Sad New

Luke called yesterday. His dog, Snoopy, finally passed away. That is such sad news. Snoopy was nearly fifteen years old, quite an achievement for a large dog. Lexi grew up with him and felt really bad. It doesn't matter that we all knew he had cancer and couldn't live much longer. He was a good dog.
To make matters worse, Lexi's little gray cat had crawled up in the engine of Luke's truck so when he started it up to take Snoopy in to have him cremated, the cat got caught in the fan belt. Luke eventually freed the poor little thing but it took off. So he doesn't know if it will be okay or went someplace to die. He said it was covered with blood and smelled really bad. What a rotten day for Luke.
Closer to home and more pitiful than sad, my little Cleo has developed a terror for the dishwasher. When it's running, she hides in the office and cries for me to come to her, then shivers with fright until she eventually goes to sleep on my lap. If I take her to the kitchen and offer her a treat she ignores it and tries to get away. In fact lately, if the clothes dryer is running she won't eat from her food dish. That was a puppy thing she had gotten over until a few weeks ago when a jar dropped out of the cupboard next to her bowl.

Search for History

I have been trying to find some historical information on Boyds, an old stage route that went up Deadman Creek to Republic and when there was a school up here. Not an easy chore. This is all information that is important for my new novel, Cat in the Window. Part of the story takes place in 2010 and the other part is in 1910. It's about an author who gets writers block, moves to the mountains and realizes that the story she sees on her computer might be her own but 100 years earlier. Oh, and there is a mysterious white cat that plays an important part in the whole thing.

New story

I have started a new story called. Cat in the Window. I'm really into it and hope it goes as good as I imagine!
Gale is reading the first draft of Saving Terrene Glebe. It's going to be a trick to go from this new story back to that one when he has made his contributions to it and blend it all together. It never occurred to us that we would be working on more than one book at a time...now we will have THREE! He has put The Amulet on hold to work with Saving Terrene Glebe.
Gypsy and Cleo have been very co-operative the last few mornings in that they will go back to bed for 30 minutes or so after they make their potty runs around 6 a.m. It's nice to sleep in once in a while.