Zain Mackey

Life Artist

Self love

Fire Escape Voyeurs

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After a great breakfast at the Uptown Café, Ken and I headed to the car and as we buckled up, we noticed a couple arguing on the outside stairway of the apartment building in front of us. The woman was clearly angry and the guy kept backing up floor by floor as she moved toward

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Sweating With the Kitties

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We have 2 cats: Zim and Jack Pumpkinhead. Sadly, some of our family developed cat allergies so the kitties got demoted to permanent outside status. Jack doesn’t mind being outside because he’s a former stray who has never been inside although he knows that inside is where the cat food lives.  Zim is unhappy about

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Superwoman has a cold

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Many years ago I had an-eat–your-soul job. You know the kind: you should take some days off but they sigh and frown on it even though you just worked 20 hours overtime and slept under your desk a couple of nights when it wasn’t worth driving home. I was conscientious, a loyal, valuable and hardworking

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Thanksgiving chaos ala Mackey

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My Mother didn’t want to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She was more interested in sitting in her favorite chair, reading the convoluted history of the English monarchy while drinking a beer and eating popcorn. Actually, this sounds great to me so I totally get her attitude. I regret to say that we were argumentative

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Stinky Dog Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving for us meant a trip to the family farm in Kentucky where Dad’s aunts lived. One year Dad decided to go hunting while we visited and packed his guns and his hunting dog Chad for the trip. Bright and early on T-day we headed out to the Farm. Dad and my brother returned around

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Fear The Dentist Part 2: Learning The Hard Way

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Hear me out on this 3 part series of fear and loathing in the dental chair. Today I’ll give you what I learned straight off:   Speak up and take no sh** from people who don’t have your best interest at heart; Take care of and love yourself like no one else can; If you

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Fear The Dentist Part 1: The Dreaded Dry Socket

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My friend Charlene doesn’t fear the dentist. She’s never had a cavity and it’s just a friendly visit for her. Ok, she did have a rough experience with her wisdom teeth and the pain meds, but I’m talking about the regular dentist visit, not the oral surgeon stuff. Not me. I fear the dentist. They’re

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Clearly, You’re On The Menu

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Center Pointe, Indiana has an Exotic Feline Rescue Center, home to about 200 big cats representing 9 different species. The Center has tours but you’re not allowed to touch or interact with the cats. You’d be a fool to try. These are carnivores on steroids. The cats are in large, secure fenced-in areas but once

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Me and Mr, Jones have a thing going on…

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Every summer I wave at Mr. Jones when I see him outside tending his tomatoes. He’s the king of tomatoes, corn, beans, potatoes, zucchini and lettuce. I wave at him and he always waves back. Mr. Jones loves his downhome veggie patch. And I love Mr. Jones because he’s doing exactly what makes him happy.

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I Don’t Wanna Die in Spearfish, South Dakota!

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My ex and I moved to Spearfish, South Dakota in the ‘80s. Super small town but beautiful country. So different from the green forests where we both grew up. At 8am it was around 100 degrees with no humidity to speak of. Beautiful, bright wavy heat that lasted until mid-day when the clouds rolled in.

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My Teeth Started Doing the Cha-Cha…

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Violent chills rocked my arms, my throat swelled, my knees knocked and it was 50/50 whether I was going to fall down. I got scared. In the space of an hour I was sick, sick, sick. I knew I’d bite the thermometer into little mercury pools so scratch that. I warmed up a rice bag

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