Blog Archives
Picture day!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I took the camera outside this afternoon.
Tags: 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, photography, Pond, Ponds, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
The gardening begins!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Although we had clouds that threatened rain all day, we had a warm and pleasant day yesterday. When I woke up and saw the sky, I put off my trip to the grocery store. I knew with my luck, it would pour buckets full, when I had to carry all of the bags into the house. Therefore, I decided to try to sneak in some much-needed gardening before the rain.
I could’ve gone grocery shopping since the rain never made an appearance. However, I’m glad I did the gardening because I managed to clean out both the side and pond gardens before dinner. It felt good to be outside for change.
I have only one more area to clean out and ready for planting and that’s along the back fence. For now all I need to do is trim back the zebra grass and keep the weeds from overrunning the area until it’s time to plant my veggies there.
I’m glad to see my perennials are happy and thriving because I’ll split some of them to take over and enhance the landscape at the MIL’s house.
Posted in my garden, Weather related
Tags: 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, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
You have to spend money to make money
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I am here to tell you that it is true. The only way we’ll make a dime selling the MIL’s house is by sinking more into it now. The cheapest thing we’ll do is paint every room.
The most expensive things will be putting tile flooring in the bathroom and kitchen. The toilet and sink need replacing and so does the medicine cabinet. Then we must do something about the back of the house. A deck would be nice but I think we’ll only be putting in steps to go up to the sun porch above the garage.
Then there’s that all important curb appeal. I’ll have to do some gardening over there putting in some brightly colored flowers, which will help the outside look nicer. The handicapped ramp needs power washing and a good stain. There’s a lot of trimming needed on shrubbery in the front and back yards and I know someone who we can hire to do that. If I’m lucky, I can get a discount. The lower areas of the house need new stucco and we already spoke to our neighborhood roofer about repairing the garage roof and inspecting the rest.
All of the above comes AFTER we clear out the house. We’re getting closer to that day.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Home, Home improvement, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Out like a lion
Posted by doggonedmysteries
At least the flowers are trying to bloom. Goodbye March!
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, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day 2011, Writer, Writing
Signs of spring
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We begin a new month. We’re closer to spring now, oh joy!
When I took the dogs out today, I saw crocus and daffodils poking out of the ground in the gardens and they were over an inch high. The day lilies, iris, and many other flowers are awakening too.
For the last week, huge flocks of geese have flown over our house every day. Some of them are so high you can barely spot the Vs but you can still hear them honking.
The robins haven’t appeared yet but they can’t be far behind. Birds are beginning to hang around the feeders in larger groups and the crows in the cemetery are practicing their aerobatics. They swoop low over the tombstones and grass racing each other to the tallest spires.
I’ve had to chase suet raiding squirrels out of the yard several times a day. Yes, spring is arriving.
Posted in my garden, Weather related
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
There are no leaves in the yard
Posted by doggonedmysteries
AJ of AJ Wildflowers cleaned our yard today. She did an outstanding job and I highly recommend her. The pups had to go out twice while she worked and she was very sweet to them. After a good butt and ear scratching from AJ, Patty has decided AJ is a friend for life and even showed off her stick ‘em up trick multiple times without a cookie reward. Gavin too has nominated her for good friend award. He enjoyed having his neck scratched and back rubbed.
With all the leaves are gone I can pull the netting off the pond, clean the filters, and get it ready for winter. The Koi will be pleased.
I can’t tell you what a relief it is to see the yard cleared. With all that is going on here, I didn’t have the heart or energy to do it this year.
The next time the pups will see AJ is when there’s snow to clear from the walks. We’ve already hired her for both our walks and the MIL’s.
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, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Water garden, Writer, Writing
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
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 frost absconded and the green tomatoes fried
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The other night there came a dire weather prediction. Possible frost! I nipped out to the garden with shears and a basket. I cleaned all the tomatoes, ripening and green ones, from the vines. The last two eggplants joined them in the basket. We didn’t get the frost and now I have a large basket of green tomatoes on my table.
Last night for dinner, I took advantage of having green tomatoes on hand. I sliced them, dusted them with seasoned flour, dipped them egg then a seasoned cornmeal and breadcrumb mixture, and fried them to a lovely golden brown. I placed them on a cookie sheet and kept them warm in the oven while I cooked the rest of our dinner.
Which, since I’d already headed down south with the tomatoes, and had a hot frying pan ready, made me make a quick decision to turn DH’s hamburger steak and my steak into chicken fried steaks. Well, then when the steaks were done, I had to make redeye gravy didn’t I?
At least I stopped there and didn’t add mashed potatoes. We would’ve burst had I made them too. As it was, we were full.
Posted in Food, my garden, Weather related, Writer
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, comfort foods, Cooking, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Food, fried green tomatoes, Gardening, Gardens, Home, home cooking, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, redeye gravy, Tomato, Writer, Writing
A hodgepodge for you today
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Every time I took the dogs out, I picked up small branches and twigs that the wind knocked down. The ceiling is drying out now that the rain is gone. The wind we had all day helped.
Surprisingly most of the danged squirrel’s nest is still securely wedged in the upper branches of the magnolia tree even though that squirrel has been gone for months. She was the first one relocated in our little relocation program.
We ate the little yellow sugar baby watermelon yesterday. The flavor was good but it’s not something I’ll plant again. There were too many seeds and the vines took up too much space for what little we got from them. I do wonder if that little red one out in the garden is going to be ripe before the first frost.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. After many years of fighting the beast, my sister died of metastatic breast to bone cancer at the age of 44. Therefore, ladies, I ask you please remember to do your monthly self-exams and get a mammogram. Gentlemen you can do your part by reminding your wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, grandmothers…well, you get the idea.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Breast Cancer, 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
After the storm
Posted by doggonedmysteries
With very strong winds gusting and pushing the rain from the south, our roof leaked again. This only happens when conditions are right and conditions were perfect. I cussed the weather and roof and set out the usual buckets. If we could afford it, I’d have that entire roof torn off and redone so it never leaks again.
Since we often have a problem with the power going out in fractious weather, I cooked the bacon for our BLTs early in the afternoon. This time our power stayed on much to our surprise. I told DH it was because for once I was prepared for the worst. I guarantee had I not cooked the bacon for our dinner the power would’ve gone out. I will keep that in mind for future storms.
I see we have some small tree branches down and there are a few plants in the garden that look like an elephant stepped on them. Today is still gray so I’ll wait for clear skies before I go out and clean up the mess. In the meantime, I have buckets to empty, walls to scrub, and more cussing to do.
Posted in Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Construction and Maintenance, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, weather, Writer, Writing
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