Bernie awoke in the night. I was lying just inside the front door, where I can monitor all the smells and sounds of the night while I sleep. We sleep in very different ways, you and I, let’s leave it at that. Bernie can be a very deep sleeper but some nights he’s restless, tossing and turning, and even murmuring at times. Once I’d heard him murmur, “I’m afraid.” I almost didn’t believe I’d heard that, but my ears don’t make mistakes. That night I’d hurried into his bedroom and stood beside the bed for a long time, just watching, but there was no more murmuring and he lay quiet until morning, chest rising and falling, slow and easy.
(from A FAREWELL TO ARFS, coming Aug. 6, preorders welcome)
Chetland (to borrow the term from Maury)
9 Comments on “Chetland (to borrow the term from Maury)”
How about that, I coined a phrase — Chetland. Wow! Actually, in a way it is turn around fair play, as Spence was the one who originally coined the acronym WATP for Wookie and Teddy’s Paw, which has since morphed into WTAFP (Wookie, Teddy and Franklin’s Paw).
From last night, for Reba/Rebecca, if you check your SDD, you will see a copy of the Plunderer’s Cookbook waiting for you, thanks to Rose sharing your email address with me. It had been a while since I had looked at the Cookbook and I had not recalled just how amazing it was, and the terrific job that LizF and others had done in putting it together.
It also brought back memories of all the blog members at the time that it was done. Indeed on pages 768-80 of the cookbook there is a listing of all the blog members at the time. We have had some many along the way, all of them important and memorable.
WTAFP, As you know from my return email, I did get the cookbook! I now also have SDDs for you and Wose!
Thank you, Wose, for providing mine to Franklin’s Pa!
I loved the recipes, pictures, and, especially, the contributor info. What a glorious history!
I’m just curious. Are there any other newbies (noting ML also arrived after the quilt and cookbook era) besides me? I sure do appreciate being adopted in!
This will be a long one, but I was able to copy the Plunderer directory from the electronic version of the Plunderer’s Cookbook, so here it goes:
List of Contributors and Plunderers
n This symbol means they helped or had a square on the Chet the Dog Quilt
n ABBIE THE KITTY is a lovely tortoise-shell tabby who lives with Staff in North Dakota. Abbie’s Mom was a rescue kitty and lived on a porch in North Dakota. She got out once and so Staff was allowed to adopt one of her young. Abbie likes that she is ahead of Alice M. Johnson in this list.
n A CATTY LIBRARIAN is the new Mom of Elliot the cat and was the Mom of Fatty Kitty. A sister of Staff and Dawson, she mostly lurks these days.
n ALICE M. JOHNSON is a beautiful golden blonde cat who lives with Staff in North Dakota. Alice came out of the woods in the fall of 2001. She is vain about her fluffy golden tail.
n BLUECAT lives in Indiana and recently got a new computer. She is a blue point Siamese and has crossed eyes.
n BSTOVER is a professor of literature and lives in Michigan. She has her own blog and loves good coffee and fine red wine, especially Cahors.
n BARB AND MAGGIE live on a farm in Illinois and have chickens and goats. Barb knows everything about tin futures and Roth funds. Maggie is the world’s best ratter.
BASIL AND SAGE are the herbal Kats—the Mighty Mousers—the Creators of the Honorific ‘Pug Butt.’ ‘We sass and harass and entertain. (Ok, so we run like lemmings and hide when a stranger comes to our house–we just do that cuz we’re too good to socialize, NOT cuz we’re scared.) We come from rescue and live happily in our forever home in beautiful, green Western Massachusetts.’
BEARSPIRITDOG lives on an island in the Pacific NW off the coast of Washington. Members of the household include feline friend Masquerade (aka: Masquers) and Nana, a two-legged. A Belgian Malinois, Bear has been called a ‘Canine Houdini’ who can escape from any enclosure and is able to leap tall fences in a single bound. He is a Master of the Art of Time Travel and there has been some speculation as to his present Energy form.
n BUFORD has gone over the Rainbow Bridge. He lived with Kirby T. Penworthy in South Carolina and helped with the quilt before he passes over.
CHARRIS lives in Alaska above the Arctic Circle and is a teacher. CHET AND BERNIE live in southern Arizona and are partners in the Little Detective Agency.
CUPCAKE is a Jack Russell mix from NJ with her very own blog. Her mom writes children’s picture books and poetry that sometimes actually get published.
n DAWSON takes long bike rides and makes very funny jokes on the blog.
n DEBBIE LM lives in Maryland and is the mom of Wookie of Chevy Chase whose dad is a lawyer
originally from New Mexico. They like martinis and give grand dinner parties.
n FATTY KITTY allowed A Catty Librarian to serve her. He has gone over the Rainbow Bridge now.
n GUS AND BOOBEAR are two rescue cats who live in Texas. Their mom went to one of Spence’s book signings in Houston and met Spence. ‘Mom and Dad are very active in giving rescued cats a good home…ours!!’
n JASPER is a small black poodle who lives in Michigan and his mom has a wonderful sense of humor.
n KIRBY T. PENWORTHY lives in South Carolina. His mom was the first Plunderer to meet Spence. He
wrote a superb Sestina about Chet and Bernie and Spence posted it on the blog on October 2, 2010.
LIZF lives in Australia and is the mom of Cricket. She is a very talented artist.
n MACY THE MIN PIN lives in Texas. Her mom also went to see Spence at a book signing and met Gus and BooBear’s mom. Macy is mother of Annie and Biddie. Belle and Holly are Chugs (Chihuahua pugs).
n MELANIE lives in Mass. with the Newf pack and Zoe and Dan. She has two sons: an artist (OTAS) and an actor (YSAS). She is a wonderful photographer. Her friend is the mom of Tupper, Gilly Basil and Sage.
MOLLIE (A BLACK POODLE): ‘We live a few miles north of San Francisco. Mom likes to read mysteries and is a S.F. Giants Baseball fan. She also likes to visit the wine country for some French bread, cheese and wine.’
n MOLLYPOP lives in ski country in New York. She has a beautifully poufy tail. Her sister is the mother of…SAM who lives in Buffalo.
NATASHA THE NEFARIOUS BORZOI: ‘So, you vish to compile dossier on Natasha, hmm. Vill not be so easy as you think. Natasha is vell trained to vithstand vigorous interrogation by experts. So you vill never find vhere Natasha is living. Ve have friends all over vorld vith many mansions and castles ve can call home. Natasha is expert in disguise and can appear to be anyvon, anyvhere. So, can only be said that Natasha is very beautiful Borzoi and is World’s Best Undercover Spy. (It vould be ok to mention that Rio, SiberH, Mac and Franklin are all mad in love vith Natasha–poor little dogs–they cannot help themselves.)’
OLEY HOWLERS: Sasha, Dima, and Meashka are Sibes who live in Pennsylvania. Dima is a boy, and the others are girls. Although their mom works for a fund company, she is a computer geek and knows nothing about tin futures or Roth funds. Their pop is also a computer geek but works at a hospital. They live with Buddy and T.C. the cats, on a farm called Howling Arabians with 4 horses. ‘We had an older brother Boris. And there was Misha (Sasha’s husband). Boris and Misha are no longer with us physically, but very much with us in spirit.’
JODI OXENRIDER an honorary Snowhook Kennel Iditarod handler.
n RIO THE EVIL PUG lives in Colorado with his friend who works at a sometimes-busy-place. He loves baseball and floor buffets and hates walking. He is a snarly grumpy lump of marshmallow fluff. He is also the cause of the Blog quilt, the sponsorship of Snowhook Kennels and the Commander in Chief of the many missions the plunderers undertake.
ROSE lives in Croton-on-Hudson, NY in Westchester County. She is a sometime artist, and likes to write stories. She was once a mom to an awesome cat named Kelly and has been married to the Prof for 23 years. ‘I love to read, especially Chet and Bernie mysteries.’
n SAM aka Princess is going to be in the film version of THAT. ‘I’m great at being fluffy.’
n SIBER-H(usky) AKA Mr.Husky lives in New Mexico and loves baseball and snow…hates water. He enjoys digging holes. ‘I am a great civil engineer. The Army Corps of Engineers should hire me.’
SNOWHOOK BELLA (Snowhook Kennel) lives in Alaska! She and her husband A.J. race in the Iditarod. Rebecca and AJ are mom and pop to many rescued Iditarod Dogs!! Chet and the Plunderers are sponsors for next year’s race.
n STAFF normally lives in North Dakota with Alice M. Johnson and AbbietheKitty and Mr. Staff. Her sisters are: Dawson who lives in Northern British Columbia and A Catty Librarian who lives in Montana with Elliot her new cat. Staff, Alice and Abbie are in Minneapolis right now helping the parents. Dawson is visiting.
SPENCER QUINN/PETER ABRAHAMS lives in Mass. and writes New York Times best selling books. He has a big black dog named Audrey who helps us on our missions.
TUPPER AND GILLY are two tri-color Pembroke Welsh Corgis aka The Royals.. ‘Even though we came from separate rescues in different years, we look like we are related by birth. We love each other and cuddle together all the time. Our Mama likes to play with clay and read and play with clay and cook and play with clay and…well you get the picture. We live here in Western Massachusetts, with our Dad, and those two Wrotten Kats, Basil and Sage, just down the mountainside from Melanie and the pack. Mama is from New Mexico, and misses it a lot, especially the green chili. Daddy is from Canada, so this seemed like a pretty fair compromise.’
TYB whose name is an acronym for ‘Thank you Blou,’ is a friend of Mollypop. ‘I was rescued from a Canadian shelter in April 2010, so it’s assumed that I am Canadian by birth, but I’ve been naturalized. Since becoming an American, I’ve been working hard as Blou’s successor. I am the spokesdog for Code Blou and the Pet Emergency Fund which raises money to help pay for lifesaving emergency treatment for pets whose owners cannot afford to pay the full cost of the required care. I’m also the mascot for the Letters From Home Program which sends letters and gift packages to American service people serving all over the world. We ship three times a year and usually send a few thousand packages each time.
In my spare time I like to visit nursing homes and schools. I’m working now on my TDI (therapy dog) certification and hope to become a reading therapy dog for youngsters. I’ll go to schools and libraries and let the kids read to me. My favorite pastimes when I’m not working are traveling and hiking.’
n WOLFIE WIGGLEBUTT lives in California and his mom makes the best toffee in the world. He is known for blurring.
n WOOKIE OF CHEVY CHASE AKA Agent 00Wookie, formerly of her Majesty’s Secret Service, is now lead agent for reconnaissance missions for Commander Rio. He lives in Chevy Chase, MD, with his dad, mom (Debbie LM) and grandpa who is the world’s best tummies giver. He drives the Wookiemobile and in his spare time is a certified quilt tester.
Wow–Great list!
Good day to all.
Greetings!
Wow…Such great memories and a wonderful biography of the Plunderers past and present! Thanks, WTAFP.
Very hot and humid in this neck of the woods. My hair actually looks pretty good, so I will not be going outside. :^)
Good day to all!
I really enjoyed reading that list when I got my copy (thank you Wose and WTAFP) and was amazed at both the contributors and the recipes. Isn’t it interesting how many people on the blog were either teachers or librarians? (I was both). And also quilters, of which I am also one.
I wish I had found the blog during the quilt project. I’ve been quilting since college (so about 45 years) and would have loved to contribute a square. And of course recipes.
Are there enough coming back on a regular basis to collect some recipes for an Addendum? It would only be electronic and it won’t have the fancy print and layout of the original.
Our humidity is 65% and the temps are coming down but still not DOWN. Currently it is 77 with a “real feel” of 88. Heat will peak at 2pm at 79 with a “real feel” of 85. At least it cools off at night. I can usually open my bedroom window and let the room cool until bed when I close it so no AC required, for now. Thursday and Friday will peak at 78, then back up into the 80s for the weekend. After that it will stay in the mid to upper 70s for at last a month with some spillover into the low 80s. This is hotter than we usually are this time of year and it’s earlier than we usually get. I’m thinking that Fall will just be a note on the calendar and that “Summer” will stretch into October this year.
For WTAFP I have a recipe from New Mexico from the neighbors that used to live across the street from my parents. Open faced tostadas (although I think of them as deconstructed enchiladas). I’m sure he’s familiar with them. Great way to use up the left over enchilada sauce from my other recipes.
I also have some home made recipes for Ketchup, shrimp cocktail sauce, split pea soup, chili and tomato soup.
Just about all of my other recipes are from other sources like magazines and cookbooks so don’t include them.
I do have a family recipe from South America shared at a class I took on children’s picture books. We all shared one family recipe and this was a cheese bread called Pan de Bono I think, or something like that. It was amazing and we all raved so the recipe was shared. I’m not sure any tin mines were involved but I know there is no tin in the recipe.
Wow! Memories galore! Mom used to have two kitties “Gus and BooBear” who posted. Both have crossed the Rainbow Bridge and that’s when I took on the responsibility.
Big Tiny: Gus and BooBear also made appearances on the Plunder On! calendar, and now the baton has passed to you.
Have you considered a Plunder On! calendar featuring all of the furry, feathered and scaled Plunderers that have appeared on the calendar over the years since it’s inception? A sort of retrospective calendar of past and present?