deanna hershiser

I didn’t plan to get one. Honest. But now I’m glad I stole it that night.
We were enjoying KLSR-TV’s annual Christmas dinner, and the traditional gift steal game began. The first opened gift, promptly snatched by newslady Natasha Chughtai, was a leopard-patterned snuggie.
Those blankets with arms looked kind of nifty on the infomercials. I whispered [...]

My blog’s date is in the military (and faraway places) style, with the day preceding the month. I’ve tried to make it regular American, to no avail. But as Tim says, I should prefer it; it’s logical that way.
Tim was in the Navy long ago, when we were first married. I’ve written another online-accepted piece, [...]

Every year it happens.
Just when everybody else revs up in excitement over NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, and all the other greatest things to do in and around cyberland, I start to chill out.
Or maybe it’s cozy up. Today our fire burned clear, strong, blithely, and glowingly throughout the hours, while chili simmered in the slow cooker. I’ve [...]

…he did it.
Last year, the economy motivated his trick:

His boss didn’t even recognize him.
This time, a loan from a friend, inspired use of his brush cutter, and kudos to a Buffy episode made him trickier than ever:

He scared off a delivery guy.
First prize, two years running. And I get to share in the treats.

Simultaneously the huge, round spider and I frightened one another. On a precarious stool out front I swiped the big window, dislodging the unsuspecting arachnid. I’m sure she exclaimed something spiderish, while I said, “Oh! Ah! Ah!” and jumped backward. She scrambled beneath the window sill to remain completely hidden while I finished spraying, wiping, [...]

Two things I never could’ve dreamed up appeared online today:
1. Comedian Eddie Izzard has been running marathons around the UK all summer. I mean, he has run one every day, six days a week. Amazing. You can read the story with a couple side interviews here.
I came to enjoy Izzard’s stand-up humor almost against my [...]

I overslept this morning.
Today the heat probably broke a temperature record. Will it be our last hot hot day of the year?
Will, a good friend of my son, James, leaves this week for college far away. Today Will’s mom, Shelley, and I chatted in the shade out at their country home, while her dogs wrestled [...]

Recently I had imagined hearing good news from a New York publication, but that didn’t happen. Today I learned I did sell an article to a North Carolina publication. Such news is fine by me. The story, for BackHome Magazine, will be about our adventures in garter-snake-friendly living.
Driving through town this afternoon I imagined hanging [...]

Yesterday the Sci Fi Channel changed its name. Sort of. You’re supposed to pronounce the new one, Syfy, the same way. But it’s spiffier. Or something.
According to our newspaper’s TV Week, the reasoning behind the change is “the network wants to bring in people who may not think of themselves as science fiction fans, but [...]

Last week I packed up and rode with my parents northward into Washington, wishing I could visit the people I’ve met online who live that direction, but focused on seeing my brothers, my sister-in-law, and a few old haunts.
Mom and Dad had just returned from a three-week trip with my aunt and uncle, down the [...]