Take Time to Enjoy the Turkeys!

Oftentimes life gets hectic, and the past couple of weeks were busier than usual. One daughter had the stomach flu for several days and another daughter had a cold, and we were ready for Spring Break, when morning and bedtime routines wouldn't be so rushed. It was the last day of school before break, and my daughter with the cold woke up with a leg ache too. Though she's prone to achy legs, she's never had a leg ache first thing in the morning, so this news was unexpected and unwelcome. I plugged in the heating pad, gave her some medicine, and hoped that she'd soon feel better.

Finally, her ache started to decrease, and I helped her finish getting ready for school but got myself behind in the process. I hurriedly dropped the girls off at school and ran home to eat a quick breakfast before dashing out the door myself, for a program at my older daughter's school. However, our dog decided that she didn't want to stay in our house, where we were having some work done, and the air hammer was disturbing her.  Patches bolted out the back door without a leash, hopped into my car, and would not budge. I carried her to the backdoor and tried to ignore the resulting dog hair and smell clinging to me.

Despite all that, the presentation for my daughter's class went well, though I arrived a few minutes late. I was finally on my way to work and driving along a county road known for its hills and wildlife. I usually look for deer on this road, but on that crazy day, a large, wild turkey scooted across the road in front of my car. Luckily, the awkward looking turkey was amazingly fast on its feet and made it to safety across without any problems.  I started to laugh at the morning's events and relaxed a little. Seeing the wild turkey was a rare treat, despite the surprise of it flitting in front of my moving car.

During this already busy week, another major thing happened; Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve was released!  Even though this is the fourth book in the Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk Series, it's still very exciting to have a new book published. This book contains beautiful and realistic illustrations, colorful photographs, and cute animal characters.  Rachel, Sammy, and their classmates will teach children about native plants, trees, recycling, wildlife habitats, energy, soil, and water conservation, and much more! Hopefully after reading this book, readers will appreciate the everyday wonders of nature, such as a glimpse of a turkey trotting across the road, while traveling on one of life's journeys.

Lucky Rainbows

Ideas for the fourth book in the Rachel Raccoon and Sammy Skunk series spent months spinning around in my head. One day on my drive to work, I looked out the window at one of the many farms on my back road commute. I've done field work on this farm several times for work and enjoy the view of the farm's creek, well preserved red barn, rolling crop ground and pasture, and mixture of oak and hickory trees. As I glanced at the field, all the ideas in my head came together into a solid outline, along with the title of the book, "Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve". From past experience, I know that if I wait for the right idea to hit me, the piece is easier to write, the first draft, anyway. Still, I was amazed at how everything fell into place at once!

Soon after the ideas came together, I began writing the rough draft. Writing went smoothly, and I was getting close to having the text refined into coherent sentences that explained conservation methods. I worked to fine tune the rough draft into the final version and recently submitted it for editing. I started taking pictures for this book almost a year ago. On another recent drive to work, I went by the same field, and I noticed that a new conservation practice had been installed; several water and sediment control basins were constructed to help reduce gully erosion on the crop field. The dams are well constructed, and I thought that including a picture of them in the soil conservation section of "Rachel and Sammy Learn to Conserve" would be perfect. After a long, hot, and dry summer, the rains have finally started to fall, and the weather has prevented me from getting the final pictures I need. More importantly, this much needed rain is starting to cause soil erosion on areas containing bare soil, and the basins were already working to hold soil in place.

Driving to work last week, I was near the same farm, when I looked to the west and saw dark clouds looming. I also noticed a double rainbow and pulled over to take pictures. As you can tell, this farm draws my attention and inspires me with many ideas, but this time, the rainbow I saw near the farm was a symbol of optimism. My life has been very busy and stressful the past few weeks, as I try to balance my day job, book work, home and family life, and working with my partners to form and grow the Rising Phoenix Press. Seeing the beautiful rainbow against the dark, stormy clouds made me realise that with continued hard work, all will be well and that good luck will prevail!