Blog Archives
Picture day
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Posted in hobbies, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Almost ready to pick the peppers, Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Ampyra authorization
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The approval came through for DH’s prescription of Ampyra. Now we are waiting for it to arrive. We do this with a mix of hope and fear. We hope it works. If DH is lucky, the drug will help him to walk better. We are concerned about side effects.
DH walks with a cane and at times, he should use a walker. He refuses to do that at present. I can understand it. I have wished that he wasn’t so stubborn about it a few times. He has accepted the use of a handicap cart outside so he can walk the dogs in the mornings. He will also use an electric cart in stores because he knows he can’t walk the distances he’d have to there.
Dealing with MS for him is a constant battle. DH has a long and wide stubborn streak in him. At times, it’s a pain in the asterisk. However, in the MS combat zone it pays.
Yes for him it is combat. MS is not a blessing, not a challenge, but a battle to fight and win. He’s never been one to back down from a fight.
Posted in MS related, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Ampyra approved, Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fampridine is now Ampyra, Fiction, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Holey pepper Batman
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I check the growth of my veggies every day. Yes, I’m impatient for them to ripen. So far it’s bugs two, me one. The bugs have managed to destroy one patty pan squash and an Ancho pepper. I’d been eyeing up that pepper every day since it was a blossom. By the time it grew to the size of my thumb, some bug managed to nibble a large hole into it.
I declared war. At night I haunted the garden by flashlight, picking bugs off the plants and depositing them into a jar filled with soapy water. I rubbed the same mixture onto the tiny peppers every night. Now I have quite a few nice sized peppers that will soon be ready to pick and they have no holes in them.
The melon and cucumber plants are also bug free now and growing with wild abandon. I have pea sized watermelons and cantaloupes on the vines. There are enough baby cucumbers out there to choke a horse or fill a large gherkin pickle jar.
There will be at least three eggplants since that’s how many blossoms we have today. It makes me glad that I have my mother’s moussakka recipe. That is a real treat.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
The old dog needs a new trick
Posted by doggonedmysteries
DH points a finger gun at the dogs. “Stick ‘em up.”
Patty’s paws shoot for the ceiling and she balances perfectly. She gets a cookie. Gavin raises one paw and gives a bit of hop with the other. That’s the best he’s going to give DH. He’s not fond of the trick since he can’t sit up and hold his balance. He gets a cookie anyway.
DH is bored. The dogs are bored. The hot weather is keeping DH in the house. TV sucks there’s nothing on worth watching during the day. DH wants to teach them a new trick.
I told DH to try teaching them to roll over because Gavin excels at lying down. He’s not getting any younger. Gavin will be nine in November. The poor dog is beginning to show his age a bit. His bully runs are not as frequent nor do they last as long. He not only takes naps but the dog goes to bed at seven in the evening.
This should be interesting. Patty is smart and quick on the uptake. Gavin figures if it isn’t give paw, down, or kennel up, it’s not worth learning but then again there is that promise of a cookie…
Posted in Dog related, hobbies, Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, dog tricks, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Another book that writers should have on hand
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Anyone who writes, should have on hand, at all times, a handy little book published by Houghton Mifflin from the editors of the American Heritage® Dictionaries. The title is 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses & Misuses. It’s a great help.
Even the best of us have confused or misused certain words on occasion. This book is a life raft on the seas of uncertainty.
As writers, we should always present our best efforts to our readers.
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
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
Koi are like potato chips
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You can’t have just one. A couple of weeks ago I found I couldn’t resist purchasing one more Koi. I’ve told myself we don’t need more many times. However, one of the Koi we lost in the tragic poisoning of our pond a few years back was yellow and black. I never found one to replace him. That and the fact that one of ours has a physical problem pushed me over the edge when I saw the little guy.
I do mean LITTLE guy. Our Koi dwarf him. He is a game little thing though. He’ll brazen it out at night and swim rings around the big Koi. I’ve tried for days to get a picture of him in the pond. Tonight I managed to do so. He’s under the lily pads pictured in the top left of the first picture.
Posted in Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Monet skies
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I gave away more plants today. The perennials have flourished and are elbowing each other for space. M’s mother and father in law stopped by and took several plants. They barely put a dent in the crop.
I may have to resort to pulling some of them out like weeds to make some room. I hate to do that. Better to expand the garden edges and weather DH’s complaints. He shouldn’t complain since it would mean less for him to mow, but he is rather particular about the lawn.
After a hot and hard day’s work in the gardens, I sprawled out on the hammock to cool off and relax for a bit. The clouds drifted across the sky on the tip of an impressionist’s brush. The results were astonishingly gorgeous. I daydreamed under a Monet sky.
As the day moved into night, the back yard became nature’s light show. It began with a colorful sunset and ended with hundreds of fireflies doing their winged dance. The neighborhood was quiet. All I heard was the sound of the waterfall and fountains.
Posted in Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
High-calorie phraseology…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I read somewhere that while writing your rough draft, you should have fun and play with it, pander to yourself. Use those flowery phrases and long descriptions you enjoy. However, when you do your rewrite be brutal and cut to the bones of the story.
Heck, I wish I had the habit of overwriting. My rough drafts are too tight. I spend too much time in rewrites adding things. I long for more meat and fat to cut. Instead, I need to flesh out the bones.
Sometimes I think I listened too well to all those sessions where they told us to keep it simple. I have to learn to play with my writing more and listen to my little editor less when I do a rough draft. I need to change my writing diet and quit curbing my appetite for high-fat phrases.
Would a diet of high-calorie phraseology and fat-laden metaphors and similes smooth the progress of my writing? Do the bones need to have more flesh in the rough draft?
Posted in My blog, Writer, Writing
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
Cucumber bugs in the melon patch
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s time to buy some insecticidal soap. I found cucumber bugs nibbling on my cantaloupe plants tonight. However, they are leaving the cucumber plant alone, which makes one wonder why the have the name cucumber bugs. I’d rather they’d leave my melon plants alone thank you very much.
Since I didn’t have any insecticidal soap on hand, I picked off the bugs and dropped them into a jar of hot soapy water. It killed them. I may have to continue this method for a few days. Right now, it looks as though there aren’t many in my veggie garden. I checked the potted veggies too and they seem to have escaped any bug damage.
My neighbors must think I’m crazy when they see the light from my flashlight bobbing around the yard at all hours. Although, if I hadn’t been checking plants at such an odd hour I might never have seen which bugs were snacking on my plants.
I am pleased to see so many little cucumbers and peppers on the plants. All the tomato plants have flowers, there are a few little patty pan squash growing, the eggplants have flowers now, and I have a few teensy acorn squash. Now all I need to see to make my heart go pitty-pat would be some cantaloupes and watermelons starting.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Home, how does your garden grow, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, pests, veggie garden, Writer, Writing
G now holds the title of Queen Klutz
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Do you remember when I sprained both ankles after taking the tumble on the uneven sidewalk in our back yard? Then all the other Klutzy things I’ve done? I have been dethroned. I bow down to my dear friend G. She outdid me on Thursday night.
G and a friend went to a local college theater to see the Mikado. She was going to tell me all about it today, but when I didn’t hear from her, I thought I’d go over and visit. As I normally do, I walked through her back gate, up her deck steps, knocked on the screen door, and gave her a ‘yoo hoo!’ Imagine my surprise to see her limping to the door.
“What the heck did you do?” I stared at her.
“I tumbled down some steps.”
“What steps?”
“Over at the college by the theater entrance. I didn’t get to the play.”
“Holy crap, woman.”
“Yeah, I did a real good job falling.” She began to point out her injuries.
Her badly sprained, very swollen ankle, the cut on the outside edge of her eyebrow, the beginnings of a hell of a shiner, her left wrist—wrapped in an ACE bandage, and the shinbone on the other leg was looking quite colorful.
“Geez and I thought I held the record for klutziness.”
“I think I’ve got you beat. There’s more.” She showed me the bruise on her elbow and her chipped glasses.
“Egads! I do believe you’ve taken the title from me. Do you want me to get you a couple of fresh ice packs? Want to borrow my crutches?”
“No, I just iced everything.” She showed me a cane. “My hands are both so sore I have trouble using this so I don’t think crutches would help.”
“I don’t suppose they would. Can I get you anything?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“You let me know if you need anything.
“I will.”
“You know you’re my blog post tonight.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Anything for you.”
“Yeah. Anyway, they were very nice to me at the college. They wanted to call an ambulance but I said no. They even exchanged our tickets for a later show. We’re going to try to see the play again, next Thursday.”
“Stay away from those stairs.”
Posted in Misc, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, I lost my Klutz Queen title, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Ampyra formerly known as Fampridine
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Ampyra was FDA approved back in January. Today the neurologist’s physician assistant talked to DH about putting him on Ampyra. Funny, when I mentioned to his neurologist the last time I was along, he didn’t seem to know WTF I was talking about then. To me this means I’m probably one-step ahead of him.
DH is the love of my life, my soul mate. Do you think I don’t try to keep on top of everything out there for MS? I do daily research. I read articles on MS treatments from all over the world. I keep track of the progress of clinical trials and any new drugs that show promise.
They list 14 of ‘the most common side effects’ of Ampyra. Yes, a few of them are scary but then his secondary progressive MS is overwhelmingly terrifying. To DH it’s a case of choosing between struggling to walk and improved walking. He wants to walk.
He isn’t taking it yet. They are checking to see if his drug plan covers it or not before prescribing it. Knowing his drug plan, he’ll probably have to fight for it.
Posted in MS related, My blog, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, 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, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Surprise! A new look.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I thought it was time for a change. I hope you like it. One thing I noticed was the print is larger, which I like. However, it is lighter, which I don’t like.
I may have to play a little.
The Blogrolls are now on the bottom of the page along with everything else that isn’t a post. Not sure if I like that, but we’ll see.
This is going to take some getting used to. I hope you all like the changes. If not, let me know. I do want your opinions.
Posted in Misc, 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, Fish, Food, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pennwriters, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Doggonedmysteries 