Welcome Blog-Hoppers!

Today is the launch of the SheWrites blog-hop. Bad timing for me, as I've had some other issues that have interrupted the regular blog schedule.

Trust me, first time visitors: it does get better, and I actually do post five days a week.

But before we get back on schedule, and in honor of the "getting to know you" blog-hop, today's post is 8 surprising things about me. Knock on wood . . . the regular posting schedule will resume tomorrow with my "Brother Can You Spare a Link" post with links of interest to writers.

And now, eight surprising things about me:

1. In my spare time, I like to explore caves (real, hole-in-the-woods caves, not tourist attractions) and chase storms. I was once in an F-1 tornado (as in: "I was inside the damn car while the tornado grabbed it and shook it like a snow globe") .

2. I'm not even remotely a girly-girl. Up until recently, I owned 3 pairs of shoes: one pair hiking boots, one pair tennis shoes, one pair sandals. However, "Tabitha's Salon Takeover" and "America's Next Top Model" are two of my guilty pleasures. Miss J is my hero.

3. I collect winged lions/cats (not angels; no halos, just wings), swords, and guns. The lions and the swords are generally decorative, the guns are not. I have a concealed carry permit and can shoot the nuts off a gnat. For 16 1/2 days every year, I go survivor and spend my days hunting deer, hiding in the woods, eating potted meat. All other considerations are secondary to deer hunting for those 2+ weeks.

4. I have a unique personal style. Although most of the clothes in my closet are either black or camo, I do like sparkly things. I went into a western store recently and fell in love with a line of purses they have: Mossy Oak camouflage covered in sequins and rhinestones. So we decided that my personal style is "Redneck Drag Queen." I can live with that.

5. I was never a dog person until I got my dog, who was supposed to be an advanced replacement for my husband's aging dog (we live in an . . . um . . . disreputable neighborhood, and a guard dog is very beneficial). She bonded with me instead of him and I have no complaints about it. We watch the Westminster Kennel Club show together and I bought her a NY Yankees shirt that she loves to wear (she's a German Shepherd, by the way). I have almost no pictures of my kids or my grand kids on my phone, but a hundred pictures of my dog. I call her my sweet ba-boo and buy her presents constantly (which, by the way, she unwraps all by herself because she's the smartest, most beautiful dog in the world).

6. I love crows. I used to have a pet crow named Edgar. Now, when there are crows in the trees outside, I freak my dogs out (and my neighbors) by cawing back to them. I'm sure the neighbors just chalk it up to, "it's that crazy writer lady again."

7. I'm petrified by steel wool and hornets/wasps/non-honey-type-bees. Ironic since the remedy to keep hornets/wasps from moving into a hole in your house is to stuff the hole with steel wool.

8. Thanks to some weird rumor mill, the neighborhood kids think I'm the local witch (hey, maybe it's that talking to crows thing) and believe crazy things like, "if they step into my yard, creatures will come out of the ground and eat them." I do nothing to dispel these rumors and generally encourage them. Just wait 'til I'm a famous writer and I convert this place into a Gothic mansion. ;)

Thanks for visiting, and stop back tomorrow for some handy links for writers.