Caron Rider's Blog, page 5

Red 2

Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, do not walk, but RUN to see RED 2! It is awesome! I know that sequels usually aren't as good as the first movie but this one really holds its own. If by some unknown chance you did not see RED, then it is an absolute must. It is quirky, funny, and full of heart and action AND so is Red 2. ENJOY!


Synopsis
Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they¹ll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world‹and stay alive in the process

Silver Dreamer

Yes, little children, I have been working away on book 3. Am I almost done? Unfortunately no. But work is progressing nicely and, as you can see, I have completed the cover for it. Feel free to tell me what you think.

Silver Demon is OUT!

I am so thankful that the book is done and finally available! Here's the final version of the cover:


SUMMARY:
 Plunged into a demon filled world, Diana must come to terms with an existence geared toward defending humans. Diana’s dreams have shown her the way to destroy them with silver. But her dreams have also shown her Alexander—a demon she has hated…and loved…through the ages. Now Alex has followed her to Springfield, and people are dying. Dare she trust him and let him into her life? An aggravating vice principal, Internet dating, and stalking demons are just a few of the challenges facing Diana, Sam and Maggie their senior year. Join them for another adventure that will ultimately lead them back to Rome. Be sure to check our the first book in The Silver Series: Silver Knight. 
I'll have links up on the side within a few days, but for now here is the Amazon one:
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Demon-The-Series-ebook/dp/B00CNDTXB4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1367703715&sr=8-3&keywords=caron+rider

That link is for the Kindle ebook but it will also be available in paperback within the next few weeks.

Authors In Bloom 2013

Welcome to the Authors In BloomGiveaway HopEnter to Win A Nook/Enter to Win a Kindle!
  For me spring is the perfect time to sit outside amongst the flowers, read and enjoy a few cookies! Below is a receipe that I got from Lucy Chiesa (baker extraordinaire). They absolutely melt in your mouth.
CAKE COOKIES
1 box of Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip
1 egg
Powdered sugar

Beat egg, Add cake mix, and then Add cool whip

Batter will be stiff. Take a teaspoonful and roll in a ball. Then roll the ball in the powdered sugar. Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. Don't over bake otherwise they become tough. Very light and scrumptious.

Other options: Change out cake mixes. I've made chocolate and strawberry (equally scrumpdelicious).

For a chance to win an autographed copy of SILVER KNIGHT to enjoy with your cookies, it's super easy:Send me an email with Silver Knight as the subject: caron@caronrider.com (open Internationally). Winner will be drawn randomly. I will send out an email and the winner has 48 hours to respond. If there is no response, then another will be chosen.
Feel free to:

Visit my Website to read the 1st chapter of Silver Knight: www.caronrider.com
 Follow me on Twitter: Caron_Rider

Like The Silver Series Facebook:        http://www.facebook.com/caronrider Tell your friends about Silver Knight on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Knight-The-Series-ebook/dp/B006PI0Q9Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332978328&sr=8-2
To enter for the GRAND PRIZE you need to add a comment below as the sponsors will sift through comments on each site and choose a random winner at the end via rafflecopter. Another prize included is a $25 gift card. So chat away down there in the comment section for your chance to WIN! ;)

Visit each author on the list for the Authors in Bloom Hop!
1. Dianne Venetta (INTL) 2. Rose Anderson 3. Margay Leah Justice 4. Catherine Chant 5. Amber Kallyn 6. PJ Sharon 7. Kaira Rouda 8. Darcy Flynn (US) 9. Katharina Gerlach 10. Amy Saunders 11. DarcyholicDiversions/Barbara Tiller Cole 12. Sheila Seabrook 13. Mina Khan 14. Caron Rider 15. Lakisha Spletzer 16. Christie Palmer 17. Karl Fields 18. Beverly Nault 19. Shelley Workinger 20. Samantha March 21. Cat Lavoie 22. Anita Hughes 23. Karen Baney 24. Sarah Pekkanen 25. Courtney Vail - Gotta Have YA 26. Lisa Lim 27. Candy Ann Little 28. Lynette Sofras 29. Boys on the Brink 30. Dee S White (INTL) 31. Patti Callahan Henry 32. Elizabeth Allen 33. Maria Geraci 34. Linda Andrews 35. Mary L. Laudien 36. Jencey Gortney 37. Ninette Swann 38. Edie Ramer 39. Kate Copsey 40. Kate Austin 41. Best-Selling author Jennifer Conner 42. Anna Patterson 43. Bestselling Author Danica Winters 44. Sharon Kleve's Romantic Ramblings 45. Jennie Bentley 46. Leanne Tyler 47. Stacy Juba's One Stop Reading 48. Gemma Juliana 49. Kara Ashley Dey 50. Dey for Love 51. Sara Walter Ellwood 52. Jennifer Lowery 53. Summer Kinard 54. Tracy Solheim 55. Alexa Grace 56. Teena Stewart 57. Cynthia Vespia - Author of Thrills and Chills 58. Caroline Doherty de Novoa - Dancing with Statues 59. J.D. Faver 60. Laina Turner - Being Fabulous is a Skill 61. A Cozy Readers Corner

Oh Snow!

I've always found snow beautiful, especially the way moonbeams gleam on the rolling mounds at night. But usually it's white and fluffy and I really don't think about it being crystalline structures of frozen water. But it definitely brings it to mind when you see these vintage photographs taken by Wilson Bentley in 1895. He was fascinated by snow and managed to attach a microscope to a camera and take over 5,000 photos of individual snowflakes, proving to himself (and generally everyone) that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. Now I'm fascinated, too!

    Bentley donated over 500 of his photos to the Smithsonian. These pictures are from the Smithsonian Institution's Photostream and if you want to see more, Click Here 

The Month of Giving: All Year Long

Christmas has come and gone but that doesn't mean that the spirit has left us. I think we get so caught up in the bells and whistles that we sometimes forget that it should be a quiet, thoughtful month. I've had time to think because I had a nasty case of the flu and had no opportunity to get out into the hustle and bustle. I'm on the tail end of it now, thankfully, and have found this wonderful idea that will allow me to keep giving throughout the year. I hope that you will share my enthusiasm for this project. Help feed others--not by sending food half way around the world--but by helping to grow the food locally with local resources in an environmentally friendly way. We always see the food drives that ask for canned goods, usually by schools, but that is one time a year. Instead, here is a way to provide fresh food throughout the entire year free to those in need.  This group is already providing free fresh eggs to local families who otherwise would be without. Now they need a little help to get their idea for vegetables and fish off the ground. Won't you help?

Click the link below to check out their projects and to donate! 
Hands on Gardening  Give a gift that literally keeps on giving!

Star Trek Into Darkness

I'm so excited! I really loved the most recent Star Trek film and wished they had done a follow-up. Apparently it just took them a really long time because here's the trailer for it.





Synopsis from Amazon:When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew
Apparently, it has all the same cast for the Enterprise crew as the 2009 movie. I thought the casting for it was simply inspired. I loved Simon Pegg as Scotty and Karl Urban as Bones...really just everyone. So I look forward to this new release. I've heard that there will be a 9 minute preview for it at the IMAX opening of The Hobbit. Sadly I won't make that and will just have to nash my teeth until May 17, 2013, to see the finished film. What about you? Any Trekkies out there?

Chickens Abound Part 2

Some time ago, I told you about acquiring some chickens. You can check out that post here:

http://caronrider.blogspot.com/2012/04/chickens-abound.html

To continue, I've been thrilled with the little critters so far. I started out with six, but that number was reduced during the early summer because a bobcat or coon clawed its way into the hen house through the screen door and snatched three. One just never came home one night. So I have two from the original ones I bought as chicks, and then I went out and bought four more, bringing my number back up to six. I think one would call my chickens "free range" because I just let them out to roam the yard and woods. For the most part they stick pretty close to the house but as they've grown, they've wandered out a bit. The original two are much more friendly than the other four, although when the other four began laying eggs, a couple of them got a little more friendly.  Now by friendly, I mean that the original two will follow me around and come to me if I'm outside. All six of them will come if I call "Here chicky, chicky." In fact, it's a little unnerving to see them all racing towards me at an absolute break neck speed when I call. We've been thinking of creating a chicken racing track because they really seem to like to run. We could put little racing numbers on them and we've thought of such fun names as Thunder Thighs and Fowl Play. The original ones will let my little dog play with them as well. She's a miniature Australian Shepard and she doesn't hurt them or anything but she will pin them on the ground with her chest. If it's possible for a chicken to have a long suffering expression, Ruby gets one. She cocks her beady eye at me and gives a low squawk. I mentioned previously that I built their hen house. I used an A-frame shape that I found on the Internet that I thought looked interesting. The problem I've discovered is that the birds all fight for the highest roost and the design only allows four of them on the top perch. And with six chickens, I think it is a little on the small size for them too.  As they began laying eggs, they also did not seem to like laying in their hen house. I don't know what's up with that. I thought it might be because the laying boxes weren't up very high, just two feet off the floor. So, on my back patio, I have a five-foot freezer upon which I created a nice laying box. I lured the chickens up there with food, and sure enough, they started laying in the box. Yay! Until I opened my sliding glass door one cold morning and found my cat laying in the nice straw in the box! The cat's presence did seem to slow down the chickens from laying in that box, but I have the original two and one one actually using it. I've seen them line up in the mornings to take turns laying in it. The other chickens must be laying out in the woods. I also don't have a rooster. I'm going to get one in the spring and perhaps the little chicks will decide they'd better lay their eggs in the house. We'll see. If you have any chicken stories or any ideas for me to try with mine, let me know!

Late Blooming Bulb Work

I'm a bulb kinda gal. I'm a lazy gardener in that if a plant can't handle itself with maybe just a bit of watering, it better not be in my yard. So minimal care. Usually you can't get any more minimal than a bulb. Plant and enjoy.
One bulb type I have are lilies, a few, maybe about 50 to 60, Oriental-Giovanni. Several of the bulbs are 6" to 8" across. One of them used to be the size of a soccer ball but I've let it bloom and reproduce, plus I've moved it, so it's shrunk a bit.
Here's a bulb I was moving last spring:



You can't see the numbers on the ruler but you can tell that I can't wrap my hands around the bulb itself and have my fingers touch.
Here are the flowers:

The flowers are amazing. With a smaller bulb, one stalk will shoot up that has multiple flowers. It will bloom for several weeks in late summer...just when you need some beautiful blooms. With the bigger bulbs, I'll get two stalks with blooms.
I had a few of them in a huge pot and they really needed to be separated, so yesterday was separation day. I could not believe it took me about three hours to safely remove the bulbs from the pot. They were completely root bound, so I couldn't just turn the pot upside down and pull them out. Believe me, I tried. I really had no idea that bulbs could be so rooty.
Several of the bigger bulbs I had in the ground in a flower bed, but my chickens took a liking to them. They love to scratch around and in between the big bulbs. I think they ate some of the foliage too, since the plants were looking a bit bedraggled.
Now most planting instructions tell you to plant your lilies 6" to 8" deep for good sized bulbs and 4" for smaller bulbs. (They never say about gargantuan bulbs like mine.) But I've never been one to listen to instructions. Some I've buried deep but overall I tend to leave them close to the surface so that I can easily move them around. In fact, I've left half the bulb above ground. They love it both ways.
Keep in mind that this was in the South...warm weather where it would only freeze a few times during the winter. I never cut the green leaves off, though I would trim a few leaves here and there that would turn yellow or looked icky. When I moved to Missouri, I brought a couple of my bulbs and just threw them in a pot only half buried. Over last winter, I put the pot in a small greenhouse. Again, I didn't trim them or worry about them over the winter, just occasionally watered them. They did great.
Do you have bulbs? If so, what kind? Do you dig yours up during the winter? Forget about them? Please share your bulb experiences!

The Next Big Thing: Authors Tagging Authors!

I am thrilled to take part in The Next Big Thing: Authors Tagging Authors! I was tagged by the wonderful Ginger Myrick and I'm excited to keep this going. So now I have to answer the questions below, tag a new set of 5 authors, then they answer, tag authors, etc. I'm answering questions about my second book, Silver Demon, which is in the final stages of editing!  What is the working title of your book?  The working title actually started out as Silver Dreams. However, as the plot developed I realized that Silver Dreams would be the best title for the third and final installment in The Silver Series. And since in this one we have demons killing demons galore, they should be honored with the title.   Where did the idea come from for the book?  This is always a tough question for me because my inspirations come from so many different places. I wanted action. I wanted adventure. I wanted the supernatural. And above all, I wanted it to be something that spanned the ages to give people a taste of history in bite size interesting doses...hence the reincarnation element. And also just a hint of romance. So I threw it all in the pot and this series is what boiled out!  What genre does your book fall under?  It is a fantasy, paranormal, modern, historical adventure. You'll have to figure it out from there.   Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  Johnny Depp would make an excellent Solomon.Jim Caviezel for Jarret.Some others to throw in the mix might include Jennifer Love Hewitt, Dakota Fanning, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathboune, Freddie Prince, Jr. and Zac Efron. Who knows? I am completely open to cast as long as the movie is made! ;)  And for the authors I have tagged:  Paige Bleu, Author of Finding SummerlandSolitaire Park, who wrote Vengeance of the WolfMichelle Cornwall-Jordan, author of Night School Vampire HunterSamantha Steele, who wrote TeenagersLauren Grimley, author of Unforeseen This has been great fun and I hope it keeps getting tagged around!