Sitting on a tree branch, Suzi clutched her stomach, gasping for breath, laughing so hard she nearly fell out of the tree. The rabbits were back and Heidi was mad. All her lovely new plants… rabbit food. But the situation got even funnier when she called her dog Jack to chase away the furry varmints, […]
via Chasing Rabbits — suzannevcarey
I put a link on my original story to Suz’s post, but I thought I’d repost in case those who have already read my post missed it.
My dog, Jack, is getting on in age. It has been thirteen years since we went to choose between him and his brother. It was and easy choice. Jack was full of energy and wanted to play. His brother found the nearest object, ran under the truck and began to chew on it. Yeah…exuberant it was! Now, where he still has energy, it’s a little more subtle and his hearing isn’t what it used to be.
In the last couple of weeks the rabbits, or stew meat as I lovingly call them through gritted teeth, have come out in force. I’ve had as many as four in the yard at once, and those are just the ones I can see. I wonder where all the coyotes have gone. Have they suddenly sworn off rabbit? I hear it’s rather tasty.
Now before I receive comments about how cute and cuddly rabbits are, I thought the same thing until they ate $200 worth of plants I had just planted. Needless to say I was not amused.
Now that you have some back story, here is what happened a few days ago.
Jack is sleeping on his bed when I see one of the vermin called rabbit in the yard eating grass a little to close to my flowerbed for my comfort.
Me: Jack! Rabbit!
No response.
Me, a little louder: Jack! There’s a rabbit!
Jack’s head comes up: Rabbit?
I head for the slider and he follows as I wind him up to chase the rabbit. Now there is an art to opening the slider and not having the dog slam into it as he bolts out the opening like a race horse. You have to time it right and be wicked fast. I brace myself. Jack crouches down, ready to spring forward. I slide the door open and…
He sticks his head out the door. Slightly anti-climactic. Although lately he has been thinking about running more than actually doing.
Jack stares at the rabbit who is now frozen in hopes that he won’t be seen.
Me, very exuberantly: Rabbit! (Because that one word says it all.)
Jack: Yes, that is a rabbit.
Me: Go get the rabbit!
Jack gives me a look that seems to say: You do remember the last time I chased one of those things. I had to be carried back because my joints aren’t what they used to be. Very embaressing.
The rabbit is still frozen in the lawn.
Me: Come on, Jack. Get the rabbit!
Jack looks back at the rabbit then very non-chalantly walks out the door and to the left, NOT towards the rabbit: I’m going out front.
As Jack disappears around the corner of the house, the rabbit resumes eating, and I’m left wondering what just happened.
Have a wonderful week.
Copyright 2017 Heidi Barnes
Here is a little side story that my friend Suzanne Carey wrote after she read this piece. We have a mutual friend/bane-of-my-existence called Suzi. She is a fairy that tries hard to do good things, but somehow they always manage to go…sideways. Here is Suzi and her attempt to help me with my little rabbit problem. Chasing Rabbits.
Justus Tremmel. Playboy, hero, risk taker, lover. All the things his father was except one. Responsible CEO of one of the most powerful empires in the world. At twenty-three everyone expected him to take over the company sooner rather than later, a job Jesse was doing his best to run away from. That was until a mere slip of girl captured his heart and the attention of those who wanted him dead and his family ruined. Will he be able to walk away from Sara, or will he follow in his father’s footsteps? Keeping the woman he loves locked away, never to see her family and friends again. Will any of it be enough to keep her safe?
Sara Reese had her future planned out. Finish college and move as far away from the small quiet town she grew up in to live in the big city where excitement was around every corner. That was until Justus Tremmel inadvertently gave her a taste of his world and the dangers surrounding it. Now hunted by the ones who wish to see the Tremmels ruined, Sara must decide whether she wants to stay in the comfort of what she knows, or dive headlong into a world she barely understands and wants her dead.
Well, it’s here! I have finally published book two of my Destiny series. Where it is not yet on Amazon (there is a 3-5 business day process for the physical book) you can buy it on CreateSpace here. The Kindle Version should be up on Amazon shortly. I will put the link up on the Destiny Series page as soon as it goes live there.
I’m so excited!
Never say never.
Not everything is set in stone, and not everyone is who they seem to be. Life throws you curve-balls and people change. Some for good, some for evil.
Emma Kessler’s life has been anything but easy, and there are those who threaten to take what little peace she has carved out of the chaos that surrounds her and destroy it. What she does not expect are those she trusts with her heart to turn their backs on her when she needs them the most. All because of a destiny she never wanted.
It’s almost here! Just a few more finishing touches and I should have it published on Amazon.com next week! Yeah!
Never say never.
Not everything is set in stone, and not everyone is who they seem to be. Life throws you curve-balls and people change. Some for good, some for evil.
Emma Kessler’s life has been anything but easy, and there are those who threaten to take what little peace she has carved out of the chaos that surrounds her and destroy it. What she does not expect are those she trusts with her heart to turn their backs on her when she needs them the most. All because of a destiny she never wanted.
Chaos reigns inside my head
People, places, phrases
Jumbled into one
Big
Mess
I try to untangle
Piece together two by two
Only to snarl them further
Until nothing but emptiness
Remains
Copyright 2017 Heidi Barnes
It’s Friday! This means two things to me. One, the weekend is finally here. We only have 32 more days of school (that is not counting weekends and Memorial break) and I will be off for the summer, but at the moment it seems a long way off. Two, it’s date night. My husband and I started this about seven years ago when the kids were in collage. We said we were practicing for when they moved out. They weren’t sure how to take that. LOL
So, date night. This consists of me driving down to the mall where there are restaurants and a big theater where my husband meets me once he gets off of work. This means I can have a drink, or two, during dinner, see a movie and be alright to drive home. Tonight my hubby was suppose to be here around 5-5:30, but because it’s the end of the month and they are trying to finish shipping product he called to say he’s running an hour late. No big deal. Some chips and guacamole with a drink and I’m good to wait. Also gives me a chance to finally blog.
I could go into how it’s been a long cold wet winter and the fact I work in a school where sickness runs rampant, but why be morbid. It’s date night! Let’s talk about alcohol.
I’ve always been a rum amd coke gal. Rarely deviated with the exception of my college days when Southern Comfort would sneak in on the weekends. Ah, those were the days…I think. Kind of fuzzy really. 😛 Recently I decided to branch out. My mom made me martini with gin. Can I just saw EEEWWWW! Not only does it make me sneeze, smells like fir which I’m allergic to, I’m farely certain I could suck on the Juniper bush and get the same taste a lot cheaper. Now vodka martinis are a different matter. My mom calls me a woose for not drinking gin, but at least I can swallow the stuff. Being a sweet drinker I like flavored martinis, pomegranate being my favorite. Maggianos has the best.
My oldest found out I had never had a Long Island Ice Tea and set out to remedy that oversight. I see where the danger lies. It’s so easy to just suck it down as if it were coolaid. I was limited to one. Just don’t have that college tolerance anymore. Another my mom suggested, which I had tonight, is a Whiskey Sour. She told me to be careful because they sneak up on you. I didn’t head her warning the first time. I do now.
Although my new favorite drink is a Mule. It consists of ginger beer (non-alcoholic), lime juice and the liquer of your choice. Where it is not sweet I do like it.
So now I wait. Not sure what movie we will see. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 doesn’t come out until next weekend. It’s one of the ones we’ve been waiting for. So I will say adieu. Have a wonderful weekend! Until next time.
Today in 9th grade English class while the kids were working on their poetry, the teacher asked a few of them, what they would do if a horde of five-year-olds were coming at them? Could they defend themselves? I asked him if the District was threatening him with a kindergarten class and he laughed. But my mind started working and this is what I came up with. I’ve polished it up a bit, but about half of it was written in ten minutes.
I got a kick out of it. I hope you do too. 😊
I don’t know where they came from, and at that moment I didn’t care. All I knew was a horde of short people covered in what looked strangely like blood, but in retrospect was probably strawberry jam, were coming at me like a pack of hungry snarling wolverines. Fearing for my life, I frantically searched for an escape. My stomach dropped and I began vehemently cursing the Fates for bringing me to one of the few rooms in the school where there was only one door and the windows were sealed shut.
I was trapped.
I turned to face the horde of stick smelly five-year-olds, praying my death would be quick and relatively painless. The feverish glitter in their eyes did not give me hope.
“Climb!” someone screamed.
What?
Climb?
Where?
It was then I saw her. Huddled in the far corner of the room on top of a filing cabinet was a young woman whose clothes were ripped and hair in sticky disarray. It was apparent they had gotten to her first and were back for more. I was just the unlucky sap that found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Life was like that sometimes. Throwing you into the middle of a hurricane just to see if you would survive. My first thought as I leaped for the filing cabinet that this would not be one of those times.
Just as I was about to climb to safety, something grabbed my pant leg and pulled. Yelling in surprise as the woman screamed and grabbed a hold of me, I frantically tried to get free. It was no use. They were just too strong.
“Take of your pants!” she yelled.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“I can’t hold on much longer,” she gritted as I slid a few more millimeters into the mass. “It’s either you or the pants, and you do not want to know what they did to the other one.”
Pants it was.
“What the hell happened?” I yelled as I scrambled on top of the filing cabinet next to her, finally free.
“It was a birthday party,” she gasped. “One of the mothers brought jam filled donuts to celebrate. They attacked her at the door. After that…,” her voice trailed off as her eyes grew haunted and her face even pale, the horror of a room full of five-year-olds on a massive sugar high obviously rendering her catatonic. God only knew what was left of the poor woman who innocently brought the means of our destruction.
Looking down at the crawling, wriggling, sticky mass that was once happily calm children bent on tearing me apart I realized one thing.
We were doomed.
Copyright © 2017 Heidi Barnes
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ~ William Wordsworth
I see your face
I hear your words
My heart is filled
with emotions not my own
yet still familiar
a part of me.
Who are you?
What do you want from me?
How do I trust
what is not my own?
How do I convey
what I understand as love
hate
sadness
longing
joy
so that others understand
the depth of who you are
and believe?
©2017 Heidi Barnes
This poem was inspired by a writing prompt from the website Writing Outside the Lines. It made me think about my characters and trying to put into words what they are telling and showing me so that my readers see and feel it too.
Source Unknown
When the words won’t stop pestering me, or they are words no one else will listen to or can be said out loud, paper becomes my best friend. My confident. The words must come out in some form or nothing else will get done, let alone with any kind of efficiency or quality. The only thing one must be wary of are those who cannot keep thier mittens to themselves. The ones who must know everything, cannot stand it when something is kept from them, never heard the phrase, “Curiosity killed the cat.” Then the paper you trusted so well becomes the betrayer. Yes the paper maybe be the only one who listens, but it can also speak, and once words are spoken they can never be taken back.
© 2017 Heidi Barnes
This was inspired by a prompt on Writing Outside the Lines by Annie.
Mindfulness, Philosophy, Spirituality, Meditation, Awareness, Religion, Nature Photography
© Michael Soriano Photography
Layers Of Life
Conjured by Sarah Doughty
Be Inspired.
Excerpts from book writings :)
monsters, monsters, everywhere
Talk Books. Drink Coffee.
Over 150 Book Reviewer Bloggers Listed
Stories created with photos and words
Seeing extraordinary in the ordinary
Submitting to the Glorious Inevitable
A collection of creative urges of an absent mind
Welcome to our site. We hope you'll enjoy our pictures, photos and poetry and find inspiration from our ramblings.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose / The more things change, the more they stay the same
