Archive | June 2015

The Silent Storm

I’m sure it wasn’t silent at all. I wake to any sound, but last night, I was soooo dead to the world. I woke at 6:30, never that late. I heard nothing, saw nothing. We were supposed to have torrential rains and horrific winds. I woke this morning, wondering what had happened. No storm? How did I sleep so late?

Last night when I went to get the mail, hundreds of birds were frantically flying over the house and fields. Hundreds circling and calling to each other in a panic. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I thought: This is a warning that the storms they’re predicting are going to be bad. But nothing had awakened me, so nothing had happened. The video, if it shows up, wasn’t very good. I had gone out to get the mail, so only had my phone with me, and I haven’t taken video of anything like this before, so wasn’t sure if the birds were showing up or not. They were flying off and back, and circling, so it was hard to get them all to stay in one place for me. lol

But nearer the end, you can see tons of birds flying around, and hear them the whole time. I’ve never seen anything like it either and we’ve been having lots of storms. I’m sure this is all due to Tropical Storm Bill in the Gulf. We’re located in Central Texas, about 4 hours from the coast.

Flooded Culvert

Flooded Culvert Flowing Downhill

Flooded Field

Lake in Yard

Lake in Driveway

Lake in Side Drive

So no tornado warnings today, more rain coming in a little bit and lasting for hours, and we’re under flash flood warning until this evening. Hopefully, the water will go down before the next bout comes, if predictions are right, in about an hour. I still can’t believe I slept through everything, but that means as long as I have Internet, I’m off to write!

Have a super great day!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

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Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Rainbows Are Magical

Jun16

Partial Rainbow before storms

Created Rainbow with a shower of water

Double rainbow after drenching storms

Do they bring you good luck? Of course! If you’re fortunate enough to see one and are able to capture it and share the magic! Don’t you love them?

Stained Glass Rainbow Art

No matter where you see the rainbows…

Have a day filled with them, and share the magic!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Taking an Out of this World Photograph!

Jun15

Oh, okay, so some would say it’s just a mistake. But to me, it’s the coolest thing ever.

And it all had to do with taking pictures of all the dogs sitting on our laps while we were playing a video game and having to say the spells out loud. I’m sure that one of the spells created the vortex.

Some would say not.

But isn’t that the joy of making up stories?

Note how serious everyone is.

Jennifer cast the spell!

We were caught up in the spell’s vortex.

No, this was not photoshopped. It really happened just this way.

So just remember when taking a picture and a spell is being cast, beware that you might just catch the whole thing on disk.

Thankfully, we came out of it all just fine. 🙂 Puppies and humans alike.

And that’s my story…

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Jurassic World

Jun14

We had fun watching the movie and then had pizza out. For lovers of the original movie, they had some fun nostalgic items in the new movie that you’ll get a kick out of seeing. I thought the Asian guy was the same in the lab and sure enough he was. Twenty-two years later.

Jurassic World HD Resolution Wallpaper, Free download Jurassic World ...

They had one of those backstory dumps to explain away why the kids could get an old vehicle running–“Remember how we worked with grandpa on his old car?” Or words to that effect.

Young kid: “Oh yeah,” and voila, old car fixed.

Rainforest waterfall–Moody Gardens

Right.

Even the hero said, “I wonder how the kids could have figured out how to get the old car running.”

Hmmm, instead of being a mopey teen, he could have been fixing an old junker he was totally into and couldn’t part with and then that would have given him much more character as far as why he didn’t want to leave, and made the scene with the car believable.

Oh, all right, so when are dinosaurs in a theme park believable? Really.

Still, that’s what makes fantasy fun. That it’s so believable, it’s real.

One of our all time favorite parts, even though it was really brief, was Jimmy Buffet grabbing not one, but two margaritas from his Margaritaville Bar at the Jurassic theme park while the pterodactyls were swooping in for happy meals. Hilarious.

Ice Cave Dinosaur Restaurant Disney World

My daughter commented on the heroine’s hair. It was so coiffured, and then supposed to have been spazzed in all the running and such that she was doing, but instead it looked like another curled and waved fresh and professional do. Not like the rest of us would look like if we were running through a jungle in fear of being ripped apart by dinosaurs. 🙂

Hey, it’s fantasy. Like a woman waking up looking gorgeous in bed, not to mention she’s wearing makeup, but also, her hair is just perfect.

All in all, we liked the plot, the memorabilia, and the characters. I loved the part where the hero was using clickers for training the raptors. My daughter used them to train her corgis. I never did with mine, but it was so hilarious.

jurassic world dinosaurs

So we had a delightful time. One of the most memorable lines for me in the original version was something to the effect, “They do have dinosaurs on exhibit here. Right?”

I have often repeated that concept: The wolves at Milwaukee Zoo wouldn’t make an appearance. Same thing for ghosts on a ghost tour. No shows. And at the International Wolf Center, they often get that. The wolves aren’t there when the visitors want to see them.

So it follows that the dinosaurs aren’t on a schedule. 🙂 <3

We watched Between last night where anyone over the age of 21 died in a town. It’s interesting what concepts authors will have and how they show what would happen in a fantasy way if all of a sudden some calamity strikes.

I have to say some of those who are supposed to be under 21, are a LOT older than that.

Okay off for a another play day. Our terrible storms amounted to light showers in the morning and that was it. So we had another fun walk with the dogs last night.

Have a super great Sunday!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Walking 4 Dogs at Once! And More Autographed Books!

Jun13

My daughter and I went to Woodland Mall to sign at the Barnes and Noble there. So these are all signed at Woodland Mall in Texas. 🙂

It was 95, but the temp had dropped a bit, so we risked taking the dogs for a walk. Hers are corgis, mine, Havanese puppies. We found they did better if they all walked together, rather than me walking mine behind with mine. I took pictures. You can see the storms in the background.

Here, the leashes were so tangled, I told Jenn she could probably just drop them and walk with the dogs. And so she did. They walked with her and when she jogged, they jogged with her. But here is a picture of her dogs looking at her, and mine looking at me. Mine kept looking back to make sure I was still there. We’re going to the new Jurassic Park movie this weekend.

Hope your weekend is as fun-filled!

We have 90% chance of rain today, so figure it will be a wet one.

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

The Ticking Time Bomb! Finding the Lost Item–Think Indiana Jones Here…

Jun11

A fan posted this on my FB page this morning and I have to say it really made my day!

AWESOME ! JAGUAR PRIDE IS AWESOME ! Mackenzie Cartwright “Excellent choice for the narration, she has a great VOICE!! — making my wish list —- reading it twice LOL actually I haven’t got the How to find writer or books they keep pushing covers of writers I don’t know because they write the same stories of my choice Cougar one is waiting ..

I either was running errands and shipping 4 of the bears I needed to, grocery shopping–and the clerk put my eggs in with a bunch of other groceries and I didn’t know it and every one of them was broken when I got home–and such. Then I get a call from the IRS, supposedly, saying they were suing me. I didn’t answer the phone. Unknown caller, no picky up. Anyway, I knew it was a scam as the IRS only sends threatening letters that you’re going to prison, not phone calls. They also send registered? mail that you have to sign for if they’re after someone–like when I lived at my other house. The guy who had owned it two owners earlier was wanted by the IRS. I kept telling my kids: DON’T sign for that letter. Or they’ll think he’s living at our house still and hiding out there.

No matter how many times I told the mailman the guy had sold to another man, then that man sold to me and I didn’t even know the original owner, periodically, the mailman would return with another registered? letter. Can’t remember which one requires a signature. Maybe certified. Anyway, I could just envision a SWAT team swooping down on my house to arrest him, and me–for hiding him. Hey, I’m a storyteller at heart. It’s in my blood.

So I had to emphasize to my kids, who are the sweetest and thinking they’d help Mom out if I was out back working in the gardens or something, and would sign for stuff, this was one thing they could not sign for. I could just see the IRS taking my house away from us to pay off this guy’s tax debts. Yeah, far out, but with the IRS, even some of the worst criminals who got away with murder went to prison for tax fraud and evasion.

Okay, so I was going to make this really short so that I would get some word count in because yesterday I wrote 200 words. That’s it. But I was looking for something, and looking and looking and searching and searching. I got a trunk load of stuff to take to Goodwill, a kitchen garbage can’s worth of trash ready to go, all because I was searching, organizing, cleaning, and I ended up walking 2 more miles than normally, just trying to find the object of my desire.

You can spend all your life looking for something, but you can’t in a story. You need a ticking time bomb. Something that forces the character to keeping working toward that find. I found other things by the way, got other stuff ready to ship that I’ve been meaning to, needed flash drives for the job, and found some while searching, so I didn’t spend ALL day searching for the all important treasure, but I did for most of the day. Then I gave up. I’ve done this several times already on different days. Just cleaned out, sorted, organized, and was still at a loss as to where it was.

So I was watching Castle, tired, didn’t do anything but watch the show, when I should have been at least working on another bear. But I didn’t. I was still thinking–where could it be?

And I had it! And I checked. And sure enough, there it was.

Now, it bothered me that I had very little word count, and that for every day I’ve done this, same thing. BUT, I also cleaned out a bunch of stuff I didn’t need, and I exercised more, and I really, really had to find it by today (my ticking time bomb), or pay $75 and go through a whole lot of a hassle to fix it, and still have the worry about sending it off. Plus, I KNEW I’d find it and be so annoyed with myself for not having found it before I had to pay $75 etc, etc, etc.

Now? Easy as eating a piece of pie. But more running of errands, and that’s okay. They have to be done too now.

Oh, and yes, I did consider the missing item had something to do with the fae moving it. 🙂

Was having fun with cloud pictures yesterday on one of my trips out with the puppies.

Fun with clouds and sky.

It means running more errands today and not getting much writing done, though I did write maybe another 200 words last night and I need to type the notes up. But have other stuff going on and soooooo…*sigh* Which is why this was going to be a short note today.

Puppies after they got me up at 5:30 to take them out.

I’m a writer. Writing short is just really hard for me. LOL

Sooooo tell me you lose things too and spend hours searching for them! Do you ever had a ticking time bomb propelling you to find it, find other stuff instead, and not the item you really need? Then give up, and voila! You find it?

My daughter had this made for me because my old cover was disintegrating. In the Texas heat, having a steering wheel cover really helps. Now, I just need a Jaguar to go with it.

Have a super great day! I went to bed very happy last night. Time bomb averted.

TGIF Eve!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Photography and Puppy Training

Jun10

Learning Down and Staying Down

The puppies don’t care for Down. They sit all the time, but Down is not their favorite command. Especially Max’s. I’m also training them to stay in place even if I leave the room for a few seconds. Normally, they would chase after me. But I’ve been doing this for a while, and I’m always surprised when they don’t follow me out of the room. So they’re getting much better.

I also have them Place like this when I’m preparing my meal so they’re not underfoot while I’m in the tiny kitchen. Max usually will get off once to check on me, even though he can see me. He’s really checking to see if I dropped anything for him. So it’s an ongoing process.

Max watching bag of treats on kitchen counter instead of watching me

Max is not watching me, like he’s supposed to be doing. He thinks if he watches the treat bag, it won’t get away from him. Or maybe, it will miraculously toss a treat to him. Silly dog.

Here they are, having turned from the direction of the kitchen to watch me. Which is what you want. They should be anticipating your command. When I fix their meals, I have them do the same. Stay on Place, Down. They have to stay there while I fill up their 2 kongs, often times searching for wherever they’ve rolled them earlier first, then I set one out quite a distance from the other. Then I fill up their water dish in the other room, and this is with their kongs sitting on the floor waiting for them to push around and leave a trail of their puppy food and devour it. And they stay put. It’s amazing.

We worked for a long time, twice a day to get to this point. Sometimes I take pictures of them to prolong the training and show them that I can do other things before I release them to eat their meals. But only by a minute or so. I need to wait longer. I don’t do anything mean to them to get them to do this either. It’s just patience and perseverance. For a long time, as soon as I moved to get Tanner’s kong, he jumped off Place. Every time I started to fill up the kongs, he jumped off Place. Max would stay. But Tanner was just too chow hungry to do it. So I kept returning him to Place over and over and over again. Eventually, he realized that if he stayed on Place, he got his food sooner. Or, that he wasn’t getting his food until he was on Place.

Max and Tanner from their POV

Often puppies will want to come to you if you get down to their level. So when I sat on the floor, it was a test. What they call a distraction. See if something really enticing will make them want to leave the place where they are.

Then it was placing the kongs on the floor that triggered him to bolt for his, or for Max’s because it was closer. But we kept working on it and now I can even motion to Place without saying a word. I can have them lie down with a downward motion of my hand without giving them a verbal command. (Most of the time. Sometimes Max won’t do it. But I’ve done this while I”m on the phone, and it’s great.) It can be tricky though. I tried moving my arms around, and that signaled Break! And they were off and running. lol

Training Max and Tanner to sit

I thought I had one of the lying down, waiting for their meal, but I didn’t. So here’s an earlier one of them learning to Place and Sit.

And they won’t budge until I release them when I say: Break! and motion for Tanner to go one way and Max to go the other. They almost always place themselves so that Max is on the left and Tanner is on the right. But a couple of times they’ve been reversed and they practically trip over each other while they’re running to get their food.

Tanner wanting to eat–it’s not time

Often when the puppies wake from a nap, they think it’s time to eat. It doesn’t matter when it is, it’s just…time.

Is it already hump day??? Garbage is out. Meal time is coming up. Are you ready for the day?

Back to writing!! Have a super great Wednesday!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Amateur Photography

Jun9

I was reading tons of pages from fantastic photographers around the world who were sharing tips on photography. If I wasn’t writing so much, or making bears, or obedience training puppies, or etc, etc, etc, I would be really learning how to take pictures well. But when I start to read blog posts like that, I feel guilty because I know I’m not getting my word count or other business done.

But I do want to learn.

Yesterday, I took an interesting couple of pictures of Lake Waco. As you can see, I captured the sign in one shot and the lake in my side view mirror also, which I thought was really cool. I wasn’t sure if it would, but it’s cool that I did.

Lake Waco

I was reading about “framing” the shot with obstacles or in some other manner and I thought this was a really unique way to frame the shot. I was driving. I don’t normally do things like this when I’m driving. There’s no place to get a shot of the lake like this that’s from up above it unless you have a home on the hill near there.

Lake Waco

By this time, I was nearly beyond being able to view the lake, but got one more shot.

The other thing I was reading about, and have read about several times, but don’t think about it when I’m taking a shot, but will now try to think about it when I do, is breaking up the view into thirds and not centering the shot. Well, I didn’t have control over these shots, and they ended up being in the right frame to make them more interesting, so it worked!

Same thing about cropping. I often will have a lot more of a picture than just the object of my fascination. I need to make sure I keep the original version, and make a copy I crop from so I can see what a difference it will make to include or not include more of the picture. Yesterday, before I read the article, I had cropped “noise” out of a picture–stuff that detracted from the point of the photo, and it really does make a difference.

Another article mentioned taking a series of shots. I do that a lot already as you can see with my puppies and tell a story.

In this, yes, Tanner is smack dab in the center of the picture. But there’s so much clutter around him that it was the only way I could take the picture without him moving from that adorable pose. So I experimented. Here are 3 cropped photos.

Life of a puppy

Tanner with more of the chair in the picture

Tanner Snoozing on His Back with the Printer Cabinet in the Picture

By the rule of thirds, the 2nd two are better. And though I was trying to keep the jogging board out of the picture, it really tells more of a story. You see, after he jogged, he fell into a tired heap and is sleeping off all that workout.

Or I could frame him with the desk on one side and the chair on the other, but then he’s in the center again.

Tanner centered between the printer and the chair

Which appeals more to you?

Okay, enough with playing around with photos. And back to my writing!

Have a super great Tuesday! It’s really hot here and I was thinking how really good the lake looked! 🙂

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Teddy Bears and Killing Weeds!!!

Jun8

Stewart Clan Bear

McBee/MacBeth Clan Bear

More bears for orders! I have a new MacGregor order I need to make up also now.

But I have to say that after I made the mistake of using weed AND grass killer on my bur weeds, though MOST of my yard was bur weeds, choking out the grass, and I killed off areas of bur weeds AND the grass…then picked up weed ONLY killer, I have GRASS!!!!! It’s beautiful. I never thought it would work that well.

For a long time, the bur weeds looked like they were as healthy as ever, but then they started to turn a little black, and then the grass took over, yes, even where I killed it, and when I was out with the puppies yesterday I realized—I have GRASS! And it’s soft and beautiful. The puppies have grass to walk on instead of bur weeds that were attaching to their fur and paws. They still get a few, but not like they were before. 🙂 I’m not much for chemicals, but with having to take the puppies out in the grass all the time, I had to do something. Every time it rained, I was pulling up the bur weeds, but they were too extensive and the area too massive to work on.

So I’m pretty much weed free. I’ll have to keep monitoring it as I’m sure some of the weeds will propagate again, but now that the grass has really taken hold, it’s helping to keep the weeds at bay also.

And it was so easy!

Off to write. I began a new opening on Billionaire, and it ties in with the original opening, so we’re good!

Have a super great day!

Tanner has his last individual training today, so we’ll see how he does today!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Really, Mom, I’m Jogging…

Jun7

Max: Mom, really, I’m just getting ready to jog. You can have the jogging board after me.

Max and the jogging board

Max: Really, I had a super hard work out. You probably weren’t watching. But I must’ve run three miles, at least. I was chasing rabbits, birds, butterflies. Just give me a moment. I ran so hard, my legs collapsed out from underneath me. You can have the jogging board as soon as I can get back on my feet.

Max the Rug on the jogging board

Tanner’s Turn?

Tanner: Max said it was my turn next. Can you tell him to move?

Thanks, Mom

Tanner: Thanks, Mom, for making him move. We can share.

Mom: Somehow I managed to get my 3 miles in even when the puppies wanted to exercise too.

And that’s my story!

Finished another bear, need to take a picture of it today, and have one more left to finish. Made over word count on Taming the Wild Cougar, but behind on Billionaire. However, I decided I needed a new, more dramatic opening. Sometimes I have to write a while before I can “see” it.

Have a super great Sunday! 🙂 <3

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

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"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality."

Archive | June 2015

The Silent Storm

Rainbows Are Magical

Taking an Out of this World Photograph!

Jurassic World

Walking 4 Dogs at Once! And More Autographed Books!

The Ticking Time Bomb! Finding the Lost Item–Think Indiana Jones Here…

Photography and Puppy Training

Amateur Photography

Teddy Bears and Killing Weeds!!!

Really, Mom, I’m Jogging…