Roxanne Rustand's Blog, page 18

Guest blogging today!

Howdy!

Today  I’ve taken a little trail ride, and I’m blogging at http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspo...  — a website for Christian authors. Come on over and say hello!

Roxanne

 

 

Author Melissa McClone: Miss Mousie needs help!

A special thanks to Roxanne for allowing me share Miss Mousie’s story with you!

In February 2012, I knew exactly what I wanted for Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t sweet smelling long-stemmed roses and melt-in-your mouth chocolates. I wanted to foster a senior cat from the local humane society. My husband thought I was crazy (i.e. crazy cat lady), but still he agreed.

I ended up with two foster cats, Crystal and Miss Mousie. Both adjusted quickly, as if they’d been part of the family forever. We didn’t know it at the time, but Crystal was ill and in March, as I held her, she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Miss Mousie, the older of the two, thrived until August, when she became ill.

Miss Mousie had always had polyps in her ears and needed daily eardrops. But her condition had worsened.

The vet said Miss Mousie needed a surgery called TECA (total ear canal ablation.) He’d spoken to a specialist. The estimate for the surgery on both ears—$5000.

The vet said if Miss Mousie didn’t have the surgery he would recommend humane euthanization due to quality of life, specifically pain.

I wasn’t about to let Miss Mousie die without trying to help her. West Columbia Gorge Humane Society (WCGHS), a 501(c)3 charity, gave me approval to fundraise for her surgery. That led to the creation of Help Miss Mousie (link: http://helpmissmousie.blogspot.com), a blog where people can donate to her medical fund. $5000 is a lot of money, but every donation, even $1 or $2, helps Miss Mousie.

Just think if 2500 people each donated $2, we’d hit our goal!

Help Miss Mousie also has a section called Authors & Their Cats. Cat loving authors have graciously contributed posts about their beloved felines to help Miss Mousie. Many include pictures! I hope you’ll stop by and get to know Miss Mousie and the other cats featured.

 

Thanks,

Melissa McClone

Riding over the horizon…in fear!

Meant to post this yesterday, but i spent the morning babysitting our grandpuppy Kobe, and watching over our son and DIL’s house while the carpet layers were there.  Afterwards, spent much of a lovely afternoon with our daughter–and during lunch, her new husband as well.  No time is better spent than the time we spend with family! So I am a day late here sharing that yesterday was our 36th anniversary.

Each year brings back memories of that day and many of the events leading up to it.  Larry and I met in college at a veterinary student  fraternity party, when my boyfriend was ignoring me.  Frustrated, at loose ends, I stood in the beer line for something to do (totally out of character for me–as I have always hated the taste of beer and never, ever drink it)  and Larry started up a conversation. A few days later we ran into each other on the steps of a classroom building.

We dated four years–took a while, because I was happily busy showing my horses and going to school, and had no thoughts about settling down. I love hearing stories about how couples met, and would love to hear yours!

Have you heard of the the “face blindness” concept?  It’s when a person doesn’t recognize people they should know–faces just don’t register.  I’m convinced I have it to some degree–especially in social situations when I have to introduce people to one another.  I freeze, and I forget the names!  I was in an absolute panic during the days before our wedding, and that morning my stomach was in knots.  I went out to ride my  green-broke filly that morning,  but I was dwelling on the thought of standing in a receiving line, trying to remember the names of friends and relatives and longtime neighbors.  All I could think of was that it would be a blessing if my horse went crazy, bucked like mad, raced over the horizon, and didn’t stop for….say,  two days.  I wouldn’t have to worry about the receiving line OR the wedding, then!

Well, just before the  ceremony started, I lost a contact lens–and had left my glasses at home.  Since I’m blind as a bat without contacts or glasses,  it was a dizzying experience walking down that aisle like a one-eyed pirate.  Somehow, I fumbled my way through the ceremony, and of course the receiving line was an experience, because I not only had to struggle for names, but had to squint at everyone to even see them.

Unbelievably, someone found my contact just before the reception, and so that went better.  As you can see in the photo, I was really, really trying to corral some of that slippery little fresh fruit onto my plate–though honestly, I don’t think i even ate a bite.  BTW, I think you can click on the photos in this blog (and all of the previous posts) to make the photos bigger and easier to see.

We enjoyed a great trip to the Tetons, my favorite place on earth, and here we are, all these years later–parents of three great kids, grandparents of three, and happily living in the country. Maybe my horse didn’t help me avoid the dreaded receiving line, but things worked out just fine.

So now….I would love to hear your own stories about  meeting your significant other, and your own wedding day–because I know things don’t always work out according to plan!

Small town celebrations: there’s nothing like a parade!

This summer we headed up to NW Minnesota for my husband’s high school reunion.

 

It was actually an all-school reunion, as in smaller towns the classes often aren’t all that large, though  most of the classes  scheduled  individual gatherings for their given year.

 

Larry had never been to one of his reunions, and it was such fun seeing him connect for these old friends and acquaintances!

The reunions were scheduled on a weekend when the town has its annual celebration and parade, so we were there for those festivities as well.  What fun it was!

Small towns have the most amazing parades!  The population of this town is only 1,200 people –in fact the population of the entire, very rural county is less than 6,000–yet the parade included 100 units. A marching band, and floats and horses, and a dozen Shriners in their zippy little cartoon cars, whizzing around in dizzying routines.  Fire trucks from the surrounding towns, polished up for the occasion, along with shiny tractors and old time cars.

 

The draft horses and wagon in the photo belong to Corey’s Belgians, and appear in lots of the local small town parades each summer.  That’s my sister-in-law and her husband up in the wagon.  What fun!

The parade was small-town America at its best.  Colorful, joyous, entertaining, with crowds lining the streets.   The children are always so excited at these parades—awaiting all of the wrapped candy being tossed out into the crowds.

What summertime events do you enjoy?  Does your town have special events each year?  What do you remember from your childhood?

The horses have gone back to school, too!

Where did the summer go?

We traveled a lot, I guess,  and all of June was spent on last minute preparations for our daughter Emily’s wedding on June 26th.

And then the weather got hot, hot, hot, and just the thought of riding made me want to go find some lemonade and sit in front of an air conditioner!

But it’s much cooler now.  Happy days!  So between times spent working on the computer–with a goal of finishing several book proposals by September 1st–I’ve been getting back outside, and the horses have discovered that their summer vacation is over!

When we bought them, they were all trail and road safe, but they’ve been sitting around in the pasture and need tune-ups on their leads and flexibility.

Ally is the palomino, who joined our little herd in July.  She is such a nice horse to ride–really a sweetheart.  I first saw her last fall and wanted her, but she was in foal, and we didn’t get to buy her until this summer after she weaned her paint filly.

Susie Q (she’s the little paint in the fourth picture) has gotten waaaay too fat over the summer.  She is now residing in the diet lot.      The bottom three photos are of Buttons.  If you remember from earlier posts this spring, she was the one who nearly died from complications of foaling.

Someone once said that the outside of a horse is good for the heart of a man.  I can’t imagine living where we weren’t on country gravel roads, where I could have my morning coffee and look out over our pasture and hayfield.

This have been heaven to me, all these years since Larry and I got married…my childhood dream come true.  Nothing fancy, no fame and fortune,  just fresh air and wide open spaces, with dogs at my feet and horses in the barn.

What dreams did you have when you were a child? Have you pursued them?  If not, can you still try?

 

Wishing you all the best on this lovely, sunny day in Iowa!

 

Roxanne

Summer days in the country…

The long, lazy days of summer are nearly over.  Can you believe it?  The drought here in Eastern Iowa (as well as much of the Midwest) has devastated crops and hayfields, and many farmers are now plowing under the corn that showed such promise this spring.  Yet, not far to the north, they’ve actually had too much rain. How has the summer been for you?

Here on our acreage out in the country we were blessed to have two good cuttings of hay for our horses so far, and with the predictions we’ve heard about $10/bale hay this winter, we are so thankful to have hay in the barn already!

Up around the house, we  chose to conserve water by not watering anything except for our flowers and vegetable garden, and our lawn was brittle and brown until the last two weeks.

Now that we’ve started to receive some rain again, the grass is green! Isn’t it amazing to see the resilience of nature?

This spring, my husband put it some new flower, herb  and vegetable beds.  The flowers are really starting to bloom, and the tomatoes are coming by the bushel!

Do you like to garden?  What are your favorite perennials?  Do you do any canning?  I’ve never tried canning vegetables, and my one attempt at applesauce was a messy disaster. Any ideas about what I can do with all of these tomatoes? 

Wishing you a wonderful end to the summer!

Roxanne

Author Cara Lynn James, her dogs, and one very lucky cat!

Since 1973 I’ve always had at least one dog — once we had four, and all were different breeds. Each had a distinctive personality that sometimes didn’t blend in with the others. They fought, they played, they established a hierarchy, they cuddled up to each other and to my husband and me.

Holly, my older and feisty cocker spaniel bossed around a much bigger sheltie named Frisbee who obeyed her every command. Holly got to jump through the doggie door first, eat first, fetch the ball, and commandeer the most comfortable spots in the house. She ate everything in sight including an onion and part of a tub of margarine. No discerning taste buds for that girl.

Frisbee was a wedding present from a friend in Washington state. So my husband and I flew on a cross country (he was a Navy pilot and I was a Naval officer) from San Diego to pick up the puppy. It was a training hop and authorized but not for transporting animals! Our scared little fur ball rode to his new home in a cardboard box right beside me. The engine was loud and he needed lots of comforting.

Our unruly springer spaniel came next. During our summers at our Vermont lake house Ginger swam with the kids, joined them down at the beach for swimming lessons, and played ‘dive and fetch’ for rocks. She wore her teeth down trying to chew them like bones.

She’d swim all day and her long, floppy ears never dried out in the summer.

Following Ginger came a car chasing border collie/English shepherd who tried to herd cars. Now we have a papillon named Sparky who’s at my feet as I write this. He’s a lap dog and the only one we’ve ever had that was even half-trained.

I’m a dog lover first and a cat lover second. When we lived in the country George emerged from the woods and adopted us. How could we resist when he left us ‘offerings’ lined up on our front porch every morning after a night of hunting?

But then he disappeared and we were all heartbroken. One day after he’d been gone for about two weeks I happened to be around our pop-up camper. I heard a faint meow coming from inside the closed up camper. My husband popped it up and there was George, a long gray string, barely alive from his long ordeal, but very annoyed. Apparently a small leak in the camper provided enough water for him to survive. George regained his strength to return to his escapades in the woods. He lived a long and happy life stalking and hunting larger and wilder animals.

All our animals have made us smile and laugh, tried our patience and given us unconditional love. God gave us a great blessing when he made dogs and cats and I for one am very grateful!

A PATH TOWARD LOVE

ISBN 978-1-4016-8517-1

Thomas Nelson, publisher

Received 4 ½ stars from Romantic Times magazine

This wonderful, fast-paced historical romance features family secrets and a mother who tries to play matchmaker, with results she doesn’t anticipate. The characters start out immature and sort of bullheaded, but as the story unfolds, they group up and realize people are only trying to help them. James brings new life to a sometimes overused storyline. Readers will not want the book to end and will remember it long after they finish it.

SUMMARY: In 1905 Hernando Country, Fla., Katherine Osborne is struggling to make the orange groves that have been in her husband’s deceased family for a long time turn around and make a profit. Her parents strike a deal with her: They will fund the money she needs to make the payments to the bank, to avoid losing the grove, if she comes and spends the summer with them in Raquette Lake, in the Adirondacks.

Her mother has matchmaking in mind, and she’d determined to find Katherine a wealthy husband. Andrew Townsend has known Katherine will look upon him in a different light, now that he works for her father. Will Katherine find a new love and be able to make old dreams into new ones?

Cara Lynn James can be reached at www.caralynnjames.com.

She blogs at www.seekerville.blogspot.com.

A boy and his dog

by blog visitor author Alison Stone

This is one of my favorite photos of my husband as a child. Here he is, a three-year-old, driving his toy car over the leg of his beloved dog, Chief. I soon learned Chief wasn’t my husband’s only family pet at that time. Spar and Heidi, also German Shepherds, kept my husband and his three siblings company.

Over the years, I’ve often heard how loving and loyal his dogs were. A picture doesn’t lie, right?

Some German Shepherds make faithful family pets, whereas others—because of the breed’s intelligence do police work. As a participant in a citizen’s police academy, I saw first-hand the wonderful asset these dogs make as part of the K-9 unit. They can be used for narcotics detection, patrolling, tracking, and apprehending suspects, just to name a few skills. The officer giving the demonstration during the citizen’s academy played tug of war with the dog claiming work was all a game to him. The German Shepherd was always rewarded promptly when he completed his task. For me, the best part of the presentation was when one officer pretended to be a suspect and the powerful animal took him down by the thick protective padding on his arm.

In my latest sweet romantic suspense, Too Close to Home, the heroine suspects drug activity in a warehouse. Without giving away any spoilers, she calls the K-9 unit to investigate. I named my fictional German Shepherd Chase after one of the real members of the K-9 unit in my local police department. I had a lot of fun incorporating my research into my novel. If you have a chance to download it, I hope you enjoy it, too.

BIO: Alison Stone graduated with a degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech. After working in Corporate America for a number of years, she retired to raise her young family. Soon the writing bug bit. After years of conferences, critique groups and writing, Alison achieved her dream of becoming a published author. She claims it was easier to earn her engineering degree. Too Close to Home is her second novel. She’s also excited to announce that  her third romantic suspense will be released by Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense in 2013. To learn more about Alison Stone please visit www.AlisonStone.com. Her blog is www.AlisonStone.Wordpress.com. She’s also chatty on Twitter @Alison_Stone.

Blurb from Too Close to Home:

They say you can never go home. If you do, better watch your back.

Ten years ago, after her father’s gruesome death was ruled a suicide, Kathryn McNabb left her hometown, vowing never to return. And never to let anything—business or personal—break her heart.

Now an overachieving manufacturing engineer, she thrives on order, control and solitude. But an unexpected inheritance makes her the co-owner of the company her father founded, forcing her to face the ghosts of her past. Including Ben Nowak, childhood friend, secret crush, and son of the man who ruined her father.

Ben hadn’t planned on returning home either, but with his own father’s death it falls to him to continue the family legacy. When he learns Kathryn plans to sell the plant out from under him, his quest takes on new urgency—Midport Industries is the main source of jobs in town.

Butting heads strike sparks of attraction that entangle business and pleasure into a hopeless knot. And someone is watching. Someone with a darker reason to prevent the deal from going through. Someone desperate enough to kill…

Warning: Beware of the shadows, disgruntled employees, and childhood crushes all grown up.

Amazon Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Too-Close-to-Home-ebook/dp/B008GWOHIU/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/too-close-to-home-alison-stone/1112120174?ean=9781609288501

Author Terri Reed, wild animals and her very own Simba!

Have you ever seen the Disney movie The Lion King?  Or maybe the Broadway play?

Then you know the main character is Simba, a young lion cub, next in line to be king of the Savanna.

Well, here in my house we have our own Simba.  A fifteen-pound Lhaso Apso/Bichon Frise mix.  He weighted three pounds when we brought him home from the breeders.  

He could fit in the palm of your hand.  He was scraggly and wild and sooo adorable.  Still is.  He thinks he’s king.  We have a big dog, an Australian Shepherd named Blueberry, who is sooo patient with this little dog.  Though when Simba came home to live with us, Blueberry didn’t know what to make of him.

They eventually figured it out and are now best buds.

They are very protective of each other.  Which in our neighborhood is a good thing since one of our neighbors routinely has exotic wild animals come to visit.

My neighbor’s sister owns and operates an exotic animal rescue.  She has everything from snakes to tigers and bears.    In the past few years we’ve been privileged to pet a 13-week-old tiger and an eight-week-old lion.

How cool is that!  I much prefer my little Simba though.  He’s not going to grow any bigger and his teeth aren’t that sharp.

 

 

Note from Roxanne:  Terri has a wonderful new book out this month.  Read on!!

THE DEPUTY’S DUTY

Fitzgerald Bay: Law enforcement siblings fight for justice and family.

Love Inspired Suspense

June, 2012

by Terri Reed

Fitzgerald Family Secret…

As the eldest of six siblings and deputy chief of the Fitzgerald Bay police department, Ryan Fitzgerald is a protector.  Of his family.  Of his community.  But staying in control means keeping his distance…until Meghan Henry comes to town.  Seeking justice for her murdered cousin, and safety for an orphaned—and missing—child, the daring journalist is not afraid to face danger head-on.  And when she uncovers a dark Fitzgerald secret, Ryan’s left with a devastating choice.  Which will he protect—his family, or the woman he’s started to love?

 

 

Doesn’t this sound like a wonderful book?  Terri  will be checking back here, so if you have any questions or comments, just fire away.

Thanks, Terri–for visiting this blog!

Roxanne

 

 

 

 

 

Debra Clopton says, “Don’t You Just Love Wrinkles?!!” In dogs, that is!

Guest blogger Debra Clopton

I fell in love in 2001 with a little brown ball of wrinkles when our family decided we wanted a puppy. My sons wanted something a little different so we decided on a Chinese Sharpei—or as some call them, a Wrinkled Dog. Bogie was the cutest little thing with the greatest personality. (I featured him as a puppy in my book NEXT DOOR DADDY ) Bogie was wrinkled all over and as you can see in the photo he had a huge nose! We named him Bogie after Humphrey Bogart the famous actor with a slightly large nose J.

We soon found our little Bogie loved to climb, he was more like a cat than a dog in many ways, he hated water and batted at things with his paws like a cat would (with his paws cupped inward). We found his love of climbing after things began to disappear mysteriously from our desks. We would come home and find things missing, it took us a while to realize that our puppy, who was about a foot tall at the time could climb up onto a kitchen chair twice his height and then move up from there…as in the kitchen table or desktop. We discovered his secret when we came home from church one day and found him asleep in the middle of the kitchen table! From then on out we always had to make sure all chairs were moved away from the tables when we’d leave home. Of course that didn’t stop him from climbing on the back of the couch where he would perch and watch for us to return.

Our Bogie brought much joy into our lives for the nine years we were blessed to have him with us. And as a result of his wonderful personality I know he helped enhance my ability to write fun animals into my stories.

Like the fun we had with him in our lives I find it great fun to put animals in my stories and I love allowing them to cause a little chaos in the process! Like for instance in many of my books Samantha the mischievous donkey shows up to shake things up in her own special way. Samantha is a reader favorite after appearing in my second Mule Hollow book AND BABY MAKES FIVE. I always have the best time finding ways to have her come into a Mule Hollow book to cause a little trouble and say hello to my readers…stay tuned for my next book in this series, HER HOMECOMING COWBOY where Samantha makes her next appearance.

Speaking of animals, lol in my newest book HER LONE STAR COWBOY on shelves now, I decided to go to the county fair an involve a whole host of animals in a little mischife making. Yup you guessed right if you think the cows, chickens, and rabbits cause quite a ruckus—it was a really fun part of the book for me to write…not so sure what my hero Jess thought about the trouble they caused but I kinda feel like we have differing opinions on the subject! Then again I’m not the one who got caught up in the big middle of the fiasco that Jess Holden finds himself in. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the book and see if you get a good chuckle out of the County fair incident that all of Mule Hollow is talking about.

Thank you for letting me come here and talk about my boys, my Bogie and my books–my very favorite things to talk about…God really blessed me when He put them all in my life.

Read on down for a chance to win a FREE copy of  Debra’s  new book!

HER LONE STAR COWBOY

~ A Cowboy’s Word ~

Love Inspired

On sale April 1

The link to harlequin is http://bit.ly/H49Rdw

With his harrowing childhood behind him, cowboy Jess Holden made some promises to himself. He’ll remain a bachelor. Won’t ever get involved with a certain kind of woman. But then he rescues a lovely newcomer—and two scared calves—from a flashflood in the middle of Texas Hill Country.

Not only is veterinarian’s assistant Gaby Newberry a reminder of his past she’s a granddaughter of a Mule Hollow Matchmaker! But as sweet, spunky Gabi tends ailing cattle on his ranch, Jess begins to discover that some promises are meant to be broken.

 

Debra Clopton, AWARD WINNING AUTHOR & SERIES–

Have you been to Mule Hollow yet?

Find Debra’s books and catch the buzz at: http://debraclopton.com/http://debraclopton.com

March 2011Classic reissue THE TROUBLE WITH LACY BROWN & AND BABY MAKES FIVE

April 2011 A MOM FOR MULE HOLLOW–NOVELLA (SMALL TOWN MOM’S)

Mule Hollow Homecoming Trilogy:

HER RODEO COWBOY Sept 2011 (Book 1–Luke)

HER LONE STAR COWBOY April 2012 (Book 2–Jess)

HER HOMECOMING COWBOY August 2012 (Book 3–Colt)

May 2012 Classic reissue NO PLACE LIKE HOME & DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

DEBRA WILL BE DRAWING A NAME FROM THOSE WHO LEAVE COMMENTS HERE, AND THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF HER NEW BOOK!  BE SURE TO CHECK BACK OVER THE WEEKEND TO SEE IF YOU HAVE WON.  GOOD LUCK!