Roxanne Rustand's Blog, page 13

December in the country…mud, fog and a lot of cowboys!

Howdy!

Can it really be December already? It sure doesn’t seem like it, with Thanksgiving falling so late this year and our balmy weather.

Most years we have snow by now here in Eastern Iowa, but our first light snow is long gone, and we’re seeing foggy mornings and a lot of mud.

So I slog around doing my horse chores morning and night, and hope that when i take each step in Susie’s corral, my boots come along with me.  :)  This is a photo I took just this morning, while doing chores. I would have included some of the mares, but they all look like big mud balls!

But…that’s not all that is happening at our place…I’m excited about the new release of my first independently published book!

It’s now up on Amazon for Kindles for just $2.99, and will soon be available for Nook and all the rest, as well as  in print!

CLICK HERE TO BUY:  Comeback Cowboy (Shadows of the Rockies)

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I loved writing this book–it’s truly a book from my heart, country gal that I am.

For my research, I got to ride with a rodeo contractor and spend a lot of time interviewing bullriders, clowns, and others who are behind the scenes in rodeo.

But this definitely isn’t just about rodeo…it’s about  people who have made mistakes in the past and who must deal with the repercussions, and it has suspense and romance woven throughout.

It was originally published as Rodeo! but has been fully updated, and revised in keeping with the style of books I write now–sweet (not hot and sexy) romance, and inspirational fiction. Actually, my books were never hot anyway, but I so love concentrating on all of the emotion, tension and conflict of finding that one person who was meant to be–while being able to firmly “shut the bedroom door.”  :)

So if you enjoy a warm, emotional read, I hope you will give it a try!   This is the first book in my Shadows of the Rockies series.  The second book in the series, A Montana Legacy, will be out by  January, and the third will be out in early spring, 2014.

An unrelated title,  Summer at Briar Lake, should be out in a few weeks.

Oh–and by the way, my quarterly newsletter suffered a major crash last year, but it is finally up and running again, and I’ll be sending out the first, newly redesigned newsletter in a couple weeks.  If you aren’t a subscriber, you can click on the red button at the top right corner of this website.  It’s free, of course, and will always include a favorite family recipe, some photos, and information on a drawing!  This time, it’s for a big, beautiful new Laurel Burch “Moroccan Mares” tote bag containing some prizes!

I hope you had  a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Roxanne

 

Cats and Rats and Squirrels, Oh My!

by guest blogger Shannon Taylor Vannater

Note: Shannon will be drawing names on November 21st, from those who leave a comment, and the winner will receive a free copy of her new book!

I live in very rural Arkansas with woods on three sides of us. Over the years, we’ve had indoor weenie dogs and now an outdoor chocolate lab, two cats, and a horse. Once upon a time, my son had a tiny nursery. He quickly outgrew it, so we moved him into a bigger bedroom and I got the tiny nursery as my office. 10’ by 10’ all mine. 100 square feet closed off from the rest of the house with a working door.

I painted my office my favorite thistle shade—a retired Crayola color—a mix of pink and lavender. I put up seashell wallpaper border, made curtains and cushion covers for my white wicker furniture using pastel seashell fabric, and displayed all the seashells I’ve collected over the years. It was perfect.

Until I decided that since it was my office, my two outdoor charcoal gray cats should be able to come in. It was my 100 square feet and I could share it if I wanted to. Right? Hubby even agreed and installed a cat door. Since they’d always been outdoor cats, they were used to going outside to do their business. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing did for a while. They understood that the vast outdoors was their bathroom. They spent their days with me while I wrote, then prowled or slept at night.

Smokey—my scaredy cat female—was no problem. She huddled thankfully under the wicker couch and I never saw her go out. But everything smelled okay, so I knew she did. Charcoal, my curious, neutered tom, prowled all night, came inside in the morning, ate and slept the day away.

Everything went smoothly. Until one morning after everyone left and I heard something in my office. I opened the door and something flew by my head about eye level. I searched the shelves and saw a flying squirrel. I didn’t even know we had those in Arkansas. Charcoal was in stalk mode and the poor squirrel flew all over my office. I learned they not only live in Arkansas, but they’re very fast.

I stuffed Charcoal out the cat door and locked it, found thick gloves, and pursued the squirrel. They’re really fast. That squirrel perched on all eight shelves and every time I’d reach for him, he’d fly in my face and land on another shelf, my desk, the wicker, or the curtains.

After about forty-five minutes or so, I wore him down. He started running instead of flying and I learned that flying squirrels run even faster than they fly. He finally ran in the end of a 3 ring binder notebook. I clamped a gloved hand on each end, but I couldn’t open to the door with no hands.

So, I quickly stood the notebook on the floor closing off one hole, then shook the poor squirrel up. He came running up right into my hand and I had him. He bit my thick glove and squealed all the way out the back door—where the cat wasn’t—and to the woods behind our house.

Charcoal treated me to three more flying squirrel capers and I learned there are at least four where I live, they are all very fast, but you can catch them with thick gloves once you tire them out. I guess my great gray hunter got bored with squirrels, so he brought me a rat instead. I didn’t know we had rats that big in Arkansas. I propped the cat door open, screamed and hopped around on the wicker furniture, and poked at the beast with a yard stick until it scurried out the door.

That was it. The cat door got sealed off. Charcoal and Smokey got their gray butts kicked out. Even though poor Smokey was innocent, she now huddles under the house and Charcoal lives in the shed.

So now, he leaves his dead offerings on my porch—mostly rats, mice, and moles. There used to be the occasional rabbit, but no more squirrels. He’s eight now, so maybe he’s not quite that fast anymore. When I find his prize, I praise him and say, “You’re the tomcat.”

And during the day, when nobody’s home, I make sure Charcoal doesn’t have any guests and let them inside. Smokey huddles under the wicker couch and Charcoal sprawls on my bookshelf. Shhh!!!

Here is an Amazon link, so you can buy Shannon’s new book!  Rodeo Queen (Heartsong Presents)

RODEO QUEEN

Shannon Taylor Vannatter

Heartsong Presents

CAITLYN WENTWORTH LOVES BEING A RODEO QUEEN

Until she starts receiving threatening letters from a stalker. The good news is, the Texas Ranger assigned to her case is none other than her former sweetheart Mitch Warren—the man who chose his career over love.

Mitch vows to focus on protecting the woman he’s never forgotten. But Caitlyn stirs up memories best left in the past. When Mitch insists on hiding Caitlyn away on his family’s San Antonio ranch, will he keep things professional or seek out a second chance?

About the author:

Central Arkansas author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter is a stay-at-home mom/pastor’s wife. She lives in a town with a population of around 100, if you count a few cows. Vannatter won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award in the short contemporary category, The 18th Annual Heartsong Awards 3rd Favorite New Author and #1 Contemporary Award. Her books are available at christianbook.com, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, harlequin.com, and barbourbooks.com. Learn more about Shannon and her books at http://shannonvannatter.com and check out her real life romance blog at http://shannonvannatter.com/blog/. Connect with her on Facebook: facebook.com/shannontaylorvannatter, Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/stvannatter/, and Twitter: @stvauthor

How Pets Saved Our marriage…by author Jane Perrine

Guest blogger  Jane Myers Perrine

 My husband always said I was gaga about my animals.  That’s true.  If asked—or even if not—I can go one for hours with stories about the dozens we’ve had.  However,  I feel certain there’s a word limit to this blog and I’ve learned people get bored when I babble on and counter with stories about their grandchildren.   For that reason, I’ll stick to one topic, “How Our Pets Saved Our Marriage.”

George was far more romantic than I.   For birthdays and Christmas, he came up with the most wonderful and creative ideas for presents while my gifts usually ran along the here’s-a-pretty-shirt-and-tie-and-some-chocolate-covered-pretzels line.    For our anniversary many years ago, George gave me a pair of peach-faced love birds.  Beautiful creatures.   Because I was a Spanish major, I named then Don Quixote and Dulcinea, for the famous lovers of Spanish literature.   For a few months, they shared a cage, cooing and loving and seemingly very happy.  One evening nearly six months later, we came home from work to find that Don Quixote’s right cheek had been torn open and he kept his distance—on the other end of the perch—from Dulcinea.   The next day, I bought another cage and separated them.  I also changed their names.  Don Quixote became Scar Face because the Al Pacino movie had come out a few months earlier.  Dulcinea became Bone Crusher, named for a boxer named Bone Crusher Smith.

The man at the pet store where George had purchased the birds said the attack could have been because the birds were both male.  Evidently, sexing birds is very hard.   I didn’t care.  We weren’t going to raise little lovebirds and they seemed very happy to cooing to each other from different cages.  Harmony was restored.

I also had a blue parakeet named Paco.  George wanted to teach him to say, “Paco wants a taco.”  Sadly, the only thing he learned to do was to whistle for the dogs, a sound that confused the dogs greatly.   Paco’s cage was on a stand by the bedroom window.  One day, we had the carpets cleaned and the scent was strong enough I feared it would harm Paco.  So, I opened the bedroom window but forgot to pull the screen down.  After ten minutes, I heard a crash from the bedroom.  I ran in  to find the cage had been blown on the floor, popped open, and Paco was gone.   After I looked around the bedroom but couldn’t find him, I ran outside.  First, I looked all around the yard and the neighbors’ yards.  No Paco.  Then I leaped on my bike (back then, I was able to leap), and took off around the neighborhood looking for him, calling, “Paco, Paco” and even using the dog whistle.  Thirty minutes later, I still couldn’t find him so I headed home.  One more search of the yard and another around the house still didn’t turn up my bird.   The next evening, George was in bed and watching television when he called me.  “Jane, there’s something moving in the closet.”    And, yes, there Paco was, nestled in the sheets.

So, you may ask, how did this save your marriage?

A few weeks after these events, George and I had a huge fight.  I have no memory of what this was about but I was furious.  I stomped out of the house, shouting, “I’m leaving”.  George  came to the garage door and said, “You’d better take your birds with you or I’ll let them loose.”   Now, George would never have done that.  He loved our pets, too, but it was a terrific threat.   I went inside, picked up the three cages, and attempted to force them into my compact car.  Paco’s cage was small and fit easily in the front seat.  I could get Scarface’s large cage into the back seat on a slant, but no way did Bone Crusher’s cage fit.   After five minutes of moving the cages around, I admitted defeat.  I was going to have to stay with George.

We were married twenty-seven more years.  I’m really glad those cages didn’t fit.

Here’s an Amazon link for you to buy Jane’s charming book! The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek: A Novel

The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek

Jane Myers Perrine

release date: November 5, 2013

The path of planning a wedding is never smooth.  However, Adam and Gussie find that task even rockier when the Widows step up to help.  Filled with confidence because they played an important part in getting Adam to propose and helping Gussie set a date, choosing flowers and invitations does not scare them.  Then Adam’s sister Hannah shows up, and  amid all the planning and activities, they must take up the task of matchmaking again.  REVIEW   From Kirkus Reviews    The third installment of the Butternut Creek series . . . allows a continued glimpse into the quirky, eccentric citizens of this small Texas town. Perrine offers a pleasant, meandering glimpse at love and courtship in Butternut Creek . . .that combines humor and emotionalism.. . well-crafted and engaging . . . with funny, authentic characters.

 About the author:

Award-winning writer Jane Myers Perrine has worked as a Spanish teacher, minister, cook, rifle instructor, program director in a state hospital, and been an active volunteer but she always wanted to write.   Finally, she found time and has published books with  Avalon Books, Steeple Hill Love Inspired, and FaithWords, a division of Hachette Book Group.  Her short pieces have appeared in the Houston Chronicle and Woman’s World magazine.    Jane’s Butternut Creek series is about a young minister serving in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas and is filled with affection and humor.  The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek is the first book in the series.   Published in April, 2012, it has been nominated for the RITA award, the most prestigious honor for writers of women’s fiction.  The Matchmakers of Butternut Creek was published November 20, 2012.  The third book, The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek will be available November 5, 2013.

Jane lives north of Austin where her life is controlled by two incredibly spoiled tuxedo cats.   When not writing, she spends her time swimming or cheering for University of Louisville and Kansas State football and basketball.

Her website and blog are at  

Fall colors in Wisconsin…and time with good friends

Every October, my friend Pat and I take a trip north to see our dear friend Lyn Cote.  We could encounter rain, sleet, snow or fog and never see the beautiful fall colors up there, and still enjoy every moment. It would still be a joy to have that long weekend with Lyn and her family.

But…a bonus is that we often do get to see peak color up there.  And, because Pat and I live seven hours south, the peak generally hits later.

In fact, it’s now three weeks later, and our colors are blazing here out in the country where I live.  My husband planted some new oaks and maples a couple of years ago, and they are the prettiest scarlet right now,  Do you have all four seasons where you live?

I thought I would share some photos here from my Wisconsin trip, but if you go to my Facebook profile at www.facebook.com/roxanne.rustand  you can see a much larger album of fall photos starting later today.  I’ll post again on Friday here and add some more, though.

I love fall and winter….the bright fall colors, the pristine beauty of snow.  What is your favorite season?

Naming Horses..by author Anita Mae Draper

by guest blogger Anita Mae Draper

Note:  Anita is holding a drawing for one $10.00 Starbucks gift to be given to a person who comments before midnight, Tues Oct 29th and leaves a method of contact, Winner will be announced through a comment on this post, so come back then!  

The Sixties were a big era for Wild West TV shows, but our single channel station only brought one that I remember clearly—Bonanza. I especially liked the way the male characters interacted with their horses. To this day, I can’t imagine Little Joe without his unique laugh, or his paint, Cochise http://ponderosascenery.homestead.com/cochise.html   And although I’ve read the reports that say Lorne Greene wasn’t comfortable around horses and didn’t like riding, as a young girl enthralled with life on the Ponderosa, Mr. Ben Cartwright looked mighty fine up there on that big buckskin aptly named, Buck.

When I was eleven years old, my family moved to a rented farm on the outskirts of Thunder Bay, Ontario. We brought a small mini-bike with us – reportedly to drive across the fields. Since we didn’t have cattle, we thought our parents wanted us to have fun, but Mom must have balked at the thought of us bombing up and down the highway – quiet as it was – with none of us in our teens, never mind old enough to get a license, because a few weeks later, Dad left with the mini-bike and brought home a Shetland pony.

It happened to be the day before my twelfth birthday, and the pony answered to the familiar name of Flicka. I remember thinking that someone lacked imagination because they’d copied the name from the novel, My Friend, Flicka, but I wasn’t about to complain about the name when I finally had a horse. Although the ground looked a long way down when seated in the saddle, by the looks of the photograph, I was almost too big for Flicka.  Photo: c1968 Anita Mae Draper, 12 yrs old, on Flicka

It seemed only natural then, when I started writing stories as a fourteen-year-old, that I wrote westerns. What I lacked in grammar and writing craft, I made up for in characters with colorful names—both the two and four-legged kind. Cows named Bessie, Bossy and Belle. Horses named Midnight, Star, and Joe. Throw in a dog named Susie and a cat named Buttons, and I had a whole barn full of ornery critters to liven up my stories.

In the world of writing, each main character needs a friend. In a romance, you want the hero and heroine to spend most of their time together, but you also want someone they can go to for advice, or someone who’ll listen without comment until they figure it out for themselves. This is often where I’ve used horses in my westerns. Horses are intelligent. They know when you’re talking to them and even respond with a whinny, head bob, or nicker depending on the circumstances.

In my current revision project, my hero’s constant companion is the horse he was given as a boy. When he first saw the young colt with its bristly mane standing straight up and its tail tall and bent like a Rooster’s tail feathers, he called the colt, Rooster. But when I entered this story in writing contests, I was told it wasn’t a proper name for a horse. Or that a silly name detracted from the seriousness of the story. Or that, “Whoa, boy,” was sufficient for a horse that wasn’t a pet.

Really? To me, the thought of not giving a name to a horse is like calling your dog, Dog. Or your cat, Cat. What about calling your dairy cow, Milk?

Riding on a Christmas Wish

is published in A CUP OF CHRISTMAS CHEER

Volume 1, Guideposts Books

Oct 2013

The short story I wrote for A Cup of Christmas Cheer is set in 1911 York County, Ontario, Canada, and although it’s called, Riding on a Christmas Wish, it’s about a young girl who wants a bicycle for Christmas. This story is about a farm family similar to the kind you’d find in a Lucy Maud Montgomery story. In my story, the family owns two horses. The light horse is used by the mother, Eliza to run errands with the buggy and cutter. The heavier work horse is used in the wood lot by the father, Thomas, and also when the family of three go on an outing together. After much contemplation, I named Eliza’s light horse, Thunder, and Thomas’s heavy horse, Lightning. Why? Because I left myself the option of giving the reader the unexpected.

Link to buy:

Turning toward autumn…author Marta Perry

By guest blogger Marta Perry

Almost without my noticing, fall has arrived in our valley in central Pennsylvania. Each morning when I walk out to road to get the newspaper, I can see and feel the changes in the air. The rising sun, still not visible from here in the valley floor, turns the tops of the ridges to gold and orange and reflects from the moon above the trees. Some mornings the fog hangs in the creek valley, blanketing the fields and the orchard. There’s a definite sense in something as simple as the slant of the sunlight that the season is turning toward the long sleep of winter.

Our county fair has come and gone. Prize ribbons are hung up or put carefully away in a box with the ribbons from every other year, the 4H project cows have been sold to the mingled tears and pride of their young owners, and all of us who ate our way around the food stands are thinking it’s time to go on an after-fair diet!

Despite the faint melancholy that accompanies the end of another growing season, it’s time to move on. The pantry is stocked with the jars of tomatoes and sauce I put up, and the freezer is jammed to capacity with jelly as well as bags of corn, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and rhubarb. In the middle of winter, there’s nothing quite so satisfying as opening a jar of jam and being transported back to a warm July day and the taste of raspberries picked and eaten straight from the bushes.

One of the greatest pleasures of fall for me is that it’s apple season. The local orchards had a banner year, and I’ve been busy making apple cake, apple dumplings, apple bread pudding, and of course applesauce.

One of our favorite desserts is my mother’s recipe for apple walnut cake, and I’d love to share it with you.

Apple Walnut Cake

4 cups pared, chopped apples

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Combine the apples and sugar in a bowl and set aside. Beat the eggs in the oil and vanilla in a large bowl. In third bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir the flour mixture and the apple mixture alternately into the oil and vanilla. Add the walnuts and stir. Pour the batter into a 13 x 9- inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for one hour. Good served warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

I’d be happy to send you a signed bookmark and my brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. Just send your name and address to me at marta@martaperry.com

Marta

And now a note from Roxanne: here are two of Marta’s new releases!  She is a best-selling author, and you won’t want to miss these books!  I usually give you Amazon links for an easy click-through to buy, but Amazon is not cooperating for some reason and won’t allow a link.  I’ll try again later….but in the meantime, you can search for these books  on Amazon  or  eHarlequin.com.

Danger in Amish Country

Marta Perry

Love Inspired Suspense

October, 2013

Love and danger collide in three new Amish novellas—

Fall from Grace by Marta Perry

When one of her students witnesses a crime, Sara Esch gets too close to the truth, and widower Caleb King must risk it all for the woman who’s taught him to love again.

Dangerous Homecoming by Diane Burke

Katie Lapp needs her childhood friend Joshua Miller more than ever when someone threatens her late husband’s farm. Can Joshua protect her…even if it endangers his heart?

Return to Willow Trace by Kit Wilkinson

A series of accidents has startled their Plain community…and lead Lydia Stoltz to Joseph Yoder, the man who once broke her heart. At every turn, it seems their shared past hold the key to their future.

Search the Dark

by Marta Perry

HQN Books

October, 2013

Sometimes the past is best left buried….

Meredith King longs for escape. Life in Deer Run is stifling, the Amish town too small for a modern woman staying just to care for her ailing mother. When a friend enlists her help in clearing the name of an Amish boy whose decades old death is till shrouded in mystery, she welcomes the challenge. But when a ghost from her own past reappears, there is suddenly a lot more at stake.

Zach Randal was always a bad boy, and their romance never had a chance. As charming as ever, he returns to town on the heels of a deadly new threat. Is Zach as dangerous as Meredith was always led to believe? Or is the attraction they both feel the only thing that can save them from harm?

A Furry Remedy, by author Jerusha Agen

by guest blogger Jerusha Agen

He was destined to be a therapy dog. When we decided to get another puppy, we had one goal—find a pup that would grow into a dog I could use for animal-assisted therapy work. God gave me a heart for the positive impact that dogs can have on people in need at hospitals and elsewhere. Surely nothing could be wrong with the desire to do such wonderful work, to share my love of a special dog with others as he gave them the healing benefits of doggieness.

The hunt for the perfect therapy dog seemed easy. We found a breed of dog that the books, owners, and breeders all said was naturally suited to therapy work. Then, we located a responsible, reputable breeder.

The magical day came when we brought our little bundle of fluff home. He was perfect. His adorable puppy charm had people fawning over him. The adoration was mutual, humans apparently being the pup’s favorite thing. He loved all strangers, but especially children, and knew how to sense what they needed. When an uncertain child would hesitate at the sight of him, our little puppy would sit on his own and restrain his obvious excitement as he held still (except for the little tail wagging a mile a minute) until the child became comfortable enough to approach him.

I had a gifted therapy dog for sure. Sweet visions swelled my heart as I looked forward to the great things my dog and I would do together. I saw ill children at hospitals bursting into smiles at the sight of my dog, or the elderly at nursing homes speaking for the first time in months because of my dog’s magical influence.

But, as our puppy neared six months, everything changed. He started to act timid around new objects and places. Then, the worst happened—he became afraid of people. Our puppy who had once adored people more than anything now pulled back and eventually cowered at the sight of any stranger, including children.

“No, he’s never been abused,” we assured concerned onlookers. “Yes, we socialized him. Yes, he came from a good breeder.” Whether because of genetics, pain from a growth issue, or hidden trauma, we no longer had a potential therapy dog, we had a fearful and reactive one.

This was not my plan. Our new puppy was supposed to love people and enable me to help them, not be terrified of everyone and everything. What could I do with a dog like that?

God had other plans. He has taught me that there are different kinds of therapy. Our puppy, now almost two years old, is having an unexpected effect on me. With a sensitive dog in the house, I have to learn to not be so easily stressed myself. For me, this is a tall order, but having my sensitive pooch in the room reminds me to take in a breath and let out a dog-sized sigh of relief. It’s for his sake, of course, so he won’t pick up on my stress and become more nervous himself. Yet, I think I’m the one who’s really getting the benefits.

He’s also teaching me about fear. I can worry and be anxious with the best of them, but when I see how my dog becomes so terrified of “ridiculous” things, it puts my fears in perspective. Can I really say any of my fears are more rational when I know the God who made and controls all things, who promises only good for me? Sometimes I wonder if I seem as silly to God as my puppy sometimes seems to me. I doubt I’m any more brave, logical, or intelligent in God’s eyes when I’m getting anxious and stressed.

It seems, after all, that my puppy was destined to be a therapy dog. Turns out, I was the one who needed the therapy.

 To buy Jerusha’s book, click here!

This Dance (Sisters Redeemed Series) (Volume 1)

This Dance

by Jerusha Agen

In my novel, THIS DANCE,

Nye Sanders is a woman who has everything together on the outside, but admits to herself that she relies heavily on her German Shepherd Dog, Jordan, to help her through her years of grief. He’s her faithful companion, and the one guy with whom she can let down her guard—the one she can lean on. He’s her therapy dog. Like me, Nye doesn’t know how much she needs it.

Have you ever had a pet who did not turn out to be what you expected? Or do you have one that is teaching you something? Please share!

The Minds of Animals, by author Mary Ellis

guest blogger Mary Ellis

Have you ever noticed that animals sometimes know who likes them and who doesn’t? I have been amazed how often they can tell friend from foe, or who happens to be afraid of them. Too bad we as humans don’t possess the same sixth sense.

In my latest book, A Little Bit of Charm, my character has just moved to her cousin’s organic chicken farm. Although Rachel adores horses and takes a job working with Thoroughbred race horses, she has never met a chicken she liked—except fried on her dinner plate with a side of coleslaw. Her cousin, Sally, loves her job and has several pet hens following her around the barnyard, clucking merrily. One of those chickens takes an immediate and irrational dislike for Rachel. The bird torments my heroine any time she comes near. Never enter the free-range enclosure with bare shins becomes Rachel’s hard-learned lesson.

In real life, my aunt had a wild crow that followed her around the neighborhood when she was a child. From telephone pole to treetop, “Blackie” would keep tabs on my aunt while she rode her bike, picked blackberries, or waded in the creek. Often he sat on her shoulder if she walked slowly and fed him cracked corn. However, my aunt’s girlfriend disparaged all birds as “dirty, disease carriers.” This friend didn’t fare so well when caught in Blackie’s territory. The crow often chased her down the path and once tangled his talons in her hair.

In my personal experience, I once invited eight ladies for a summer luncheon and game of croquet on the lawn. My neighbor, who decided to join the party late, arrived with her hundred-and-fifty pound dog. As you might guess, one of the croquet players was deathly afraid of dogs. And of course, Wolfgang ran straight for this unfortunate woman, causing a major case of anxiety.

How did he know? A better question might be how is it we don’t know when fellow humans have evil intentions. Perhaps we have something to learn from chickens, crows, and man’s best friends.

~Mary Ellis, author of A Little Bit of Charm

“The third in the beautifully written New Beginnings series continues the King sisters’ road to happiness after tragedy. The characters are well thought-out and each one is looking for a fresh start.”

4-stars RT Book Reviews

To buy Mary’s new book on Amazon, click here! A Little Bit of Charm (The New Beginnings Series)

A Little Bit of Charm

Mary Ellis

ISBN 978-0-7369-3868-6

A Dream Come True…

A Loss Like No Other…

Is the Price of Happiness Worth the Cost?

 Rachel King, still recovering from the death of her parents, watches both of her older sisters find happiness in homes of their own with husbands who adore them. She yearns for her own new beginning.

Her cousin Sarah lives near a Thoroughbred stable in Kentucky, and the opportunity to work around beautiful horses has always been Rachel’s dream. She leaves Lancaster County to find a home with Sarah and her husband, Isaac, wondering about God’s plan for her life. When a job at Twelve Elms Stables opens up unexpectedly, it seems as though He has answered Rachel’s heartfelt prayers.

Then she meets Jake Brady, one of the owners of Twelve Elms, and her life becomes complicated. He’s attractive and charming, and his interest in her is flattering. But he’s also English as well as her boss. And is his trust in God as central to his life as it should be?

When Amish men she meets at church and singings start pursuing her, Rachel has important decisions to make. What does a young woman do when her heart puts her faith in jeopardy?

“The third in the beautifully written New Beginnings series continues the King sisters’ road to happiness after tragedy. The characters are well thought-out and each one is looking for a fresh start.”

4-stars RT Book Reviews

Mary Ellis is the bestselling author of many books, including A Widow’s Hope, An Amish Family Reunion, and Living in Harmony. She and her husband live in central Ohio, where they try to live a simpler style of life.

www.maryellis.net

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Lyn Cote here–FOUR cats–count ‘em–four. That’s 4!

Guest blogger Lyn Cote here….

I’ve never had four cats before. I’ve always limited myself to one or two.

When my dh and I moved to our present home, we went to the local animal shelter and picked out two cats–one for me and one for my man–Sadie and V-8  (for the engine, not the juice)respectively.

We did this the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, because neither of our children–who still lived in another state–were coming to Thanksgiving dinner. We decided cats would attend!

Three years later, my daughter found her way to our house with her cat, Tricksy, short for Trickster. And what fun that was! Sadie did not want another cat and Tricksy hadn’t seen another cat since he left his mom’s litter. COMMOTION!

Then my mil passed away three years later (Do you see a pattern here?) and we inherited her cat Mutzie (Mutza is the Slovenian word for cat, and Steve’s mother was of Slovenian descent.) Mutzie had never lived with another animal and again Sadie did not think we needed another cat!

Mutzie hid in his catbed under my dh’s bedside table in the farthest corner of our bedroom at the far end of the house for about 6 weeks. Once a day I would escort him to the catbox and feed him and give him water. Otherwise, he was in that catbed.

Now he is just one of they guys, though Sadie does keep him in line!

 

 

Click here to buy Lyn’s wonderful new book!

The Baby Bequest (Love Inspired Historical)

The Baby Bequest

Lyn Cote

Love Inspired Historical

August, 2013

My latest book doesn’t have a cat in it, but it does have a newcomer, actually two newcomers. My heroine leaves her home in Galena IL for the wilderness of Wisconsin and my hero leaves Germany and also finds a new place in Wisconsin. The year is 1870 and Americans don’t much like “foreigners.”

Therein begins the conflict. Will love conquer prejudice?

Operation Tree Cats! by author Kim Watters

We love our cats. All three of them. Of course what’s not to love in three high-strung, crazy, scamper around the house for no reason, bundles of energy that constantly keep us on our toes and up at night?

Especially at Christmas. You see, my son’s cat Lego thinks the tree is his personal hang out and all the cats think the the ornaments are their personal play toys. We thought that first year that by putting the ornaments away from the bottom, that the temptation wouldn’t be there.

Wrong. All three cats stood on their hind legs to swat at the ornaments near the bottom. A day didn’t go by where one of the kids and I wouldn’t pick up at least ten ornaments and hang them higher than before.

But what really surprised us was the day we found Lego peeking out from the branches near the top of the tree. Apparently, he liked the view from the tree better than the view from the top of the cats’ perch. Big sigh.

Visions of a downed tree filtered through my mind as to how to get the cat out without losing any more ornaments. Reaching in didn’t help because he just clawed his way higher. After the first few attempts I gave up. After all, the Christmas Tree is for everyone in the family, and since the cats are family…..I figured eventually he’d find his way down. He did but not before I snapped this picture. Unfortunately though, his climbing ability means that no ornament is safe on the tree.

We have yet to tie the tree to the wall, although we wonder when the tree will come tumbling over but until Lego’s  climbing days are over and the fascination with the dangling ornaments are behind all the cats, all glass and meaningful ornaments shall remain in the box until the next year or the year after that. I still enjoy looking at those ornaments, I just do it in the safety of the box.



Here’s a link for Kim’s new book!

A Season of Love (Love Inspired)

A Season of Love

by Kim Watters

Love Inspired

The Soldier’s Gift

Just in time for Christmas, a tall, dark and handsome Scrooge visits Holly Stanwyck’s holiday shop, threatening eviction. But once landlord Ethan Pellegrino sees the single mom’s plight, the former soldier becomes her protector instead. Suddenly he’s helping her with her struggling business and bounding with her troubled son. A wounded veteran come home to heal, Ethan is no stranger to sorrow. But something about the pretty widow fills him with hope. Will Holly be able to let go of her own painful past to see her future by his side?

Kim Watters

Stories From The Heart

www.kimwatters.com