Blog Archives
A little flag waving in honor of yesterday
Posted by doggonedmysteries
After a day loaded with food, fireworks, and military band music, it was nice to take time to remember why we celebrate the 4th of July.
The freedoms we have are precious gifts given to us by those visionaries who fought hard to achieve the birth of a great nation. What an amazing accomplishment. Do not let their dream fade in apathy.
Hang tightly to those freedoms and be proud of who we are as a nation.
This is a great country. It is my country and I’m proud of it. I am grateful to be a citizen.
Posted in Holidays
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Jewelry, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Necklaces, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Hot weather, painting, and a new houseguest
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The heat is back on. Darn it, the past few days were wonderful. The temperatures were perfect. We had mid to upper 70’s during the day and mid 60’s at night. With no humidity to speak of, what could be better.
The neighbor’s son came through and the painting of the shed has begun. It will be nice when it’s finished. We did have to exchange most of the spray paint for brush on and change the color of the roof. The hammered copper didn’t look nice. How disappointing. At least this will give the shed several more years of life.
The rising heat has already started up Gavin’s itching. He looks forward to his daily dose of Benadryl…of course that could be because he gets it with peanut butter.
Somehow, we’ve acquired a new houseguest of the rodent type. It probably got in one of the many times when DH left the back door opened while he had the dogs outside. Both DH and Gavin saw it run under the couch yesterday. The traps are set. I’m hoping we’ll rid ourselves of it in quick order.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, 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
I think I lost a few brain cells
Posted by doggonedmysteries
When a strange and strong wind went through here a few weeks back, it peeled all the vines off our shed. The removal of the vines revealed rust on the roof and the sides. That’s when I realized the shed needed a paint job.
One problem, I don’t like to climb ladders any higher than the third step. Another problem, I have a short reach so painting the shed roof won’t come easy. The third problem is the color I’d like for the roof only comes in spray paint form.
The decision, use rust resistant spray paint to paint the shed. I cleaned the surfaces. Then I sprayed Rusty Metal Primer on some of the rusted areas. Not my most brilliant idea, I think I lost a few brain cells.
Even with a mask, I can’t stand the fumes. I need someone who will paint for me. I am attempting to bribe the neighbor’s son to do it. (He likes climbing ladders it is part of his job.) If that doesn’t work, I may have to beg.
Posted in Misc, 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
Mittened kitten found a home
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I received some good news from G today. It seems that the kitten who has been living on her deck has found a home. That is if it stays around for a few more days. G says that with her luck he’ll disappear when the woman comes to get him and then reappear a few weeks later.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this doesn’t happen and he goes on to live happily ever after with his new owner.
While I was visiting G today he curled up on my lap and stayed put for quite a while purring all the time. He’s going to make a wonderful lap cat.
He’s gained some weight since he came to live at G’s. He certainly has enjoyed the food they’re giving him. You no longer see each rib, his hipbones don’t look like knife blades, and his spine isn’t sticking out.
The day his new owner comes to get him, he has a vet appointment for neutering before she takes him home. Poor baby is in for a big surprise. He’ll get over it soon enough. I’ve a feeling she’s going to enjoy spoiling him.
Posted in Misc, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, cats, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, homeless kitten, kittens, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pets, Writer, Writing
The wrens’ picnic
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The last two days we saw a wonderful change in our weather. Things feel normal. We’ve had low humidity and cooler days and nights. Hooray, for good weather.
Today we had a lot of activity out in the yard. Not only were the regular robins, sparrows, finches, starlings, and grackles visiting but also a pair of wrens brought their sizable family over for a picnic. Watching Mom and Dad wren dash about to feed their six babies was a hoot. I dragged DH to the back porch so he could see the commotion.
“You’ve got to see this. There’s six baby wrens all lined up in the chain link fence and raising hell.”
He dragged himself from his chair. “Six baby wrens?”
“Yeah, Mom and Dad are scrambling to feed them.”
We stood on the back porch and watched through the window. The baby wrens were screaming for food, flitting about the next-door neighbor’s and our yards. Their parents looked frazzled trying to keep the babies in one place long enough to feed them.
“Wow, six babies. They must be catholic.” DH said.
“I’m going to tell G you said that. She’s going to hit you.”
“I’ll duck and run.”
“She’s faster than you are.”
Posted in my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Birds, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, feeding the birds, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Happy birds, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
Dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t (No I didn’t misspell it–read on)
Posted by doggonedmysteries
There are days where words don’t easily come to me. This is not a good thing for a writer. I would love to be able to sit down and have words flow from me like a river. However, the river has a problem. An insane beaver constantly builds dams to stop the flow.
I no sooner break through one dam than another one crops up to cause a deep pool of wordlessness. The insane beaver has a name. Life. Most days Life is kind to me.
However, when he wants to cause trouble he certainly can. Those are the other days. The days where Life doesn’t care if I want to work. He has his own needs. Therefore, he reminds me of them at the most inconvenient of times. Seconds after I get rolling on a great scene he slaps his tail against my head and makes me put the brakes on.
If you let him, he will cheat and won’t play fairly but we all know that Life is seldom fair. If you don’t know this then you haven’t met Life.
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, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Writer, Writing
I’ve rewritten far enough, now I can move ahead
Posted by doggonedmysteries
For quite some time I’ve been working on rewrites of my books. I’d realized that one of my characters wasn’t working and knew I couldn’t drag him through an entire series. Therefore, I killed the character before the first story began. That meant I also had to go back through everything, extract his physical being from all the rest of the books, and leave only his memory behind.
This wasn’t an easy task, and even though it wasn’t a messy death, I’m still finding his remains here and there, in one book or another. Moreover, if I don’t find all of the traces, those people who read and review my renderings will find them.
I managed to finish cleaning up all but one. Finally, I rewrote the chapters I had of Doggoned Bones. I’ve posted the rewritten chapter 1 on the page. Now I feel as though I can move forward on all of them.
If you haven’t checked the book excerpts recently, you might be surprised. Can you spot the missing character?
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
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
Doggonedmysteries 