Lists & Indices

Number of degrees over the average temp. for this area on 12/24/03: 10
(Fahrenheit).

Number of hours after the usual time for their "last out" of
the night that our dogs were, in fact, let out on 12/24/03: 1

Number of people in our household who believed skunks hibernate in winter:
4.

Number of the top ten results of a Google search "skunks hibernate"
that corroborate this factoid: 4.

Number of the top ten results that state that skunks "are not true
hibernators" and sometimes wake up in warmer weather: 6.

Number of skunks in this part of New England who concur with the Google
results: at least 1.

Number of dogs skunked: 2.

Number of dogs who sprinted past the unwary homeowner and bolted upstairs
and rolled in our bed: 1.

Average number of baths had by our dogs in a typical month: 2.

Actual number of baths had by our dogs in December: 8.

Actual number of baths had by our dogs in the past two days: 8.

Number of bottles of peroxide needed to deskunkify two dogs: 3.

Product voted "best stuff on earth" by yours truly: "Smells
Begone."

This is likely to be the first in a series that will lie alongside”Maybe She Takes After…” (which so far stands as a collection of one, but nevermind).

Just as I keep finding evidence of my forebears in everything I do: I blog experience like Grandpa Paul, I proofread like mymother, I find much to be curious about in the natural world, as does my sister and as did my Grandma Trudy, I like to take long walks and look at buildings, like my architect father, I liked Latin/I married a Latin teacher; it goes on and on and I’ll probably write about every connection I can, eventually.

Anyway, just like this sort of influence, another exists. This sort are my written ancestors, rather than my cellular ones. There are certain books I find I must keep by me, even if I do not re-read them very often. These are the ones that made sucha strong impression on me the first time around that I need to see their faces (or at least their raggedy spines). Each one made the top of my head fly off in some fashion or another, and, collectively, they’ve become twisted up in the DNA of my writing practice and obsessions.The list (which only includes a scant half-dozen of what I stumbled upon before college) includes the following:

• The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
• The Earliest English Poems
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Til We Have Faces
• The Norman Conquests
• The Golden Notebook

(I’ll explain why in future posts about each of these.)

• Angel with a Cellphone
• The Charm Street B&B
• The Clairvoyant’s Only Child
• The Doe’s Heart
• Thought Foxes
• The Trouble in Belle Prairie