Blog Archives
Yuck, did we ever get snow this time
Posted by doggonedmysteries
“Who filled out the order form for all this snow?” I asked.
“Dave did.” A little voice told me.
“Dave? I’ll kill him.” I gnashed my teeth and paced the floor.
“You’ll be lucky if you can punch him in the knee caps.” The little voice began to giggle.
I tugged on boots, yanked a snow hat over my hair, and threw on my coat and scarf. “Shut up!” I went outside to shovel a path in the yard so the dogs could go. Grumbling under my breath, “Dave could at least come down here and shovel this mess.”
This storm made last February’s blizzard look like a flurry. Isn’t it spring yet?
Quit laughing Dave…
Posted in Weather 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, Post A Day, Snow, Writer, Writing
If you could choose you neighbor…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Who would choose? Would there be certain pets you’d want there? Ones you wouldn’t want? Are you the neighbor everyone wishes DIDN’T live next door to them?
We have two small dogs and a large domestic short haired black cat living in the house next door to us along with one teenager and two young adults and one matriarchal unit. I love this family and I hope they stay there forever. Patty however, has issues with the two dogs, they always have a few cross words to bark at each other when they are outside at the same time. We’ve had people in that house I wouldn’t wish on…well…anyone!
The next best person who lived in that house was young single woman with two cats. She was seldom home. I often took care of and played with the cats.
We won’t go into the worst of the worst that lived there before her. I don’t want to hear about people spewing their morning coffee onto their computer screens. Suffice it to say the roach people almost had me move out of my house and then there were worse ones.
We were glad when the house was sold and a new owner (see single gal above) moved in. We were terrified when she sold the house remembering the previous tenants. We hoped no one bought the place to rent it out but rather to live there. We were lucky. (See first paragraph.) We love them.
Posted in Misc
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
You know it’s COLD outside when…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The dogs run out do their business and dash back in, in record time.
Long icicles hang from everything.
The cars are grumpy when you try to start them.
The pond heater is working overtime and the Koi are hanging out directly beneath it.
You step outside and your breath freezes in mid-air and drops to the ground with a thud.
You have no desire to go out even when wearing long underwear, layers of clothing, a very warm coat, gloves, and boots.
Yep, it is that COLD outside. When the hell is spring going to get here?
Posted in 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, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Name my Roomba
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We found a brand new Roomba in the MIL’s house. The box was unopened and everything was still in plastic bags and bubble wrap. The batteries that came with it sat for too long without being charged and wouldn’t accept a charge so I ordered a new battery for it.
The battery arrived today. After charging it, it was fun to watch the little sage green guy run about the downstairs chasing down and sweeping up all those wild killer dust bunnies. He’s so darned cute that I think he deserves a name.
Of course, I did this while the pups were secure in their crates because Gavin has a thing for noisy moving objects. See the picture above. That’s Gavin chasing his RC car. He wore out three of those before we decided it was too expensive a toy for him.
Posted in Dog related, Misc
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, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Roomba, Writer, Writing
Slip sliding away…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
What’s worse than having several inches of snow dumped on you? How about having freezing rain on top of it. Ah, yes freezing rain, this means a coating of ice over everything. The yard is a skating rink that neither the dogs nor DH and I appreciate.
Early yesterday morning, when DH took the dogs out as usual, he made the trip with Gavin safely but the trip outside with Patty was a real trip (or was that slip?) and fall. Patty, unencumbered by her daddy on the end of her leash managed to beat him inside. He, due to the ice coating everything, couldn’t get to his feet and had to crawl indoors.
He says that Patty thought that was great fun to watch and as he dragged himself in the door she thought it great fun to bounce around him and plaster his face with kisses. I don’t think he was amused but knowing Patty, she certainly was.
DH is a tad stiff and sore from his slip but none the worse for wear. He’s glad I wasn’t awake and nearby with a camera to catch the action. 😉
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, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
Somehow, things need to change
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You’d think that after two falls in the nursing home that they’d actually keep a closer eye on DH’s mother. Nope, she’s now had five falls. Three falls from her wheelchair and two from her bed. These people are supposed to be taking care of her and at a premium cost no less. Angry doesn’t begin to describe how we feel.
It sickens me that they can get away with this because we have nowhere else to turn. From what I’ve seen on the government ratings, this nursing home is rated three stars higher than the one in which my sister put our mother. This sickens me more.
There is no easy solution, we can’t take care of his mother here, the house is too small and DH has enough to deal with, with his MS. I am not a nurse or a doctor and I am not qualified to take on her care as well as his. Thus, she must be in a nursing home.
There should be more inspections and tighter regulations on nursing homes to raise the quality of care in ALL of them.
Posted in Misc
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Long-term care, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Nursing home, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Smile DH, it’s your birthday
Posted by doggonedmysteries
It’s DH’s birthday today. He’s not exactly doing cartwheels over it. He’s rolling down the backside of his 50s. I’m tempted to drag him out to dinner sometime next week to ‘sort of’ celebrate. It isn’t easy to get him to go out. It’s not that he’s hard to please it’s that he finds many things difficult to chew.
The man needs a new set of choppers but I can’t talk him into going to get them. They aren’t something that I can go buy for him. If I bought him a new lounge chair or some clothing, I can do that without him because I know what he likes and what sizes he wears. However, for new teeth, he needs to be there.
Maybe by this time next year I’ll have him convinced and wearing a new smile.
Say cheese!
Posted in Misc
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
My muse hates puns but I love them
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My muse and I had an argument today.
“Shouldn’t you add some scenery here?” She asked.
“Will it move the plot forward? No. Dialogue will.”
“But I love scenery.”
“I’m not dropping in a paragraph of description just to have my readers skim over it.”
“I wouldn’t skip it,” she replied.
“Then you are a rare reader indeed.”
She preened and smiled at the comment. “Yes, I am unique.”
“That reminds me of a bad pun.” I know she hates puns so I was ready.
“No, don’t tell me.”
“How do you catch a unique rabbit?”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Unique up on it.” I said and giggled.
She groaned, “Keep that up and I’m leaving.”
I went back to typing dialogue. “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.”
She didn’t leave. Instead, she read over my shoulder. “Hey, that dialogue isn’t bad.”
“Told you.”
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
You’re not from around here are you?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I can’t believe that after all these years of living here people still ask me that question. Of course, it is often asked after I’ve been visiting my NY relatives. I tend to pick up that northwestern NY accent in a hurry.
Likewise, don’t get me started on what happens if I travel south. I can drawl with the best of them. Most likely because, we lived in the south where, as a toddler, I did learn to talk. (Oops, maybe I should say tawk.)
I love experts who claim they can tell where you’re from after talking to you for a bit. I confuse the hell out of them.
I hope y’all have a nice day.
Posted in Misc
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Snow, dogs, and a touch of insanity
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had less snow than the weather reporter said we’d get. I woke to the sound of shoveling and then Gavin barking at AJ who had just finished clearing our driveway. He wanted her to pay attention to him. It’s nice not to have to worry about clearing the MIL’s walks and ours.
The pups don’t mind snow if it isn’t deep and they don’t have to be outside long. The sissies. They do tend to raise hell after they’ve been outside, chasing each other around the house. Watching them is like watching the balls bounce around in the lottery drawings. With one exception, the lottery balls don’t move the furniture and bounce off cupboard doors.
During their wrestling matches and mad dashes, I pray the furniture survives. We can’t help but giggle at them when Patty gets the upper hand, grabs Gavin’s collar, and drags him around. It’s a hoot.
Twice today, DH had to remove Gavin’s collar and readjust it to the right size. Patty can sure be a pistol when she wants to be one.
Posted in Dog related, Weather 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, Pet humor, Post A Day, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
Frozen for 20+ years things, look scary.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I’m not getting any younger and I should know better than to work my buns off for five hours without a break. My back is so sore today I can hardly move. My legs and arms aren’t in the greatest of shape now either.
We worked upstairs for three hours sorting through two rooms; we barely put a dent in the stuff there. Then we started on the downstairs freezer so we could turn it off along with the other major appliances.
Most of the pain stems from cleaning years of frozen food out of a chest freezer the size of Alaska. Hell, you can hide a dozen bodies in the darned thing. G and I couldn’t believe the dates (Some items dated back to 1986.) on the packages of WTF are they that we pulled out from the bottom. (We thought we’d never reach it.) “Hold my feet G; I’m going for the stuff on the bottom!”
I don’t think my MIL cleaned out her freezer…ever. The most heartbreaking thing we pulled out of there were a dozen filet mignons of undeterminable age. Crikeys! We both groaned as we bagged them for garbage collection. Steaks, we were throwing away steaks!
It took two hours to clear the freezer of primordial remnants of food. We had two refrigerators their freezers and one small freezer upstairs to go. Thank goodness, they didn’t have a ton of food in them. We’d almost hit the limit of ten garbage bags as it was. The tiny chest freezer upstairs had fresh food in it that I told G to take. I know her sons’ families can use the extra in these hard times.
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
Some who write say:
Posted by doggonedmysteries
“Sit your butt in your chair and write.”
Oh, if only it were that easy.
DH and the dogs vie for my attention especially at mealtime. Four in the afternoon Gavin starts to bug me. He pokes me with his nose, he stares at me, and he bows and barks. Patty dances and sings back up.
“It’s not time yet.”
“What’s for dinner?” DH asks.
“It’s not time yet. Can’t you see I’m trying to work?”
“Oh, I thought it was later.”
“That’s why you have a watch and half a dozen clocks around the house. So that you know what time it is.”
“I figured the dogs knew.”
“The dogs can’t tell time.” I reread what I wrote while he was talking. Hmm, not bad…and then my character can—
“Well, can you tell me what we’re having anyway?”
Typing frantically before I lose my train of thought I snap, “Food, you’ll like it.” I look up and brakes squeal—the train crashes.
I sit back, look heavenward, and the house adds its two cents by waving cobwebs at me from odd places.
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, Post A Day, Writer, Writing
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