After years of hiding my furniture under afghans, quilts, and throws, it's time. Out with the old and in with the new. Except I don't want the new to look old within two days, which is exactly what might happen. This is the old. Skye started the shredding years ago. Then Kensi came to live with us and joined in the fun. I tried deterrents. Nothing worked. I tried slip covers. There's a reason they call them SLIP covers. They slip all over the place. What's uglier? Clawed furniture or bunched and twisted cock-eyed slip covers? It's a toss-up. Lately I just threw blankets over everything. Why buy new when Kensi's just going to use it as another scratching post? (She has three of the real things and uses them all, so redirection isn't the trick.) Because the old chair has lost so much stuffing and has gotten so saggy, it's no longer comfortable. Hubby would rather lie on the wood floor than lounge in his recliner. So I went shopping. I haven...

I finally admitted I'd outgrown my kindergarten-level Samsung Galaxy Core Prime smartphone and upgraded to a Galaxy 7S a little over a week ago. I could sing love songs to this new phone. And I am extremely grateful to my favorite Verizon guy who took the task of transferring all my "stuff" from the old phone to the new. Technology-wise, the smaller the learning curve for me, the better. One of the things I did before putting my old phone on the shelf was transfer the photos I'd taken on it over the last two years to my computer. I've deleted more than I kept because--let's face it--3 megapixels. The camera sucked. But here is a sampling of life as captured by my cell phone camera over the last two years. Beginning with lunch with my friend, Terri Watson, in Nashville, TN. Such a fun afternoon! Great memories. An in-the-wild book sighting of Bridges Burned: Kensi daring me to keep working on edits: Caught on Mystery Lovers Bookshop's ...

Remember this photo from my previous post? Well, it now gives me chills. I'm not going to go into the long version of the story here because I'm guest blogging at Jungle Red Writers in a couple of weeks and will share the whole ordeal there. Suffice it to say, cat slaves, do NOT, under any circumstances, bring lilies into your house. While I only let Kensi near the bouquet briefly for that photo and then placed it in a spot where I knew she couldn't get to it, once the flowers wilted, a few petals made their way onto the floor. And into Miss Nosy's mouth. She was hospitalized for two day complete with IVs and meds to save her kidneys from failing. It was horrible for her and for me. The story has a happy ending though. She's home and over the trauma. You think she was spoiled before? HA!

I'm convinced that the Universe sends me special-needs kitties because the Greater Power knows I will take care of them. I've had cats with kidney failure, cats with thyroid issues, one blind kitty... Sammie had cancer. Skye had Bartonella's disease. Kensi? Well, up until now I thought Kensi was my gift for having cared for the others. Finally, a healthy, low-maintenance feline. This winter has been a rough one for everyone in my family. First Mom's failing health and her death in early January. Since then, I've been sick with one thing or another. Stress related. Diminished immune system stuff. If' I've not been ill, Hubby's had this bug or that. And Kensi has been sneezing and wheezing through it all. I wasn't panicked because she hasn't acted sick otherwise. She's eating. She's ripping and racing through the house. But she's had this upper respiratory thing that just would not clear up. Monday, I took her to the vet. Dia...

Some of you may have already heard, but for those who haven’t, Skye didn’t make it. Last Monday, the bleeding from her mouth became much worse and didn’t ease up. In spite of that, she and I had a lovely night. She stretched out on my lap Monday evening while I watched TV, kneading my legs. I woke up Tuesday morning to her soft purring as she slept on my feet. But I knew when I looked in her eyes…she was ready. My vet’s office took us right away. I had some quiet time with her before my wonderful vet came in. He’d been with us from the start. It was fitting he was with us at the end. She died peacefully in my arms. Kensi and I had several rough days afterwards. Kensi kept looking for her big sister. I tried to give her extra TLC, but she was mad at me. I took Skye away and didn’t bring her home. But we’re both doing better. I’m down to one good crying fit a day. In case you’re interested, today’s tears are falling right now…as I write this. Sweet Skye, you...

The good news is I thought this post was going to be a memorial to my Skye kitty. Instead, it’s a tale of one tough little furbaby. Skye has been a Bartonella cat for as long as I’ve had her. For those who know nothing about this wicked disease, let me give a little background. Bartonella is a bacterial infection spread by fleas. It has no cure and, in Skye’s case, manifests itself as severe periodontal disease and gingivitis. Over the years, Skye has dealt with sore, red, often bloody gums. I’ve treated her with round after round of antibiotics and too-frequent steroid shots. But lately nothing has been giving her more than a week or two of relief. For the last year, I’ve had a sense that we were on borrowed time. This last month has been the worst. Yet through it all, she continued to eat and to snuggle with me. I wasn’t ready to let go when she still had so much fight left in her. Last Sunday morning I awoke to find her right upper lip/cheek swollen. Of course,...

One of the things I hope to improve upon in this new year is decluttering. With the demands of deadlines, not to mention the great excuse “I don’t have time to clean. I have to write,” my house has become a series of what I affectionately call “hog holes.” Comfy, but messy. A little TOO lived in. So I’m tackling one hog hole at a time. No, I will not be showing you the before photos. They might result in a film crew from some hoarding reality show appearing on my front porch. However, here is my first tidied corner of my house. Books and DVDs all neat and orderly. Small cabinet’s top cleared of “stuff.” On to the next corner…which sad to say now contains some of the junk I cleared from THIS corner. Sigh. In other homefront news, Skye has developed a new quirk. She no longer wants her food in the kitchen. She now prefers to eat it in the bathtub! If I set the bowl down elsewhere, she snubs it, goes to the bathroom door and looks at me until I follow her. Then ...

In less than a week, I’ll be winging my way to Long Beach , CA for Bouchercon: Murder at the Beach . Having seen our local forecast, I think I’m getting out of town just in the nick of time. That “polar vortex” thing is being tossed around again. Whoever coined that term should be shot. Too apocalyptic. In the meantime, I’m trying to get my household in order. You see, not only am I attending Bouchercon, I’m then heading to New Mexico for a much needed vacation and some girlfriend time with my BFF Leta. The problem is I’m leaving Hubby at home to take care of the cats and life in general. I think he’s having panic attacks. Hubby: “Am I going to have to do laundry ???” Maybe I should stop at the store and buy a few packages of new underwear and socks for him. The cats aren’t thrilled with the idea of being left with The Dad either. Kensi: “Puh-LEEZE take me wiff you, Ma!” Sorry, baby girl. 

After a whirlwind couple of months, life is finally slowing down to a tolerable level. And it's June. I love early June.  Provided it isn’t storming. Some of the worst storms we’ve ever had in this area hit on May 31 or June 1. This year, we’ve been lucky. A bit of rain during the week, but gorgeous weekends. I guess this is our reward for suffering through last winter. Everything is so green it makes your eyes hurt.  My  rhododendron was splendid this year after not blooming at all last year.  I've already started dining from our garden. Lettuce, radishes, and green onion salads. YUM!  And topping things off, my advanced copies of LOST LEGACY arrived! Kensi approves! Or maybe Kensi just wants me to unpack the books so she can have the box to play in! So enjoy the sunshine. Take a nap. Read a book. Happy June!

Some Higher Power seems to think I'm a good kitty mom because He keeps sending me cats with health problems. I've dealt with thyroid issues, kidney failure, blindness, deafness, and cancer in my cats over the years. After my sweet Sammie lost her battle to squamous cell carcinoma, I thought my next rescue kitty, Skye, would be low maintenance with her measly allergies. That fantasy lasted all of a week when my vet diagnosed her with Bartonella. You might have heard of it called Cat Scratch Fever. There's a lot of conflicting information out there about the illness. Basically, it's spread by fleas. Skye had been infested with them when she was dumped at the shelter. In her case, the infection manifests itself in severely inflamed gums. But after a couple of rounds of azithromycin, Skye's oral problems were under control. That lasted for about five years. Now, it's back. I did three rounds of the antibiotic this time with only temporary results. Last...

I'm at Working Stiffs today with a post about a kitty crime. Actually, it's about my recent adventures in pet sitting, but I had my crime fiction writer hat on at the time.

...for Skye. Ho hum.