Archive | May 2016

Here’s Looking at You, Kid

May31

Crested titmouse looking through the ring of the basket where he’s eating no-melt suet.

You’ve heard of framing your subject? Well, here his eye is PERFECTLY framed in that little ring. How cool is that? I planned it that way. Told him to move this way…no, back a little, no forward a little. You got it! It was a shot in a billion. A Kodak moment (which shows my age), and the coolest thing ever. When I was taking pictures, I knew he stopped to look at me, but I was amazed, I mean, I planned it that way–to get that bird’s eye view of a bird’s eye framed in the ring.

crested titmouse, ring (640x470)

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Until I have to do edits and revise it. 🙂

Speaking of which, I stopped to work on the other book’s edits, and they were gone. All of them. I spent hours searching, trying to locate temp files, thinking I’d mistakenly downloaded the book to do the edits, and saved it in the downloads file. If it’s there, I couldn’t find it. So I’m starting over. Once was bad enough. Trying to remember the changes I already made? ugh.

Have a super, great day!!!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

Hurricane Season?

May30

For 6 years, we didn’t have any trouble with hurricanes where we lived in Central Florida, though the house had been hit a couple of years before we moved there and had taken out a wall.

So the traffic was snarled on Saturday due to flooding and evacuations south of us, but we went out to dinner to celebrate birthdays at a Mexican restaurant really close to where we live, and my daughter starts talking about how it’s hurricane season from now until November.

storm clouds 006 (640x427)And they’re supposed to be bad because we had such a mild winter.

storm clouds 007 (640x427)Because of all the flooding, and more rain on its way for most of this week and into next week, and the rivers and creeks are already full to bursting, when I see these beautiful clouds, I’m thinking oh-no. More rain. Normally, I love rain. It cools things down. Gives relief to the hot sun. We’ve already had 96 degrees heat index, so it’s been hot. And the storms really did cool things down.

In Central Texas, we’ll have terrible droughts in the summer. So I’m hoping it’s not like that here. But too much rain can be a bad thing too.

storm clouds 008 (640x427)I mentioned it on Facebook, but one of the local residents said we live far enough north, hurricanes aren’t a real problem. No need to evacuate. The problem is tropical storms and the flooding and power outages. Buy a generator. Someone said get an extra couple of cans of gas in case you do have to leave. Which reminds me to always have the tank full if a storm is coming to the area. Just in case.

My daughter was talking about getting canned goods that don’t require cooking. So next time I’m at the grocery store, I’ll have to stock up on emergency food. Something I’ve never thought of doing. But after our electric was out for so many hours, businesses all closed because of it, it’s a good idea. One year, ice caused outages all over in Texas. My parents got dry ice to keep their groceries cold. They ran into town to eat because some places had electricity. But it was so cold at home that they were having trouble keeping warm. I’m surprised my dad didn’t have a generator. I need to get one of those camping stoves, just in case. 🙂

How are you set up for electric outages in your area?

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

3 Mixed Columbine–What Does Mixed Mean?

May29

columbine 2 with flowermiddle colombine with flower (640x427)columbine roses with new growth 022 (640x576)That’s what the order said. Now I will patiently, or not so patiently, wait to see. The top picture is the 2nd plant to bloom.  The middle one is finally blooming. The bottom one has bloomed already and this is its 2nd flower. That one is a double pink. I think the top might be also. So what are the chances that the middle one will be also? What are the chances that the “mixed” Columbine weren’t mixed at all?

It looks like someone forgot to shuffle the deck of cards. But what does mixed really mean?

This flower isn’t even in the picture shown of the mixed columbine. Which is why I was unsure of what it was to begin with.

I assume then that mixed means you will get what we send you. They might be different. They might be the same. They might not even look like the picture of the plants you bought. We are as mixed up as you and the plants are. That’s what mixed means.

LOL….okay, I’ve been working on edits too long, clearly.

Have a great day!!!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

Storms and 19″ of Rain!

May28

storm 004 (640x427)storm 006 (640x427)

Storm Total Rainfall and Flood Reports

storms between night (640x427)I thought I had left a light on outside because all of a sudden, it was really light out at 8:30 pm, and then it stormed again.

More thunderstorms possible this afternoon. But in the meantime, sunny skies and look what I captured when I took the puppies out for a walk? A baby dragonfly.

blue dasher dragonfly (406x640)I think it’s a blue dasher.

baby blue dasher dragonfly (544x640)

Oh, oh, just saw daddy cardinal with TWO baby cardinals feeding them! I wondered if there were two of them. But they were on the patio and by the time I noticed them, I missed getting a picture of all 3 of them together. More later.

Okay, 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:

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

Storms and More Storms

May27

The electricity and internet stayed on. We had lightning constantly. Thought I was video-recording it, but nope.

red bellied woodpecker pepper suet (640x427)During an earlier storm, the red-bellied woodpecker braved it to grab bites of the hot pepper suet.

lightning sheet (640x427)It was pitch black  and pouring rain at 5 am. This is sheet lightning lighting up the darkness.

The storms are abating until this afternoon.  I think. I hadn’t expected them to go on so late into the night and start up with a vengeance again at 3 am and finally fade out at about 6 am.

So I’m off to write. Have a great day!!!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

The Mystery Flower Solved

May26

double columbine (640x427) finalgoldfinch 077 (640x427)The top one is a double flowering couple of Columbine, and the second picture is a secret. I bought the 3 in a package of mixed Columbine, so have no idea what it will turn out like, but it has two flowers getting ready to bloom. It’s like Christmas, don’t you think?

Notice the lightness and the darkness in the first photo? The new flower is emerging from the darkness, and the other is blooming to its fullest extent in the light.

Okay, so I’m back to work. I added some cool scenes to SEAL, and realized things haven’t happened yet that need to happen for these scenes to exist. ugh.

So, I’m having to move them around, and that makes a mess of things.  What I do is cut them and paste them onto another word document and when I find where they can now happen, I add them back. Simple right? Nope. Change one thing and it changes tons of other stuff. That’s why I decided putting off time travel for a little while longer. I can see just what a mess I’d make of things.

Have a great and wonderful day! 🙂

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

Birds of a Feather–Nope…

May25

red-bellied woodpecker and blue jayIt was really shaded out when the red-bellied woodpecker and blue jay came to roost on the two feeders. It’s the only time I’ve seen them eat at the same time without scaring the other off, so though it’s not the best shot in the world, the fact they were eating together was pretty neat.

blue jay flying off and red bellied woodpecker on feedersI tried to download my files from Carbonite. Only through story B downloaded. ugh. So I’ve got to find out what its problem is. But when I went to disable Win updates while the files were downloading, I realized the the new hard drive had automatic updates, which is probably why Win 10 downloaded. So I’ve changed it to ASK me first, and I will decide.

🙂 Have a super great day!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

Windows 10 Update–Like an Alien Being Taking Over…

May24

Okay, so I wake up to get started on blogs, email catch-ups, Facebook catch ups, and then write. And what do I find?

Windows 10 has installed on my computer WITHOUT my permission! Thankfully, I could decline the terms and then it took forever for them to reinstall my Windows 7. If it works, don’t fix it.

It used to be when you bought something, it was yours. Now with all this internet business, you buy it and the seller can make changes without notifying you! Not cool, big business!

Luckily, I could decline. Maybe sometime in the future, I’ll change. But for now, I’m happy with what works. Leave me alone.

But the fun this morning is when I was walking around with the pups this morning, checking on flowers, I found pink fairy mushrooms! I’ve never seen anything like it before, so had to take some pictures before they’re gone. From what I read, they pop up in tropical and semi-tropical climates. So that’s us! No wonder I’ve never seen them before.

Pink fairy mushrooms 001 (640x430)Pink fairy mushrooms 011 (640x427)Golden FaeThere’s no other explanation other than the fairies planted them. 🙂

Have a great day! I have edits to do on Loving the Silver Wolf.

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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

Ever Have Trouble Reaching Your Goal?

May23

baby mockingbird under fountain (492x640)baby mockingbird under fountatin (431x640)baby mockingbird getting drink of water (408x640)baby mockingbird head fountain (640x547)Sometimes goals are worth attaining no matter how hard we have to try to reach them.

Baby Mockingbird finally made it!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

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