Thursday Thoughts

Well, gang, Bugsy is officially on the books at the vet's office as my dog. I took him and Peaches for their shots on Monday. Unfortunately, he almost missed his appointment.





















I had gone out that morning to see how well the two of them would walk together on a leash. Peaches did beautifully, walking right beside me and sitting down whenever I stopped. Bugsy had obviously never been trained to do that, but he kept pace with Peaches well enough, so I figured we'd be okay. I gave them both a treat and turned them loose while I got the car ready. After spreading some old towels on the back seat, I went back in the house to get my purse. When I went back outside, guess what? No dogs.

I called several times, and finally Peaches came loping up the hill. It took another five minutes of calling (aided by Sam, who was on his way to work) before Bugsy finally showed up. Peaches didn't want to get in the car, and after she slipped her collar, I thought she was gone. Fortunately, she didn't run off, but I had to pick her up and put her in the car--all 56 pounds of her, a detail I learned about her after we got to the vet's office. Bugsy had obviously ridden in a car more than she had, settling down on the seat while she had to stand on the armrest and drool all over the place.

Once inside the office, Bugsy was much better behaved that Peaches, who wanted to sit beside me on the bench. His weight is up to 22 pounds, and he looked pretty good except his eyes were kinda goopy. He got lots of shots, a heartworm test, and some antibiotic eye drops that I have to put in twice a day for a while. Peaches just got shots.

When we got home, I put on their new rabies tags, gave Bugsy his heartworm pill and his eye drops, which he took like a trooper. Then I got them some treats and took their picture. I've taught them to sit before I give them a treat. LOL! Can you tell I'm holding treats in my hand?

Here's someone else who's holding a treat in his hand.
Ready, Alicia???

Snowy Monday Moons!

I just received a whole slew of new hunk pics from Sharon, our own Professor Penis. She still can't get Blogger to take her comment posts, but she checks out the blog regularly and misses the interaction with the gang. Hopefully Blogger will be her friend again someday! Here's one of the moons. Not sure what the bouquet of wheat signifies, but perhaps it's a symbol of virility I haven't heard of yet, but those are still some damn fine moons!

Speaking of Blogger, it hasn't been much of a friend to me lately, either. It snowed again on Saturday, so I decided to dust off my camera and take some videos of Peaches out romping in the white stuff. By the time I'd fed the horses and gone back in for the camera, she'd calmed down considerably and was no longer running around like a crazy woman, joyously scooping up snow in her mouth, but I did manage to get a couple of decent little movies.

Then I tried to upload them to Blogger. I tried several different times--even with clips taken with the old camera, which I know I had posted successfully before--and couldn't get anything but "An error occurred. Please try again later." Now, by the time this this blog would have posted two days later, the videos might have been processed and worked, but not trusting to fate, I deleted that post and went back out and took a few still photographs. Peaches, as you can see, was amazingly subdued by then, but she still looks cute with snow on her face.





















This is the tree that came down in the ice storm. You can see it leaning up against the tree second from the left. It's not as big as some of the others that came down a few years ago, and at least this one didn't land on the horse trailer.





















Look at all the dead limbs and branches that have come down out of the tulip poplar in the back yard this winter. Spring cleanup is gonna take a while!





















This is the view down the driveway, which was covered with ice not long ago. Now, it's just covered with snow, which is a little easier to drive on.





















This picture was taken from inside the barn, which gives you an idea of how far the barn is from the house, though that's actually the garage you can see in the photo. The house is hidden behind Jadzia's head. Kes is busy munching on her hay with Peaches standing guard. Jadzia had come closer, apparently thinking that my camera might be edible.





















Now I'm back at my desk with very chilly toes, and since I've finished writing this post, I think I'll go brew another cup of tea and heat up my foot warmer before I get back to work on Stud.

Ah, the joys of winter!

Happy April Fool's Day!

I wish I had a good April Fool's joke to tell you, but today's blog is mostly pictures. The only exciting thing I have planned for April 1st is a dentist appointment. What fun!

As promised, here is a preview of my wardrobe for the RT Booklover's Convention later this month. The first is the red tunic I made to wear to the Elora's Cave party. We're just supposed to wear something red. It's not a sexy party dress, but with a pair of black slacks, I think it will work.



























The next is the Earth Mother costume for the Fairy Ball. I made the skirt from a pattern I bought, but wound up making the top from my trusty nightgown pattern that I copied from a favorite gown years ago. Too bad the sparkly stuff is too uncomfortable to wear to bed. It's a little short, too. I really hated putting so much time, money, and effort into making something I'll probably only wear once, but I suppose the same can be said of a prom or wedding dress. Maybe I can put wings on it and be an Earth Mother Fairy. Or a Fairy Godmother. Of course, this is presupposing that I'll ever go to RT again. It's going to be in LA next year. Not sure I'm ready for that. . . .

After finishing the costumes on Tuesday, I pretty much took Wednesday morning off and enjoyed the outdoors. I spent two hours at the barn combing, clipping, and brushing the horses, who were all so excited about the attention that they left their hay and came over demanding, "Do me now!" "No, brush me!!!" They were looking pretty ratty--and still do to a certain extent--but I got rid of a lot of excess hair and dirt, and everyone enjoyed the experience, including Peaches who has now developed a taste for horsehair. Then I went back to the house and got my camera out to take a few flower pics. The anemones have spread like crazy from where I planted them about 20 years ago,






















and the bloodroot, which you have to be watching for or you'll miss it, was in full bloom.























I may not be any good at it, but Peaches certainly knows how to take a day off. In fact, she has nothing but days off. If she could talk, she'd probably tell me I'm doing way too much and that I should forget about writing books, making clothes, grooming horses, and taking blog pictures, and just plop down in the middle of the driveway and chew on a deer bone.















Oh, to be a dog....

On snow drifts and Whopping Weasels. . . .

Happy Hump Day, ladies!

There were actually some bigger whoppers in that last batch of pics that Ms Moonlight sent me, but I think we need to work up to them s-l-o-w-l-y. . .










They're humongous!!!!

Been getting a lot of writing done on Renegade, and my editor sent me the contract a few days ago. It covers the next three books in the CSC series plus two option books.

Right now, it's 4PM on Tuesday, and I've spent a good part of the day shoveling snow and pushing cars uphill. I got out and went to the grocery (didn't know this storm was coming or I'd have done it on Sunday!) and bought a lot of very heavy things. Cat food, cat litter, Puppy Chow, horse feed, bird seed and a couple of gallons of milk and orange juice in addition to all the regular stuff I was out of. Went to Walmart and the parking lot was completely clear. No trouble there, or at the other places I went, but I knew there was my driveway still to be negotiated and my neighbor's tractor is in the shop. I got almost to the house, unloaded the car, and then Sam and I pushed it up to where I could drive it into the garage.




















Not fifteen minutes later, Sam's day services provider got stuck. It took a lot more doing to get him out, and when we finally did, I told him he might as well just go home instead of taking Sam out for his trip to town because he was bound to get stuck again when he brought him home.

So I'm taking a breather right now before heading to the barn. Peaches just kills me. She bounds through the snow, and the horses trample it down without any difficulty whatsoever. They look at me slogging through the drifts like, "What the hell's the matter with you? Can't walk through a little snow????"





















I told Peaches that in my next life, I want to be a puppy like her with nice people to take care of me so I can have that much energy. I'm pretty sure I never did, even when I was a kid. I could run, but I never ran as fast as she did down the driveway in the snow. She's amazing! I'd show you pictures of her running, but they would just be a blur.




















While I was at Walmart, I went to the lawn and garden department and bought some seeds. Now, I know it will be May before I can plant them, but it still makes me feel better just to have them in my possession and know that someday, it will be warm enough to plant. If only I could be sure that Peaches won't dig them up as soon as I plant them. I just went out to take these pictures and found she had pulled the hatchet and the cat bowl down from their perch. They normally sit on top of two wooden boxes that are on top of a table on the porch. She can jump up there. I know because I've seen her do it. It's hard to believe that this is the same puppy who was so sick at Christmas. I can honestly say that she has fully recovered, but I'm not so sure about me. . . .

Peaches Update!

I took Peaches to the vet on Tuesday morning and she got her staples out and no longer has to wear the Cone of Shame! Yay!!!!

She's much happier. I spent a little time out in the yard after I brought her home, and she was having a blast, racing around and eating rose hips (which I'm sure are NOT on her diet!) while I pruned back the roses for the winter and dragged off some fallen limbs.

Her hair hasn't grown back yet--you can still see where her IV was--but she's out running around and harassing the cats just like she always did. As cold as it's been, she'll have to spend her nights inside, but I'll be letting her out some during the day. The vet said we could start adding regular puppy food back into her diet, but I tried giving her some of that soft food that comes in a pouch as a treat, and she still doesn't think it's edible. Go figure. A dog that will eat rose hips, but not dog food. Rose hips are supposed to be high in Vitamin C, though. Maybe she's trying to eat healthy. God knows that moist and meaty stuff doesn't seem very meaty. I tasted it once and it's a bit like eating springy cardboard.

Yes, the Cat Master has tasted dog food, which might have been better for me than the sugar free chocolate I ate a while ago. It must be full of mannitol or sorbitol because it's got my belly rumbling like crazy.

So much for eating healthy. . .

Happy New Year's Eve!

I know that many of you have your copies of Fugitive in your hot little hands, so you probably won't spend much time here on the blog reading and drooling over the hunks, so I'll be brief!

A whole box of books is headed toward the Borders in Bloomington for my booksigning on Saturday. I sure hope it makes it in time. Apparently it only has to come from Wisconsin, so surely in three days time it will arrive!

Peaches update:
She is doing just fine! She would be eating a whole case of dog food if I gave it to her, but she is still limited to 1 1/2 cans of this special stuff. She's getting a bit stir crazy being all penned up most of the time, but we let her out some so she can stretch her legs a bit. She's learning what it means to be a house dog, and learning pretty quickly, too!






















In other news, I sold my horse, Damar, to one of the doctors at the hospital. The check was waiting for me when I got to work Tuesday night, and though it will help pay Peaches' vet bills, it will by no means pay them off entirely. I hope Damar will be happy in his new home--he's such a sweetie, and I know they'll love him just as much as I do.

Well, must wrap this up and head out to work. I'm working New Year's Eve, too, and I've got my bottle of sparkling grape juice all ready to go. It's kinda fun being at work that night, and on more than one occasion I've had a patient who was alert enough to know what day it was and I've shared a toast with them to better days and better health.

Keep safe this New Year's Eve, and Happy Reading!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Don't you just love Christmas Eve? All the hype and the preparations are (hopefully) done, giving you the opportunity to relax and enjoy the warmth of the season. To gaze at your tree while you sip a cup of hot cider. To watch sappy old movies and Christmas specials you've seen a million times and will probably watch a million more. To nibble on the cookies you've been baking all week and maybe spike a little eggnog.

Egg Nog

4 eggs
4 tbsp rum (optional)
6 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
dash of salt
1 cup cream

Beat egg yolks with other ingredients and then beat into stiffly beaten egg whites. Chill and serve.

OR, for a quicker, easier version, just dump it all in the blender and let 'er rip!

Christmas Eve has become just such a time for us in the past few years. We used to spend the whole day making the 100 mile trip to and from Louisville to visit with family and friends, usually not getting home until midnight. It was hectic and rushed; we'd barely get settled into a conversation at one place before having to hustle on to another. Some years the visit to the cemetery to take a tree or wreath to our son who died before he was born got missed. One year we got there only to wind up locking the keys in the truck and having to walk a good distance in the freezing cold to the nearest telephone and then having to wait for the locksmith; hoping he'd get there before they locked the gates to the cemetery. This, of course, was before any of us carried a cell phone--though even if we had, they probably would have been locked in along with the keys.

But lately, we've been doing the rounds on the Saturday before Christmas, giving us the luxury of a Christmas Eve spent at home with just me and the guys. I always liked getting home late in the old days, because I would spend the stroke of midnight feeding the horses up at the barn, hoping that the old myth that animals can talk at that time was true, but there's a lot to be said for being inside where it's snug and warm. Besides, if they ever talked to me, it certainly wasn't in English!

I love the glow of candles, the scent of pine, and the sparkle of the lights on the tree. We've already watched most of our Christmas favorites, beginning with Scrooge and A Wish for Wings That Work on Thanksgiving night and A Christmas Story the night Mikey came home from college, so The Santa Clause will be what we have left for Christmas Eve.

This year we'll have the added blessing of (hopefully) getting Peaches home and healthy in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, the treats I bought for her gift will have to wait another week or so until she's fully healed and can eat regular dog food, but something tells me she really won't mind. She'll just be glad to be home, and so will we.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow, but for now,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

PS: Hop on over to Casablanca Authors for a chance to win a signed copy of Fugitive!

Not feeling quite so peachy....

I wrapped most of my Christmas gifts last night and I'm surprised how quickly I got it done. Of course, as I write this, the mess is still there in the kitchen. I'll get it cleaned up eventually, but procrastination is becoming my strong suit these days.

Good thing I checked the scheduled posts for the rest of this week, however--because there weren't any! I thought I would add a little something to today's post (whatever it was) and popped in here to do that, and, lo and behold! There were none. No Saturday and Sunday hunks or anything! It's fortunate that Sharon sent me some new hunks or I'd have to go hunting.

I've taken a few days off from writing to actually, you know, work? What a concept! Sometimes the hours spent in the ICU are less demanding than when I'm at home. We had our unit Christmas party Tuesday night, and then hit the ground running when we got to work. Our census has been down forever, but it came back with a bang on Monday. The hospital is running at capacity, which is good for the job security, but not so good when you aren't used to it.

I've been doing a bit of nursing at home, too. As some of you may know, Peaches the puppy has been sick for several days, and I took her back to the vet yesterday morning. They're going to keep her for a while, and I sure hope they can get her well. I miss her already.

You don't realize just how much (or how quickly) a pet can become a part of your life. She's only been with us since September 21st, but going to the barn yesterday afternoon without her was very strange. Her toys were scattered all over the yard, her house and her dish were empty, but Snake and Black Cat were there on the porch to greet me when I went out. Kittycat was waiting in the nectarine tree and together they all escorted me to the barn just in case I'd forgotten how to get there without Peaches to lead the way. Snake has been AWOL for the past week or so. Interesting that she'd come back just when the dog went to the hospital. Maybe she doesn't like Peaches as much as we thought, or she might have been wondering where she was. Don't you wish they could talk?

I'll check in on her today, but she'll probably be at the vet's at least until Monday.

*sigh* It's going to be a long weekend....

Peaches' First Snow!

This is what we woke up to on Monday morning. It was pretty enough for us, but Peaches had never seen snow before. She seemed to take it in stride until we tried to play fetch with a snowball and she was digging around like, "I know this is where it landed. It has to be here!"

























By mid afternoon, however, it was just a memory. As I write this (on Tuesday evening) it's cold, rainy, windy, and nasty and all I want to do is sit by my fire with a cup of tea. Peaches is snug in her dog house and my pot of white chicken chili is simmering on the stove and I'm thinking of taking the evening off.

Nah, still have blogs to write.

Nice try, though.

The Blair Cat Project!

Kendra mentioned in an email the other day that the only one of my cats she'd ever seen was Snake, so I took my trusty Sony Ericsson with me when I went to feed the horses last Thursday morning. I will post pics of the house cats another time, but for what happens outside, video is required.

What follows is quite terrifying and I must warn you: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!



I will say here, that except for the purposes of these videos, I am normally fussing at Peaches the whole time she is wrestling with the cats. The cats, however, fuss at her ALL the time! I only hope she outgrows the roughness before she gets much bigger, but something tells me she won't!



You don't get a very good look at Kittycat in that last one, but she, like Kate and Allie who live in the house, don't have tails--and I can attest to the fact that they were born that way. Their mother was a big, long-haired calico--with no tail!

I'm hoping that Peaches will eventually get too big to crawl under that gate in the barn and the cats will be able to eat in peace, but in the meantime, I have come up with a temporary solution.



This is the last one, I promise! I've put the hay out and the horses have gone out to eat it. Peaches used to hang out with them while they ate, but I suspect that now she goes and cleans up any uneaten cat food. The poor kittys may never forgive me for bringing a dog home. Fortunately, Peaches ignores them the rest of the time.



I'm blogging on Casablanca Authors today. Come on over if you have the time!

Wild and Windy!

There's a type of weather that I associate with fall, but more specifically with a book I read as a child called The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I have no memory whatsoever of the story, but the cover had a picture of a girl standing by a pond surrounded by wind-tossed trees. Ever since then, I always thinks of a day in the fall that is cloudy, windy, and warm as a Witch of Blackbird Pond Day.

Friday was just such a day. This isn't the greatest video quality you'll ever see, (I used my phone) but if you turn up the sound, you can get an idea of what I mean. Peaches, of course, just had to get into the movie and couldn't stand the thought of me standing still and not doing anything and tried to get a reaction out of me. You know how most puppy pictures are a blur? Well, puppy movies are, too!



It started raining right after that, so we both ran back to the porch and Peaches went wild! You can hear how windy it is just by listening to the windchimes, can't you?



I don't think I have much of a future as a cinematographer, do I? Guess I'd better stick to writing novels--or at least get a better camera. . . .

Eight weeks old!

Peaches is now eight weeks old and had just had her first bath when I took this picture on Monday. She did very well with her bath, but it's probably the first and only time I'll be able to do it in the kitchen sink! I used a peach mango dog shampoo, so now she smells more like her name.

Don't let this pose fool you. In the three weeks since she came to live with us, she's grown from a very timid puppy to a little wild woman. Everyone talks about how quickly children grow up, but Peaches has almost doubled in size in less than a month!

Like puppies, books grow very quickly. What started as an idea a few short weeks ago is now taking shape. At the time I wrote this entry, Renegade had already grown to 17,000 words. That doesn't sound like much when you have to write at least 90,000, but I'm starting to get a feel for the characters and the story, just as I'm getting a feel for Peaches and her personality. When I first start writing a book, I don't have a clear cut personality for my characters. I have a few traits and a physical appearance, but that's about it. As I write, they develop in my mind and their motivations become clearer.

With a new story in the works, I find my imagination centers on it while I'm doing other things. I might be washing the dog or washing the dishes, and my trusty ol' brain will pop in with another idea. This usually works better than if I sit in front of my computer and try to force it. But sometimes, the story and the dialogue just flows.

Here's hoping that everything flows for you!