Tips for Writers...

I bought 2 magazines recently, that are absolutely a wealth of information for writers. If you have a chance, find these.

The first is a Writer's Digest magazine titled Get Your Book Published. It was wrapped in plastic because there is a free 90 day access to WritersMarket.com inside. There is also a listing of 183 book publishers inside, many of which I had never heard of. For you YA authors, it was packed full of hints and tips. At $12.99 it was a bit pricey, but once I saw what was inside, the price didn't hurt as bad.

Well, I just realized the second mag is also a Writer's Digest magazine. Maybe I need a subscription, huh? This one is The Big 10 issue, and inside is a wealth of informative Top 10 lists, everything from '10 Tips to Delivering a Kller Reading' to '10 Ways to be a Productivity Pro'. It has top 10 lists from many authors, editors and agents as well. Very interesting. This one was only $5.99 too.

Both of these are definitely going on my reference shelf for later reading. Enjoy!

I've been bad...

Well, I did it again. Hubby usually just shakes his head at me when I sugguest another animal, and grumbles. But this time he agreed.

This past winter we lost Annie, our old friend. And our lives have been just a little emptier without her. Even Murphy moped around for a long time looking for her. Which is what he did. Once the blindness set in, if Annie wandered away, Murphy would go get her and bring her back.

We've been looking at shelters and watching the paper for possible replacements. There was an ad in the paper for Great Pyrenees puppies the other day, and when I said something to hubby, he agreed we should go check them out.

I promised him I would be reserved and check the dog out thoroughly before I said yes, but as soon as I saw him I knew he was coming home with us. He was the last one left. What really sealed the deal was seeing the mother, who looked so much like Annie it made tears come to my eyes.

So, this is Sam. We think. That's the name we've settled on for now. He's 7 weeks old today, and is 3/4 Great Pyrenees and 1/4 border collie. The man with the dogs said dad was part Border Collie, but I think he looked more Golden Retriever.

Murphy accepted him like he had been waiting on him forever. He watches over him as he wanders and seems to really like him. Sam ,of course, is a little afraid of Murph, just because of his size.

The cats are reserving judgement...

Hmmm, This could be something dirty...

But it's not.

I had a wonderful little hen sitting on a nest of babies for a while, and she only hatched out three before she left the nest to lead the chicks around and teach them chicky things. Well, the other day, a hawk snatched my good hen, leaving the babies orphans. I thought another hen was going to adopt them, but it didn't happen. Somehow two of the chicks have disappeared. Maybe they got snatched too. But one is still alive. Flourishing, actually. Because it has finally been adopted.

By a rooster.

It's the funniest looking thing. This great big cock, with two-inch spurs on his legs, leading this little tiny chick around. And it's not a regular chick, but a banty chick as well, so really tiny. The rooster leads the baby around, and cheeps at him when he finds food. I think the rooster feels like he has a flock now, even though it's only one bird. The rooster is a lesser rooster, and has never had birds of his own. I looked out earlier today, and the rooster was sitting on the doorjamb of the chicken coop, and chicken little was sitting on top of the rooster.

My husband says the rooster is robbing the cradle, but I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's just stepping up to be daddy...

Thought I'd show you my new kittens, too. One, Whiskers, is smart and ornery and very cat-like. Takes care of herself. Knows when to get out of a thunderstorm. The other is, well, intellectually challenged, let's say. But she's very sweet. My daughter told me that even when she dropped Skittles in the pool, she still purred.

Can you tell which one is Skittles? I'll give you a hint. She doesn't know when to get in out of a thunderstorm. (She's the bedraggled one on the left.)

Uh, Honey, the barn is rolling away....

So, I don't know if anybody else had any issues with the weather last night, but we certainly did.
This is a barn hubby and I built a couple of years ago. We were going to separate my stud horses away from the rest, and eventually get a few mares, but the idea kind of fizzled away and my studs have since died. The barn has been used for storage since then.
So, yesterday afternoon, Hubby woke me from a nap and told me we were having a major storm. Everything was blowing around us; kids toys, kittens, misc. things. And it was all blowing in the wrong direction. Our wind always, always comes from the West. Yesterday, it was coming from the North. The door of this barn faces the north. The storm simply picked the sucker up and rolled it over. Unfortunately, it rolled it over on top of two trailers we parked down there (out of the way, we thought) three days ago. 3 days. Doesn't it just figure? If the trailers had not been there, the barn would have simply rolled onto it's roof and stopped. Instead, it's all cock-eyed now and dangerous. We won't be able to tell if the trailers are damaged or not until we get the barn off of them.
The good news is, the insurance man came out and we should be getting a check in a couple of days. We were not the only stop he had planned for today; other people were waiting for him with other damage from the same storm. Helped back up our claim a little bit.

How on earth we're going to get the barn down, I have no idea. Maybe a storm will come out of the south and flip it back over for us.

Riiiiight......