Caron Rider's Blog, page 2

Butterfly Gardening

It is that time of year. Already the pollen has been hitting and the bees buzzing. So for a project, I thought I'd do up a butterfly garden. Following is some interesting info I found to create one -- reprinted here with permission. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

So, what is butterfly gardening? Simply put, butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract the colorful and dainty creatures to your garden. Delight your family and visitors with beautiful butterflies but be sure to create a safe habitat for them. If you own cats, rethink your plans because it would be a shame to attract these lovely insects to their death.

The design for your butterfly garden is a matter of personal preference. Naturally. Typical points to consider include the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you, but ensure it also contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.

It is important to find out which plants and flowers will attract the species of butterflies that live in your area. This information can be found at the local library or by using Google.

To create the kind of environment that they find attractive, you will also need a water source of some kind. A birdbath will look attractive and keep the butterflies up off the ground, away from stray cats or mischievous puppies. A shallow dish on a post or hung in a tree will do just as well.

When planting a butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flowerbeds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, you don't want your garden to be a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures (or maybe you do). Butterflies are attracted to those flowers that have nectar rather than pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies, and lavender.

Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly garden plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.

I hope you've gotten a few good ideas and have decided to create your own butterfly garden. I'd love to hear what you've done to welcome the spring and to see some pictures!

Writing is fun!

My desire to write began with reading. My first love when it came to reading was science fiction. And while I could never successfully read a mystery without looking in the back first to see who did it, I always liked the idea of them. And then I always enjoyed romantic poetry. While the below is not romantic, it began because a college professor harped on clichés. Don't use them! he would rant. Constantly the students had to re-write their work. But not me. For some strange reason, he liked my work, but when the others had to re-write an assignment, he couldn't just let me sit there. So he would tell me to write whatever I wanted. This was what I came up with just for him:

The Ode Clichéby Caron Rider

A far cry from all and sundrythat is the born loser.By and large each and every dayhe uses determination.He uses brute force.He is down and out.On the spot with hat in hand,man to man he learns the facts of life.And rain or shine, the powers that beattempt to wrest from him a square meal.Sooner or later past his salad days,almost at the eleventh hour,life seems as the sour grapes.With him it’s touch and go.And by the time he can smell a ratthe sad awakening has begun;the naïve has become worldly wise.Therefore, step by step,his is a dog’s life.While attempting to gild the lily,the true blue go up in armsand set off a hue and cry.But though he values their judgment,all cannot be well and good.So when they shout, “Hold the fort!”He returns with, “Hold your own!”Mark my words, to pay the pipertakes a lion’s share to make good.Now or never the rank amateurmust pull the strings of life.So in a nutshell or in a word,we all must be to live and learn.

The Road Not Taken

I've listed my favorite Frost poem here for your enjoyment. This has always been my code, if you will. I always wanted to go my own way, and yet I've also been very practical. I regret very little in my life because I knew that I made the choices, taken the road I wanted, and it has led me to here--led me to writing, finally, and led me to my children. The statement at the top of my blog says it all: Dare to open the door to your dreams. I did.The Road Not Takenby Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.

I enjoy Einstein Quotes

Hope you enjoy these quotes. I feel a personal connection to a few of them--maybe you do too. Let me know your favorite quote!


Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You can't blame gravity for falling in love.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Sustainable Living

Lavender
Herbal Remedies

I think a large portion of the population wishes that it could be more self-sufficient. Here are a few books that, no matter where you live, could possibly help you achieve at least a portion of that goal. I think these books are pretty self-explanatory. Go check them out.

 Best of all: Right now they are ALL FREE!




DIY-Canning

Mini-Farming


  Oregano

Prologue to Apophis

I've decided on a prologue for Apophis. Remember Apophis will be released May 6, 2016, and is available for pre-order now. I've had a prologue in all my other books, but I wasn't going to have one in this one and just started out with Chapter 1. I'm not sure why. I've read plenty of books which contained a prologue and a slew without one. Somehow, it seems more satisfying with a one. What do you think? Prologue or no prologue? Either way, here's how Apophis will now begin. What do you think?
Prologue
Space is huge. Vast. Endless. Or so it seems.
An asteroid of immense size, traveling since the beginning of creation, was on a path to destruction. Hurtling through space as always, it became a concern of an ancient civilization. Their astronomers plotted its course, double-checked their findings, and then notified the appropriate agencies of the results. A ship launched and, using an artificial gravity generator, the path of the asteroid was altered so it missed their world and all others in their system. They were saved!
The asteroid continued its journey for another 25,000 years until it reached a remote region of space on the very edge of the galaxy where one of the spiral arms flared out. Once again, it was on a collision course with a planet. The world's astronomers detected the approaching asteroid and named it Apophis, but they had no means to alter its course. They recorded all the possible data, notified the appropriate government officials, and waited for their fate and the fate of their world to be decided.
A world we call Earth.

Spring has Sprung!

This has been a crazy couple of seasons. We barely had a winter and spring is definitely in the air. Here at least. It's a mild and wonderful 70 degrees. The mountain trails are wonderful to hike. Although, I find that I need some hiking boots to combat the rocks. The grass is green. And amazingly I feel like cleaning!

Then there are all the little chores to do that one puts off because of winter. The deck has to be repaired and re-stained. A screen door has fallen apart, literally. My garage door (not the entrance for the car) also needs repair. Its innards have slipped by a good couple of inches. I took the plow blade off of the ATV. Then I decided to gas it up. I promptly lost a two inch tip and a three inch spring down into the gas tank of the ATV. I was horrified. I can't even fit my hand through the opening on the gas tank.

Fortunately, I had a teenager close by. He dug around with a couple of extremely long screwdrivers and fished out the parts. It only took two hours and multiple times of rearranging the ATV. Let's point it up a hill to roll the spring backward. Then let's point it down the hill to roll the gas can part closer to the center. Then we had to push it into the garage to get it out of the sun. The sun was so bright we couldn't even see inside the tank. Not to mention having to siphon out the gas. Yuck! But it was surprisingly easy.

That little chore pretty much ended my spring cleaning spree. It took several hours of pushing and fishing to get the parts out, and I didn't want to see the ATV again for some time. But it's another day and I will probably get back out there. After all, the sun is shining and its a mild 70 degrees; birds are chirping, bees buzzing, and the daffodils waving in a gentle breeze.

I hope you're enjoying your spring!

Ads I made for Twitter

Here are some of the ads I've created for Twitter. Yes, I put my own books first (except for Apophis). Don't hate me. I think the ads are okay, but let me know what you think!

FREE Smashwords DownloadSign Up for Newsletter and Get it for FREE!
Buy for 2.99 USD on Amazon
Buy this edition and Get 3 Books for the Price of 2 at 6.99 USD
Click to check it out at Smashwords
Only 3.99 USD at Smashwords
Plenty of 5 star Reviews for 2.99 USD at Smashwords
This one is available for Pre-Order at 2.99 USD!

Some More Discount or Free Books

 Coven of Dixon Cliff by Cheryl Hyde

Cassy and Ayla return to the small SoCal coven they have belonged to since elementary school, to bolster its status and ensure its survival by adding numbers and power. They brought Max along because their first, second, and third choices were unavailable or engaged in activities vital to maintaining “their world.”
You see, the trio chose a different time direction a few years ago to avoid the impending earth apocalypse. It was the destiny for their bloodline, having tried to guide earth for generations.
In the utopia where they reside time space travel is considered risky and mildly forbidden. Strong emotional bonds still exist and occasionally returning to the old time direction and “earth” is tolerated, but strongly discouraged.
Their mission is simple. Help Cassy and Ayla’s old coven defeat a pretend warlock. Have a party and go home. Except Max’s flirtatious nature has them in trouble from day one.

Get if cheap at 2.99 USD on Smashwords: Click Here

The Bridge of Dead Things by Michael Gallagher (Book 1 The Involuntary Medium)

Murky Victorian London. 13-year-old Lizzie Blaylock is having a rough time. Her dad’s been fired, her sister has tuberculosis, and she just had some sort of fit at school for which she’s been expelled. When she has another fit, however, she and those around her slowly begin to realize that she may have special powers…powers to communicate with the dead.

A steal at 2.99 USD on Smashwords: Click Here


The Scarab Heart by Michael Gallagher (Book 2 The Involuntary Medium)

Theft and murder are afoot at an archaeological dig in 1885 Egypt. Lizzie Blaylock, world renowned ghost channeller, and her mentor, Miss Otis, thought they were simply there to vacation, especially as Lizzie wants nothing more to do with her powers. Her powers, though, have other things in mind.

Only 2.99 USD on Smashwords: Click Here


 I Got'cha by David Wighton

If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.

It's FREE on Smashwords: Click Here


The Shard Chronicles by Liam Taylor

A mild quake struck the exact moment Austin Cooper was born. When he was two years old an unidentified man saved his life, and he was five when the man guided him during his first use of a remarkable ability. At age seven, the man told Austin the talent he had was unique among anyone else in existence, and given to ensure his role as future protector of an ancient and powerful artifact. Later that day, the man departed Earth, taking the object he had possessed for centuries and leaving behind a world condemned to destruction by the brooding, alien malevolence it contained.
Now, Austin matures with the understanding that no one else has the ability to manipulate time, to move through it at a different level, a different speed. No one else can simply disappear to a place far away, a parched, bleak, and inhospitable wasteland. The trouble is, neither should Austin. Without control of the artifact, he has achieved the supposedly impossible, and revealed himself to another realm, to others that require him, preferably alive, but dead would suffice.
Things just aren’t getting any easier for Austin. There are the seemingly real and vivid dreams that have plagued him over the years, his ongoing struggle to keep the truth from his loving family, and the prospect of all-out war with a vengeful school bully, intent on destroying the only person able to defeat his cruel and callous deeds.
Well... take a number and get in line.
Half the Universe is already waiting.

A real deal at .99 USD on Smashwords: Click Here

Thoughts at the End of the Weekend

Let's see...I didn't get enough of the housework done. I didn't get enough writing done. I didn't cook enough food for everyone. I didn't arrive on time to pick up my daughter from a school trip (only by a few minutes, but still). I didn't get the laundry done. I didn't spend enough time at the gym. I drank too many sodas. I ate too much chocolate. Scratch that, you can never eat too much chocolate. And I spent too much time playing computer games.

BUT, I took the time to watch a TV show with my teenage daughter that inspired a long conversation. She's one of the few teens who don't talk often. Then I took the time to go hiking with my son (also shopping for clothes for his first formal dance). Our car rides and walks often inspire deep and thoughtful conversation between us.

And when I was thinking of all the things that I had not accomplished, I realized I had accomplished the most important thing. I spent quality time with my children--unplugged and free from distractions.

So when it's all said and done, it was a good weekend.