Living Large In Our Little House

The first time I saw it in the store, Dale asked me if I wanted it and I told him I would get it on my Kindle.

He said, “Are you sure that will fit on your Kindle?”

I laughed and told him it would.

For me, books are as tempt­ing a buy as candy is to a kid and when I saw “11–22-63,” the new book by Stephen King, it was like that great big lol­lipop, just beg­ging to be devoured.

The events of that day in 1963, changed the course for America, not just dur­ing that decade, but altered our nation’s his­tory from that day for­ward and made more than one per­son won­der what the world would have been like if President Kennedy had con­tin­ued to be a part of it.

It was that generation’s Pearl Harbor and our generation’s 9–11. A day so hor­ri­ble for our coun­try that no one who was alive would ever for­get where they were or what they were doing when they heard the news and a date even most of those who weren’t alive know.

I wasn’t born yet, but the events of that day helped begin my life.

Continue Reading »

Congratulations to Bonnie, who won the copy of “The Last Place You’d Look.” Congratulations to Bonnie and thanks to every­one who entered and thanks to Carole Moore for pro­vid­ing the copy of the book for the con­test! ___________________________________________________________________________________

Molly and Dale

In search­ing for mate­r­ial for a pet col­umn I pen every other week, I found this story about a Maltese named Jake who lived with his own­ers in a sub­ur­ban Washington state home.

They returned from work one night to find his decap­i­tated body under their deck. Jake had access to the out­doors through a doggy door, a con­ve­nience many work­ing pet par­ents have for their four legged fam­ily members.

Jake’s fam­ily home backed up to woods, accord­ing to news arti­cles and although Jake’s own­ers first thought it was a human who had entered their yard and killed their dog, vet­eri­nar­i­ans who exam­ined Jake’s body said it was coyotes.

Although I know coy­otes will kill small pets, I had no idea that dur­ing mat­ing sea­son, they will kill ani­mals they feel are rivals, tak­ing the heads of their prey and bury­ing them elsewhere.

Continue Reading »

I admit that I’m a true crime junkie.

As a Kansan, my mother became inter­ested when Truman Capote released “In Cold Blood.” The hor­rific mur­der of a small town farm­ing fam­ily in Kansas was so unbe­liev­able to most peo­ple at the time that the book drew read­ers who wanted to under­stand how such a thing could happen.

The superb writ­ing and com­mer­cial suc­cess of the new genre ensured it would con­tinue long after Capote’s book was off the best seller lists.

It made a life-long fan of my mother of the genre and by exten­sion, myself as well. “Helter Skelter” was the first “big” book I read as a 8 or 9 year old.

But it isn’t enter­tain­ment so much as it con­tin­ues to be that need to under­stand what makes these mon­sters tick.

That is what makes “The Last Place You’d Look,” by Carole Moore, such an excel­lent read for peo­ple who enjoy the true crime genre in books or tele­vi­sion mag­a­zine shows such as “Dateline,” “48 Hours” and “Disappeared.”

Continue Reading »

Our rural road

A creepy thing hap­pened on my way home from The Belle Writer’s Studio the other night.

Sunlight was wan­ing, giv­ing into dark­ness when I heard Sade, our pit­tie, scratch on the office door. I got up to let her in, only to see her walk­ing up the dri­ve­way toward a vehi­cle parked by our gate.

Although it wasn’t com­pletely dark, I turned on the porch light, think­ing it may be a neigh­bor com­ing to col­lect Buddy, our once fos­ter dog, who has been stay­ing with us while his dad trav­eled for the holidays.

After a few sec­onds when the car nei­ther advanced nor left the dri­ve­way, I stepped off of the porch and began walk­ing up the hill.

Continue Reading »