Category Archives: My blog

Yeah, I know I said I hated cell phones, but…

When you’re driving three hundred and fifty miles alone, it makes sense to have a cell phone along with you. I hate the damned things but I bought one. Dear Hubby is pleased. He was worried.

I bought a Go phone. I’m not paying for fancy bells and whistles. I walked into one of our local AT&T phone stores this afternoon. Clayton asked me if I needed help.

“I need a Go phone.”

He showed me several.

I looked at the prices and winced. “What’s your cheapest phone?”

He looked at me as if I’d sprouted a third eye and a set of antenna. “Well, there’s is one. It’s $29.99. But it doesn’t do nearly as much as these others.”

“Honey, I don’t need or want a lot of bells and whistles.” I went on to explain how I hate the damned things and the idiots who drive while talking on them—all those close calls I’ve had with men and women alike who were so busy yakking they weren’t paying attention to the road.

“Then there are the rude people who yell on them while in stores or libraries. I really do not want to listen to their private conversations. I’m only buying one for my husband’s peace of mind because I’m going to be driving alone for three hundred and fifty miles. I’m not a technophobe. I hate being available 24/7. I don’t need an umbilical cord to the world. That’s why I have an answering machine.”

Clayton got it. He grinned. “You’ll like this one.” He held up a tiny phone.

I groaned, “Another thing to get lost in my purse.” I peered at the teensy number pad and screen. “They sure don’t make these for half blind people like me, do they?”

Clayton cracked up.

I bought the damned phone.

Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing

5 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing

It is a long trip but worth it!

Jul 9

Posted by doggonedmysteries

In seven days, I’ll be driving three hundred and fifty miles by myself. I’m driving that far to attend my cousin’s wedding. Gee, last year I did the trip twice (once by plane) to attend his brothers’ weddings. I wouldn’t make a trip like this for just anyone but I do adore my cousins and can’t wait to get there.

I was supposed to have a friend drive with me but she’s injured, and she can’t travel. Dear Hubby can’t make the trip because he doesn’t dare leave his mother alone for four days in a row. She’s not up to that yet. He calls her every day and goes over to her house every other day now. Therefore, once again I do the trip alone.

I don’t mind. It’s a lovely drive and I’ll get to see all my aunts and many of my cousins. Since I’m a night owl I’ll be traveling at night and arrive there in the morning the day before the wedding. My dear, sweet Auntie, the mother of the groom, promises she’ll have coffee ready for me when I get there. I’ll need it and a nap.

Posted in Misc, My blog

2 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing

You know the animals are spoiled when…

Jul 8

Posted by doggonedmysteries

The dogs bark at you when dinner isn’t in their dishes by five-thirty at the latest and you hurry up to give it to them.

The neighbor’s cat looks at you, at his treats, then at you again, and you give him some.

The Koi beg for worms as soon as you walk near the pond so you go dig some out of the compost heap.

The frog expects you to throw him some worms when you are feeding them to the Koi and you do it.

The squirrels jump on the neighbor’s screen door when the corn cob she puts out for them is empty and she brings them a fresh cob.

The poodle across the street expects you to have cookies in your pocket and you do.

The basset hound whose owner walks him by on a regular basis wants to take a water break at your house on hot days and you have the dish filled and ready.

The cat birds clean the blueberries off the bushes right under your nose, and you don’t chase them away. Instead, you sigh, and think it’s a good thing you have bags of frozen blueberries in the freezer.

Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing

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Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing

Goliath Frog and the remake of ‘The Birds’

Jul 7

Posted by doggonedmysteries

Late this afternoon I was settling in to do some writing. I’d opened my book file, found where I’d left off, and began to work. It’s been so lovely around here during the day we haven’t had to close up the house and turn the A/C on. Therein lies the rub.

With everything opened I can hear all that goes on outside. I was quite enjoying the sounds of the birds. That is until they began to screech, squawk, and scream bloody murder. I went out the back door to see what the heck was causing of all this dismay among the birds. I should’ve known. I should’ve guessed.

One of our bullfrogs has decided that flies, bees, worms, and large moths aren’t enough. He now has his eye on our feathered friends. We call him Goliath Frog. Goliath Frog mooches worms when I’m feeding them to the Koi. Goliath Frog is fat he’s far from starving. When I walked out into the yard, I saw a large flock of screaming starlings and grackles trying to aid a full grown starling who happened to have Goliath Frog attached to his tail feathers. The bird was flapping about the pond making a gallant effort to lose the frog.

Goliath Frog wasn’t ready to give up. He had hold of his stomach’s desire. The other birds were shrieking and flapping their wings, making dives at the determined amphibian. Finally, the bird shook Goliath Frog loose and flew for the wires over the alley. For a moment, I thought I was in a scene from Hitchcock’s The Birds. There were starlings and grackles by the hundreds on the wires and in the trees. They must have come from miles around in answer to the distress calls of the now almost tail featherless starling, AKA Goliath Frog’s intended supper. It’s almost time for Goliath Frog to take a trip. He can join our other bird eating bullfrogs, Frogadile and Frogzilla at the river.

Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing

16 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing

Skunky? Here are some odor removal formulas.

Jul 3

Posted by doggonedmysteries

Clipart - animal, skunk, stink, stinky, trade, cartoon. fotosearch - search clipart, illustration, drawings and vector eps graphics images

My friend in OK sent me her skunk out formula. Her Husband is a cop and she’s mentioned in the past that this formula also gets rid of that decaying dead body odor…

1 lb box baking soda, 16 oz hydrogen peroxide, 3/4 cup gentle shampoo, 1/4 cup liquid dish soap like dawn or joy. Mix and use immediately. Something in it evaporates off so you can’t mix it and store it.

MJ sent me her formula which is white vinegar and peroxide for those who are sensitive to shampoos and/or Dawn dish soap.

Then there is a commercial product put out by the people who make Nature’s Miracle, Nature’s Miracle Skunk Odor remover and it’s available at most retail pet stores.

By the way, Nature’s Miracle is great for getting rid of blood stains, and pet odors and stains.

Posted in Dog related, Misc, My blog

1 Comment

The Siamese cat and the Sachet Kitty

Jul 2

Posted by doggonedmysteries

Years ago, when Dear Hubby and I were dating, my Siamese tangled with a skunk. Dad told us to bathe her in tomato juice—the known ‘cure’ for the odor back then.

Now Snoopy never weighed more than seven pounds in her entire life. However, when DH and I went to bathe her, you would’ve thought she was ten times larger and weighed over a hundred pounds. She hated the whole idea of a bath and this cat was not declawed. The results looked like something out of the cartoons.

DH ran to the store and bought several large cans of tomato juice. We hauled out a large galvanized tub and filled it with said tomato juice. Then he caught Snoopy and walked over to the tub intent on putting her in it for her bath. Her toe touched the liquid and her claws raked his arm. She shot out of his grasp. It took another fifteen minutes to recapture her. This time DH had leather gloves on his hands. He tried to put her in the tub, her legs stretched out, four feet of claws hooked on the edges of the tub, and no matter how much he tried she wasn’t going in there. Picture that cartoon cat here. I’d get one paw unhooked and she’d snag the edge of the tub with it as soon as I went for another paw. We had more tomato juice on us than she did. In fact, she was dry as an old bone.

New plan, we had to find some way to keep her from hooking her paws on the edges of the tub. I went into the house, grabbed an old pillow case, and we bagged her with only her head sticking out of it. By this time, Snoopy was howling and you’d have thought we were killing her. Truth is a few of the neighbors came over to see what all the noise was. Now we had an audience.

Have you ever tried to wash a bagged cat? She knew what we were about to do. Not even dunked yet, her shrieks had our audience in the giggles. We dunked her and scrubbed the tomato juice in as best we could. Then while DH held her over the tub, I rinsed her with buckets of warm water. Snoopy was screaming like a banshee. Rinsed, disgusted, and transferred from the pillowcase to a towel she had had enough. She hissed at DH, leapt from the towel I had her wrapped in, and dashed into the house to hide under my bed.

Although the smell was not strong, it took a year for the odor to leave. Cats have hollow hair. Every time she got wet, she stank of skunk.

Snoopy relaxing on her favorite fake lambskin–she was about 17 here.

Posted in In memory of..., Misc, My blog

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Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, cats, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Writer, Writing

I can’t find my cell phone

Jun 30

Posted by doggonedmysteries

I hate cell phones. In an earlier post I wrote about not wanting to be connected twenty four seven. Today it’s more about the size of the darned things.

Now I’ve lost my billfold and many smaller items in the depths of my purse, but today Dear Hubby lost his cell phone in his pants. Yep, that’s what I said—in his pants.

The disembodied voice came from upstairs. “Honey, I can’t find my cell phone. Will you look around down there and see if you can find it?”

“Sure.” I also checked outside because he had mowed the grass. “I don’t see it anywhere. Did you try calling the number?” Yes, we’ve been through this before. It’s easier to call the cell phone number than it is to tear up the house looking for the damned thing.

My disconsolate DH walked downstairs, picked up the cordless phone, and called his cell phone number.

From somewhere upstairs we could hear it ring.

“At least you didn’t lose it out in the yard.”

He glared at me and went upstairs. A few minutes later I hear, “I can’t find it.”

I climbed the steps. He’s sitting on the bed looking puzzled.

“Dial it again.”

He does. I hear the phone’s distinctive ring coming from the foot of the bed where his recently discarded jeans were in a heap.

I picked them up. Yep, they were ringing. “Found it!”

“But I looked there.”

He had but he hadn’t checked the end of the belt that hung inside the pants.

Posted in Misc, My blog

4 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing

Writing for the long haul

Jun 29

Posted by doggonedmysteries

I managed to finish another chapter today. I hate that this has dragged along so much but I’ve had so many days where other things around here made demands on my time and, when I could finally sit down to work, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight.

There aren’t enough hours in a day some days. I don’t know where they go. One minute I look at the clock and it’s early the next time I look it’s Oh My Gawd is it that time already? Off I dash to cook dinner or jump in the shower and head to bed.

Dear Hubby isn’t in a frenzy running back and forth to the nursing and rehab hospital. He is less frantic now that his mother is back in her home. The energy in the house is calmer. It seems that lately I’m writing at a steadier pace.

I know that I can now do the long haul and finish the books.

Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing

2 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing

The Siamese connection

Jun 28

Posted by doggonedmysteries

With her post on the Lipstick Chronicles yesterday, Laurie Moore got me thinking about my dearest friend.

A long time ago, when I was in Jr. High I went with my mother, grandmother, and sisters to get a cat. We hadn’t had one for quite a while. Dad had always griped about our cats and after the last one, well…we hadn’t replaced old Butch yet. We’d moved several times and had a few dogs but no cats that stayed around for long.

So there we were just settling in to a new home when my mother spied a mouse running across the room. My father grumbled under his breath, “I guess we’ll have to get a cat.” We all heard it. The next day found us in a woman’s living room looking at her Siamese kittens—she had two left. One was a blue point male and the other was a seal point female. The male looked us over and wandered off. The female snuggled into my sister’s lap and purred. Can you guess which one we brought home?

Once she got to our house, she spent the rest of the day and half the night snooping into every nook and cranny. She earned her name, Snoopy. Finally exhausted, she climbed into my bed and slept with me. From that day until twenty one years later, she and I were inseparable. Where I went so did she. She would ride in my bicycle basket to the stables, spend the day there, and ride back home with me in the evening. She would always come when I whistled for her from wherever she had wandered.

We used to laugh at my father when, after all the cats we had over the years, we caught him petting her and talking baby talk to her. When I got married, she came with me. She melted my Dear Hubby’s cat hating heart and that of his father’s too. She ruled over and outlived 3 dogs. When she left us in her twenty-first year, our hearts broke.

Posted in In memory of..., My blog

3 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Care giving, Caregiver, cat, cats, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pets, Writer, Writing

Raising the stakes in our writing

Jun 27

Posted by doggonedmysteries

How do we do that? Gee, I’m glad you asked.

We give our protagonist a problem at every turn. It can be a small problem such as a flat tire, or BIG problem such as what to do about that dead body in the middle of the living room.

Cliffhangers, don’t we all love those? End your chapters with one that will ensure your readers keep turning the pages.

There’s the old time honored ticking clock where our protagonist must solve a big problem within a set time frame or there will be dire consequences. Think about all those suspense movies that you enjoy, they have a deadline.

Keep raising the tension, releasing it, and raising it again. You can even do that with the scenery. Is it night? Foggy? Is your hero heading into a mudslide? You get the idea.

Make your readers’ hearts pound. Put your protagonist into so much danger that they catch themselves holding their breath.

Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing

4 Comments

The dogs are turning into AC sissies

Jun 24

Posted by doggonedmysteries

With his MS, Dear Hubby needs to have the air conditioning on as soon as the temperatures begin to climb into the eighties and the humidity begins. The dogs don’t need it. However, Patty and Gavin have decided that they LOVE being cool and comfy. No, these dogs aren’t spoiled…much. When it’s hot outside, they don’t want to stay out in the yard with me, they want to be inside with DH.

If it is humid and hot, they won’t go out unless they HAVE TO GO. It’s not as though they have heavy, long, or thick coats. These two have short coats. You would think I was dragging them to their deaths to watch them. Patty will make a circuit or two around the yard and then she’ll stand at the back door begging me to take her back into the cool. Gavin is worse. He’ll go out into the yard as few steps as possible to squat and pee. Why lift a leg when to find something to lift it on would mean walking across the yard.

DH’s need for AC has turned these two dogs into sissies.

“What do you mean go out there in the heat? We might melt!”

Wimps.

Posted in Dog related, MS related, My blog

8 Comments

Evolving into a water creature

Jun 21

Posted by doggonedmysteries

I may be a Pisces but I don’t want to turn into a fish. When I woke up today, I thought I saw the beginnings of webs growing between my toes. I checked myself in the mirror for fear I may have some rudimentary gills erupting too. Is that moss covering my north side? Am I growing mold? Scifi or Darwin? You decide. All I know is, I want at least a week straight of sunny weather.

Since April, we’ve had 43 days of rain. Yes, I said 43 days of rain. It’s no wonder my yard is a swamp. When we actually do have a day of sun everybody stops, looks at the sky, and wonders if we should make a sacrifice to Ra. I forget what does the sky look like without clouds?

Farmers around here are worried that we are getting too much rain. I know if we had more sun I might have more green tomatoes on my plants but with all the rain a lot of the blossoms have dropped off the plants. I’m glad that some tomatoes had time to set, but at this sunless rate, they may never ripen.

Posted in Misc, My blog, my garden

2 Comments

Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing

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Doggonedmysteries

Life as viewed from the skewed perspective of a mystery writer

Category Archives: My blog

Yeah, I know I said I hated cell phones, but…

It is a long trip but worth it!

Goliath Frog and the remake of ‘The Birds’

The Siamese cat and the Sachet Kitty

I can’t find my cell phone

Writing for the long haul

The Siamese connection

Raising the stakes in our writing

Evolving into a water creature

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