Category Archives: Misc
Kindle, crazy, and conference
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I need to avoid Amazon’s E-books for a while. It’s too danged easy to spend $$$ and the books appear too darned quick on my Kindle. At the rate I burn through books, I must learn to restrain myself.
However, the lousy weather we’re having and the flat tire on my van hasn’t helped. If I wasn’t reading and writing I’d be stir crazy by now.
Yes, Dave and Chuck I know that crazy is a very short walk for me.
The only truly bright thing on the horizon lately is the phone call I received from the gal I room with at the conferences. We have our room reserved. Next, I need to send in my registration.
Hey, Dave. The first round is on you.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Snow, Writer, Writing
Brusha, brusha, brusha
Posted by doggonedmysteries
As I sit here looking at the little zip lock packet containing toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss I remember what my childhood dentist appointments were like. They were nothing like the one I had on Monday.
As a child, I had military dentists. They never bothered with Novocain when they drilled and filled teeth, six molars in my case. You were expected to sit in the chair and not butt walk away from their work no matter how close they came to the root. (And they did come too close in my case.) Dentistry back then was brutal.
On Monday, I was asked if I had pre-medicated—I had. Pre-medication is ordered for me before any work is done because of having rheumatic fever in high school. Then the dental hygienist numbs my gums with a topical numbing agent, after which another deeper numbing agent is used. I have very sensitive teeth. However, once all that stuff begins to work it’s let the cleaning begin. You would think that I’d be sweating bullets after those old dentists I had but this is almost a pleasure.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
If you could choose you neighbor…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Who would choose? Would there be certain pets you’d want there? Ones you wouldn’t want? Are you the neighbor everyone wishes DIDN’T live next door to them?
We have two small dogs and a large domestic short haired black cat living in the house next door to us along with one teenager and two young adults and one matriarchal unit. I love this family and I hope they stay there forever. Patty however, has issues with the two dogs, they always have a few cross words to bark at each other when they are outside at the same time. We’ve had people in that house I wouldn’t wish on…well…anyone!
The next best person who lived in that house was young single woman with two cats. She was seldom home. I often took care of and played with the cats.
We won’t go into the worst of the worst that lived there before her. I don’t want to hear about people spewing their morning coffee onto their computer screens. Suffice it to say the roach people almost had me move out of my house and then there were worse ones.
We were glad when the house was sold and a new owner (see single gal above) moved in. We were terrified when she sold the house remembering the previous tenants. We hoped no one bought the place to rent it out but rather to live there. We were lucky. (See first paragraph.) We love them.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Name my Roomba
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We found a brand new Roomba in the MIL’s house. The box was unopened and everything was still in plastic bags and bubble wrap. The batteries that came with it sat for too long without being charged and wouldn’t accept a charge so I ordered a new battery for it.
The battery arrived today. After charging it, it was fun to watch the little sage green guy run about the downstairs chasing down and sweeping up all those wild killer dust bunnies. He’s so darned cute that I think he deserves a name.
Of course, I did this while the pups were secure in their crates because Gavin has a thing for noisy moving objects. See the picture above. That’s Gavin chasing his RC car. He wore out three of those before we decided it was too expensive a toy for him.
Posted in Dog related, Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Roomba, Writer, Writing
I’m no car gal but…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I admit it. I’m hooked on watching the Barrett Jackson car auctions. For DH it’s the cars, for me it’s watching idiots spend enough money on one car to buy several homes. The amount of money they pay for these cars staggers me. To me, no car is worth that much.
Every time DH sees a 1955, Chevy Belair two-door sedan, go for a fortune, he about breaks down in tears since we sold ours for a song thirty years ago. I sit here and tell him I told ya so, I knew he should’ve hung on to that car. I wasn’t happy when he sold it.
However, at the time he was laid off from work, I worked two jobs for little money, and money was tight. DH insisted we sell it after someone stole the radiator and we couldn’t afford to replace it. We didn’t need the second car right then but it was his grandfather’s car and I hated seeing it go. I adored his grandfather. If it weren’t for that man, we wouldn’t have owned our house. He bought it from DH’s parents and held the mortgage for us. It broke our hearts when he died a few months before our wedding. No, I didn’t want to see that car go at all.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Automobile, Barrett Jackson, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Chevrolet, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
And then there was light…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
What difference a couple of working lights in the kitchen makes. Wow, I can actually see to work in there again. G and her husband were over Sunday; he climbed a ladder and replaced four fluorescent lights for me. DH couldn’t do it and my inner klutz came out when I attempted to get one end of the light in one side, then the other end in, the ladder wobbled badly, scaring the crap out of me, and I said to heck with it. For months, I’ve worked in dim lighting in there.
Would you believe the first words out of mouth when the lights went on were, “crap, now I need to clean.” Oh yeah, NOW I could see the dust and dirt I’d missed. Guess what I did yesterday? Uh huh, I cleaned. First thing I cleaned was the hutch we’d brought over from the MIL’s house since it was very dusty. Then I proceeded to scrub the rest of the kitchen except for the floor.
Why didn’t I do the floor? I didn’t do it because we’re having another snowstorm. The floor can wait until after the dogs and DH finish tracking more snow in.
I hope y’all have a sunny and warm day. I wish we were.
Posted in Misc, Weather related
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Snow, Writer, Writing
You know its time for a yard sale when…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You begin to ask if anyone is looking for a Shawnee Tom the piper’s son teapot in excellent condition. How about the flowerpot salt and pepper shakers DH’s mother bought with the teapot way back before she married his dad? No, those WON’T be in the yard sale.
Then there’s the darling silk and seed pearl headband hat circa 1950 we found that looks as though it was never worn along with three pair of white gloves all different. It’s getting interesting because the deeper we dig, the nicer the stuff we find.
We haven’t even finished clearing the one bedroom yet. However, It’s the next bedroom that should really be interesting since it’s almost floor to ceiling with ‘stuff’ OMG.
While doing this project G and I have both vowed to clean out our dressers, attics, and basements. I do believe we’ll have yard sale signs up this summer. I guess this is a good thing.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Collecting, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Garage sale, Home, Kitchenware, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Shaker (salt and pepper), Shawnee teapots, Writer, Writing
Somehow, things need to change
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You’d think that after two falls in the nursing home that they’d actually keep a closer eye on DH’s mother. Nope, she’s now had five falls. Three falls from her wheelchair and two from her bed. These people are supposed to be taking care of her and at a premium cost no less. Angry doesn’t begin to describe how we feel.
It sickens me that they can get away with this because we have nowhere else to turn. From what I’ve seen on the government ratings, this nursing home is rated three stars higher than the one in which my sister put our mother. This sickens me more.
There is no easy solution, we can’t take care of his mother here, the house is too small and DH has enough to deal with, with his MS. I am not a nurse or a doctor and I am not qualified to take on her care as well as his. Thus, she must be in a nursing home.
There should be more inspections and tighter regulations on nursing homes to raise the quality of care in ALL of them.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Long-term care, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Nursing home, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Smile DH, it’s your birthday
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s DH’s birthday today. He’s not exactly doing cartwheels over it. He’s rolling down the backside of his 50s. I’m tempted to drag him out to dinner sometime next week to ‘sort of’ celebrate. It isn’t easy to get him to go out. It’s not that he’s hard to please it’s that he finds many things difficult to chew.
The man needs a new set of choppers but I can’t talk him into going to get them. They aren’t something that I can go buy for him. If I bought him a new lounge chair or some clothing, I can do that without him because I know what he likes and what sizes he wears. However, for new teeth, he needs to be there.
Maybe by this time next year I’ll have him convinced and wearing a new smile.
Say cheese!
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Where have our little birds gone?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
G and I were talking the other day and during the conversation, I mentioned that I hadn’t had any birds at my suet feeders in a while. She remarked that they haven’t had to put out fresh suet for quite a while either.
In fact, the only birds I’ve seen lately are crows, grackles, and the occasional mourning dove. Where are my woodpeckers, juncos, titmice, cardinals, and sparrows? It dawned on us that we haven’t heard any birdsongs for a month.
We’ve never had such a bird empty winter before. I do hope spring brings them back and they aren’t gone due to some devastation. I miss my happy little birds.
Tags: Author, Bird, Bird feeder, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Snow, Writer, Writing
You’re not from around here are you?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I can’t believe that after all these years of living here people still ask me that question. Of course, it is often asked after I’ve been visiting my NY relatives. I tend to pick up that northwestern NY accent in a hurry.
Likewise, don’t get me started on what happens if I travel south. I can drawl with the best of them. Most likely because, we lived in the south where, as a toddler, I did learn to talk. (Oops, maybe I should say tawk.)
I love experts who claim they can tell where you’re from after talking to you for a bit. I confuse the hell out of them.
I hope y’all have a nice day.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Frozen for 20+ years things, look scary.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’m not getting any younger and I should know better than to work my buns off for five hours without a break. My back is so sore today I can hardly move. My legs and arms aren’t in the greatest of shape now either.
We worked upstairs for three hours sorting through two rooms; we barely put a dent in the stuff there. Then we started on the downstairs freezer so we could turn it off along with the other major appliances.
Most of the pain stems from cleaning years of frozen food out of a chest freezer the size of Alaska. Hell, you can hide a dozen bodies in the darned thing. G and I couldn’t believe the dates (Some items dated back to 1986.) on the packages of WTF are they that we pulled out from the bottom. (We thought we’d never reach it.) “Hold my feet G; I’m going for the stuff on the bottom!”
I don’t think my MIL cleaned out her freezer…ever. The most heartbreaking thing we pulled out of there were a dozen filet mignons of undeterminable age. Crikeys! We both groaned as we bagged them for garbage collection. Steaks, we were throwing away steaks!
It took two hours to clear the freezer of primordial remnants of food. We had two refrigerators their freezers and one small freezer upstairs to go. Thank goodness, they didn’t have a ton of food in them. We’d almost hit the limit of ten garbage bags as it was. The tiny chest freezer upstairs had fresh food in it that I told G to take. I know her sons’ families can use the extra in these hard times.
Tags: Author, 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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
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