Tag Archive | sparrows

Hurricane Harvey: A Historical Event

We’re fine, high enough that our rainwater is running off and not getting into the homes. 25 inches of rain so far.

We have 4 more days of rain, then the chance drops off to 40% for a couple of days. And then 80% again. I didn’t think I’d ever be glad NOT to have rain. It’s windy today, and the rain is light and that’s finally allowing for some of the water to seep in, but areas are still being evacuated before more flooding can occur with the new rainfall.

This is one of the sheriff’s alerts:

“Riley Fuzzel Rd under SH 99 is closed to through traffic due to Spring Creek over flow. Vehicles can still get onto SH 99 main lanes but not on Riley Fuzzel Rd east or west bound under SH 99. Please avoid that area and monitor local news & emergency service channels for updates.”

Tons of road closures all over. But people are feeling housebound and just have to get out. I took a walk this morning while it was not raining for once, and took pictures of the ponds. They’re elevated, but so deep, except for some trees in standing water, they’re not reaching the roadways.

Schools are closed through Sept 5 now.

Off to write. Our electricity went out for a blip, so I’m hoping that was the only time we’d lose it.

More 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

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears

Did You See Anything?

Chickadee in Flight

Chickadee in Flight

Chickadee on the Pine Tree

Chickadee on the Pine Tree

Rosy Finch and Gold Finch

Rosy Finch and Gold Finch

Squirrel Peeking Around Pine Tree

Squirrel Peeking Around Pine Tree

Beautiful Bluebird

Beautiful Bluebird

Doves and Sparrows

Doves and Sparrows

Life can be chaos, yet for a moment in time, it is beauty and peace and life.

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

Mockingbird

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I have a new lens 70-300 for my Canon, and I haven’t been able to get any shots of anything worth shooting since I got it. But then I heard a mockingbird singing away in its multitude of tunes beneath the window. Hot old Texas had finally gotten cool, so I had my windows open, but still, the screen is in place. In the past, I’ve used an 18-135 lens and gotten blurry pictures of cardinals sitting in the same shrubs because the lens has focused on the tree branches, difficult to see. I really thought the new lens would have the same result because of the shadows in the shrubs and because it would focus on nearer objects. Disappointing because the cardinal had come right up to the window too, curious as to what the one-eyed monster was that was peering back at him and he was not in focus at all.

Did you know the Mockingbird is the Texas state bird?

I got as close to the mockingbird as I was able before he flew off, and of course the branch was in the way, so it focused on it more than the bird, but even so, these are the best bird shots I’ve ever gotten through the window, of a bird in the evergreen variegated privet. The background almost looks like a stained glass windowpane. Touches of bokeh. Really pretty.

I think these are sparrows. These were shot with the 18-135. In the first one, you can see the window screen. It would have been fun to get a picture of them with the 300 lens to see what a difference it would have made.

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Have a great day! Back to edits and writing!

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

A Conversation Between Sparrows & Morning Sunrise with the Sunflowers

birds, what do you think (640x427)See how they have a pleasant conversation before they chow down?

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And then there’s no time to talk.

sunflowers at sunrise (640x427)

Now it’s time to start the day.

I nearly missed this. Every morning, no beautiful sunrise, and this morning it was even more brilliant than this. Ran the puppies inside and ran back out with the camera, but the sunrise was already fading. Still, it was interesting with the sunflowers looking on, don’t you think?

Have a great one!

81% done on Taming the Wild Cougar!!!

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

Bird Watching & Human Watching & More Giveaways!

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Baby sparrows have been sitting on my windowsill and they peer in the kitchen window at me when I grab some more green tea. Normally, the sparrows take flight if they see me.  But I had just put out seed, and a bunch of birds were feeding. The cardinal always captures my interest.

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But then all of a sudden, the birds all flew off. I thought I had spooked them, as often I do. But it wasn’t me this time, because the birds all landed on the shrubs, or at least the younger sparrows, and I took pictures.

This was what spooked them.

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And so I was able to take a lot of pictures of the sparrows sitting atop the hedge right outside my window. Even the cardinal drew closer and was sitting atop a chair. But unfortunately, my focus ended up being on something else, and he’s all blurred. Which was a disappointment because he was so close, and watching me.

cardinal upclose (640x427)

sparrows up close (640x427)

And so that’s my moment of getting a cup of green tea while the world around me is alive and well.
sparrow on hedge (640x588)

Now, for more prizes in honor of our upcoming release in 4 days!!!!

In the paranormal box set, we have lots of fun reads about everything paranormal under the sun. I have vampires in this one. Have you read any of my vampire books? Deadly Liaisons? Forbidden Love? Huntress for Hire? Killing the Bloodlust? The Collection of Vampire Shorts?

Or a young adult? Kiss of the Vampire? The Vampire…In My Dreams?

vampire collection with moon copy (430x640)Forbidden Love 1650 (525x800)

Huntress for Hire

She has her sights set on the worst vampire of them all…

Killing the Bloodlust

What happens when a huntress can’t hunt?

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Huntress for Hire is in the box set.  But I’ll give away an ebook copy of Forbidden Love to a reader who tells me why you love my vamps, or why you just HAVE to read one?

We need 50 reviews, I’m told on the box set. So if everyone that reads it can give us a review on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles, Goodreads, etc, we will be thrilled. Thanks!!!

TallDarkAndParanormal2D_1400px

TallDarkAndParanormal3DBundle_800px

Only 99 cents! Limited time offer!

Preorders Available from Amazon Now:

http://www.amazon.com/Tall-Dark-Paranormal-Thrilling-Tales-ebook/dp/B00N55HGOA

Kobo:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/tall-dark-and-paranormal

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/471539

ITunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/tall-dark-paranormal-10-thrilling/id915571414?mt=11

All Romance Ebooks:

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-talldarkandparanormal10thrillingtalesofsexyalphabadboys-1611082-166.html

Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tall-dark-and-paranormal-opal-carew/1120323237

And a lovely review for Her Highland Hero!

Description:

Lady Isobel is a Norman laird’s daughter, living near the Scots border where her father, Lord Pembroke, is trying to keep the peace. But her mother was a Highlander and the man Isobel loves most of all is Laird Marcus McEwan, who has been bringing news of her mother’s people for years. But now Isobel’s father wishes her wed to an English nobleman, who will carry on his title. Isobel will wed no other man but her heart’s desire—and that is one braw Highlander from her mother’s homeland.
Laird Marcus McEwan has loved the feisty lass forever. For years, Marcus has tried to convince Lord Pembroke to allow him to wed his daughter. But the Norman lord will not allow it. Then ambushes and murders make it too dangerous for Marcus to reach a peaceful resolution.
Nothing goes as planned and keeping the lass for his own is fraught with danger, as they try to determine who was behind the killings. Isobel and Marcus will do everything in their power to ensure they are together as they have always vowed they would be.

My Thoughts:
Marcus and Isobel want to be together, but there are many forces keeping them apart. Isobel’s father wants to marry someone else, Marcus is nearly murdered, and there are dangerous secrets. I enjoyed this story, especially the relationship between Marcus and Isobel. Marcus will do anything to keep his Isobel safe. I recommend this for anyone who likes their romance with a good dose of Highlander.

My Rating: ****
Steam Factor: !!!!

Where to get it:

Amazon • Nook • Kobo • Add to Goodreads

Where to find the author:
Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

 

 

I absolutely can’t believe it’s already Friday! How in the world did that happen? Still working on 10 bears. It went up one. and Call of the Cougar. But today, I’m re-reading A Silver Wolf Christmas to see if it’s ready. 🙂

And errands. Hate errands. They take so much of the day. And we had RAIN! And lots of it. We really desperately needed it. More today and the next few days. Yes!

Happy TGIF!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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

New is NOT Always Better!

Have you ever thought that? You get used to doing something a certain way, perfectly content with the way that you were doing it and without your permission, someone changes it??? (Oh and by the way, you had to learn this way in the first place and that took some time to figure out?)

Sometimes, the powers to be are good about it–they ASK you if you want to update. Sometimes they don’t. And they just DO it. Sometimes you think, sure, it’s new and improved right? And you soon learn it’s a nightmare to handle.

That happened on my email program. Change to this cool background. Okay, click of a button. But after that, there was no going back. My emails nested. I couldn’t write in response to emails sent to me right on the email, which really helps when I’m commenting point by point without copying and pasting their whole message to my email. Finally, there was a way to UNnest the emails so I didn’t have this problem. But there were complaints all over the boards about it. The problem is if you’re in groups where you talk about stuff, you’re supposed to trim messages. With this new and IMPROVED email version, we couldn’t do it.

Anyway, WordPress changed something for the better, and I don’t know if I agreed to it and forgot, or they just changed it, but I didn’t like it and they gave me the option to go back to the old way of doing things.

Sometimes the old way is the best way. Sometimes I can’t wrap my brain around a new way, since I’m always learning new ways to do a million different things, and I just don’t need one more new way to do something that is working well for me.

Do you ever feel that way?

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Here are some pictures of my hot Labor Day. Isn’t this beautiful?

I’m surrounded by cornfields that look like these on three sides. The one in front of me has been cut, but guess what my neighbors were doing for Labor Day. Shooting off fireworks.

Shaking head.

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Why did the dragonfly have to be sitting on top of a cornstalk that was right in front of a telephone pole? I couldn’t move to take the picture because he flew off as soon as I did. But I still thought it was a cool picture, him pausing on the tip of a cornstalk. Next time maybe my model will stay put so I can move around and get a better background. Or, I can show it as just a slice of life–telephone pole and all.

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Do you see the scissor-tail flycatcher on the lower right? The sparrows are on the upper left. I’m not usually able to capture one in a picture.

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Here is a cardinal in the piracantha. I was watering the new shrubs and that always makes the birds jittery, particularly since my neighbor was also shooting off firecrackers.

But what I had seen that was so cool were four sparrows clinging to the cornstalks. I wanted a picture of them. But when I ran back to get my camera and returned, they were gone. It was the first time I had seen them actually doing that. The rest of the time, I’d just see them fly off.

So instead, while I was watering, with camera in hand, I got pictures of the dragonfly, the beauty of the sky and the cornfields, the scissor-tail and the cardinal.

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Oh, and a dove in the piracantha. It’s a wickedly thorny shrub, but the birds love it. Nice and protective

Well, I’m back to word count, caught up on student lessons, and I’m still keeping up on word count, behind on bears. 🙂 <3 But I did cut out two more last night. 🙂  I have 6 bears ready, just need to embroider their paws. 🙂  But that takes time too.  And somehow, I’m always running out of it.

Do you ever find that too?

Okay, back to writing!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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

 

Multi-Tasking

Are you the type of person who has to finish a project from beginning to end? A linear type of person?

When I was playing RPGs, role-playing games, I hated the ones that were super linear. My mind doesn’t work that way. If I get stuck, I’d want to be able to either figure out a different way to solve a puzzle, or be able to solve another and then go back to that one.

That’s how I am with everything. I have a ton of things I’m working on at any given time. I love it when I accomplish something, but I always have several more things take its place.

cardinal eating soggy seeds 014

So the day before yesterday, I worked on The Viking’s Highland Lass and added another 4,000 to it. And yesterday, I made edit changes to Cougar’s Mate, and I just went to town on it. So I ended up writing 6,000 words on it.  This is the story that I threw out 20,000 words of the 30,000 word beginning of the story. 🙂 I saved the “cut outs” because I will be using some of it. But I needed to start over and write it differently. Now it’s working. I do that every once in a while. Write 1/3 to a 1/2 of a book, and then decide I need to go in a different direction. It’s not action packed enough, not enough of a mystery, whatever. 🙂

Sometimes when something isn’t working, and I mean with anything, I take a break and work on something else. Like I took pictures of all the birds in the bird feeders. Yes, I know that one isn’t a bird feeder, but the birds don’t know that, so we’re good.

I would have written more on Cougar’s Mate, but I needed to take a break, so I worked on two bears for a bear order.

Now it’s time to read the last of the Rita books I’m judging.

So do you ever do something different so that you can come back to it and then all of a sudden it all falls into place?

Is it really Tuesday already?

I need more hours in a day.

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com

 

Going to the Birds!!

I finished a first “official” edit of Jaguar Pride, but will make several passes through before I send it to my beta readers. I have a scene I need to add, and a couple of loose ends I need to cover. But I needed to take a break from it and start fresh with it tomorrow.

Which means? I started on the 13 guest blogs and interviews for the Silence of the Wolf blog tour in March. Before long, it will be time to turn them in. (5 down, 8 to go) I also read 4 of the 8 Rita books I needed to judge and they are due in March. So it all takes time.

But… I had to take a break, so see what I did on my break?

I took pictures! I read about another author who had bird feeders out and so she got a new camera and took some fun pictures of the birds and squirrels, and I thought how cool! And another friend tells me how she’s always refilling her bird feeders in snow-buried Minnesota, so I thought I would get some bird feeders too. Only nothing’s feeding at them.  I realize from this I’m rather impatient. LOL

Still, the winds were so high, they scattered finch seed from the feeder on the patio, and I had white crowned sparrows feeding. And my male cardinal came down also.

white crowned sparrow2

The female cardinal usually hides, but this evening, she was out with the male, and they were dying to come down and eat some of the sunflower and other seeds I put out for them today. Here is the cardinal in a pear tree. 🙂

cardinal pear tree

And here is the female. He joined her when I came out to take a picture of them, but I missed capturing them together.

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So do you have feeders out and if so, what kinds of birds are you getting?

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com