Category Archives: My blog
I’m ba-ack!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The PW conference was wonderful. Lisa Scottoline is a dynamic speaker. She had many of us all fired up and ready to work twice as hard as soon as we returned home.
I’ll touch on a few of the highlights tonight but due to complete exhaustion–I am not a Lark, I’m an Owl–I’ll be brief, this time. (More to come later.)
The weekend lived up to our high expectations. Pennwriters has never failed to send me home eager and ready to put my posterior into my chair and work.
Here are a two examples to whet your appetites…
John Lamb’s session, Homicide 101, fantastic. If you ever have a chance to hear this retired homicide detective speak, DO NOT HESITATE, GO!
Nancy Martin, always a firebrand and her sessions are never a disappointment. You can find her over on The Lipstick Chronicles.
If you’ve read my Doggoned Dead excerpt you will find that I’ve rewritten the first chapter. Yes, this may have been “my vacation” but you will see that it was a working vacation.
Now dear readers I’m going to pay some attention to Dear Hubby who made my conference trip a reality, give my happy-that-mom-is-home pups plenty of hugs, smooches, and cuddles, and then I’ll get some much needed sleep.
Posted in My blog, My books, Writer, Writing
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, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Have a few for me…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
There’s nothing like having your agent tell you, “have a few drinks for me at the conference.”
“No problem, I can do that. I won’t be driving anywhere,” I said. (If you must know, my normal drink of choice is coffee. Nevertheless, this is a writers’ conference and my agent said I should have a few drinks. I have permission. Heck, I’m under orders.)
However, when I’m knee walking back to my room I may regret my answer. If later there are pictures circulated of me dancing on the tables, I may regret my answer. I’ll also emphatically deny that those pictures are of me.
Since several of us who are attending the conference have the same agent, maybe we can turn her request into a drinking game. One for us, one for her, one for us, one for…you get the idea. That way I won’t be the only one knee walking back to my room.
I need to finish packing. Where did I put that camera?
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
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, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
It’s not the last minute…yet
Posted by doggonedmysteries
A few days ago, Dave asked me why I hadn’t packed for the PW conference yet. Could it be that I didn’t have the clean clothes to pack? Why, that just might be the answer. I did the last of the laundry today. I have no excuse now, time to get packing. Which reminds me…I have to try my dress on gee, I hope it still fits and isn’t a wrinkled mess. Better check. GAH! Do I have panty hose? Crap another thing to check. The list keeps growing.
Don’t worry Dave. I’ll be packed and ready to go when my conference roommate arrives on Thursday morning. We’ll be loading not two but five baskets into her car for the auction. I did some shopping. Now all that crap I bought, stacks of paperbacks, and the five baskets are sitting on my kitchen table.
Several neighbors have offered to give Dear Hubby a hand with the dogs. One neighbor said he’d keep an eye on the pond filters. Patty has promised she won’t eat any towels while I’m gone and Gavin says he’ll take it easy on the helpers.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
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, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Sharing the wealth from the garden
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had sun today for most of the day. Didn’t last, the clouds began to roll in late in the afternoon. The rain held off until dusk. At least it wasn’t a monsoon. For once, it was a gentle rain. My question is, does this count as ten days of rain? If half of a twenty-four hour period has rain, is that considered another day of rain?
It wasn’t sunny enough for long enough to dry anything out. While there was sun, I went out to weed the gardens. I shouldn’t have looked at my rhubarb, but I did. It needed picking, now. There went the weeding idea. I picked rhubarb. I had a large quantity of fresh rhubarb. I cut and froze some. I baked a rhubarb custard pie. I gave my friend G enough for her to bake a pie. She had strawberries. She’s making a strawberry rhubarb pie tomorrow.
This happens to me all the time. I start out to do one thing and something else grabs my attention. AOADD strikes again. Oh, yeah I was going to do some weeding…
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, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Quick note
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Spent hours at the emergency vet’s, spent a fortune and will be taking Patty to our regular vet tomorrow.
Posted in My blog
Patty isn’t feeling well
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Little Miss Patty is under the weather so I am busy tonight keeping an eye on her. Poor thing has a nasty tummy thing going on. I hate it when my pups get sick.
I’ll be back tomorrow.
Posted in My blog
The conference date is getting closer fast!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’m getting ready to pack my bags and head out to my writers’ conference in two weeks. I have to put together the things I’ve collected to put in the baskets that my conference roommate and I donate to the auction. At least one of our baskets will be loaded with paperback mysteries from my bookcases. They needed a purging. The books are by a huge variety of authors, are in good shape, and ready to pass along to someone else who will enjoy them.
Then there’s the Red Hat basket. For a short time, I belonged to a Red Hat group. However, they leaned to activities that were too pricey for me. They also liked to eat out a lot and that isn’t in my budget. Therefore, there are many Red Hat items going into another basket that some happy Red Hatter will win.
Heavens, I really need to get all that stuff together because before I know it we’ll be packing my friend’s car and heading to Pittsburgh. Yep, sounds like a good project to start tomorrow, I’d better write myself a note.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
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
Bullfrogs scream like little girls.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Screaming frog
I keep hoping to hear our frogs croaking a web footed chorus but as of yet they haven’t. We have no Michigan J. Frogs out there. However, they do scream when surprised. Normally it’s just a quick little “ACK” when they hop into the pond as we approach.
This evening I was rambling around the yard when a sudden scream and a wild scramble at my feet startled me. The next thing I heard was a loud thud when the poor creature ran into the side of the garden shed. I had to find out what the creature was and whether or not it had dashed its brains out. I cautiously approached the corner of shed, flashlight in hand, and tried to peer into the jumble of ferns and chocolate vines. Whatever it was, screamed, and slammed into the shed again. I moved back and then approached from a different angle.
Finally, I caught sight of the creature. One of my larger bullfrogs cowered in the spot of light for a second, then it screamed like a little girl, and bashed into the side of the shed again. They aren’t the brightest lights in the harbor.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, 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
The return of the ducks
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I guess the ducks enjoyed their afternoon tea at our pond yesterday, because promptly at five today, they returned. One good thing about their visits is that they seem to have a taste for the string algae. It has bloomed with all the heat we’ve had the last three days and I was ready to go buy an algaecide, which I do hate to use. However, since the pond is in full sun it does become necessary from time to time. The female in particular seems to relish the flavor. Yesterday she climbed to the top of the waterfall and cleaned most of it out of there. If they keep to this daily schedule, I think we can accommodate them without any problems from the pups.
Neither one of the dogs has spotted the ducks yet. Moreover, since I know they are there I take the pups out into the yard on leashes and direct them to the front of the yard. There’s no sense in tempting fate.
I can picture Patty having an encounter with those big birds. She’s used to robins, cardinals, finches, and mourning doves, and ignores them, but ducks? She’s never met one. She’d likely take a flying leap into the pond after them. Gavin would probably bark at them while backing up to get closer to me, just in case.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden
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
MIL is a hoarder and garden news
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Tomorrow the physical therapist that has been very pushy about Dear Hubby’s mother going into a nursing home and someone else from the damned place are both going to follow DH over to his mother’s house. He’ll be driving his mother over there so she can attempt to get around her house in front of them.
Yesterday, my doctor medicated the hell out of me and told me to rest. So what did we do today? My best friend G, DH, and I went over to his mother’s to clear the decks and make the house presentable. To say my MIL is a hoarder is putting it mildly. We worked for over six hours removing clutter, crap of the junk sort, a ton of trash, and cleaned as best we could. I cleared out the one bedroom where her stackable washer and dryer reside. There was a pathway to them from the door. The crap was piled at least waist high. Now you can see the entire floor and what I left in the room is neatly stacked on shelves.
G and DH worked on the living room and MIL’s bedroom and it took them six hours to make the rooms presentable. We barely had time to work on the kitchen but did make a dent in the clutter there.
The woman is going to kill us. I can hear her screaming now, “where’s all my stuff?”
We did not work on the third bedroom. That room will be another whole project one of these days. Hell, we took one look in there and shut the door. The crap is almost to the ceiling. We were exhausted.
My garden news: When we finally arrived home, we saw ducks in our pond! The pair of mallards hung around for several hours. Like a kid, I went out and fed them some bread, which they ever so eagerly accepted. I was hoping they’d stay but right at sunset, they took off. Maybe they’ll come back for more bread one day.
Posted in Misc, My blog, my garden
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, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Mommy is sick
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Patty here, Mom is under the weather tonight so I said I’d let everyone know that she’ll post tomorrow night.
Hugs to all!
Posted in My blog
I stimulated the economy today
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Boy did I ever. There are two things I can’t resist buying, books and plants for my gardens. Today my friend, her husband, and I went to a garden shop. I couldn’t help myself. I was like an addict pulling out plants and putting them on the wagon. Someone should put me on the wagon.
I’m sure I drove my friend crazy because right now I have a cold and can’t smell a thing—this place carries herbs by the tons and I love growing herbs. Every time I found something, I thought I might like to add to my garden, I’d call her over to smell it for me.
“Hey, G. Come here and smell this for me, please. How does it smell?” I would wave her over from one end of the shop to another.
She would then rub her hand over the leaves and waft the scent to her nose. “Oh, that one’s nice.”
“What about this one?” I’d shove another plant under her nose.
One particular one almost made her gag—wish I could remember the name of it now. She took a sniff, gasped and said. “Ew, you wouldn’t like it.”
It’s a good thing I trust her judgment and our tastes run the same. I can imagine what a stench I’d have in my garden if that were someone else.
Our next stop was the pond garden shop. Yep, blew some bucks there too.
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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