I have a little black frizzle (her feathers curl upward) who's been with me several years. Blackie is sprightly and actually a little mean to the other hens, but she's healthy. But last week I let the chickens out and noticed that the rooster, who's always the first one out of the coop, had flattened her on the ground. I just assumed he was being a little over-eager, but once he moved away, … [Read more...]

I recently read an article about medieval dog names found in a book called "The Names of All Manner of Hounds." Someone was thinking about commercial appeal even in the 15th century. How do you decide on a name for your dog? Once my family ran through a series of US general names: We had Patton and MacArthur and Ike, but I couldn't bring myself to name a dog Schwatzkoff (sp?), so we then went … [Read more...]

Some don't. I do. I read all of them--good, bad, and ugly. Am I a masochist? No, but I love to learn, and reading reviews helps me do that. I get to know my readers better. When a reviewer likes my book, I smile with a great deal of pleasure because it means my hard work "paid off" in terms of reaching a reader's heart and mind. When a reviewer hates my book, I tell myself, clearly, this … [Read more...]