Tag Archive | birds

Not April Fool’s!

Apr1
Rilo and Luna Loving Each Other

I was so upset this morning. I went to upload some beautiful artwork I did of 4 parrots together and my whole folder that I had all my artwork in is gone. I have no idea how that happened. I looked in the trash folder, just to make sure I hadn’t thrown it out by accident when I was getting rid of some other files yesterday, but I hadn’t.

I managed to get my 2,000 words in yesterday! Yay! That was because I had a 500 extra word count from the day before that I hadn’t counted toward that day–I usually wait to count it when I have a 1,000 words, and added a scene from another book that I had cut that amounted to another 500 words, so I wrote 1,000 yesterday.

We also put the two chairs together, did laundry and lots of fun workbooks.

So when  I went to have little one put the washers on the machine screws for the chairs, she asked where the acorns were. To her, nuts are acorns. We have acorns in the yard. All the shows show squirrels going after acorns. Walnuts, peanuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, I have them all, but the only thing she equates nuts to are acorns.

I paused. “Acorns? Nuts!” lol “No nuts on these. So then we proceeded to put the two chairs together.

On the laundry, I have her push the buttons on the wash machine and dryer, trying to teach her to read the words: Power, Start. She has Start down. And when I’m reading books to her, I keep trying to teach her to read words that she’s seen repeatedly. It will come naturally. She recognizes Zoo, since it’s in a book about a Dr. Seuss book about a dog wanting to be in the zoo and she reads all the signs for me. She knows what Stop says because she reads all the stop signs, so if she sees it in a book, she recognizes it. But most of the time, she really doesn’t want to read. I did get her to read all the dogs in Go, Dogs, Go, and some of the more repetitive words, the colors, big, little, in, out, up, down, and articles.

She will sit and “read” out loud to herself, just making up what she things the words are. I tell her we have to know how to read so we can do all kinds of things. And it’s coming, slowly.

She’ll be here in a few seconds. Just trying to get a little bit of edits done before she does.

Hope you have a great day! It turned cold for us! But I think it will warm up later.

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
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Great White Heron

Mar21

Great White Heron standing by the fountain at the Houston Zoo.

My son-in-law told me when I began taking pictures of the great white heron that he wasn’t part of the zoo. lol But he was by the fountain and it was a fun shot.

My daughter told me that I was supposed to take pictures of my granddaughter at the zoo. What??? And not the animals? I did take pictures of her, but I have to admit I was having lots of fun shooting the animals.

And some of them even turned out great!

Well, yesterday, I wrote another 3,000 words on the story. I’m having trouble with conflict in the story. That means I’m having my own internal conflict. It happens often. So whenever that happens, I pull up all the resources on conflict to try and center myself on the idea.

I love it when it comes to me, when I can come up with a plot and motivation and conflict and fly right through it. When I get back to writing on the Christmas wolf anthology story, I have it! But I want to get more of this book finished first. I’m at 30,000 words and have 50K left to reach minimum word count.

I managed to plant two of the ligustrum yesterday. I’ve been cutting back the milkweed, pulling weeds. The milkweed had been leafing out and died back with the ice age, so they’re coming back at the roots now. Seven more plants to plant. I hope to get some done today, and the rest done tomorrow.

It’s chilly this morning again. I should appreciate it since when it warms up in a few weeks it will stay hot forever, and then I’ll be wishing it was cooler. But it’s too cold for me right now. lol


Have a great day! Need to get mine started!

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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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/terry-spear

Robin Art

Mar9

A fat little robin sitting on the fence.

I worked all day on Billionaire. Woohoo! Okay, so I should have been working on proofing White Wolf Moon, but I did the rest of the edits and then I was working on Billionaire, having a ball with it. I love it when that happens. So I’m up to 7,000 words on it. Only 73,000 words to go. And I proofed ch on White Wolf Moon.

At least I’m getting somewhere with it, so I wasn’t goofing off or anything.  And I was playing with a couple of pictures too.

So it was a great day! Today, I hope to get somewhere on proofing white wolf. lol

Even if the billionaire book is calling to me. Working on edits first on it!

Have a great day! It’s time to begin to work on proofing after I do the edits!

Stay safe!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/terry-spear

Finch and Sparrow in the Snow

Mar3
Finch

When we had our snowstorm, I managed some pictures of the birds, that are totally not used to snow and ice! Poor little things. Luckily, the fountain I have works perfectly, motor and all, after I forgot to turn it off and it turned into a frozen waterfall. We just don’t have a week of hard freeze normally like that and I just didn’t think of it. A squirrel kept trying to get water from it, confused as to what the ice was.

Sparrow

I read where we could have more severe hurricanes and Africa could get dryer. I’m not surprised.

If I were a scientist who could perform a miracle, I would turn the deserts into lush green forests. I’ve always wanted to. I wish I had the power to do it. Not for fame or glory, but just so more of the earth could be inhabitable and everyone could have enough fresh water and clean air to breathe.

I looked at the news, I shouldn’t have. One of the news stories I saw was about a tractor trailer that hit an SUV killing 13 of the 25 people traveling in it. Now, I’m sorry for that. It’s a horrible tragedy for everyone involved, the loss of loved ones, the people who made this happen. But how in the world do you get 25 people squished into an SUV? Forget that only about 8 people could have been seat-belted in. That’s more than three times what they can safely carry.

Anyway, the news is all horrible. We have both of the new fast spreading virus strains in Houston. We have a large international airport here. It’s a mess.

But on good news with the writing arena–the only thing I have real control over–I finished proofing Primal Desire and made the changes and uploaded the print version, so it should be coming out in a few days. And next I’ll be working on Saving the White Cougar print proof! And then it’s time to get back to writing new stories.

I was working on 1 of 17 audiobooks I need to send over to Voices, and I was writing on Warrior Elf also yesterday. I love it when I finally have some ideas for a story I’m working on. I’ll reread a story from the beginning several times, wondering where to go with it next. And then suddenly, the light bulb turns on. Now if only it would do that for Billionaire! I mean, that I could just come up with an idea to even start it!

And a little excerpt from Saving the White Cougar.

“She’d already moved behind rocks to jump down the cliffs on the backside, but her darned tail was whipping about in a response to the mixture of frustration and anger she was feeling.

She wanted to bite the men, but not turn them, and that probably wouldn’t fare well. They would be turned and then be rogue cougars, and she would have to terminate them. Which she didn’t want to do. Then there would be a hunt for the killer cougar, and any puma would be on the hunters’ hit list.

The men had already made it over or through the barbed wire fence and were running around to the other side of the cliffs before she reached the bottom. One of the men fired a shot at her, the bullet hitting the cliff and splintering the rocks. Her heart skittered as she dodged through the rocks to the base, trying to find cover.” –Saving the White Cougar, Terry Spear

Okay, I’m off to get something else done, maybe get Taming the Wild Cougar’s audiobook done before my granddaughter gets here. We have a busy day ahead of us!

Have a great day!

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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2021 Was Supposed to Get Better!

Feb19

I’m a long ways from finishing White Wolf but I’m getting closer. 🙂 It’s been a job with changing out the whole new beginning, and I’ve deleted some scenes, added a ton more and I definitely like the story better. Minimum word count is 80K, I’m  now at 96K, and I’m sure I’ll be deleting more, just not sure what to take out and what to keep. I still need to write more.

I don’t often include the bad guy’s POV in the book, but in this case I did because I did in the original story he was in. And because it adds more conflict.

Dove and Snow and Ice

We still have freezing temperatures, still have some snow on the ground. Electricity has stayed on. Thank God! Because of the screw up by so many concerning the electric grid failures across much of Texas, the word is getting out that for 2 days–or more, electric customers will be charged $400 per day. Like everybody can afford that, right?

So we can thank those who, as usual, are making the big bucks and failing do to what they should have done to prevent this from occurring in the first place. Heads should roll, comes to mind. And when we have a crisis this bad–people are still without electric, some counties are on boil water orders–with no electric, how is that possible?–more pipes will burst without electric–some people are without water, plumbers are stretched to the max, and we haven’t even thawed out to see how bad it will be, we should all just head to Cancun, right?

Meanwhile:

The New York Times states: “The number of confirmed Covid deaths in the U.S. is on pace to exceed 500,000 in the next few days.

Yet the alarmism continues. And now we are seeing its real-world costs: Many people don’t want to get the vaccine partly because it sounds so ineffectual.

About one-third of members of the U.S. military have declined vaccine shots. When shots first became available to Ohio nursing-home workers, about 60 percent said no. Some N.B.A. stars are wary of appearing in public-services ads encouraging vaccination.

Nationwide, nearly half of Americans would refuse a shot if offered one immediately, polls suggest. Vaccination skepticism is even higher among Black and Hispanic people, white people without a college degree, registered Republicans and lower-income households.” The New York Times

hands with latex gloves holding a globe with a face mask
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Why? It’s safe, it’s effective. It reduces the downtime of being sick if you get Covid. We need to dumb down the rhetoric. With all the high-fluting medical jargon, people aren’t getting the right message. And more people are going to die from it. I don’t understand it, but hey, what do I know?

Put it this way–if everyone gets the vaccine, maybe we can open businesses up again??? Maybe no masks after the 2nd dose and the time waited for it to be effective, right? Anyway, I can’t worry about people not taking care of themselves. I just have to worry about doing what’s right for my characters in my books. Would they take the vaccine? You’d better believe it.

I saw a post that said:

2020: The Year in Hell

2021: The Year Hell Froze Over

Okay, I’m back to the book, living in the wonderful world of fantasy where we have a happily ever after!

Have a super great day and stay safe!!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Blue Jay Art

Jan5

I love the blue jays. They can be noisy, but they’re beautiful to look at.

Don’t you hate it when you can’t sleep? I’ve read if you can’t, you should get up and do something else, then try again later.

Well, I’m up and slowly trying to get started. Blog, get some hot tea, and begin taking dogs out, in, feeding them, out, in, and off to write.

I managed 2500 words on White Wolf, and another 4000 on Primal Desire yesterday. I think I need to write 2 more scenes and expand on another on Primal Desire. I’m about halfway through editing it.

I finished editing A Date with a Wolf yesterday, so now I’ll have to just read it straight through this weekend. And maybe I’ll have Primal Desire done by then too.

We’ll have another warm afternoon today, then temperatures dropping again. I have flowers blooming, crepe myrtles leafing out, my garden is confused.

Have a great day and stay safe!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Chickadee Art

Dec27

I hardly see the chickadees sit for any length of time to get a good shot. This one was waiting on a dove to vacate the feeder. They are so tiny and move so fast.

Hope you all are staying safe! Looking forward to a better new year in the future, but it will take some time to get there. And if tons of people refuse to get the vaccine, then we’re going to have a rougher time of it ahead. But maybe those of us who do want it will get it sooner than we’re hoping for. I always try to look at the bright side of things.

Off to battle more monsters with words. I’ve already written 1300, ended up with 6600 words yesterday, and that’s after having fun with the kids too. I’m about halfway done on Dangerous Liaisons!

Off to work I go!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Mourning Dove

Aug19

It’s cooler this morning! Yay! So no little one here so I was out working on pulling up more of that nutsedge weed grass. What a job. Sun was coming out, and the fire ants were getting bad so it’s time to get back to writing. I have about 6 cardinals out in the yard right now. Many are young.

I wrote 4,000 words yesterday, 1,000 words away from word count. Yay!

Okay, I’m going to get to work!

Have a great day!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Birds and Butterflies

Jul23

Giant yellow swallowtail. Pelicans? I included the before of the bird picture also to show what a difference it made. The swallowtail is recent, the pelicans were at a zoo in Omaha and no, I haven’t been going to zoos of late. These are all old pictures I’ve never shared. It’s fun taking a ho-hum picture and making something new and interesting out of it.

We were supposed to have 80% rain yesterday, we had none. So today, no rain. Tomorrow, rain. A system in the Gulf might bring us rain. We’ll see. I didn’t get to capture them, but we had some beautiful thunderheads.

I couldn’t write yesterday because of little one. I went over and had dinner with them, so I only managed 349 words on the book. Today, I will have to do better!

I have a hummingbird visiting the hyacinth bean flowers. Who would ever have thought! I haven’t been able to capture it either. I was about a foot away from it the other day, camera in the house. lol

Have a super, great day!!! And stay safe!

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Birds Posing Turned into Art

Jul2

It’s fun adding painted textures to a zoo picture that would otherwise be distracting when you want to emphasize the subject. These textures were from Daily Texture.

Do you have to teach a dog to chew, rather than swallow? Birds swallow. Maybe Tanner thinks he’s a bird. I gave them their flea medicine this morning, but this time was really watching them. I usually put them in their crates to do it because Max is slower at eating his food/medicine. Well, he chews his food, that’s why! Tanner just swallowed his.

I didn’t get anything done hardly yesterday, writing wise, edited, but only added about 70 words because I was busy with little one, then went to my daughter and SIL’s to have fajitas, and then the three of us girls dancercized to a program. That’s always fun!

I walked this morning, hot, muggy. I should go out and weed, but I really want to get somewhere with the novella. I wanted to start Wolff Bros 2, so I’ll probably start on Monday. Tomorrow, doing stuff with the family, and on Saturday also.

Hope you are staying safe in a world gone mad.

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP