Open thread: Dog days

I will not be wearing orange, Brunette, but I will wear a bright purple winter scarf. My inner goth (who used to be an inner punk) - both of which I'm too old to be - won't let me have a lot of bright clothing, so you'll have to settle for that. :) I hope we'll get to see each other there.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi

After our dachshund Wally died, it was almost two years before we got Jack. It really does break your heart.

did anyone see this Nature episode on PBS? It's a must see for lovers of the K9.

NATURE's two-part special DOGS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD tells the epic story of the wolf's evolution, how "man's best friend" changed human society and how we in turn have radically transformed dogs. Part one, "The Rise of the Dog," ck local listings for both broadcasts).

schedule for this show

Yes, I'm going to be an author ... instead of just a writer!

I've been working on a crazy novel, Jesus Swept, for more than six years and I finally found a publisher! The company is called Kitsune Books, owned by wonderful woman named Anne Petty.

I'm very excited!

I'm chronicling the publishing journey every step of the way on my literary blog, and I'm planning to cross post from time to time.

A hint from the opening of Chapter 3:

When a back-sliding Baptist sees a sign from god wash up on the beach in front of her, she should know enough to worry. But with her passport to paradise having long since expired, this Sunday walker wouldn’t know a sign from god if it bit her on the butt. Which explains why she doesn’t so much as flinch when the cold Atlantic brine crashes hard around her ankles. Doesn’t see the troubled twins who watch her from the dunes. Doesn’t stop to think. Doesn’t think to pray.

Moving fast to break a sweat, moving slow to comb for shells, she tracks the scalloped driftline with abandon. She angles past a willet standing one-legged in the sand, its head tucked onto its back like a spoon. The whisk of her walking springs the bird to life. It skitters away with her thoughts.

She spies a gleaming glimmer in a swirling tidal pool. She stops and stoops and reaches. She falls face first in the foam.

It goes downhill from there, so to speak.

What a beautiful thing to hear said about your own son. I've never met you and Nan, but I have a very strong idea that the heir to the Nanistan throne didn't turn out the way he is by accident. :)

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

That's quite a testament. You must be very - is proud even the word for that? You must be a terrific father.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi

It's on my list, but it depends on how fast we want the site to be and how much we want to require our readers to pay......if you get my drift. I look at everyone's wish list for the site and some of it is easy, some of it we will never do and some of it is cost (read....new server) prohibitive. We can only add so many bells and whistles before we can't maintain the site at current traffic levels and someone starts bitching about the load time. Lance did a really good job of stripping BlueNC of just abut every unnecessary trinket. Slowly we're trying out some new features. As each works and the site hums along we will add something else.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

feel better soon!

Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi