Category Archives: Mysteries

2026, Automotive, Fantasy, Mysteries, Weather

Mystery Car

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As I was backing out of my parking space at Michaels yesterday afternoon, another car, two spots up starting backing out at the same time.  I looked toward the driver to make sure that they had seen me and was startled to see NO ONE.  No body in the driver’s seat, no body in the passenger seat. 

You can imagine, I’m sure, that this completely freaked me out.  It also caused me to doubt myself.  I had just mis-seen that, right?  The mystery car was behind me at this point so I drove very very slowly toward the exit lane.  From my rear view mirror, it really didn’t look like there was anyone driving. 

YA will tell you that I know nothing about cars, but I would have bet money that cars couldn’t drive themselves.  Even Teslas have to have somebody IN the car, don’t they?  And, of course, I can’t tell you what kind of car it was – I really am hopeless in this area.

As I pulled into the exit lane, I kept my speed slow – barely moving slow.  I saw the mystery car pull over to the front of the Michaels and saw a man and a woman leave the store and jump in the car.  At that point, I decided I couldn’t just sit there with them coming up behind me, so I headed home.

Here’s my real conundrum about this.  This car was four parking spaces away from the store.  And it was 13 degrees, not 13 below.  Cars that you can warm up seem weird enough to me, but having a car that drives 4 parking spaces to pick you up doorside is just too too bizarre for me. 

When hover-cars are invented, will you get one?

2026, Fantasy, Mysteries, Technology, TV

Keeping Track

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I didn’t have a big to-do list yesterday.  Normally when this occurs, I fill in with other little tasks around the house or I plant myself in my studio but for some reason sitting on the sofa and watching tv.  Three episodes of Perry Mason and then a handful of Columbo.

I’ve seen them all repeatedly.  I know who the murderer is in every Perry Mason and, of course, you know who the murderer is on Columbo from the get-go.  Since I don’t have to spend any mental energy on figuring out the mystery, I can while away the time looking at small details and wondering at how the world has changed.

Yesterday what stood out the most was that no matter where Perry or Columbo happen to be, somebody can always get ahold of them.  Perry is interviewing a suspect; the phone rings and it’s for him.  Columbo is at his dog’s obedience academy; the phone rings and it’s for him.  It happened all the time.

Now Perry had Della to call him however the calls weren’t always from her and quite a bit of the time she was with him.  Was there a whiteboard with all of Perry’s stops left in his outer office?  For many years, there was Gertie who took calls.  Maybe she was letting folks know where Perry was?

But Columbo?  He was always portrayed as such a loose cannon – if there was some administrative assistant somewhere back at headquarters, it was a highly kept secret.  Did he really leave the phone number of the dog obedience academy with someone somewhere?

It made me think about the scene in Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam in which Diane Keaton and Tony Roberts are leaving Woody’s apartment:

Dick:
I’ll be at 362-9296 for a while; then I’ll be at 648-0024 for about fifteen minutes; then I’ll be at 752-0420; and then I’ll be home, at 621-4598. Yeah, right George, bye-bye.

Linda:
There’s a phone booth on the corner. You want me to run downstairs and get the number? You’ll be passing it.

Obviously these days detectives and lawyers are never without their cell phones, so the whiteboards with everyone’s every move and destination are not longer necessary.  Of course, now that I think about it – they probably hadn’t been invented yet?

Do you have a whiteboard?  Whiteboard equivalent?  What do you use it for?

2026, books, Business, Fantasy, Mysteries, TV

The Doctor

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When I was in the bookstore, I was offered a “new” position in Store #1 (Southdale).  My title was Associate Manager, a title that didn’t exist anywhere else in the bookstore world at that point.  This fancy title meant that I had more responsibility, more work but no more power than any average employee.  And certainly not a lot more money.  But the one thing that I was promised was the doing this job would mean that when it came time for me to become a store manager, I would be able to skip the traditional small “starter” store, but would jump right away to a medium store. 

If you live in the Twin Cities, if you ever visited the store over in Sun Ray Mall (not there any longer), you’ll know that they lied to me.  There were only a few stores smaller than Sun Ray at the time.  However, the Associate Manager job was such a pain in the patoot that I didn’t argue when they offered me the teeny store – off I went.

I’ve mentioned the teeniest because despite it’s small size, it had the largest Dr. Who section in the Twin Cities – seven full shelves in the corner so basically its own section.  A couple of times a week, someone would come in the front door and ask “Dr. Who?”.  We sold A LOT of the little mass market editions.  Some of them were books based on episodes and many were other Dr. Who fiction.  Written by many different authors.

That was over 30 years ago, only half way through what is now a 60-year legacy and still going strong.  Even though we had cornered the Dr. Who market at the time, it didn’t interest me much.  As time has passed, I’ve watched just a few episodes and a couple of years ago I did read the very first book. 

A couple of weeks ago I read something on FB that commented that Dr. #5 (Peter Davison) is the father-in-law of Dr. #10 (David Tennant).  Not sure why but that seems like a funny happenstance.  So I decided I might learn a bit more about the whole Dr. Who universe.  I’ve started with a series that was made about 10 years ago.  There is one DVD per doctor with a 30-minute overview and interviews covering the doctor, the companions and what made them special and different.  Then there is one episode, sometimes the first of that particular doctor, sometimes one of the most iconic.    

There have been 14 different Dr. Who actors, although some folks count 15 because David Tennant came back.  However clocking in with a whooping 892 episodes filmed so far, this is not a rabbit hole I’m going to jump down.  I’ll watch the rest of the series.  Maybe in the future I’ll watch a few more here and there – particularly David Tennant and Peter Davison, both of whom I already liked from other roles.  I don’t think I’ll need a spreadsheet!

Is there any science fiction you like?  A Dr. Who fan?  Star Wars?  Star Trek?  Firefly?  Avengers?

2026, Business, Mysteries, Stories

Keen

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I haven’t been anywhere the last couple of days.  No errands of any import, no lunches, no appointments, just a quiet few days.  The one downside to this is that I’m listening to a CD in the car that I have been missing.  The Woman Who Walked in the Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith; it’s part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

A need arose for something from the hardware store yesterday so I hopped in the car and immediately turned on the CD player.  Mma Ramotswe is having a holiday and is enjoying an afternoon tea with some ladies at President Hotel in town.  As the other women are gossiping away (just as I was getting to the hardware store) this passage came up on the CD:

Mma Ramotswe lowered her eyes.  She was not enjoying this conversation, but she had to say something.  “There are many shocking things that happen,” she said.  “I see them in my work.”

One of the ladies exhaled loudly.  “You must tell us about these things some time, Mma,” she said.  “You must tell us about some of these shocking things.”

“Yes,” said another.  “We are very keen to disapprove.”

I had just taken a big swig of coffee and it was all I could do to keep from snorting it up my nose when I laughed out loud.  “Disapprove” was not the ending to the sentence that I expected but it was a better ending than anything I could have thought up on my own.

Has anything made you laugh recently?  (Book, film, kid, meme…..)

 

 

2026, animals, Food, Mysteries, Nature

Critter Conundrum?

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I can’t decide if I’m losing my mind or not.

Backstory.  For many years, I have kept dog treats in my car – a box in the backseat and usually two or three in the little well in the drivers side door.  Most of these go to dogs at the hardware store – there are two official hardware store dogs but there are also often shoppers who bring their dogs in.  Occasionally if someone asking for money on a street corner has a dog, I will stop and talk to them a bit.  Dollar or so if I have it and a couple of treats for the dog.  I haven’t changed the type of dog treat – ever. 

This summer, I went to grab a treat from the little well and there were none there.  No big deal, I must have used them the last time I was at the hardware store.  I went to get a few from the box and the box was empty.  It’s completely within the realm of possibility that I took the last few treats out the box the last time I filled up the well, but I couldn’t grab a memory of doing that.  I bought another box, opened it and put a few in the window well.  A couple weeks later I noticed the well was empty, so went back to the box.  It was open and tipped over in the storage box where it sits.  Hmmmm.  This is where it gets tricky.  I am not 100% certain that I put any treats in the well at that point but the next week when I wanted one, the well was empty.

There is absolutely no evidence that critters are the culprits of all this.  No crumbs, no droppings, no scratch marks, no odor, no damage to anything else in the car.  Even in summer, I never leave the car windows open.  I could do a more scientific investigation (other than relying on my perhaps faulty memory) by taking a photo and jotting down the date and time to compare it later if I find the well empty.  Same with the box – picture and date of it closed.  So far, I’ve been too lazy to do that, although truly, how long would it take to snap a photo with my phone as I’m getting out of the car? 

It’s hard to imagine a squirrel getting into the car and it’s harder to imagine mice getting in and traipsing off with whole dog treats without leaving some kind of trail.  

Any thoughts?

2026, books, Fantasy, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Let’s Speculate!

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The first bookstore that I worked in was teeny.  Teeny tiny.  Because we were so small, we did not have any subsections of Fiction.  Romance and science fiction and mystery were all filed together by author with the “regular fiction”.  I don’t ever remember this being a problem.  My next store was larger; Romance and Science Fiction got their own shelves but Mystery was still mixed in with Fiction.  By the time I got the store #1 at Southdale, even Mystery had a neighborhood of its own.

I remember when Fantasy started being differentiated from SciFic (although it never had its own section when I was in stores).  And I also remember when I first started hearing folks use Literary Fiction as a subgenre.  (This one always bothers me because it sounds kind of snooty.)  And although I’ve never seen it listed anywhere officially (although I’m sure it’s out there), I’ve used Dystopian Fiction myself for books like Station Eleven and Red Rising.

Last week when I was in Barnes & Noble I turned a corner and found two big tables of “Speculative Fiction”.  This is a new one on me.  The signs said “the perfect mash-up of your supernatural, fantastical, magical and futuristic dreams.”  Doesn’t this encompass fantasy and science fiction and maybe even dystopian?  Fellowship of the Ring was on the table – I would clearly call that Fantasy.   Both of Andy Weir’s books (The Martian and The Hail Mary Project (both excellent by the way)) were piled up.  I would absolutely call both of those Science Fiction.  Station Eleven was on the other table.  I would put that in Dystopian since it’s not supernatural, fantastical or magical.  Wouldn’t Mystery fall into Speculative?  I was thinking that just about every fiction title might qualify for Speculative.  Except the romances – as they pretty much always end the way we think they will.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not actually against putting books together by fairly specific genres; it does help folks find books they might like.  But Speculative seems to be a more expansive genre rather than a whittled down category.  Not sure it will help, but it was a nice sign.

Do you have a title that you think qualifies for the Speculative Fiction section?

2025, books, Fantasy, History, Mysteries, Uncategorized

Alternative Histories

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The holidays brought me a nice cache of giftcards so yesterday I had a “gift card day”.  Dunkin for breakfast on the way to knee therapy.  Blicks Art Supply.  Barnes & Noble.  Taco Bell.  A great day.

I spent about an hour wandering around Barnes & Noble.  As a dedicated library patron, I have to admit that I haven’t been inside a bookstore since last year when Jacque’s sister was signing her latest book at Once Upon a Crime.  Nothing against bookstores but my pocketbook prefers the library system.

Anyway…  as I was checking everything out, I found two tables that had various history books piled up.  I’m assuming that B&N stores get table recommendations from headquarters with a few title suggestions but that most of the books are picked for display by store employees.  (That’s how it was back in my day in the bookstore.)  The history tables had the look of employees having a bunch of fun.  History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks, History of America in Ten Expeditions, History of the World in Six Glasses.   Clearly this is a trend and it reminded me of a couple of titles I’ve read – A History of the World in 100 Objects and Orchid Muse: History of Obsession in Fifteen Flowers.  100 Objects started as a BBC radio series – I stumbled upon in once it was published in book form.  It looks at objects from all over the world, from as long ago as 2 million years.  It was absolutely fascinating.  Orchid Muse was a book I read last year as part of my Rivers & Ridges Book Festival experience.  The author was at the festival so I got to hear her speak – a lot of extra little details that weren’t in the book. 

I didn’t realize that history in a set number of lessons was a thing but if you do a quick internet search, you can find a glut of these books.  47 Borders, 50 Books, 50 Failures, 12 Maps, 500 Walks, 50 Lies.  I could go on but this is enough and it makes me wonder if authors are starting out to do a “number of things” or if they have an area of interest and publishers/agents push them in that direction?

Any other suggestions for “History of the World in”…….?

2026, books, Media, Mysteries

A Good Thing After All…

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One Good Thing.  That’s the name of my journal – short and sweet – one good thing a day.  Every now and then if I just can’t whittle it down, then two.  Doesn’t have to be earth-shaking. 

Every now and then, like yesterday, I am just not feeling it.  Gray and cold.  No good news in the world. Found out my supplement program has stopped doing the $50 of pharmacy freebies.  My checks haven’t come in yet.  The mail didn’t arrive.  I started three different books and none of them lit any kind of spark.  Just a crumby day.  What in heaven’s name was going to be my one good thing?

Back in December I went to get my hearing aids checked before my 3-year warranty was up.  It was pretty cursory but when “Opal” (name changed to protect the innocent) asked me if I had downloaded the app, I remembered when Jacque was helping Lou with his hearing aid once at a Blevin’s meeting using his phone.  Opal and I discussed it for a bit, what it could do for me and if it would fit my needs.  And then she said the magic words…. “do you ever listen to audio books?”  You all know I perked up immediately.  Turns out that even without the app, I can have audiobooks (and also my phone) stream through my hearing aids!  Who knew.

My phone does have the Libby app on it already but it hasn’t too useful.  If I had it too loud, YA would comment.  During the summer, when windows were open, traffic made it hard to hear sometimes.  If I would get up and leave the room, I’d have to remember to grab the phone.  I didn’t use this feature often.  But through my hearing aids, it’s a whole `nother world!  No irritating YA, no traffic noise, no having to remember to take the phone.  I can walk all over each floor of my house before I get out of range.  It’s amazing.

This has been life-changing for me and I’m trying not to regret that I spent three years not knowing about this.  Oh well.  Even though Opal clued me into this in December, since one of my “meh” books today was listened to via my hearing aids, I’m gonna take it!

One good thing for anybody else yesterday?

2026, Fitness, Health, Mysteries

Biting Remarks….

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My dental exam was Friday.  Like most folks, I don’t spring out of bed on dentist day, singing with joy and sprinkling my path with rose petals.  Honestly, if I could take a pill and never have to worry about my teeth or go to the dentist again, I’d take that pill every darn day. 

My dental history isn’t all that happy.  I have a small mouth to start with, not really enough room for all my teeth and then when my adult teeth started coming in, we discovered that I had some duplicates.  That meant tarting at the age of 9, I got the first set pulled, then wore retainers.  Then when the second set descended, those got pulled as well.  More retainers.  Then, the eventual braces, followed by more retainers.  During that time, I had another adult tooth that wasn’t breaking through the gum so had to deal with that.  5 years total.

Before marriage to wasband #1, I had my last dental exam while still on my folks’ insurance.  Dentist said all four of my wisdom teeth were there but didn’t appear to be doing anything.  Since my mom’s wisdom teeth never came in, the decision was made to leave them be.  Literally six months later (after wedding and without any dental insurance) all four came in.  They had to come out (small mouth, no room) and three of the four were impacted.

I’ll stop there, but suffice it to say I’ve had plenty more drama – broken tooth, crowns, bridge, more gum issues.  And this is all for a person who brushes and flosses every single night.  For decades.  Did I mention that my dentist growing up was my uncle?  So there was no sloughing off where the teeth were concerned.

Anyway Friday was just a cleaning but as I was laying back, I had to “un-tense” constantly.  It didn’t hurt but every few minutes I would realize that I was tensing up and have to force myself to relax.  At one point the hygienist knocked the tray with her elbow and I just about jumped out of my skin.  She said “it’s OK, you can relax” and I laughed so suddenly that I snorted.  Luckily she didn’t have any implements of destruction in my mouth at the time.  During a little break in the action, I asked her if anyone ever relaxes in the chair, she said “about half”.  That surprised me, I would have thought that most folks can’t relax.  I prefer not to be the outlier in this area.  We’ll see if that desire helps me relax next time around!  Snort.

What do dentists call the x-rays they take of your teeth?

2026, Automotive, Mysteries, Stories

The Early Bird… is just early.

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Guesstimating how long a task will take is not one of my long suits. 

Bad estimates happen often when I’m trying to give myself enough time to get somewhere.  Don’t get me wrong – when I’m going from one place straight to another, then I’m pretty accurate.  I like to arrive with a few minutes to spare and this usually works out.  It’s when I add errands to a trip; the more errands, the worse I guess.  Two weeks ago, I had a knee therapy appointment at 7:30 a.m.  At that time of day I know it takes about 15 minutes to go straight there.  I added stopping for gas and estimated 10 minutes for that, then 5 minutes to swing by the post office, 10 minutes for Dunkin Donuts.  Figuring 10 minutes to check in and cough up my co-pay, I decided I should leave the house at 6:30.

Got all my errands done and showed up at my therapy place at 6:50.  My car was warmed up at that point so I sat in the parking lot for 20 minutes listening to my book on CD.  That still left me 20 minutes (of which the check-in/co-pay took 3 minutes…sigh). Good thing I’m a morning person.

The other time this problem rears its ugly head is when I have some chore that I’m not too excited about.  A 10-minute job becomes an hour in my mind, a 20-minute chore becomes an afternoon.  Then the procrastination kicks in.  I found this meme last year on Facebook; I even printed it out and pasted it in my journal.  Whenever I’m putting something off, I TRY to remind myself of this silliness in my nature.  Occasionally it helps

I’m hoping that showing up 40 minutes early for my therapy will be a learning experience but I’m not exactly holding my breath.  You know – that old dog/new tricks problem.

Do you have a good relationship with time-keeping?  Any procrastination problems?