Blog Archives
Too many Cannas?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Is there such a thing as too many cannas? I managed to dig out and bring in the cannas and black elephant ears yesterday. It’s a good thing I did since we hit freezing temperatures during the night. The day was a mild mid-fifty degrees.
I was amazed at the size and number of cannas when I dug them out. While I was working on the last bunch in the yard, S walked by with her basset hound Cosby, and I offered to give her some. I have more than enough for the garden next year. I gave her a plastic grocery bag full.
It took me three trips to the basement to get all the elephant ears and cannas down there. I store them in a dark, cool, and moist area.
I did set some of both plants aside for AJ. I’ll give them to her when she comes to take care of the leaves. She’ll also get some lily pads and the lizard tail for her pond.
My van had its second flat tire for the week—same tire. I won’t ask ‘what next?’ because when I do there’s always something that will raise its ugly head.
Posted in my garden
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Canna (plant), Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Garden, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Life is a laundry list of clichés
Posted by doggonedmysteries
A dear friend told me, “The writing will wait.” Yes, it will but I do wish it didn’t have to. However, now I am overwhelmed.
The expression ‘time and tide wait for no man’ (or in my case, woman) comes to mind this week. Hospital runs for his mother, doctor appointments for him, and a run to the vet for allergy meds for Gavin one day this week. I feel as though I’ll never catch my breath.
I look out in the yard and almost feel like crying over the amount of work that needs doing before winter hits us. I am doing none of it this week. The leaves are getting deeper.
As of last night, we hired AJ to get rid of the ton o leaves. (She’s the peach who cleans our walks in the winter.) After that, maybe I can get to the pond to clean it and the filters and then to the garden plants that need digging up and taking in for the winter.
I thought I was going to be able to keep up with things this year as I did last year but luck has never been one of our strong suits.
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Garden, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Home and Garden, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pond, Water garden, Writer, Writing
A gift from Mom Nature
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Mother Nature bestowed an unusual sight upon us this evening. The sun was setting and I happened to look out my kitchen window. In the eastern sky there was a magnificent rainbow. There was no rain, the sky was clear.
I called DH to the window to see it. I phoned G and told her to go outside there was something in the east she had to see. She went out with phone in hand and I giggled to hear her gasp in wonder at the sight. The colors were vibrant in the early evening sky.
As the sun sank lower and the rainbow disappeared, dear old Mom wasn’t finished. She grabbed her paintbrushes and the brightest pinks, oranges, and reds she could find and painted us a breathtaking sunset.
Every so often, when there are more bad days than good, Mother Nature manages to make us smile. DH and I most certainly needed to smile today and we did.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, gifts, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Our dogs sleep in weird positions
Posted by doggonedmysteries
A loud thumping came from Gavin’s crate. I wondered what he was doing so I peeked. All I saw was a white butt and four white feet in the air. Can you say relaxed? He loves to sleep upside down in his crate. He’s done it since he was a puppy. I’d try to snap a picture but that never works. As soon as I get close to the crate, he springs to life and his feet.
In the meantime, Patty had sacked out on the couch with her head buried under a pillow. I have no idea how she can breathe like that but she often sleeps that way. Then there’s her butt on the pillow position, which cracks me up. Look on the Bullpen page and you’ll find a picture.
Our old female, Sadie used to sleep next to DH on his chair. She’d sleep so soundly that when DH went to bed and shifted her onto the entire seat cushion she never noticed.
Our old male, Malcolm was another one who regularly slept on his back with all four feet in the air. They look like bloated road kill when they do that in the middle of the floor.
Posted in Dog related
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, 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
Fashion faux pas I live by
Posted by doggonedmysteries
And other ramblings of an overstrained brain…
All the clocks and watches in this house are turned back an hour. The batteries on the smoke alarms are new again. Crap, this means winter isn’t far off. I don’t like snow, ice, and cold. I live with it because DH can’t stand a warmer climate and I hate southern summers.
Yes, I am weird and far from fashionable. I wear my flip-flops year round except in the snow when I change into winter boots to go outside. For that reason, the other day, I did get a start on some warmer clothing for winter. I bought some Tabis. You can’t imagine my delight when I found a place that sells them. I bought seven pair. If you don’t know what Tabis are, they are Japanese socks that have the big toe separated from the other toes. I wore them as a child. The ones I wore had tiny brass clips that fit into threads on the back of the Tabis to close them. The modern ones have no clips.
I have very happy feet now. There are no sock bunches in between the toes, and my feet are warm enough.
I love you and miss you terribly baby sister. Happy birthday, Mary.
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, Writer, Writing
Leaf leapers—another year gone by
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The yard is a sea of leaves and the trees still have more to drop. It wouldn’t be so bad except now they are wet leaves. As soon as they dry, it’s time for me to put on the work gloves and get raking.
Patty and Gavin love the leaves. I think the silly dogs are both dying for me to rake them into piles into which they can leap. They’re worse than kids are about leaf piles.
Each dog has its own style of leaf pile diving. Patty loves to race up to the pile, leap high, and land in the center. Gavin prefers the tank style of plowing through them.
They both love it when I join in on the fun. They hop about begging me to kick leaves up into the air for them to pounce on. You’d never guess that Gavin had his tenth birthday on November 1 with all his energy.
I find it hard to believe it was ten years ago that I picked up that little eight-week-old white puppy at the airport customs office. He was a ball of energy then and hasn’t slowed since.
Posted in Dog related, Weather related
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, Mystery, Novel writing, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Friday bits and pieces
Posted by doggonedmysteries
G and I hit the lottery the other day…we made a whole two bucks. Yippee? That’s not exactly the red neck retirement fund now is it? We had to add another dollar to it to buy more tickets.
At least we got off two dollars cheaper this week. Hey, we might not ever win big but we can dream can’t we?
The MIL is in a nursing home again. This time she’s not returning to her home. There’s no way she can take care of herself any longer.
Right now, we’re working with the breed rescue to place the MIL’s dog Lance into a good home. It’s not going to be easy since he’s an elderly dog. We even managed to contact Lance’s breeder and he is asking around. We can’t take the little guy because Patty doesn’t like other dogs, especially small ones. She only gets along with Gavin.
I packed away all the Halloween props and paraphernalia until next year with the exception of our Zombie. He is still on my kitchen table awaiting repairs. I haven’t had time to work on him.
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, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Welcome to robin central
Posted by doggonedmysteries
As the robins prepare for their migration south, my yard has become robin central. Every day there are literally hundreds of robins in our three trees, on the ground, in the birdbath, and at the pond all vying for their turn to drink and bathe.
The other day I somehow managed to stretch the netting over the pond on my own. The idea was to keep more leaves from getting into the pond. Mother Nature had other ideas.
Fifteen minutes after I had the netting in place, a robin flapped around on the pond trapped under the netting. I freed it by showing him an opening and with some coaxing. He wasn’t thrilled with me. I had visions of things to come.
When I crawled out of bed today, DH told me, “I had to set five robins free this morning.”
It took a minute or two for that to register in my coffee deprived brain. “From where?”
“The pond, they were under the netting. I lifted the edges in a few places so they can get out on their own next time.”
“Oh, crap. I thought I had enough openings for the idiot birds. If we still had bullfrogs the birds wouldn’t swarm all over the pond.”
Oh, yeah we’re getting more tadpoles in the spring.
Posted in my garden
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Water garden
The phone number hop
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I find it strange how some people change their phone numbers as often as they change their under drawers because I’ve had the same phone number for thirty-seven years.
I’ve asked a few people about this trend. Some tell me they do it to stay one jump ahead of their creditors. Others tell me they do it because they want to avoid people to which they’ve given their number. I say why not pay the bills and not give your number to creepy people.
I know several people who have changed their numbers so often that even family members can’t find them. How dumb is that?
I couldn’t imagine changing the home phone number and yes, it is still a landline. I have enough problems trying to remember DH’s cell phone number and mine. I still don’t have the numbers memorized. I have to carry them around in my little address book.
Is this CRS or do I have so much on my mind, there’s no room for extras? I tend to think the latter. You try writing five books at once. Post Its™ are my best friends.
Posted in Misc, Writer, Writing
Tags: 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, Writer, Writing
There’s a rubber room out there with my name on it
Posted by doggonedmysteries
DH’s mother is back in the hospital. This is not good for him. His stress level is through the roof. I try to make certain that things at home run smoothly and do my best not to ask him for anything right now.
It isn’t easy since the pond is filling with leaves, even though I skim it every day. I can’t put the netting to keep the leaves out on it alone. Heck, there are so many leaves in the yard, it’ll take me at least a month to rake them all and there are still tons on our trees. The kitchen lights need replacing—I hate climbing ladders.
There’s been another death in the family. We won’t go there.
My car’s inspection cost us a small fortune on Friday. Patty is acting out of character and I’m wondering if we’re in for another vet run.
“Hello, is this the Peaceful Valley Funny Farm? I was wondering if I could make a reservation.”
“What sort of accommodations were you looking for?”
“Do you have any spare rubber rooms?”
Posted in Misc, MS related
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, Writer, Writing
Zombie failure to launch
Posted by doggonedmysteries
This is the Zombie that was in the barrel. This is the Zombie that after working very well before the Trick or Treaters came, suddenly failed to launch. Did you ever try to fix a prop while wearing a long wig and gown? DH couldn’t stand long enough to do it. G’s husband B tried to fix it but soon gave up.
They don’t give you schematics to show you how to ‘repair’ him. They don’t tell you if there are any fuses or where they are. ARRRGH!
I’m hoping with some help from a few Halloween enthusiasts we’ll have him popping out of the barrel for next year. So there he is, on the kitchen table, waiting for a little bit of mechanical genious magic to get him working again.
Posted in Holidays
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Halloween, Holiday, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing, Zombie
Thank you for your patience
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had HORDES of kids come Trick or Treating. They arrived promptly at six and continued to inundate us until after eight. I had no time to grab the camera and get pictures this year.
However, I did get some pictures of the decorations during a lull. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good one of the Zombie in the barrel. The best laid plans and all that.
After the Trick or Treating finished, Little D’s birthday cake was a great hit and she had a good time. Her mother enjoyed the unusual welcome into the neighborhood.
Posted in Holidays
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, Halloween, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Trick-or-treating, Writer, Writing













