Cozy mystery…#2

Posted on Saturday, July 5, 2008
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Murder Can Land You in a Jam…

Sensing the shadow that crossed my face wasn’t a cloud, and the pounding in my head wasn’t a dream, I peeled one eyelid open into a slit, just enough to catch the glint of what looked to be a very long, sharp knife (hey, is that my good Wusthof?) pointed at me, less than a foot from my face. And Taffy’s husband Sim on the other end, staring at me.

I was still in too much of a sleep fog to be terrified, but conscious enough to know it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to make any sudden moves, like one that might startle Sim into carving my face like a Thanksgiving turkey.

“Hey Sim,” I managed groggily. “What’s with the knife?”

“Huh?” He looked down at his right hand as if he had just discovered he had one, then looked me. He laid the knife down on the table. My relief must have been visible. “Oh, damn, Ellie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Taffy asked me to return the knife to you yesterday, and I forgot.” (so it was my good Wusthof).

10 Things to do with your family on Friday night…#1

Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008
Filed Under 100 Words | Leave a Comment

Sing along with a great old song while you’re reading by scrolling down and clicking the Play icon. If the video doesn’t play in Firefox, try Internet Explorer.

Families don’t sing together anymore - well, okay, I’m pretty sure the Osmonds do. But the rest of us us don’t sit down and look at each other and try to harmonize and remember the words. Two-part harmony. Like Don and Phil. Ya’ll take the take the high part, we’ll take the low part. And we’re not afraid to mess up. Or sing off-key. And we laugh when we do mess up and sing off-key. No big deal if we start over a hundred times. Wait, wait, start over, I messed up. And the harder we try and the more we laugh, eventually there’s that one perfect time. All the way through. Magic. When we look at each other and say wow. We did it. Just like Don and Phil. Well, almost. And something else has happened while we’re singing and looking at each other and laughing and trying to harmonize. We have. This funny, flawed, fabulous family.

Put this on your list of 10 Things To Do With Your Family on Friday Night. Order a pizza, stock up on Cokes and get out some old music. It’s free, you don’t have to go anywhere and it doesn’t get any better than the Everly Brothers. I’ve even given you the lyrics (below). Enjoy. Thanks, Don and Phil. Thanks, Ethan Dalloway for your work on the nice little video. And, Mama, thank you, letting me start over 100 times…

Darlin’ you can count on me
Till the sun dries up the sea
Until then I’ll always be devoted to you

I’ll be yours through endless time
I’ll adore your charms sublime
Guess by now you know that I’m devoted to you

I’ll never hurt you, I’ll never lie
I’ll never be untrue
I’ll never give you reason to cry
I’d be unhappy if you were blue

Through the years my love will grow
Like a river it will flow
It can’t die because I’m so devoted to you

I’ll never hurt you, I’ll never lie
I’ll never be untrue
I’ll never give you reason to cry
I’d be unhappy if you were blue

Through the years my love will grow
Like a river it will flow
It can’t die because I’m so devoted to you

Fire ants in a swimming pool

Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2008
Filed Under editing | 2 Comments

This is an editing sample.

The original article was written by Dr. Bastiaan “Bart” Drees, professor and Extension entomologist for Texas AgriLife Extension Service. Dr. Drees is an internationally-known expert on fire ants, and the author of numerous publications and books.

The audience is the general public looking for answers to fire ant problems. Thanks to Dr. Kathy Flanders of Auburn University for her review and edits.

The entire article is posted at extension.org.

This photo animation, taken the day after a major fire ant mating flight in Houston, Texas, shows how winged fire ants can accumulate in swimming pools and other bodies of water.

In high humidity areas where the temperatures range from 70 to 95 degrees F, fire ant mating flights occur the first sunny day after a rainy period. Winged female and male reproductive ants, called alates, leave the mound, fly several hundred feet up in the air and mate in flight. The males die soon after, but the females go on to establish new fire ant colonies.

The female alates search for nesting sites and are often drawn to the shiny surface reflection of water as a landing place. The explanation for this attraction to water is that they are seeking riverside areas with high moisture and soft soil – ideal conditions for initiating new colonies. In the case of this motel swimming pool, some ants landed on the water, some sought refuge in the vacuum hose, but many were captured in the pool skimmer. Finding ants in a swimming pool can be an important signal that a new wave of fire ant colonies will soon establish mounds in the surrounding landscape.

The ants in the pool do not sting, but they do carry poison sacs that contain a toxin that is reportedly deadly to small fish if the ants are consumed. There is speculation that this is a cause of some fish kills in fisheries in central Texas.

Once the alates identify a suitable nesting site, they drop their wings (or pull them off), dig a burrow and start laying their eggs. They tend the eggs and the larvae that hatch from the eggs. They feed the larvae from their body food reserves (digesting wing muscles) and by cannibalizing some of their brood (eggs and larvae). After a month, or so, the larvae pupate and small worker ants emerge. The worker ants are responsible for building the new fire ant mound.

Cozy mystery…#1

Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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Murder Can Land You in a Jam…#1

I set the last pot of peach butter on the back of the stove to cool, poured another cup of coffee and stepped out onto the terrace just outside the kitchen. As good as the house smelled inside (like peaches and summer), cooking had made the kitchen unbearably hot, and I needed a break.

Outside, what was left of the morning was still cool enough to enjoy, so I sat down at the table and put my feet up on the chair opposite me. In the tree overhanging the terrace, a squirrel had found the bread bits I’d left earlier. The honeysuckle was fragrant and my Lady Banksia roses were blooming all over the trellis like little sunbursts. Taffy Duckworth’s murder yesterday seemed like it had happened in another realm, not in my lovely old neighborhood.

I laid my head back and let the warm sun drench my face. The sound of the water in the fountain must have lulled me to sleep because the next thing I knew someone was shouting my name. I woke up with a sunburn, a splitting headache, and Sim Duckworth standing over me holding a knife.

Dear Peter, Love Mimi.

Posted on Sunday, June 1, 2008
Filed Under Letters | Leave a Comment

Photo by desi.italy

Hello, baby Pete,

It’s Mimi, your grandmother. You don’t know me very well yet because, well, you don’t know much of anything yet, being so little and all. But you will. And I hope we’re going to have a wonderful time together as you grow, so let me tell you a little about grandmothers just so you’ll have a broad idea of what you’re dealing with…when you learn what all these words mean, that is.

A grandmother is a woman who is your mommy’s mommy. You see, your mommy was once a little baby like you are now. I know, hard to imagine. And even though she’s all giant and grown up and everything, I am still her mommy. And now she’s a mommy. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Weird to me, too.

Grandmothers (we’ll call them Mimis) are very special. They’re like mommies, only with super-duper magic powers. They can play card games for hours. Mommies can’t do that, they’re too busy. Mimis can build and fix things and make up games and stories and silly songs and buy you stuff mommies say you don’t need. Mimis are the best readers in the world, too, and can help you find books you will love.

Mimis know many, many things. They can teach you about events that happened before you were born and even before your mommy was born! Mimi will tell you all about the 60’s when you are older. Let’s see, what else… Oh, Mimis can take you swimming — did you know that Mimi and your mommy and your daddy were all competitive swimmers? — and to Dairy Queen for a Dip Cone, or just sit and watch fuzzy caterpillars inching along the patio on a summer morning. They can make make you giggle and laugh out loud, and comfort you when you cry. And, later on when you’re older, they can be there for you when it seems like your mom and dad don’t understand, or when your heart gets broken for the first time.

Grandmothers have grandmother names. Mimi isn’t my real name. It’s a grandmother name. Kind of a silly concept, I know, but then you’ll find out a lot of stuff doesn’t make sense. Anyway, there are many different grandmother names, but I like Mimi the best. You will probably think I’m more like Auntie Mame than a Grandma anyway — the name Auntie Mame will mean more to you as you discover the great Broadway musicals — so Mimi it is. I know, it’s very complicated, but we’ll figure it out together.

Your mommy had two grandmothers, and so do you. Gran was your mommy’s grandmother. And she was my mother. Whew, it’s so hard to remember! I even had a grandmother. Her real name was Eunice and that’s what I called her. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know — and that’s something you’ll hear Mimi say a lot — but I wish you could have known her (and my grandfather, too, but that’s another lesson). Eunice made the best fried potatoes and onions in the world - and she bought me avocados when I was a little girl. Oh, you are going to love avocados. They’re 12 ounces of luscious, creamy, goodness just made for Mimis and Peters to share.

So, welcome to my heart, little man. There is so much to learn, I know. You will have so many questions. I hope I can give you the answers.

I love you.

Blog of note…The Smart Set

Posted on Sunday, June 1, 2008
Filed Under Blogging | Leave a Comment

I won’t make this subject a regular feature because, frankly, writing about other blogs doesn’t interest me, but when I come across some good ones, I like to share it because, well, I’m a sharing, giving person.

Having a blog pretty much necessitates that one, at least, look around at other blogs just to see what’s out there. While I’ve landed upon some really, really bad blogs, I’ve managed to find some jewels, too. It would be too easy to spend the next hour (yeah, it takes me that long) writing a post that mocks the bad ones; so, once in a while, I’d rather highlight some of the blogs I think represent what a good blog should offer: good writing, interesting content and good design. Oh, and if they don’t mention Facebook. Super-annoyed by the Facebook.

I came upon a cute post this morning at The Smart Set from writer/comedian Meg Favreau. She writes about her first job out of college as a writer for QVC, the home shopping giant, where she wrote “on-screen product information, cue cards for the hosts, and one-paragraph show descriptions like: ‘Western fashions that are at once sexy and simple, incorporating trends into wearable designs that give any woman an affordable taste of the American ranching lifestyle.’

Hmm. Sexy, simple, wearable, affordable. Every gal’s dream. I’ll take one in every color on the Easy Pay, please.

I’ve never bought anything on QVC, but it’s kind of mesmerizing to watch. Thanks to Meg’s clever insights, I’ll enjoy it more now.

Meg Favreau also has her own blog, I Hear You Like Stories.