I Have a Small Furry Creature with Yellow Eyes and the Gift of Speech

In my four-part book series, Rising Tide, I have a small furry creature with yellow eyes and the gift of speech. The creature, known as a Nuckta, is the last of its race and goes by the name Seeka. This animal is not a pet, but a character, just as any other in the story.

It sets me thinking of the pets I owned in my younger years. 

I first recall a Dachshund we named Bo-Peep. I was but a few years old when we took her in, but a teenager when she passed at a ripe old age.

Living in a rural area, we had our share of strays. That was how we acquired our next mutt I named Ralph, a large breed that resembled a sheepdog. Ralph’s ownership overlapped Bo-Peep’s so there were multiple dogs in our household for a while. Ralph and I were inseparable for quite a few years until heart worms claimed my pal.

Lumpy, Marvin, and Gomer followed with the latter being the sweetest and dumbest dog to walk this earth. All of our family and a portion of our neighbors hit this dog with their cars. Poor Gomer could just not learn to stay out of harm’s way, and as much as we tried to avoid contact, it was not to be. Gomer was more like a cat with nine lives until a stranger zipping down the road in front of our house hit him for the last time.

I kept an odd array of pets, including an alligator (which I think was actually a Caiman), Boa constrictor, numerous lizards, turtles, small rodents, a ferret named Floyd, and the crème de la crème, a Black Widow spider.

I watched the arachnid for many weeks feast upon insects before laying two enormous egg sacks. Upon awakening one morning, I noticed both egg-sacs had hatched. The jar now housed mother and a few thousand babies. It was apparent this glass abode was  not adequate to house them all after “Mom’s” delivery. With nothing but a fine mesh cloth covering the square hole cut into the top of the jar for ventilation, the need for something “more” was evident. A can of Raid took care of any residual beasties.

I do believe the last paragraph in this week’s post will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that teenagers have the propensity to display large amounts of stupid. Please learn from my stupidity not to raise deadly arachnids. Nuff said.

Have one great week and may God bless you richly.

Katy-Did-It so the Next Time You Wanna Gnaw off a Bug’s Head Don’ t Drag Me into Your New Culinary Experiences

We’re nearing mid-August and already I can see small signs of fall emerging. Just last week, our daily highs were in the 60’s and 70’s with lower humidity.

(Catch my new release, “For Whom the Leaves Fall,” for all my autumnal predictions.)

It’s a time of year when critters begin their death march and this final march, many times, includes the walking dead entering my abode.

For instance, the extremely noisy cicadas begin dropping from the sky, and the just as annoying katydid’s go to any length to sneak into my home. (They’re the deep green flying insects that somewhat resemble a grasshopper.)

If you’ve ever had even one of these green monsters in your house, then you know that when they begin sounding off, you would swear an air raid siren had set up shop in your living room.

It’s also the time (those with arachnophobia might want to close your eyes through this section) that these big fat red spiders string their webs everywhere. More than likely sections of web will find their way crossing through your exterior door openings. Ever see someone who has an aversion to our eight legged friends get tangled in a spider web where the owner of said web is as big as your thumb? Believe you me, it’s not a pretty sight.

Then, we have the leftover yellow jackets who seem determined to mine every iota of sugar they can. And where does one mine for sugar in the fall? Why soda cans of course. Ever see someone who has an aversion to stinging insects spend even a short amount of time with one in their mouth? Well, let’s just say this one gets downright ugly.

Have you ever paid attention to a granddaddy long-legs in the spring? It sits high on its long thin legs and small round body. Pay special attention to the same species who makes it through the summer and into fall. Its legs are worn down halfway or more. Its body looks as though it has been sitting on a couch eating hotdogs all summer long. Ugly doesn’t begin to describe this short, fat, out-of-shape member of the arachnid family.

Now, we’ll pick on the bad boy of the insect world in my neck of the woods. This would be the wolf of the foliage, the Praying Mantis. Bugs don’t normally bother me, but a large Praying Mantis I don’t normally touch. One year out of curiosity I put a large Mantis in a jar along with a fat red spider. The Praying Mantis moving at the speed of sound snatched the spider so quickly that the arachnid never had a chance. The Mantis had eaten the spider’s head before I knew what had happened.

Quite interesting indeed.

So instead of sitting inside watching the leaves fall. Check out what type of death and dismemberment may be available for viewing in your area. Until next week….

Toodles.

Dig’er up, Bob and Don’t Let it Bite Ya

Imagine if you will, a world ruled by prehistoric dinosaur skeletons; the bones having removed themselves from the very stone that held them fast for eons.

In fact, the bone structure has undergone a dramatic change. Through the millennia, decaying bone material has been replaced with minerals causing petrification.

Personally, I prefer, “the Medusa effect,” but regardless of what you call it, turned to stone is turned to stone.

Had it not been for the daft paleontologist leaving an entire box of duct tape at the velociraptor dig, none of this reanimation could have happened.

As dense as dinosaurs can be, everything knows the endless uses of a roll of duct tape. The foot stone connected to the leg stone, then wrapped firmly with the versatile product. Repeat procedure until tape supply is exhausted. After that, pillage every hardware store of their stash and the rest of the story… well, it’s pretty self-explanatory.

See, that’s what you get when you start your back matter with, “imagine if you will.” This worn out phrase has the power to reveal the ending of your newly released novel without having to turn a single page.

What if… Hold the phones. Here we go again.

“What if,” is just as bad, if not worse, than, “Imagine if you will.” If you begin your back matter with, “Imagine if you will,” just the inclusion of the three words, “if you will,” exempts all the lazy people simply by giving them a choice.

“What if,” exempts no one, incurring a flood of readers who have determined the end, or something worse, from the back matter and see no reason to purchase the book.

As I am usually eager to do, I will offer an example to further explain my position that will hopefully quell any accusations of stupidity on my part. Sometimes this task becomes quite difficult so, please, bear with me.

What if an unusually large tarantula, a funnel web spider, and a black widow participated in a ménage-a-trios? Of course, the black widow would drag her undersized hubby to the event; not only for his little swimmers but as a shared meal for her female cohorts. You see, arachnids don’t smoke, but after a twenty-four leg free-for-all, ingesting male brain cells certainly fill the bill.

What if the product of this little sex-ca-pade ravages through the jungle, killing, eating and imbibing other creature’s bodily juices at will? Each time this creature feeds, it grows larger and more menacing.

What if this beast continues on a pattern of eat and grow larger every day? Maybe even twice or thrice a day? What will you do; what will you do?

What if this abomination were trampling through the woods searching for its next victim? There you are, sitting on a rock; rubbing your feet. A mouth opens, organic hypodermics extend, a single drop of certain death glistens as it falls from a fang point to the woodland floor.

What if a feeling of dread grips you in its steely embrace? The mouth clamps down bringing with it a crushing finality.

What if a ladybug lifts into the air happily munching on the arachnid mush filling her mouth? The same eight legged creature that could have given you an itchy bump had it bitten you?

Come on man, you can’t ask that many questions! We’re writing a novel not a puzzle book for the literary challenged.

It’s plain and simple, cut and dried, only one way out.  It’s like that itch down deep in your ear and simultaneously in your jaw that’s impossible to satisfy.

You either follow my wise advice and enjoy a successful literary career or dismiss my rants as the ramblings of a madman. It’s up to you. You hold the key.

Now, if you will excuse me, the first crop of lead paint chips is ready to harvest. Mustn’t be late, no, no that wouldn’t do. The Queen of Pismoania would give me such a smack.