Dog Aliens 1 Raffle's Name by Cherise Kelley Best Cover

Dog Aliens 1 Raffle's Name will be out December 1, 2012, in time for Christmas! It's about how my dog, Raffle, is really a space alien, but how he loves us anyway, and how he got his name and came to live with us. There are sad parts and scary parts, but no humans or dogs die, I promise. It is mostly a story about the dog-human bond. I will be sending out email reminders to those who sign up here. 

Nathalie Hamidi made me this awesome cover. It's the one I will be using for the book. I am so blessed to have met Nathalie while she was just learning how to use the Gimp program that graphic artists use to make these book covers. She made this for me for free, as practice! I say she is a true artist. This is 100% her vision, based on me telling her what my book is about. She doesn't have a website yet, or I would link to it, but I am sure down the road she will and her graphics will be very popular!

A model Queensland Heeler is playing Raffle on the book cover. My camera just is not good enough quality to get a shot that is adequate for the needs of graphic art. I will include a picture of the real Raffle on the back cover of the paperback version of the book, though.

I ate breakfast and drank a bunch of coffee this morning before I realized I had not weighed in! Oops! I walked my 1.3 miles yesterday for exercise. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
El Monterey bean and cheese burrito with salsa
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
Chili Dip
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms

148.0 I've Kept the Weight Off for Six Months!

Raffle and Oreo have greatly helped me keep the weight off these six months, so they deserve to be featured here. Walking every day is so much more fun with them! If I try to skip the walk, they bug me until I go. Dogs make excellent exercise partners!

This is my favorite photo of Raffle. The camera is sitting on top of a cinder block wall. No one is with the camera. The dog smiled at an unmanned camera because he saw that I was smiling at an unmanned camera!

It is a very common saying that keeping the weight off is the hardest part. I used to say that, too. Now, I realize this is only true if you let your guard down and stop keeping track of what you eat and of how much you exercise. Sure, if you let yourself go, then the weight is coming back on. I refuse to let myself go every again.

I gained a pound yesterday, but that is OK. I am still well within my weight-loss goal range of 145 pounds to 149.9 pounds. We did our usual 1.3 mile walk to the local park and around it three times and back home down this alley. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
El Monterey bean and cheese burrito with salsa
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
1/2 can Amy's organic lentil soup
Raw baby carrots
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
Ritz cheese and crackers snack pack
Custard dish of corn tortilla chip crumbs

147.0 Is Ventriloquism Real?

"Is ventriloquism real?" is the number one search result for this video. Yes, ventriloquism is real.  This is the real me, talking in my throat without opening my mouth.  There are no camera tricks involved.  I do this by voluntarily moving the way back of my tongue, the muscle you swallow with. 

The sound comes out of my nose.  Because I am just using the back of my tongue, vowels are easy but the consonants that use your lips are very difficult, such as P.  Consonants that involve clicking the tongue are difficult, too, such as K.   I simulate the lip and clicking consonants by snorting out my nose.  Consonants that are really vowels when held a long time are easy, such as M.  I can just hum to make the M sound.

I figured out I had this ability by accident, when I was about 13.  I was singing along to a song on the radio when my stepsister Cindy said, "Hey, not everyone can sing in their throat like that.  You should practice it and do ventriloquism performances!"  I did practice, but I never performed with a dummy.  I perform this mostly as a trick to keep students entertained and out of trouble, when I substitute teach.

Not everyone who performs ventriloquism does it this way.  I have noticed that an awful lot of the guys who perform with dummies talk out of the sides of their mouths.  In an article in "Teen" Magazine circa 1977, I read that approximately 1 in 100 people are born with the ability to do real ventriloquism the way I do.

I lost .4 pounds yesterday.  For exercise I walked both dogs 1.3 miles.  Here is what I ate:

Small Bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
El Monterey bean and cheese burrito with salsa
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
Whole can of Amy's organic minestrone soup
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
Handful of corn tortilla crumbs