Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 184

Luna, Cara and Tinkers

I know they're no longer with us, but since I never posted photos of them, I thought I'd show you photos of Luna and Cara, just so those of you who never saw them can see what they looked like. This is Luna: And this is Cara Crookeshanks: I'm pretty sure I never posted a photo of Tinkers before either. Tinkers was the cat Kelly, his Mom and his Aunt Sue had when I went to live with them in Canada for a while. We left her with Kelly's Mom and Aunt Sue when we came back to the UK. She was a great cat, and very opinionated; but then, aren't all cats very opinionated? LOL! Anyway, this is Tinkers:

Bilbo and Baggins

These are Bilbo and Baggins. They're a pair of Mongolian Gerbils. They are brothers and littermates, and were named for Bilbo Baggins the hobbit from the Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings books and movies. I looked up the name "Bilbo" online and discovered that it’s a Basque name. It took some searching to find a meaning for the name, but eventually we learned that it's most likely a combination of the names "Bill" which can mean either "strong mind" or "protection" and "Bo" which means "wave-like" – so Bilbo probably means “wave-like protection with a strong mind” or something like that. I couldn't find any meaning for the name "Baggins" though. Bilbo and Baggins are Kelly's gerbils. He was missing Luna badly, so I agreed that he could have a new pet if he wanted; especially since my degus often won't allow him to pick them up, so he wasn't getting any comfort from them. I said he could have anything that lives in a cage or tank as long as it's not a snake or spider. He decided on a gerbil, but since gerbils - like degus - do better with company, so he got a pair. They're a little over nine weeks old now; they were born January 6th 2014.

Happy birthday Jacob Blackmon

Today is the birthday of one of my friends and cover artists. He did the cover for my latest book "Goodies For Grandmother" actually, and is working on the cover for another book I'm working on. I have it on good authority that he's an amazing artist. His name is Jacob Blackmon. I added his last name to make sure nobody gets confused about whether I'm talking about Jacob the degu. Yes, that has happened a few times, LOL! Anyway, happy birthday Jacob!

Goodies For Grandmother

Goodies For Grandmother

Genre: Fairy Tales And Fables/Fairy Tale Adaptations

Description: "Brownies share the woods with the fairies, but – unlike the fairies – the brownies are very naughty. They love playing tricks, love stealing anything travellers happen to be carrying through the woods, and love getting people lost. So when one of them spots Ella carrying a basket of goodies, he just can’t resist trying to steal them from her. But Ella isn’t going to let him near it. Bob the brownie quickly figures out that he’ll have to come up with a sneakier plan to get his little hands on that basket of goodies.

Based on the well-known story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ but with no big bad wolf to eat Grandmother, nor woodcutter to save her, ‘Goodies For Grandmother’ tells the story of a little girl in purple, a sick Grandmother, a naughty little brownie, and a clever little fairy."

Published: 14th March 2014.

ISBN: 9781311867131

Buy it from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Available elsewhere soon!

Goodies For Grandmother

"Brownies share the woods with the fairies, but – unlike the fairies – the brownies are very naughty. They love playing tricks, love stealing anything travellers happen to be carrying through the woods, and love getting people lost. So when one of them spots Ella carrying a basket of goodies, he just can’t resist trying to steal them from her. But Ella isn’t going to let him near it. Bob the brownie quickly figures out that he’ll have to come up with a sneakier plan to get his little hands on that basket of goodies."

"Based on the well-known story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ but with no big bad wolf to eat Grandmother, nor woodcutter to save her, ‘Goodies For Grandmother’ tells the story of a little girl in purple, a sick Grandmother, a naughty little brownie, and a clever little fairy."

This is the synopsis for another of my books. It's called "Goodies For Grandmother" and is officially released today!

This is the one I mentioned that was posted on my blog here before, but which has had a fair bit of editing since then. If you want to read the original version then you can do so by searching my archives for the post it's in, but if you'd prefer the most recent version you'd be better off buying this book, LOL!

It's already available via Smashwords and a couple of other sites, and will be available elsewhere soon.

Degu buddies turn 1

It's hard to believe, but it's true... My little degu buddies are a year old today! Seems like only yesterday I brought them home as little 12 week old babies, and now they're all grown up! For those who haven't seen any photos of them, here they are on top of their latest house/nesting box. The photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, and the house is the third they've had since we got them. The third because we replaced the original in January using a coupon Pets At Home gave us at Christmas time after we ordered the pets' Christmas presents, but they ate that one, so we had to buy another one again. The first was a wooden one like the one in the above photo, but the second one - the one they ate - was a grass one. We thought it would last a bit since it was designed for larger rodents than the degus, but apparently it was very tasty and we were very wrong, LOL! We also brought them some rodent balls. Only two have arrived so far, but they seem pleased with them even though they have to share right now. Here's Kero checking out the ball while Jasper's in it: Anyway, this will do for now, so... Happy 1st birthday Jacob, Jasper, Jenks and Joshua!

Read an ebook week 2014: free and bargain ebooks

As part of Smashwords' read an ebook week promotion, you can get my books on offer all this week. Some are actually free! Go to my Smashwords author page at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/toriz and check out the books. NOTE: you'll need to go on to the page for the individual book to see what's free and what's just on offer.

R.I.P. Luna

Last Sunday Luna seemed out of sorts, but everyone has off days, so we didn't think anything of it. Monday morning we got up to find her sat at the top of her ramp to the top level of her cage and not moving. Her eyes were closed, and she felt quite cold. The first thing we did was get her warmed up, then we did things to try and keep her warm: gave her extra hay to snuggle in to, gave her the warmer hammock she has, and put a blanket over the top of her cage to trap heat in. We were worried though that she didn't seem to have eaten much (degus love food). But when I offered her a peanut after warming her up she took it and ate it, so we figured if we gave her a couple of days and kept her warm she'd be fine. She doesn't travel well, and the stress of visiting a vet can cause more harm than the vet can do good with small animals, if you know what I mean, so we wanted to give a couple of days before taking her to a vet. We did make sure to get a recommendation from where we got the boys as to which vet was best for degus though, just in case. Up until last night (Friday night), our plan seemed to be working; she wasn't eating and drinking as much as she should, and she wasn't as active as she should have been, but we saw her moving about and doing things in her cage a little, so we were hopeful. But last night she was just laying there again. Worried about dehydration, we got some water in her with a surringe. Most of it just dribbled back out of her mouth, but some of it seemed to make it in to her. We weren't sure what else to do, so I held her (so she could get the heat from my hands) while Kelly called the vet. The vet told us to continue to do what we were doing: keeping her warm and trying to get water at least in to her, but also food too if possible. If she was no better by Monday morning we were to take her to see the vet. Iggy had given me some goat's wool a while back, and I'd knitted some of it in to a strip to go in a blanket I'm going to be making myself one of these days. But, remembering how warm and snuggly it felt, I decided to grab it to snuggle Luna in to. I was sure Igggy wouldn't mind since he's a big animal lover himself, and I was sure he'd understand why it became a degu blanket. So, Kelly snuggled Luna in to the goat's wool and I held her to try and warm her up. She's always been Kelly's degu, but my hands are usually quite warm, where as his are often quite cold, so I was holding her so she could get heat from my hands as well as her new blanket. It's the first time since she became Kelly's degu when we took her in that she's been happy to go to me rather than him; she always wanted him rather than me, and would actually push me away if I tried to pet and cuddle her like he did, yet she'd seek out his attention several times a day. Neither the blanket nor the heat of my hands helped though; Luna died at 3:00am this morning, still wrapped in her goat's wool blanket in my hands. At least she was comfy and had company at the end. Rest in peace, Luna, and know you will be missed! October 1st 2011 - March 1st 2014.

February 2014 reading challenge - Love

Here's the details for the reading challenge one of the groups I'm a member of on Goodreads had for February: "15 Different Kinds of Love: Read as much as you want or can. Infatuation- loving feelings towards a love object that are largely based upon fantasy and idealization (instead of experience). - 1. Read a book that is in the fantasy genre! Romantic Love- An abiding love for a partner with whom you feel passion, attraction, caring and respect. - 2. Read any book that is in the romance genre! Eros Love- a passionate love usually involving sexual feelings for a love interest. - 3. Read a book that you were passionate about - Old Time Favorite. Companionate Love - feelings of warmth towards a friend with whom you love to spend time - 4. Read a book off one of your friends list. Unconditional Love - A type of affection and caring that is so strong that you feel it consistently, regardless of what that other person does - 5. Read a book that is written by one your favorite authors. Conditional Love - A love that requires specific action or conditions in order to be maintained. - 6. Read a book that can be found in the Action/Adventure genre. Puppy Love - A childish, innocent temporary crush on someone that you don’t know well. - 7. Read a book with an animal or child on the cover. Maternal Love - This term usually connotes love that is nurturing, accepting and protective. In actuality this love can also be given by a father etc. - 8. Read a book that begins with your mothers name. (example - my moms name is Frances (my pick is Fire Country.) Paternal Love - This term connotes love that involves guidance and some authority. Paternal love usually prepares a child to be ready for the outside world. Again, in reality this type of love is not gender specific. - 9. Read a book that is in the New Adult Genre (ie coming of age). Soulmate Love - This type of love is described as a love that has survived multiple life times. Not everyone believes in this concept. 10. Read a book that is in the romance genre, see if you can find one where they find their soulmate. Spiritual/Divine Love - This type of love recognizes the Divine light in everyone and everything. Love is given to everyone as an act of loving God. - 11. Read a book that is in the Christian/Spiritual genre. Love of your country or patriotism - This is love for the place you live or the place that were born. It is a type of loyalty and a special feeling of belonging that you attribute to that specific geographic location. - 12 Read a book that is from a author in the country you were born. Self-Love - This is a positive feeling that you have about who you are and what you deserve. It often is expressed by treating yourself well, respecting yourself, wanting yourself to be happy and expecting others to respect you too. 13. Read a book that will make you happy. Brotherly Love - This term connotes having a feeling of love for your neighbor, because all humanity is considered to be part of a larger family of human beings. - 14. Read a book that a friend has recommended. Tough Love - This term is used to describe a love that is expressed by setting boundaries for the good of the other person. - 15. Read a book that has the word tough or love in the title." And here's what I managed to do for it: 1. Infatuation: Cress (Lunar Chronicles, #3) by Marissa Meyer (read February 10th 2014). 2. Romantic Love: Innocent Hearts by Jess Mountifield (read February 12th 2014). 3. Eros Love: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (The Chronicles Of Narnia, #3 or #5; publication and chronalogical order respectively) by C.S. Lewis (read February 23rd 2014). 5. Unconditional Love: Raising Steam (Discworld, #40) by Terry Pratchett (read February 15th 2014). 8. Maternal Love: King Of The Cloud Forests by Michael Morpurgo (read February 11th 2014). 12. Love of your country or patriotism: The Suitcase Kid by Jaqueline Wilson (read February 16th 2014). 14. Brotherly Love: Not A Drop To Drink (Not A Drop To Drink, #1) by Mindy McGinnis (read February 13th 2014). 15. Tough Love: Love And Freindship by Jane Austen (read February 22nd 2014). I completed 8 of 15.

Fire Country birthday blast

Today, Fire Country by David Estes turns one year old. In the first year since Fire Country was born, so much has happened. David signed with an agent, sold more than 10,000 books, wrote five more books and published a further three). He knew he just had to celebrate and he'd love for you to be a part of it! David owes so much of his support to the blogger community, and he wants everyone to have the chance to be a part of the Fire Country Birthday Bash.Everyone goes home a winner, simply follow the prompts below and swipe your eCopy of Fire Country from Smashwords. Read and leave a review on Amazon if you enjoyed it. Feel free to share the code with your friends, family, neighbours and literary inclined pets.https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280371 Coupon Code: WH62CExpiration: March 1, 2014 What's a party without prizes? Yes, David is not only giving everyone a chance to download their own copy of Fire Country, book one in the Country Saga for free, but he's also giving you stuff too. You could win an Amazon giftcard open internationally, U.S residents can win a signed copy of the David Estes book of your choice, or a handful of David Estes eBooks of your choice. Awesome.
Visit David via his Blog • Facebook • Twitter and via GoodreadsPay Perry the Prickler a visit on Twitter and Goodreadsa Rafflecopter giveaway