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Cookies, friends, and comfort
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My closest friend stopped by today to schmooze and bring us a container of Christmas cookies. She does this every year. I stopped baking my usual ton of cookies several years ago. (I limit us to a few pies, brownies, and fancy loaf breads most of which I give away.) Dear Hubby and I don’t need too many baked goods around and our dear neighbor’s kindly treat is just enough.
Tomorrow I’ll bake my traditional pecan pie for Thursday’s dinner. If it hadn’t been for another dear friend, I wouldn’t be doing that.
Christmas Eve DH and I will snuggle in with the pups and treat ourselves to a couple of new DVDs, eggnog, and pop corn. The pups will go through their repertoire of tricks to try to beg some pop corn off us. They’ll get some, but they’re not spoiled or anything.
Christmas day we will sleep in late and then enjoy some fresh coffee and sweet rolls. We don’t do gifts. Each day we have together is gift enough for us. The pups will get their new Nylabones, they like presents, and we wouldn’t think of depriving them.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday.
Always check for uninvited guests
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Many years ago, when we still put up a Christmas tree, we’d go to a local tree farm and cut down our own. Getting a tree at a Christmas tree farm guarantees that you get a fresh one. However, every now and then, you might bring home some uninvited guests.
Almost everyone remembers National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. One of my favorite scenes is when Chevy Chase tangles with the squirrel that had stowed away in the Christmas tree. We didn’t have a crazed squirrel but we did find some uninvited guests in our tree one year.
While hanging the lights on the tree I came across two odd looking things stuck to two of the branches. I showed them to Dear Hubby and he knew what they were. He clipped the twigs off, took them outside, and tied them onto a couple of hedge branches. “People pay for those egg casings,” he told me when he came in.
“They what?”
“Those were Praying Mantis eggs.”
“Oh, neat!”
Had those objects stayed in the warm house, several thousand, tiny Praying Mantis would have hatched out of them. It’s definitely not as dramatic as a wild and crazy squirrel stowed away in your tree.
I’m glad we didn’t have thousands of teensy bugs running around the house for Christmas.
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, gifts, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
The procrastinator’s tree
Posted by doggonedmysteries
A conversation I overheard this evening while I had the dogs outside made me wonder how many other Christmas tree procrastinators are out there.
The smallest of three children asked, “We’re getting our tree tomorrow aren’t we Dad?”
“The wind chill is going to drop the temperature to zero degrees tomorrow and there’ll be wind gusts of forty miles per hour. I’m not taking you kids out in that for a tree.” The father tugged on his dog’s leash and dragged it away from a telephone pole.
His wife shrugged. “We can better put it off for another day it’s supposed to be nicer on Tuesday.”
“But, you promised we’d go TOMORROW. All my friends have their trees up already.” The eldest of the three children whined and kicked at a chunk of ice.
“Oh, yeah sure. We’re going to go hunting for a tree in that kind of weather. No way. The tree can wait another day. I don’t intend to be found frozen to some pine tree, ax in hand, at the tree farm.”
The middle child said, “But MOOOOM, tell him Christmas Eve is Wednesday.”
The mother said, “Why don’t we go buy a fake tree tomorrow? Then you won’t need to go chop down a tree and the kids will happy.”
The man wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “But it’s a tradition. I’ve done it since I was a kid. I want them to have the same traditions.”
A day without sunshine is, um, night?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
When I woke up today, thick clouds covered the sky and it was dark enough to make me take a second look at my alarm clock. It didn’t get any lighter as the afternoon wore on. I expected it to storm any minute-it didn’t. The sky brooded all day.
There wasn’t much difference in the light when the sun (what sun?) went down. It’s after two a.m. now and the clouds are still there-thick, heavy clouds. The forecast says we could get as much as six inches of snow. That’s okay. I cleaned all that icy junk off my car and Dear Hubby’s truck today, so I’m ready for the next snow dump.
The pups would be happier with a snow covering over that icy stuff in the yard. Both of them could make do with some doggie snow cleats-do they make them? The next question would be how funny would that look?
Patty manages fine but poor Gavin reminds me of Bambi in the ice skating scene with Thumper. He scrabbles his way out a few feet and back. The relief of making it to the steps is quite evident on his face. Yes, we could do with a bit of a snow coating over the ice if only to give the poor dog some traction.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
“Oh the weather outside is frightful…”
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Is how the song begins. Tonight the weather is not as frightful as it is icy. Gavin looked as if he wished for extra toes and claws as we slipped and slid on our trip outside. Patty, who is a bit lighter footed and coordinated, had less trouble with the yard.
Right before the sun set a crash of snow landed on the porch roof. It shook the entire house and sent the two dogs into fits of barking. It also drove me outside with more salt for the walk.
Much to our delight early today, we had an elf come by and shovel our walk. For years, we were the neighborhood elves who cleared the walks for everyone and it does my heart good to see someone returning the favor. Dear Hubby can no longer do it and having it done before I got out there with a snow shovel pleased me no end. I don’t mind shoveling snow but my muscles do a lot more complaining these days when I do it. Thank you dear elf whoever you are.
Tomorrow I’ll go start my car, crank the heat on high, drag out the ice scraper, and hope I can scrape and melt the icy snow off. The weather report says there’s more on the way so I’d best get that stuff off before Saturday night when the next wave of storms comes through.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Snow, Writer, Writing
Snow groceries
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The weather forecast for Friday is snow with the possibility of it turning into a mix of sleet and rain. I knew this when I went to the grocery store. I knew the panicky load up the cupboard snow shoppers would be out in force.
Why is it that as soon snow is in the forecast people panic and dash to the store to buy an extra gallon of milk? They have a full one at home but MUST buy another one before it SNOWS. I saw dozens of people with milk and bread dashing for the check out line. All the same, I had to do my regular shopping. I was two weeks overdue and running out of things.
When I arrived at the store, all I could find was one dilapidated cart. It looked as though someone had used it to play bumper cars. One front wheel refused to touch the ground and the cart wobbled like a three-legged milking stool with one short leg. By the time I reached the check out, my loaded cart took the strength of Hercules to move. I jealously eyed the carts of the snow shoppers. I envied them those large, un-dented, smooth moving carts with only three items inside. I grumbled at them for using the carts instead of the hand baskets-in which I wished they’d all take a ride to hell. I groaned when I had to take my crippled cart to the car.
Posted in Misc, My blog, Uncategorized
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Malcolm’s Mayhem 13
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We hadn’t planned to own more than one Bull Terrier again. The last female we’d brought into our home hated Malcolm. The whole eight months she lived here, the merciless Mercy tried to kill him. Although Malcolm took her murder attempts with good humor, we couldn’t handle it in our small house. Mercy is the dog who pulled the entire back off our sofa from the inside of her crate, a feat we never did figure out, but my theory is that Malcolm helped her. I’m sure he gave her an end of the material to tug, egged her on, and then sat back waiting for her to catch hell. Fortunately, she was a young, pretty girl. Her breeder was glad to take her back and find her a home without another dog in it.
Then Sadie came into our lives. Dear Hubby had never shown an interest in colored Bull Terriers but this one stole his heart. When I rescued her from a shelter, she showed obvious signs of abuse and neglect. I keep the rescue dogs at a distance while they are with us. Early on when I began rescuing Bull Terriers, I learned not to become too attached to them the hard way. It hurt too much to give them up to a home if I did, and I didn’t have room for more than two permanent dogs.
Sadie was shy where Malcolm was outgoing they were suited to each other. She grew more outgoing and loving over the years. This was good. On the other hand, Malcolm did introduce her to monkey business and she became a real pro. Not good.
Sadie was the dog who ate the five-foot square area of vinyl floor in my kitchen. These days, I’m smarter, now I have a ceramic tile floor in my kitchen.
Malcolm adored Sadie, she adored DH and Malcolm, and I wasn’t surprised the day DH came home with a new collar for her along with her own shiny, new dog license.
“I guess she’s staying,” I said when he showed them to me.
“She loves us.”
“And, she hasn’t tried to bump off Malcolm.” I looked at the two dogs curled up together on the sofa. “It looks like we’re a two dog family again.”
Posted in Dog related, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Don’t want to go out in the snow
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I took the dogs out before they went to bed, it wasn’t too cold, and the ground was almost dry. The dogs were snoozing for hours when I figured it was time for their late night trip outside.
Gavin came out of his warm and cozy crate still sleepy. When I opened the back door to let him out, he gave me a look of disgust. “You got me out of my nice warm bed for this?”
Snow had covered the ground with thin blanket and large flakes were dancing down from the sky. A few years ago, he would’ve been bouncing out the door, racing around in the snow, and snatching up large bites. Tonight he took as few steps out into the yard as possible to do his business. I hope it was the late hour and not that he’s beginning to grow up.
Patty’s reaction was almost identical except she walked a bit further into the yard.
It’s raining now and getting warmer so by morning most of the snow will be gone. I almost wish it would remain long enough to see if their reactions were only due to the late hour and not to them outgrowing the puppy joys of snow.
Posted in Dog related, My blog
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Santa’s elves didn’t have kids
Posted by doggonedmysteries
You can blame the Lipstick Chronicles and Harley’s last post for my blog tonight. It made me remember the things Dear Hubby and I used to do during the Christmas holidays.
We didn’t have children. However, we did celebrate Christmas in our own way. Each year we’d buy toys and drop them in the Toys for Tots bin. (We still do that.) We’d put up a Christmas tree, decorate the house, and I’d bake cookies and fancy breads. Our neighbors would bring their children’s gifts to our house. We marked each household’s gifts and stored them in the attic.
Every Christmas Eve we’d go to one neighbor’s house for a small party. (We were their second child’s Godparents.) Around nine we’d go home. They’d put their two daughters to bed and wait for us to return with Santa’s gifts. For the next couple of hours, Dear Hubby and I would run up and down the street delivering Santa’s gifts to the other neighbors. Our last stop would be back at our Goddaughter’s. Usually, her mother and I assembled the toys well before Christmas Eve. However, on occasion, DH and I were the elves who put them together Christmas Eve.
When our Goddaughter hit the Barbie doll and bicycle age, we in some way turned into the elf assembly team and Dear Hubby and I put together the Barbie townhouse-a flimsy affair. We then carried it three doors down the street in ten mph winds and snow. Upon arrival inside our friend’s home, we all sat down with a bottle of wine and spent another hour rebuilding it.
The next year we had the construction of Barbie’s car and the application of gazillions of stickers to it. These stickers were so teensy that they required an electron microscope, tweezers, and the hands of a surgeon to apply them.
In the year of the bicycle, our Goddaughter’s father and DH spent two days putting it together. I hadn’t heard language like that since I’d worked construction.
Late at night, every Christmas Eve after all the gifts were distributed, I put small strings of sleigh bells on my dogs and walked them for several blocks. The dogs loved the walks and I think they got a kick out of the bells because they sure would make certain they jingled a lot.
My cousin’s art blog
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Tonight I was so busy working on my book that I couldn’t think of anything to write about for my blog. Then it occurred to me to send you over to see what my cousin is doing. She’s quite the talented artist.
I haven’t seen her for about thirty five years and we only recently managed to get in touch because her sister directed me to the blog. You’ll find the link to her blog in my blogroll-Carol’s art blog.
She has quite a collection of her work there so do take the time to check through her back blogs.
Have fun!
Posted in Misc, My blog, My books, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
All I needed was dog food…
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I had to go to the pet store for dog food today. I knew there was no way I could put it off any longer. Horror of horrors, Gavin and Patty had the last of their kibble for breakfast this morning. If I didn’t have dog food in time for their dinner, my life would be a living hell. Gavin scolds me enough when it hits five o’clock and I haven’t begun to fix their dinners. Imagine the screaming I’d be in for if I didn’t have dog food. Bull Terriers can and will scream at you.
Once there, I drove around the large parking lot at the strip mall for quite a while before I could find a place to park. I’m always willing to park in the boondocks but even the remote never-used-except-at-this-time-of-year parking spaces had no openings. At last, a spot opened up, I parked, and dashed from the car to the store.
Once in the door, I grabbed a cart and instead of heading directly back to where their food resides I picked up two bags of their favorite cookies, ear cleaner (won’t Patty be pleased? NOT!) And two large Nylabones.
We haven’t bought the pups new bones in a while and their toy box is looking a bit empty. Yes, they are spoiled. There was also a method to my madness. I hate crowds and I don’t want to go back there until after the holidays.
Arriving home, I dragged the huge bag of food inside. I went back out to the car for the other stuff, and when I returned to the kitchen, the dogs mugged me. The pups had caught the scent and couldn’t wait for me to open the Nylabone packages. They danced about and jumped on me, each wanting to be the first one to have a new bone. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching the two of them alternately steal each other’s new bone and celebrate each theft with couch bounces, headshakes, and wagging tails.
Posted in Dog related, My blog, Uncategorized
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Pet humor, Pets, Rescue Dogs, Writer, Writing
Bottom Line Books scam
Posted by doggonedmysteries
My mother in law is eighty-one years old. Her vision is poor and she doesn’t read. She’s never read more than a few books. This is a great sorrow for me, a writer.
However, Bottom Line Books has relentlessly billed her for books that she never ordered, never received, and didn’t want. They’ve even sent her to collection through the North Shore Agency, Inc.
Dear Hubby spent three days on the phone calling North Shore trying to get through their maze. After bouncing from one number to another and spending hours at a time in the phone, he at last talked to a human. He told the person that he was a retired Police Officer. His mother hadn’t ordered the books. She didn’t receive or want them, and was being fraudulently billed. He explained that he’d researched both their company and client and that he understood that they provide a service that some people don’t like. He added that as a Police Officer, he was often disliked and unappreciated. The person passed his call to her manager. Dear Hubby suggested to the manager that they check into their clients’ background before they accept a job. The collection they were doing on his mother was bogus. The manager told him they’d take care of it and deleted my MIL from their list.
The manager did a search for any more collections from Bottom Line Books listed at my MIL’s address. A few seconds later, she said, “here’s another collection for Bottom Line at that residence it has a different first name.”
Dear Hubby chuckled and told them, “I’m sure he’d be glad to pay the bill but it will be hard to reach him. The delivery charge might be a bit steep and his current residence has no zip code, unless it’s the dead letter office. He’s been deceased for over ten years.” The collection agency manager weakly replied, “No problem we’ll take care of that one as well.”
*See my post: Bottom line books scam part 2
**See also: Painvanish another scam and Painvanish problem settled
Doggonedmysteries 