Nina Blakeman's Blog, page 7

Home Sweet Home No. 6

It’s been only a few short months since The Blow-up Man has been published. I can still hardly believe it. Each of characters in the book represents a little part of me, yes…even Annette. In the book, the trouble Annette lives in a rural region of West Texas, just like I do. Whenever I write about the property Todd Davis left to Annette Dolce, I often look around me to “set the mood”. But how do I turn home-sweet-home into a place that gives the reader the creeps? Sometimes, it takes a little imagination, but other times, it doesn’t take much.

I have this old hen coop on my property. It would be an example of something creepy. One of its doors has blown off with the remaining one held on by one hinge. That door bangs up against the coop with the littlest provocation from the wind. For the book’s cover, I went outside to take a picture of it and submitted it to Outskirtspress. There were some resolution issues with it and that’s what prompted me to purchase a similar image to use instead.

Several years ago, I did use that coop to house some baby guinea chicks. Guinea fowl, although they can make quite a racket, are good for eating ticks and keeping rattlesnakes away. Ironically, I came home one day to feed them, and found that a bull snake had made its way up into the pen. The snake had three chick-sized bumps to its long body. It’d swallowed them whole. I haven’t used that pen since.

Imagine walking by that coop at night, as the wind beats it broken door against the frame. Think about what might be slithering beneath it, waiting for its next meal…instant creepy.

There is one more thing that I found to be ironic… that most snakes in this world are not even reptiles. Bye for now, Nina B.

Home Sweet Home No. 5

Today, I’m going to discuss why I chose to have Annette living in an old Sears’s kit home. For those of you that don’t know what that is, they were kits to build a home which were sold by Sears between 1908 and 1940. They were shipped in pieced to the consumer by rail.

You see, my husband Scot and I were married in a charming little Bed and Breakfast (B&B) in a quaint town not far from where we live. It was a Sears’s kit home, and a delightful venue for our small wedding. But it surely wasn’t what I had in mind as a home for The Blow-up Man’s ominous Annette Dolce. I wanted to portray it more like the Bates house in the 1960 movie Psycho, but have a more West Texas feel to it.

In the book, when Todd learns of Annette’s infidelities, he just signs the property over to Annette to provide some type of stability for his kids. But what is a learned man, such as Todd Davis, doing with such a dilapidated, run-down house to begin with, you ask. Well, in my research, I found an article that inspired me. It was about a man that got over the grief of his mother’s death by restoring an old, 1925 Sear’s kit house. According to the article, it was a laborious task, to say the least. I see that same type of passion existing in Todd, believing in the dreams of what could be. That’s why he brought the property to begin with and it’s what fuels him in his research. In the book, Todd’s dream is killed by Annette’s betrayal, and he’s forced to move on.

Home Sweet Home No. 4

I know when I last left you; I said I was going to discuss why I chose to have The Blow-up Man’s Annette Dolce living in an old Sears’s kit home. But something interesting occurred this week that fell in line with the overall theme of how bizarre, and sometimes creepy, living in rural West Texas can be. So, I thought I’d share it with you.

In this area of the country, the weather hasn’t really turned out as the forecasters had predicted—cold and wetter than usual as a result of El Niño. Instead, it’s been unusually warm and dry—and, of course, there’s the wind. With that being said, my husband, Scot, decided to take our three dogs out for a walk around the property. It was an opportunity for everyone to stretch their legs. The temperature outside was an amazing 75°F (early to mid-February). So, he decided to err on the side of caution and wear his snake boots…just in case he came across a rattlesnake. You see, some people think the rattlesnake hibernates in the winter, but that’s something of a misnomer. They are just less active in the winter, and it’s called brumation. During warm periods during the winter, the rattlesnake does move around.

I know this story appears like it’s about a snake, but it is not…it’s about the boots. Scot keeps them in the garage, right outside the mudroom door. He’d tried to slip on the boots, but felt something inside one of them. On closer examination, he found that a dove had flown inside it, apparently becoming trapped. The dove must’ve flown inside the garage when the garage door was open. It was unable to make its way out of the calf-length canvas section of the boot. Inside that boot is where the dove died. Was it a quick death, you ask. We don’t think so, as when it remains were removed, the bottom of the boot was full of excrement. It’s a lesson for us all—don’t stick your beak in where it doesn’t belong. As for Scot, he’s going to have to go back to Cavender’s Boot City to buy a new pair of snake boots. Bye for now, Nina B.

Home Sweet Home No. 3

In 2006, my husband and I bought ten acres of land in rural West Texas from a couple named Thornton. They lived in a mobile home adjacent to a house that was on its last leg, falling down after years of insult from the harsh West Texas weather. That house was the Moore’s old, wooden family home. It wasn’t necessary to enter the house to know it had reached the end of its usefulness. Holes to the walls and roof, along with the broken windows made that conclusion clear. Entering the house, remnants of another life littered the floor. Did I mention there were holes in the floor boards? I watched my step, but my attention was quickly drawn to something fluttering up in the rafters—it was a bat that was disturbed by my activity. It quickly flew off through a hole in the roof.

The homestead had many old pens and coops that were of no use except as a shelter for the numerous stray dogs that had either reproduced or been “dumped” outside the city limits. I remember going into an old coop to find a litter of dead puppies. In The Blow-up Man, the deputy searches the Dolce property for anything suspicious, only to find a mangy old bitch nursing her pups in an old silo.

When my husband and I decided to purchase the property, we knew that the old house, along with the pens and coops, had to go. The mobile home was donated to charity. After that, a new chapter began at the old Moore homestead. We built a lovely brick home that we still live in today. But that’s not the type of home the Dolce’s lived in. Join me next time as I discuss why I decided to have Annette and her children living in an old Sears kit home.

Home Sweet Home No. 2

Up the road from my husband and me, there lived an elderly couple named Moore. Their house is now empty as the both of them have passed. It does; however, sit where the fictional home of Mrs. Carson would be in relation to my own.

In The Blow-up Man, I used my property as inspiration to create the creepy Dolce place. In my front yard is a large pine tree. But what does that have to do, if anything, with the elderly Moore couple, you ask.

Well, our property used to be owned by the Moore’s. One day, the aged Mr. Moore came over to help my husband and me with the steering mechanism of our riding lawn mower. It had broken, and Mr. Moore was quite handy in that way. He told me that his mother had planted that pine tree, and it was one of six, but the only one that had survived.

Where we live isn’t really conifer country. In fact, it’s a semi-arid environment with a lot of prairie grass and few trees, so the tree creates quite a formidable presence all these years later. It’s not uncommon to go out at night to find an owl high up in its branches. It’s not that I see it way up there, but sometimes my activity is enough to cause it to take flight. It is quite the sight, and to hear those massive wings beat against the night sky, well, it can be a bit… scary.

In The Blow-up Man, the tree holds up Ella’s dilapidated bike, houses the many birds of the area, and its branches and needles are utilized in some rather unique ways.

Join me next time when I discuss the Moore’s old homestead. Bye for now, Nina B.

Home Sweet Home No.1

In this series, I’m going to write about how I turn my lovely place in the country into the creepy, broken-down Dolce homestead where Annette lived with Angel Maya and her two twin girls. I’m going to get this series started off by discussing birds.

When I was a young girl, I loved the way Walt Disney portrayed his birds. They were usually blue and small, tweeting around and happily going about their business as productive members of the forest. I remember them helping Cinderella with the sash to her gown that she planned to wear to the ball or helping Snow White manage her cape. But as I grew up, I began to notice that birds in West Texas weren’t very cute. In fact, they were more like something you’d see in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds or read about in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. They really don’t seem to tweet the lovely sounds you’d expect from a song bird, instead they screech. It’s more of a caw-caw. When they congregate in trees, they cackle to each other as if they’re plotting some nefarious plan.

Just last summer, some aggressive birds seemed to take delight in dive-bombing me in hopes of taking some of my blond hair back to their nest. I couldn’t really identify them, but I knew they were different than the barn swallows that build their nest in just about every corner under the eaves of the house, leaving their mess all over the front porch. I was walking my dogs one day, and one of these birds decided to come after Goobie. She wasn’t going to have any of it, and although I could’ve pulled her leash back, I let nature take its course. After Goobie had easily won the battle, Lambeau proudly carried the bird’s remains around the property as if he had accomplished some amazing feat.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy some of the birds, like the mourning doves or the hummingbirds, because I do. But the dove’s coos are often drowned out by the caw-caw and over-shadowed by the swallows as they dart with lightening speed in and out of the garage every time I open it. In The Blow-up Man, birds can be found throughout the book and often accompany a dark scene. Just this morning, I looked out my bedroom window to find that hawk sitting atop the utility pole outside the barn, surveying his territory. I hope it’s not an omen of bad things to come.

Join me next time when I discuss the pine tree. Bye for now, Nina B.

Science Lesson No. 10

The idea of using animals in research is upsetting to some, but experimentation using cell-types can only get you so far. In The Blow-up Man, Faye and Todd are ready to proceed with testing their lead compound, xe51β, in animals. To ensure the ethical and humane care of the animals is Cullen State’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, or IACUC. The IACUC is responsible for reviewing and approving requests to use live vertebrate animals, and ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations concerning the use of these animals.

Animals play an important role in research, not only because they share the same organ systems we do, but because they can suffer similar diseases as a human. A good example of this is diabetes. Maybe you or someone you know suffers from this, but so might a dog. Animals played a vital role in the development of insulin. Now, it’s a viable treatment option for humans and dogs. Researchers have yet to find a cure for diabetes, so it’s best to stay at a healthy weight, eat right, and stay active. These tactics can prevent or delay its onset. You may be predisposed to it, or other diseases, if it’s in your genes.

You might have heard that we share a large percentage of our DNA with animals. Well, you heard right. We share an amazing 92% of our genes with a mouse, and 98% with the chimpanzee. Perhaps that’s why Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler of The Big Bang Theory uses monkeys in her research. Diseases like diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and many others continue to plague our society. Animal research is needed if we hope to have medical breakthroughs in these areas.

This will be the last of my series Science Lesson. Next time, I plan to discuss how I took plain, ordinary things around my property to describe the eerie Dolce place. I plan to call this series, Home Sweet Home.

(The percentages listed above can be found at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences website.)

Science Lesson No. 9

The dirty, dirty human bite. In The Blow-up Man, Annette takes in a woman named Mandy. Mandy is an alcoholic with a history of prostitution. Annette claims to be helping Mandy dry out, but in actuality, it’s just another example of how Annette takes advantage of those down on their luck.

One afternoon, Annette and Mandy get into an altercation over some money that is missing. Angel lands up in the middle of it and gets his hand bit by Mandy. He makes plans to go to the health department for a tetanus shot, but is that sufficient?

The answer is no. While the risk posed by the animal bite is largely from the trauma, some risk of infection is also present, especially when the bite penetrates the skin. Infections would result from normal microbes that exist in the animal’s mouth or a disease the animal carries, like rabies.

But what about bites from other humans, you ask? Most of these injuries involve the hand whether the hand (fist) hits someone’s teeth or someone’s teeth bear down on the hand. Like animals, the person being bit is predisposed to infection from the normal flora that exists in our mouths. Saliva can contain several species of bacteria, and up to 100 million microbes per milliliter (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/218901-treatment).

But what about a bite from someone like Mandy who has such a colorful past? A human bite can transmit a virus that the biter carries, such as hepatitis, herpes and syphilis, as well as, tuberculosis and tetanus. Angel should’ve had his hand evaluated by a trained healthcare professional (not Annette) for wound cleaning and prophylactic antibiotics. Even if signs and symptoms of infection are not present at the time of the evaluation, antibiotics should be given to prevent the development of one. Bye for now, Nina B.

Science Lesson No. 8

In The Blow-up Man, Dr. Miller needs to go care for an elderly patient just admitted to the hospital for a flair-up of emphysema, but he’s held up by the intrusive, deceptive Annette. Dr. Miller is the medical director of the nursing home where Annette works, and she has plans for her advancement. She’s willing to do just about anything to move up the social ladder. If Annette had things her way, she’d be the next Mrs. Miller. Luckily, Dr. Miller sees through Annette’s plan and avoids her tangled web of deceit.

But what is emphysema? Emphysema is a disease that causes damage to the air-sacs of the lungs. People with this disease don’t necessarily have trouble breathing in. It’s blowing air out that’s the problem. The disease can progress to a point where they have a constant feeling they’re not getting enough air, also known as “air hunger”. In addition to the difficulty breathing, a person with emphysema will develop a barrel chest over time. That’s where the chest takes on the shape of barrel from the air that gets trapped inside.

There is an inherited disorder that causes emphysema, but the primary source is smoking. Did you know that smokers are six times more likely to develop emphysema than nonsmokers (www.webmd.com/lung/copd/what-is-emphysema#2)? My point—don’t smoke!

There are many references in The Blow-up Man about not being able to get your breath. Why, do you ask? It’s because that’s what I fear most. The idea of drowning or suffocating terrifies me. In fact, that gives me an idea for my next book. Yeah, you heard it here first. There will be a sequel to The Blow-up Man, so get your copy of The Blow-up Man today, and be ready for what comes next. Bye for now, Nina B.

Science Lesson No. 7

Todd and Faye Davis are pharmaceutical scientists. Faye Brady Davis trained under Todd’s direction. He is her mentor, meaning he has much more experience than her—in more ways than one. But what exactly is a pharmaceutical scientist? What do they do, exactly?

First of all, let me say, they are NOT pharmacists. Todd does have a degree in pharmacy, but he is not a practicing pharmacist—not anymore, anyway. Annette saw to that.

A pharmacist works with existing drugs. They dispense medications and educate patients concerning their use. Pharmaceutical scientists work to develop new drugs and can be involved in any of the processes it takes to get a new drug to market: discovery, testing, development, and manufacturing. It can take a long time to get a drug to market and many compounds do not make it through the rigorous processes that are involved. Todd thinks he’s got a real winner with the compound xe51β. He and Faye work tirelessly to see how the drug interacts with disease-causing cells. They also test the compound in animals, making sure it’s safe and effective.

How does it turn out? Well, you’ll have to read The Blow-up Man to find out. Trust me—it won’t be boring. Bye for now, Nina B.