Blog Archives
Frost? Really?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
After the lovely warm weather we had Last week this week wasn’t so nice. We’ve had strong, damaging winds and chilly days. There’s even a frost warning tonight. Geez, I wish it would stay warm. So much for the iris that are in bloom right now. By morning, those blossoms will be mush. I do hope the ones that haven’t bloomed will be okay.
DH isn’t minding this cold spell since it doesn’t sap his energy as the heat does. He has his mobility cart up and running so the dogs are enjoying running walks around the yard with him. At least they’re getting their exercise.
Since it was too windy and cold to go out and garden I finished printing my cards for the conference. That project took forever since I can only print one page at a time. The ink is running low in the printer but I don’t think I’ll buy more. What I’ll do is shop around for another printer. Old faithful is dying a slow death.
With four days left, until I leave for the conference, I packed a little more tonight. By noon on Thursday we’ll be on the road to Lancaster.
Posted in My blog, Weather related, 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, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
10 days to the Pennwriters conference
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’m starting the countdown now. Even though the Pennwriters conference isn’t until the 14th I leave in ten days for Lancaster. (We like to get there a day early.) This means I have nine days to make sure everything at home is ready for my four-day absence.
I also have a few things I need to purchase before I leave. Things I want to take along with me. Bottled water sold there is expensive my roommate and I will bring our own. I take a small cooler along. Extra coffee, sweetener, and creamer are other must haves. Snacks—have to have them too.
My roommate and I need to pick up a few small items for our Chinese auction baskets. We donate several each year. One of ours this year is a real doozy. I can’t wait to see the reaction it gets.
Hey Dave, I’m looking forward to seeing you again. Are you ready to get rowdy?
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, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writing
The frogs let me down
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had a lovely day here yesterday. We hit a new high temperature record for the date. DH didn’t do so well by afternoon when it hit 87 degrees, but we expect it to be so, and make adjustments. He dresses cooler, tries not to over do it, and stays inside where, with a brick home, it’s cooler until late at night.
DH takes a daily afternoon nap. It helps him function better. This unfortunately is where he was when I was outside and almost fell off my chair with excitement. I watched a great blue heron fly over, and although glad that he didn’t stop by for a snack of Koi, I was bursting at having no one around to share my exhilaration. Even G was away and she would’ve been as thrilled as I was.
Around 7 p.m., it had cooled down to a nice 76 and DH came outside to sit by the pond for a little while. We watched robins bathe in the waterfall, goldfinches serenaded us, and a gentle breeze kept us comfortable.
However, the frogs let me down. They made a liar out of me. No one sang.
Posted in 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, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The pups are after the compost bin again
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I have a compost bin. We do the coffee grounds, tea bags, any kitchen waste that’s not meat—all of it goes in the compost heap. There’s one teensy problem though. We put banana peels in there because they are great for the garden. The problem is with the banana peels I have to keep the bin blocked off so the dogs can’t get near it.
You see my dogs adore bananas. You could say they are bananas for bananas. We can’t open a peel without having the two dogs plaster themselves to our side until they each get some. Therefore, they would scavenge the peels from the compost pile if they could.
Last year Gavin tried his darnedest to climb into the bin because he smelled his favorite treat in there. In an instant he was stuck. I then had to climb over obstacles to pry him out of there. I need a better way to block the bin.
Yesterday Patty attempted a raid on the bin. With her long legs, she might have made it. It’s a good thing she was on the retractable leash at the time.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, 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
Men-o-pause
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Sleep, it’s a great thing if you can get it. I had about four to five hours last night. My body prefers a good eight. It seems that with the dread thing called menopause comes less sleep. If it isn’t hot flashes waking me, it’s the sweats. Then again, there are those nights where it’s impossible to fall asleep.
DH can tell when I’ve had a bad night because when he greets me he gets a glassy glare until I’ve had my coffee. Sometimes he might even get a growl. He pauses in mid sentence, points to the coffee pot, and waits for the second or third cup to kick in. He learned over the years never to stand between the coffee pot and me when I first get up.
Mood swings aren’t fun and I’m glad I don’t have them too often. DH is thrilled. What man wants his wife to go from zero to sixty in three seconds? His car yes, his wife, no.
Life is ever changing, and to tell the truth, I’m enjoying the heck out of this time of my life. There’s a sense of freedom now that I don’t remember having when I was younger. Yep, call me crazy but I like this.
Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Should a klutz clean ceiling fans?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I need to clean the ceiling fans in the living room. They look like they have a fur coat. EW, yeah disgusting! To do a proper cleaning I have to climb the ladder, prop a bucket of soapy water on it, and scrub each blade. Then I have to wipe down the lights, and the rest of the fan.
That’s why I rarely clean them. They are on most of the time to keep the air circulating so it isn’t often that anyone notices they are dirty. When I notice, you can bet they’ve gone past dirty and into the realm of holy crap what is that?
I hate heights, I hate climbing ladders, and cleaning is not one of my favorite things to do. However, even I am disgusted with how dirty those fans are. No one else is going to do it. Therefore, this klutz needs to climb the ladder and clean.
Now I ask you, should I wait until after the conference? Would it be tempting fate to climb a ladder this close to the date?
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, I hate cleaning, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Before the conference…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Before I leave for what I call ‘my annual four-day working vacation’ I have to prepare the home front. DH is no longer capable of cooking meals other than heating things in the microwave. Therefore, I’ll be making and putting up frozen dinners for him.
The dogs are sometimes too much for DH to handle alone. I’ve arranged for friends to stop in and take them for walks so they are good and tired. That way they won’t be their normal handfuls. I’ll make certain that their food is in good supply and they have plenty of cookies.
Then I need to print out my works in progress so that, if I find time, I can work on them at the conference. I will do the writing on my Alphasmart and can transfer everything to my computer when I get home. However, I need to have the printouts to work from since the Alphasmart doesn’t hold the book files. Yes, this is where a laptop would be a very handy thing and would save my aching back from schlepping a lot of paper. I dream of having a nice one, one of these days…
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, Humor, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pennwriters conference, Writer, Writers conference, Writing, Writing conferences
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
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