Blog Archives

I am a fan

     Okay, I admit it.  I’m a Jeff Dunham fan.  I grew up watching Edgar Bergen and never has there been anyone to compare to him until Jeff Dunham came along. 

     The first time I saw Jeff Dunham’s act he only had his purple sidekick, Peanuts.  Wow, how long ago was that?

     I’ve enjoyed watching his group of wise cracking puppets grow.  The man’s superbly twisted humor is obvious in all his characters from Walter the old curmudgeon to Achmed the dead terrorist.

     I watched Dunham’s Christmas special on the comedy channel the other night and the man had me rolling on the floor.  In this rough economic time, we all need a good laugh and this man certainly delivers.

     I’ve seen his other shows a few times and each time they’ve made me laugh, not many people can do that to me.  I say take your laughs where you can get them they are good for your health. 

     Oh, and Jeff if you’re ever in our area I’ll be the first in line for tickets to your show.

The editor is back

     I thought I’d silenced my resident editor for a while and was tooling along on one of the books today.  The editor on my shoulder was very quiet which made me think that things were going along smoothly, but I’m not that lucky. 

     After several hours of working on a dialogue in Doggoned Dead, he shot off my shoulder and kicked me in the buttocks. 

     “Hey, that was uncalled for,” I said.

     “No, it wasn’t.  You aren’t paying attention.”

     I stared at the evil little guy.  “What do you mean I wasn’t paying attention?”

     “Helloooo.  You have your main character speaking to someone who is in Doggoned Bones not Doggoned Dead.”

     “I do not-” I reread the dialogue.  “Oh, crap.”  I scrolled back and spent the next few minutes changing the name every place I’d used it.

     “There, you @#$%!#* happy now?”

     “Yeah, that works for me.”  The evil little editor grinned at me and then said, “One more question, are you going to change the setting to fit the scene?”

     “What?”  I reread the entire scene.  “Son of a-”

     “Don’t say it.”

     “#$*$!  Why did you let me write the entire scene in the wrong setting?”

     “You have to ask?”

     The air around me turned a repulsive shade of blue while I reworked the scene.

Lucky I didn’t catch them…

     We had some vandalism done to our new vinyl fence tonight.  After I’d ranted, raved, and cussed at whoever did it, I told Dear Hubby they were lucky that I hadn’t caught them in the act. 

     Don’t forget I write murder mysteries.  I came up with a hundred or so ways they’d pay for their intrusion into our lives.  None of them was very nice but all of them were quite imaginative.  For example, there was the one idea I tossed out of using the damaged pickets in a certain spot to turn the vandals into popsicles.  However, most weren’t that nice.

     The police came and made a report because the damage was enough to warrant one.

     Dear Hubby can’t do the repairs needed on the fencing and I am handy but with the colder weather closing in, this repair isn’t going to be easy.  At least with warm weather I could bend the new pickets enough to place them into the fence without damaging them.  I’m not so sure now.  We could call the fencing company and have them do it but the second month it was up we had some minor car damage to the fence and it took them several weeks to show up.

     It’s too bad that I didn’t catch the idiots.  One thing I would’ve done was make their lives miserable for a while.  This was intentional damage, done without the least care as to how it affected us.  Worst of all this was probably done as a lark, by kids-oh, look at me!  See what I can do! 

     Now, my dogs can’t run loose in the yard until the fence is fixed.  Gavin and Patty will not be amused.

Malcolm’s Mayhem 11

     The first summer Malcolm was with us, we found out that he couldn’t swim.  It’s not that he didn’t try.  He did try many times, and failed.  It’s strange to watch your beloved pet dog paddling like hell but sinking straight to the bottom like a large white rock.  Our other two Bull Terriers could swim, who knew?

     The first time we observed the spectacle Dear Hubby had Malcolm on a leash and was walking him around a lake.  Malcolm was having a wonderful time scampering along the bank, hopping up on the many small docks, and bounding off into the water on the opposite sides.

     That was until he leapt off one that had a deep pool on the far side.  Next thing DH knew Malcolm was dog paddling and sinking fast.  He hauled him out as quickly as he could.

     Putting the incident down to inexperience on Malcolm’s part he figured a few swimming lessons over the summer would solve the problem.  DH was on the swim team in school, he was even a lifeguard for years, and well, why don’t we say, it was a case of male logic.

     He took Malcolm out to the lake many times.  Malcolm would try to swim with him but it never failed, the dog sank and DH had to go to the rescue.  DH gave up eventually and we didn’t think about very often.

     That was until we visited relatives who had an in-ground pool in their back yard.  However, the first time Malcolm was out in the yard, he spotted the swimming pool.  In he went, and not in the shallow end, no, he had to dive into the DEEP end.  Malcolm dog paddled all the way to the bottom.  DH, thank goodness, had Malcolm on a leash and managed to pull him out before the idiot dog even realized he was on the bottom of the pool.

Dear Hubby MS and cooler weather

     As much as I love summer, I do hate the toll the heat takes on Dear Hubby.  Once the temperature soars above the seventies, he can’t stand the heat and spends most of his time indoors in the air conditioning.  His MS damaged nerves don’t tell his sweat glands they need to work and he quickly overheats.  The dogs and I do miss having him outside with us.

     Fall brings with it some relief for Dear Hubby.  Now that temperature is cooling down, he has a little more energy, can go outside more often, and he’s even making plans for his yearly hunting trip.

     The hunting trip becomes more difficult for him each year as his strength, balance, and health wane but he’s determined to continue going for a long as he can.  I tell him to go, enjoy, and have fun.  It’s good for him to keep doing it every year.

     Winter can be a problem because he feels he must go out and run our snow blower.  I do try to beat him to the job as often as I can, knowing he’ll push himself beyond his limits.  Thank heavens the neighbor’s sons will take over the job too when they notice him out there clearing the walk and driveway.

     No, it’s never going to get easier but we do have plenty of good and very kind friends who help when help is needed.  To them I say, Thank you.

Diamonds are forever…

     Every commercial on TV is screaming, “Buy me!  Buy me!”  Half of these are the ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ commercials.  Handsome men present necklaces that are dripping in glittering stones to attractive wives or girlfriends whose eyes light up with love.  They flash these gorgeous nothing-less-than-a-carat diamond rings with breathtaking settings onto the TV screen and tell you, if you love her, you’ll buy her one.

     A few years ago, my friend almost lost her diamond because the prongs holding it in the setting had worn down to nothing.  Her diamond popped out and, lucky for her, it landed on her keyboard. 

     Which brings me to the conversation Dear Hubby and I got into about my engagement ring.  After watching a trillion of those commercials, I’d taken my ring off to check the setting.  We’d had the prongs checked right after my friend’s ring incident but I hadn’t really looked at them in while.  The prongs were fine but wow the band sure is thinning.  You see I’ve worn it for thirty-five years.

     I said, “Hey Hon, look at this.”  I showed him the ring. 

     He examined the ring and said, “Yes, you are wearing a bit thin after all these years.”

     “You’d best smile when you say that, boy.  I write murder mysteries.”

     Lucky for him he was grinning.