Blog Archives
Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted by doggonedmysteries
For many years, Dear Hubby brought me flowers, a cute stuffed toy, and chocolate candy for Valentine’s Day. I always made him his favorite dinner. Romantic isn’t it?
Multiple Sclerosis sucks. It is no longer easy for DH to shop. My PajamaGram was going to be my gift from him this year. It was supposed to arrive on the 10th. However, it still hasn’t arrived ‘due to adverse weather conditions.’ . According to the tracking, it is still in the last place it stopped before delivery here, waiting for weather conditions to improve. Does UPS deliver on Sundays?
Monday the forecast is calling for MORE snow.
Hawaii anyone? I hear that is the only state that didn’t get snow this year….
Posted in Holidays, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
Psst, Phil. Dere’s a contract out on youse
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The phone rang. I answered it. A strange, gravelly voice on the other end of the line threw chills down my spine.
“Youse wanted a contract?”
“What?” I pulled the phone from my ear for a second and peered at it as if I could see whom it was that asked me such an odd question.
“I heard youse wanted to put out a contract on some guy called Phil. I’m your guy.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about. I don’t know anyone called Phil. Wait. Is this a joke? Did Jackie put you up to this?”
“C’mon lady. I don’t know any Jackie an’ I ain’t joking wid youse. Ricky Da Nose tol’ me today you wanted somebody to off dis Punksadohicky Phil guy,” he growled.
“Do you mean Punxsutawney Phil?”
“Yeah, dat guy.”
“It’s too late.”
“What, did someone beat me to da contract?”
“No. It’s simply too late. He already saw his shadow.”
“Whaddaya mean by dat? He croak?”
“Yeah. He croaked.”
“Damn, I coulda used da money.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Well, if youse needs ta have anybody else offed, you call me. I’ll do it fer cheap.”
“I’ll do that.”
Posted in Misc, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, funny, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
Snow, snow, snow, and more snow
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It is prettier when you don’t have to shovel it. Snow has been the topic uppermost on people’s minds around here. There’s too much of it. The entire neighborhood has managed to dig out but the city hasn’t plowed the street. Geez, they didn’t even run through with a salt truck yet.
AJ from AJ Wildflower arrived today and cleared off our walk and driveway. She and her helper did a great job, and they even salted everything down when they finished. Good thing too since there was some melting of snow going on and the driveway is now dry and ice free.
They blew all the snow from the driveway into the yard. It’s so deep at that end now, that it makes me wonder if we’ll ever see the grass again. It’s going to take a huge upward jump in temperature to put a dent in it. But noooo, the forecast for here is showing wind chills dropping us down to 5 degrees by the time the sun comes up.
I’m ready to go groundhog hunting. Dang thing just had to see his shadow didn’t he?
Posted in Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
The blizzard of February 2010
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Even though the storm hammered us here, south of us had it worse. I’m so glad I don’t live too near to Philly.
I dug a very short path out into the yard for the pups. I had to clear the snow. they couldn’t get off the back porch. Patty is the more energetic of the two and she went a bit past the end of their path, however, when it came time to squat, she didn’t like the snow hitting her butt. She retreated to the shoveled area.
Some of the neighbors have already dug their cars out but with the street unplowed, they’ve no place to go. Early this afternoon when the storm was at its height my next door neighbor was trying to shovel her car out so they could go to the store.
“Are you nuckin’ futs? You aren’t supposed to be on the roads unless it’s an emergency.” I said.
“I need some groceries.”
“Whatever you need, if I have it it’s yours. Please don’t try to drive in this crap.”
Posted in Weather related
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
Yuck, no more white stuff please
Posted by doggonedmysteries
What can I say? When this winter is finally over, I won’t want to see anything white for many months. Maybe I’ll dye Gavin green for March.
Never mind, knowing the people in this area I think I’d get tired of hearing, “Hey lady you’ve got a green dog.”
“Ya think?”
How about neon pink? He has to go for his shots and our vet has a great sense of humor. Can you see me walking a neon pink Gavin into his office?
“Hi A. Do you think that Gavin’s allergies might be getting worse?”
He’d take one look at neon pink Gavin and fall on the floor laughing.
Would Patty get jealous and want her white parts tinted too?
If I had some food coloring in the house, I’d go air brush the darned snow. A yard full of rainbow colors would certainly look more cheerful.
On second thought, knowing my dogs, all that color would track inside the house and what a lovely mess I’d have to clean up. I guess I’ll live with the plain old white snow.
I wrote this in the wee hours of the morning as usual. It’s now late in the afternoon and we are in blizzard conditions. From the looks of things outside, we may be inside for a month!
Go ahead Lee, if you are reading this, LAUGH your A$$ off.
I can’t find my van or DH’s pick up in the driveway, and I’m going to have to dig a path in the yard for the dogs.
Posted in Weather related, 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, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
The house of cleaning horrors
Posted by doggonedmysteries
This old house seems to breed dust. I could vacuum, mop, and dust every day and I don’t think it would make much of a difference. I kid you not. I dust off the coffee table, and I swear, ten minutes later, you can write your name in it again. Vacuum the rug and a split second later you can see the dog hair rise out of the pile like Neptune from the sea.
Dust bunnies procreate faster than real ones. Then they mushroom from teensy baby dust bunnies to killer rogues in no time. I have to beat them into submission. I saw the dogs running from one the other day.
The ceiling fans grow a coat of fur more rapidly than a shaved poodle. It’s downright scary. I’m also constantly cleaning cobwebs from the ceiling and corners and yet they stay one jump ahead of me.
Muddy paw prints on the kitchen floor are nothing compared to the tracked in salt at the front door. Cleaning up that mess takes more elbow grease than what would fill a deep fry vat at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Posted in Misc, 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, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Update on the snow removal and ServiceMagic
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I was quite surprised, since today was Sunday, that we received a call from one of the places that ServiceMagic had given us. The woman even drove past my MIL’s house and gave us an estimate for the work there. Then she came by our house to do an estimate for our sidewalk.
Both estimates were very reasonable. We hired her. Now we don’t have to worry about traveling across town to clear off the mother in law’s walks every time it snows. This company will do it. Our snow angel can take a well deserved rest too. What a load off our minds.
I know I’ll go to ServiceMagic again in the future for other things we might need to have done. They prescreen all the pros they send to you. They list people who do everything from remodeling homes to house cleaning.
I will have to tell my neighbor’s son about ServiceMagic, maybe he can list his business with them.
Posted in Misc, MS related, 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, Healthcare, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Snow, Writer, Writing
The problem with snow is snow removal
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Yes, we did get snow, quite a bit, though not as much as Philly and south. Our snow angel shoveled our walk again color me happy since shoveling the walk completely exhausts me for the rest of the day.
I do wish DH’s mother had a snow angel. DH had his stomach in knots all day thinking about how we can get her walks cleared. He can’t do it and feels guilty that he can’t. She, of course, adds to that guilt on purpose. There’s no way I can get over there to do it either. The snow plow managed to block our driveway and my project for tomorrow is to clear the wall of ice he left for us. That’s going to take all afternoon and it’s going to kill me. Sore muscles here I come.
I got a little creative tonight while doing some research on snow removal in our area. I found ServiceMagic.com. I plugged in my MIL’s address, named my project—residential snow removal, and they matched me with two places that do it in our area. Both of them will give a free estimate too. How cool is that? I’ll let you know it goes.
Posted in MS related, My blog, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
I sent myself a PajamaGram
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It began with an idea for a character in one of the books I’m working on—her pajamas. She’s supposed to have a pair of PJs with bulldogs on them. My character secretly collects all things with bulldogs. (Not unlike the way that I collect bull terriers.) She owns a bulldog. Yes, this book has a bulldog and not a bull terrier. It’s not from the Doggoned series and one of these days, I’ll reveal more about this book, but not yet.
Anyway, back to the research…I went surfing for a pair of bulldog PJs. What I found I wasn’t happy with so I kept hunting through sites that sold PJs. I hadn’t intended to buy anything. Truly dear readers, I did not intend to buy anything. I was looking for my character’s PJs. I wanted to be able to describe them in detail.
Then I hit the PajamaGram site. I told you I collect bull terrier stuff, right? Over the years, a friend has presented me with New Yorker magazine covers that have that white dog, the one that sorta kinda looks like a BT, on it. (I need to get those framed one of these days.) Well there they were, New Yorker dog PJs. I squealed with delight. DH got curious and came to see what I had me so tickled.
I pointed to the screen where I’d enlarged the fabric pattern. By this time, I was wiping drool off my chin.
He laughed when he saw the dog he knows so well from our collection.
“I have to have them,” I said.
“Yes, you do.”
I looked at the price and started to waffle. “I do need some new Jammies. The PW conference is coming up…my old ones are looking ratty. But—“
“Buy them. They’re cute.”
The cheapskate in me reared its ugly head. “They cost way more than I’d normally pay for any.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, just order them.”
“They can be your Valentine’s gift to me.”
DH rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. Buy them.”
Posted in Dog related, Misc, My books, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, gifts, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Finally decided on a paint color for the kitchen…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’ve wanted to paint the kitchen forever. I’ve waffled over this repeatedly. One after another, paint sample cards have hung on the wall above the cabinets where I can see them from my desk. Some were too dark, others too light, then one day a few months ago, G gave me a couple of cards she’d brought home for her own use and had used to choose her colors.
I narrowed my choices down to two colors. Behr paint’s Delicious Melon and Luminary both extremely close but it was the darker of the two that seems to work best. Luminary was my choice. It draws on the floor tile color, it’s light enough to be cheerful, and it has a nice warmth to it.
This will be my spring project. Once I can open the windows I’ll go buy the paint. Painting anything in this house takes on a comedic shape. Two Bull Terriers, a ladder, drop cloth, paint rollers, and fresh paint are disasters waiting to happen. It’s good thing the wall color will be similar to the floor.
That sounds weird, similar to the floor. I’m telling you it will look nice. The cabinets are a medium stain on birch and the counter top is forest green. The floor is a pale peach tone with small accent tiles of green. The back splash is white. The paint will make the cabinets pop and it will brighten an ugly paneled kitchen. When I do it this spring, I’ll post before and after pictures.
We are not responsible for the paneling it was here when we moved in. I’d tear it down but then that would mean hiring someone in to put up dry wall and take down the nasty drop ceiling. We can’t afford that.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pets, Writer, Writing
I really didn’t want to break in my new boots
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Worn out and no longer warm, my old winter boots were ready for the trash. For the life of me, I couldn’t find a decent pair in a style I liked. [Warm, waterproof, and easily slipped on and off.] I’m lazy and when the pups want out they want out NOW. Finally, I found a pair in a catalog and ordered them several weeks ago. They arrived last week.
We had some cold weather the last few weeks but the snow had passed us by. My new boots sat by the back door neglected, unworn, and I prayed they’d stay that way until next year. I hate snow.
No such luck. It is snowing tonight. I had to put them on to take the dogs out for their last piddle break. That was around 1 a.m. and, by then, we already had an inch of that white stuff. It’s after 3 a.m. and it’s still snowing. At least it’s not a blizzard. The snow is falling gently and it is quite fluffy.
I hope when I wake it is sunny and the snow is gone or, at least, mostly gone.
Posted in My blog, Weather related
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Snow, Writer, Writing
Gavin doesn’t do well with change
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Poor Gavin. He’s very confused. Our kitchen is the coldest room in the house. Gavin’s crate has been in the kitchen since he arrived here at the age of eight weeks. He’s now eight years old. I moved his crate to the living room tonight. With the dreadfully cold weather we’ve had lately, he’s been fussing at night in his crate trying to cover himself with his bedding.
I did some rearranging of furniture a few hours ago and his crate is now next to Patty’s. (Oh, yeah this has also confused her a bit.) When I moved Gavin’s crate, he was busy getting a belly tickle from DH so he really didn’t notice. When DH finished, I showed Gavin where his crate was. I did, honestly I did. Gavin even went in and out of it several times.
Then we let Patty out of her crate so she could see the change too. She thought it was a funny joke. She quickly pounced on, and teased Gavin. Then she did a silly huckle butt on the couch. All this wound Gavin up and he raced back and forth from living room to kitchen. They took a while to settle down.
When I told them to kennel up, Gavin ran to the kitchen and looked for his crate, and looked for his crate, and stood in the middle of the floor looking puzzled. I showed him his crate, again. It’s going to take a while for him to get used to this. In the meantime, I might need to go looking for a dog psychologist.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, 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, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
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