Hey ya'll,

It's raining in my part of Oklahoma tonight and a welcome rain it is. Love the sound of rain on a roof and even more, I love to sit in my porch swing and watch it pour. I have porches that run the entire length of my house, front and back, and since my house is 80 feet long, I have 160
feet of porch. Wahoo. Puppy, who is no longer a puppy but the name stuck,  is most usually laying somewhere nearby if I'm outside. She's solid black except for one paw, which is black and white spotted, like a Catahoula Cow dog. Don't know how to spell that, so I just took a stab. Where's an editor when I need one?

Anyway, if I make too much noise when I'm outside, the three half-grown kittens come up from the barn and take turns laying claim to my lap. Their names are Charlie, Midnight and Tux, which is short for Tuxedo. Picture a man in a tux and that's exactly the kitten's coloring. Black all over with a white chin and belly and four white feet. Charlie is brown with tiger
stripes and Midnight, the only female, is all black and spoiled rotten. She rides on Bobby's shoulders when he's down at the barn doing chores. I kid you not. Just sits up there like the Queen of Sheba surveying all she owns. All three of them think they're dogs. They ride in the back of the pickup to wherever Bobby's working, get out and play while he's stopped, then jump back in and ride back to the house when he's done. It cracks me up to see those little fuzzy faces peering over the side of the truck bed. The only difference between them and a dog is that their tongues are never hanging out.

My Grandson, Daniel, is intrigued with Halloween this year. He just turned three, you see. He wanted to be a magician (because he has some little video he loves that has a magician in it) so my daughter, Kathy, made him a cape and a magic wand, which he calls a Magit Wand (pronounced maggot, thank you very much). He also knows that magit words must be  spoken, like Abracadabra... only it comes out 'baka-baka" from him. He doesn't yet have a top hat, which is of major concern at this point, but has been making do with his yellow, Bob The Builder, hard hat. He drags a two-foot long stuffed bunny that I once gave Kathy for Easter (before the joys of motherhood were part of her life) and ever so often, takes off his hard hat and tries to stuff that huge bunny into the little yellow hard hat. Kathy said it ticks him off to no end because no matter how many times he swats the rabbit with the magit wand and yells baka-baka, he can't get all of that rabbit into the hat.

On the business side of life, I have a new book out as of October 26. It's called MISSING, and is a Mira release under the Sharon Sala name. I'm getting some fabulous feedback on it, which always makes me happy, happy.

My mother just called me... it's 10:00 p.m.... to tell me that Dolly Parton is going to have breast reduction surgery. She read it in her Country Music magazine. I'm telling you all of these disjointed little tidbits of information so that you can see what my life is "really" like. My mother calls me a lot during the day clear up until she goes to bed. I love that she's still
around to call me, but sometimes her phone calls crack me up. And, at least once during each day when she calls, Bobby will yell out loud enough for her to hear that he's needing some more cookies. Mother is the best cookie baker in the world and she's always trying new recipes. Hmmm, only part of the reason my diets rarely work.

Okay... I have to go now because Bobby is yelling at me from the other end of this eighty-foot house. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that the Boston Red Sox have just won their fourth game, which means the World Series will be over. Hallelujah. No, I'm not much of a sports fan.

I'm having knee surgery on the 9th of November to repair a torn cartilage in my left knee, which also happens to be the only real knee I still possess. Had knee joint replacement surgery back in '98 or '99, I forget which, to repair damage that came from an accident years ago, so I'm not looking forward to the grunt and hobble part of recovery. However, it will
be nice to be able to walk again without so much pain. Say prayers for me.

Here's to upcoming Turkey Day.

Sharon Sala aka Dinah McCall