing gets the boys in blue’s adrenalin rushing quite like a man with a gun call. I heard the, “on location” come within a mere two minutes. It was funny how the yelling and the horn honking stopped so abruptly. The sheer temptation to peek out the front door to see down the street was strong. I stole a look although DH would kill me if he knew. There were five cop cars at the end of our street. I ducked back inside, closed and locked the door, and double-checked my back door to make certain the lock was on. Then I sat back to listen to the scanner.
Twenty minutes later, three of the five cop cars drove up my street heading back on patrol. Two others were still busy at the end of the block. I guess a walk past the neighborhood gossip’s house might give me some fodder for another post or a scene in one of my books.
Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: adrenalin rush, Author, Beads, Bones, Books on writing, boys in blue, Bull Terriers, cops, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
The magnolia tree is lovely but…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
If you don’t want a lot of work, don’t put one in your yard. I spent a few hours today raking up flower petals from the tree and it’s not finished yet. I filled the wheelbarrow so many times I lost count. There are still tons of blossoms on the tree…yikes. I spent another half hour skimming petals off the pond. Is all the work worth it? Yes, I think it is. Deadheading all the daffodils gave me another wheelbarrow load.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that my knee suffered no ill effects from contact with Gavin’s hard head. It’s my guess that all the icing I did to it yesterday made the difference. I truly expected to wake up with it swollen to football size and then having to make a run to our doctor’s ER.
If I wake to another sunny day I’ll cut down the dried out zebra grass. Then I bet I’ll rake more petals up from under the magnolia. I wonder how many times I’ll empty the wheelbarrow into the compost bin this time.
The tulips are blooming. The splashes of bright red and yellow around the pond and the tulip poplar are lovely.


