Would you buy this book?

Here's the cover for novel number three. Does it look appealing?

The neighbor's pit bull keeps getting into our yard. Today, she was after their cat, dodging around between our heat pump and the two camp chairs set out on the patio. So I went out, enticed the dog to go back into her own yard by throwing a windfall apple for her to chase, blocked her under-the-fence hole, and went to see how the kitty was doing. He looked up and me and meowed. I reached down my hand to pat him. He reached up his soft little paws, grabbed my hand, and bit the hell out of me. I shouted, he let go, the blood flowed freely from four neat punctures. I went inside, ran hot water over it, rubbed on soap, rinsed off the soap, held it under the running water, stretching and flexing the hand while grimacing and muttering "Ow, ow, ow," as if that would do some sort of good. then I rubbed on triple antibiotic ointment, put on a bandaid, and continued setting up for knitting tomorrow. When DH got home, I told him about it and asked his advice. I wanted to go shoot the dog, because the cat bit me, and I was aware that this was not a fully rational impulse. As a second option, I wanted to call animal control and have them pick up the dog. DH, as ever, was the voice of sanity. He suggested I call the doctor and get my injury looked at. Oh. Deal with the damage, then think about revenge. God he's smart! So I took myself off to the hospital, got a tetnus shot, got a 10 day load of antibiotics, and was told to find out if the cat's shots were up to date. Well, not quite, as it turns out. So we will watch him and make sure he doesn't act rabid. There's always the chance he could catch it from me. though. Meanwhile, I'm making a list of people I want to bite.

I've been listening to the All Classical radio station on my work commute, and today, they played Luciano Pavorotti singing "Return to Sorento." No idea what he's singing about, but oh my gosh I could have just rubbed that glorious music all over my body! Oh baby, oh baby! Right there, yess! Not quite the right set up for several hours with the women in the jail, but it certainly beats "Busta Cappin Urass" rapping his peans to destruction and hatred.

Yesterday, after 8 hours with the male inmates, I was surfing the crest of the trafic wave, headed home, and guess what came over the airwaves? Guess what I needed to hear. Guess what I love. Ride of the Valkyeries! I rolled down the windows, turned the volume up loud enough to make your ears bleed, and flew through the cold rain and wind with my hair whipping around my face, and a fierce joy blazing from my eyes.

You can pick up allclassical.com on your computer and listen to their wonderful, wonderful music in streaming audio. Some mornings they play recordings of terribly familiar music played on uncommon instruments. Flight of the Bumblebee played on the tuba. The minute waltz played on the banjo. I just love those!!

They even tell jokes. There were two hosts carrying the ball during a pledge drive and they had just played a delightful performance by a gifted clarinettist. One of the hosts remarked how nice it was, but actually, he prefers bassoon to clarinet. Of course, the other asked why. Answer,"Because a bassoon burns longer."

The silence was thick enough to spread. And then the second host said,"You're a guitarist, aren't you?" with the tone of voice that says, "Guitarists! You can teach them to read music, but you just can't trust them to behave decently in public."

So I am almost all ready for knitting. Tomorrow I will clean the litterboxes, wash my hands, and bake a big batch of honey-butter biscuits so the house will smell lovely, and the biscuits will be warm when people arrive. The butter will melt in, and all the flavors of honey will sink into the flakey layers. I have cheesy mini muffins, with and without ham, and honey shortbread, and chocolate shortbread and a big bowl of honeydew melon balls. And tea. And maybe even coffee if I can find it in the freezer and brew it up. And there are at least twelve people coming. OH BOY!!