Some forces of nature are full of hot air. Some even delude themselves with visions of grandeur, almost God-like.Welcome to the world of blogging sites that rule with a golden pen. This blog is about one of them.

The Year Ends with a Seizure

January seems loose as a pocketful of change. On the flip side it is a little harrowing. One of the dogs had a sieizure just after Christmas. Ouch! She has recovered but my pocketbook is about to have a seizure. I have been writing to my heart's content but had a monster malware critter invade my computer. I kept calm and gave it a lethal injection. It does not appear to have stolen anything. That leads me to this latest conflict.

Back to Reality

Those of you who write might understand it best. I blog on about six different sites. The main one is  www.hazardgal There are links to most of the others there. Blogging is like space food. Nutritious but strange at times. Have you eaten Dippin' Dots? There are forces in this world like blogs and Dippin' Dots that stand alone. Anyway, in order to craft my blogging style I have sent things to a few invitation only sites. Two of them accepted my work. One dumped it like moldy cheese. So the thought comes to mind, "Do I need to do it their way?"

This site is like an at-your-fingers People Magazine, I guess. They made about four constructive comments to ease the blow. You must write in third person for this site. Also your mechanics must be perfect as milk (my interpretation).  No opinions allowed! I write in a style of my own and may not use a semicolon with surgical precision. I'd like to think my word combinations are novel. This is what invention is all about.

It seems to me that in an arena like bloggng that is in its infancy, (or maybe toddlerhood) that perfection is not healthy. They also said my degree was not in their realm. I say, "If they want only a bunch of English majors, fine. I won't be reading that blog!" Personal blogs are opinionated and we like it that way! If I truly want to freelance, it may choke my muse.

I have my master's degree in Special Education. In my job, I had to write more than most teachers do in a lifetime!We had to document everything and kept a host of Federal forms current. More than that, I have a creative side big as the sun. Blogging is an equal opportunity world. I may not blog for money. My book is selling well, so I can relax. Creative writing and journalism are like feuding families.

J-E-L-L-O

Maybe I had it coming. You step onto the racetrack and the two-year-olds smoke you. The Xanga team is good as hot chocolate. If there is a college for bloggers, it exists in little known places too. The site that rejected my offer of freelancing is fresh as bologna to me.  Maybe all the neocons read that genre at work when they are supposed to be busy. Yes, 2009 has started out with a bang. My ego is Jello. Strawberry-Banana of course.

Cool weather comes and if you are lucky, crappie come with it. My husband and his buddies caught a fine mess of fish yesterday. Often, I get stuck with the duty of cleaning fish, a job I have resented over time. I guess going deep sea fishing at the end of October, has me whistling another tune.

In Pensacola, we watched as our deckhand sliced up our catch. He had finesse and threw in stories as he worked. Of course we were all very interested to know his father knew the guys on Deadliest Catch. He made short order of those fish with surgical precision. We tipped him well for his efforts.

So, the stringer full of crappie this morning didn't look so bad. These were caught up near the Buckhorn Dam. It is too cold to clean them outdoors so I arranged my tools near the sink. My scraper was adequate for removing the scales. My electric knife is cumbersome but works just fine. It's over thirty years old  by now. I got down to business and used a multitude of paper towels. My freezer bags were ready and open. I said a little prayer.

The crappie are now prepared and in the freezer. There is a way you turn the knife, keeping it horizontal. I held each one by the gills. There is also a way you trim away the ribs very gently. I tried it the deckhand way and it worked! More than the sheer success of this, I am now free of my hang ups with cleaning fish. I know I can make filets like the best of them. I also know I need a better electric filet knife. You can't have it all.