Roxanne Rustand's Blog, page 24
September 18, 2011
Now, That Was Easy!
Author Margaret Daley Adopted by Three Cats!!
Come on over though, for a charming tale about Margaret Daley's fluffy friends, and also come over to hear about her wonderful new book!
Roxanne,
Off to try to figure out how to
be linked once again :)
Author Margaret Daley, and how she was adopted by three cats!
by Margaret Daley
All my life I had dogs as pets. Although I liked cats, I never thought I would have a cat–let alone 3 but that is what I have now. Our dog died of old age and left my husband and me without a pet. I wasn't eager to go out and get another pet right away. That didn't make any difference. The first cat–Ringo– was around nine months old when he came around our house. I couldn't resist him. He was funny, pure white with one blue eye and one green eye (called odd eyes). He has never met a stranger. He is my greeter.
Okay we ended up with our first cat because I couldn't see letting him roam around and fend for himself. That was going to be it. Then my son asked me to take a stray cat he'd found because he had a pit bull dog and couldn't risk the kitten with the dog. We ended up with a second cat–Peppers or as I call her Peppy. She looks like salt and pepper–more pepper. She is the smallest of my cats–only weighing 6 or 7 pounds whereas Ringo weighs up to 18 pounds. She is my cat. If she had her way, she would sit on my lap all day and watch me try to write–very distracting. But I have to admit Peppy is a bit neurotic.
Now our third cat I had absolutely said we could not take in because we already had two cats that were picky about other animals. I didn't see how it would work. But my husband made the mistake of making eye contact with a dirty, messy two month kitten who was whining at the back door of his business. He couldn't turn her away. Charlie has become the one who makes us laugh the most. She gets into everything and knows where everything belongs in the house. This cat growls like a dog when someone comes to the front door and will hide from anyone who comes to visit.
So here I am with three cats who adopted a lady who was never going to have cats. Have you been adopted by an animal?
by Margaret Daley
Roxanne's note: Margaret is a wonderful author, and she has a new book out! Read on….
From This Day Forward By Margaret Daley
Summerside Press, September 2011
Rachel Gordon is stranded in South Carolina, pregnant, a recent widow when her husband fell overboard on the voyage to America. Nathan Stuart, a physician who came home from serving in the American army during the War of 1812, disenchanted with his life and the Lord, rescues Rachel and saves her life. Feeling responsible for her, Nathan tries to discourage her from living at a rundown farm her husband bought to start a new future in America. He wants her to return to England.
Rachel refuses to go back to England where her father disowned her for marrying against his wishes. The farm is all she has, and she is determined to make it on her own. But Nathan has other ideas and becomes her farmhand to discourage her from staying in America. Instead he ends up protecting her and being challenged by her. Can two wounded people heal each other?
"A wonderful love story in the American Tapestries series with characters who are trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives after the War of 1812. Daley turns the ugliness of war into a new beginning for the ones who pick up the pieces. Her characters are willing to do what they need to in order to survive, but also are willing to give a friendly hand to those around them." Reviewed By: Patsy Glans from RT
To read an excerpt of this wonderful book, go to www.margaretdaley.com and click on "About Books"
September 14, 2011
Rescued cats return the favor for author Hannah Alexander!
Guest blogger Hannah Alexander, her cats, and her September release, THE WEDDING KISS
I'm a total animal lover, with lots of stories to tell, but I especially recall how our four rescued cats sense when I'm in pain. After I had shoulder surgery a couple of years ago, they all got onto the recliner with me–something they never do together because they get too jealous of each other–and with all of them touching me, they just laid on me and started purring. After about twenty minutes, my pain was gone, and one by one they left. I was really freaked about that!
But then I started talking to other cat lovers, and I'm not the only one who's had that kind of experience. Our present feline residents are Data, Teddy Bear, Hobbit and Little Bit (or PJ, for Pajamas) They're so important in our lives now that I'm writing about them, using their characters in upcoming books. I'm definitely an animal love! Data is on top. Teddy Bear is on the bottom. 
THE WEDDING KISS
Against the backdrop of 1901 Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and the surrounding countryside, one simple kiss draws two people into a discovery that will forever change their lives.
Marriage seems the only option for Keara McBride and Elam Jensen after Keara's father gambles away her home and ends up in jail, and Elam's children need a mother's care. When the Jensens seal their vows at the altar with a kiss, however, their marriage of convenience seems much less convenient. The first kiss they share before a church filled with witnesses ignites a beacon of attraction that leaves them both feeling guilty. Elam's wife, Gloria–who was also Keara's best friend–has been dead less than a year. How can they betray her like this? And yet…oh, that kiss. When a stranger who bears a striking resemblance to Gloria shows up injured on the front porch on Elam and Keara's wedding night, the whole family is thrown into confusion, suspense and danger. But does this stranger also hold a key to the Jensens' future happiness?
Published by Summerside Press
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN978-1-60936-308-6
Note from Roxanne: I love Hannah Alexander's books–each and every one. If you haven't read her yet, I think you'll love this one! And by the way, this is a wonderful opportunity to comment or to ask this wonderful, award-winning author questions .
September 13, 2011
Welcome to my new site!
Welcome to my new website! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think of the new look!
September 12, 2011
NEW ADDRESS–come on over!
I haven't posted on The All Creatures Great and Small blog in a long while–the font colors kept changing on their own, making it difficult to read, and we were also traveling a lot. With one thing or another, it has been very quiet here. Not only that, but my quarterly e-newsletter program corrupted. Not a good summer for communication! 
BUT….
The blog is now moving, and I really hope you'll come along with me and check it out! As of Wednesday, 9/14/11 it will be on the home page of my new website at: www.roxannerustand.com
Please come on over and say Howdy!
Roxanne Rustand
PS: remember the foal born this May? His baby photos are further down on this blog. He has grown a lot!
NEW ADDRESS--come on over!
The blog is now moving, and I really hope you'll come along with me and check it out! As of Wednesday, 9/14/11 it will be on the home page of my new website at: www.roxannerustand.com
Please come on over and say Howdy!
Roxanne Rustand
PS: remember the foal born this May? His baby photos are further down on this blog. He has grown a lot!
June 10, 2011
SECOND CHANCE DAD
SECOND CHANCE DAD, my June, 2011 Love Inspired book, is out now!
I've now set up a contest here on Goodreads for free copies--which will hopefully be approved, then up and running in a couple hours, so check it out!
AND, I have a book out in July as well, called HOME TO BLACKBERRY HILL. I've also set up a contest for free copies of that one. Good luck!
Roxanne
I've got a new book out!
SECOND CHANCE DADISBN: 978-0-373-87673-0Love InspiredJune, 2011Roxanne Rustand
He Was A Challenge She Couldn't Ignore...The minute she steps foot in his dark, miserable house, Sophie Alexander knows Josh McClaren is not her usual patient. But the single mom and physical therapist is desperate to make a life for her and her young son. And she's definitely no quitter! It's obvious to Sophie that handsome,cantankerous Josh hides his pain behind a wall of grief. Little by little, Sophie and her son, Eli, do more than help Josh find his faith again. They make Josh wonder if there's a family in his future after all....
Aspen Creek Crossroads: Where faith, love and healing meet.
CHAPTER 1
Sophie stepped out of her ancient Taurus sedan but lingered at the open door, staring at the massive dog on the porch of the sprawling cabin. The dog stared back at her with laser-like intensity, head lowered and tail stiff. It was not a welcoming pose.
Set back in the deep shadows of the pine trees crowding so close, the cabin itself--with all the windows dark--seemed even more menacing than a wolfhound mix with very sharp teeth. So what kind of person would be sitting in there, in all that gloomy darkness?
"Don't worry about the dog," Grace Dearborn had said with a breezy smile during Sophie's orientation at the county home health department offices. "He's quite the bluffer. It's the owner who is more likely to bite."
Sophie looked at the folder in her hand again. Dr. Josh McLaren. Widower. Lives alone. No local support system. Post-surgical healing of comminuted fracture, right leg with a knee replacement. Surgical repair of fractured L-4 and L-5 lumbar vertebrae, multiple comminuted fractures, right hand.
Had he been hit by a truck? She shuddered, imagining the pain he'd been through. The surgeries and therapy had to have been as bad as the injuries. The only other documentation in the folder were scant, frustrated progress notes written by her various physical therapist predecessors. The last one had ignored professional convention by inserting his personal feelings into his notes.
The man is surly and impossible.
Ten minutes spend arguing about the need for therapy. Five minutes of deep massage of his right leg and strengthening exercises before he ordered me out of his house.
And the final note...
I give up. Doctor or not, McLaren is a highly unpleasant client and I will not be coming back here.
Sophie scanned the documents again, vainly searching for a birth date or mention of the man's age. Maybe he was an old duffer, like her grandfather. Crotchety and isolated and clinging to his independence.
The job was just temporary--three months covering for the regular therapist who'd gone to Chicago for some advanced training. But if Sophie did exceptionally well, Grace would try to push the county board to approve hiring her on a permanent basis.
The thought had lifted Sophie's heart with joy, though now some of her giddy excitement faded. She set her jaw. If her ability to stay in Aspen Creek hinged on those stipulations, then no one--not even this difficult old man--was going to stand in her way. Far too much depended on it.
"Buddy, I'm going to overwhelm you with kindness, and your mean ole dog, too," she muttered under her breath as she pawed through a grocery sack on the front seat of her car. "See how you like that."
Withdrawing a small can, she peeled off the outer plastic storage lid, pulled the tab to open the can and held it high. "Salmon," she crooned. "Come and get it."
It took a minute for the scent to drift over to the cabin. The dog's head jerked up. He sniffed the breeze, then he cautiously started across the stretch of grass between the cabin and driveway.
She stayed in the lee of her open car door, ready to leap back inside at the least sign of aggression. But by the time the dog reached her front bumper his tongue was lolling and his tail wagging.
She grabbed a plastic spoon on her dashboard--a remnant of her last trip to a Dairy Queen--and scooped up a chunk of the pungent, pink fish. She dropped it on the grass and the dog wolfed it down, his tail wagging even faster. "Friends?"
She held out a cautious hand and he licked it, his eyes riveted on the can in her other hand. "Just one bite. When I come out, I'll give you one more. Deal?"
His entire body wagged as he followed her to the cabin door and watched her knock..No one had peered outside. No lights shone through the windows. What if...what if the old guy had passed on? Her heart in her throat, she framed her face with her hands and pressed her nose to a pane of glass, trying to peer into the gloom. Knocked again. And then she tentatively, quietly tried the door knob.
It turned easily in her hand. She pulled the door open, just an inch. "Hello? Anyone here?" She raised her voice. "I'm from the home health agency."
No answer.
Thundered rumbled outside, heavy and ominous. A nearby crack of lightning shook the porch beneath her feet. She opened the door wider, then bracketed her hands against the inner screen door and tried to look inside. "Hello?"
The dog at her side shoved past her, sending the door swinging back to crash against the interior wall. So much for subtlety.
"Hello," she yelled. "Are you here? Are you okay?"
If the old fellow had died, she had no business disturbing the scene. The sheriff should be called, and the coroner. If he was in there with a shotgun, she sure didn't want to surprise him. But on the other hand, if he needed help, she could hardly walk away. Steeling herself, she reached around the corner and found a light switch.
Only a single, weak bulb came to life in the center of the room, leaving most of it dark. A figure suddenly loomed over her, making her heart lurch into overdrive with fear. Tall. Broad shoulders. Silhouetted by the faint light behind him, she couldn't make out his expression, but his stance telegraphed irritation. This definitely wasn't some old guy.
Raising her hands defensively, she backed up a step, but then she saw the dog amble over and sit at the man's side. He rested a gentle hand on the animal's head.
"I-I'm sorry," she faltered, searching his face. He didn't look disabled...but then she saw the telltale signs of tension in his stance, as if he were guarding himself against injuries that probably still kept him up at night.
He said nothing.
"You must be Dr. McLaren. I thought...I thought you were old," she stammered as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. "When you didn't answer, I...um...I was afraid that you might be dead."
"Unfortunately, no," he growled. He glanced at her upraised hands, then met her eyes with a piercing stare. "So who are you, and why are you threatening me with that can of salmon?"
Do Not Reproduce without permission.
This book is available at :
www.steeplehill.comwww,target.com www.christianbook.com www.bn.com www.amazon.com and fine bookstores everywhere.
Author Roxanne Rustand can be found at www.roxannerustand.com and at her blog, The All Creatures Great and Small Place, at http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com
You can sign up for her free e-newsletters at www.roxannerustand.com/newsletter-signup
If you are reading this on Facebook, the blog post has originated at http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com. Come on over and say howdy!
May 5, 2011
An adorable dancer….with paws
This link was on my daughter's fiance's FB page…and it's so adorable. What a sweetie!
If you are reading this on FB, it has originated from my blog at http://roxannerustand.blogspot.com. Come on over and say Howdy!
