Halloween Memories & Decor

Happy October! I was over at the Heartwarming Authors blog yesterday with Catherine Lanigan blogging about spooky Halloween memories and sharing some pics of our Halloween decor this year. Mine includes a real black cat :). The comments on the post were really fun and interesting too. Pop on over and check out the comments and photos HERE!

We also announced our upcoming Facebook party that's going to be loaded with chances to win fabulous prizes. You can get details on which authors will be there and sign up to come HERE.

Hope to see you both places!

Rula :)

A Peek at My Fall Decor and Crocheted Scarf & Hat

Happy Harvest & Halloween!

I know Thanksgiving and Halloween haven't arrived yet, but I love the autumn season so much that fall decorating around my house begins as early as the fall equinox. I simply can't resist. It's also an ongoing process. It all begins with my stored decorations, but I always add to my collection when I see all the fall decor in stores. I do, however, typically wait until things go on sale (which is pretty early since Christmas hits shelves by early October...which seems crazy)...plus I always grab an online coupon to make my finds extra fabulous ;).

First off, I love to crochet when the cool weather hits. I'm not perfect at it and I'm not a pro, but I find it fun and relaxing. I've been wanting a super soft, fall colored, casual scarf and hat and, when I was in Joann's Fabrics recently, I found the perfect yarn. In fact, it's even called 'Harvest'! It's by Lion Brand Yarns (#377 for those who like to crochet or knit). I also added a rim to the hat using Lion Brand 'Herb Garden' (#410). I'm sorry that I don't have a specific pattern to use because I kind of wing it when I crochet. I can tell you that I mainly used a shell pattern with some single and double stitches in between...and a 6mm hook. I wanted it to have a loose pattern. Here's what I came up with (that's my totally Halloweenish black cat Nimbus inspecting my work in the first pic and his brother Storm peeking down from the upper corner in the second):

Rula's crochet handiwork

Another shot of Rula's crocheted hat and scarf

I also love owls and manage to include them in my decor year round. I have some that I only pull out for fall and others that transition through all seasons. I won't show pics of  all of them, but here are a few I incorporated into my fall decor:

Owl over Rula's fireplace. This one can hold a votive candle.

A recent owl 'bargain' I found, plus fall leaves from my backyard

By the way, I tend to include fall leaves around my home and they were all found on my property then dried/pressed by me. Free decor!

This very heavy owl is always in my kitchen. The mini pumpkins on top of votive candle holders are a substitute for real flames. No fire hazard here!

I seriously love pumpkins too! Talk about multipurpose decorating and getting your money's worth. They go from fall decor to jack-o-lanterns to roasted seeds and pie...and even chicken food! I especially like the white ghost pumpkins. So cool!

Pumpkins at Rula's front door

Pumpkins stacked on a planter at Rula's front door. Quick and easy decor.

Ooooh and then there's Halloween. 

Rula's butternut squash witch

A recent find on sale!

And a bit of spook. My teen son made the vials by filling them with water and food coloring and adding labels like 'Dragon's Blood', 'Basilisk Venom' and 'Mermaid Essence'. Can't have Halloween without some Harry Potter references!

I'm not done decorating and these are just a few of the things I've set out, but the season is young! :) Feel free to pop by this Pinterest board where some of the other Harlequin Heartwarming authors are posting fall/Thanksgiving ideas too!

What's your favorite fall decorating item or theme?

RWA 2016 National Pics Part 2

Wow! August is almost over and only now am I getting the second set of RWA pics I promised posted! I've been a little MIA online because of so much happening this month, but I'll save all that for my next post. In the meantime, here are a few more pics from RWA Nationals this past July. This time I'm focusing on some of the goodies we get at Nationals :).

First, everyone has to wear a lanyard/badge at the meeting and it's tradition (for those who wish) to put meeting pins (we get them annually) and any award pins on our badge. Here's mine from this year:

In my last post, I shared photos from the famous Harlequin Party. Remember the close up of me with my awesome girlfriends Jeannie Watt and Jamie Dallas? Well, let's zoom out so you can see the wonderful booties Harlequin provides at the party for more comfortable dancing. Every year they're a different color and this year they were...

I collect my soft Harlequin booties and use them every winter to keep my feet warm while typing away at a book. I love them!

In fact, green seemed to be the theme this year, which coincidentally happens to be the color for Harlequin Heartwarming. This year, instead of giving us pre-stuffed goodie bags, RWA set up a room where meeting attendees could walk through and stuff their own bags (separate from the 'Goody Room' where authors put promo/giveaway items). The totes this year were sponsored by Harlequin.

and the flip side...

The Harlequin Heartwarming authors were also giving away totes at RWA and they kept with the green theme...even if the shade was a bit different.

Here are a few of the items that were in the RWA tote room, including a selfie stick, fruit juice/water bottle (it has an inner core you can put chunks of fruit in to flavor water) and a pool/beach towel. There was so much more, including tons of books.

Oh and you have to love Harlequin for the book marks they provided at the Harlequin Book Signing (I think I may be missing one but I can't recall what it was!)...

Here are a few pics of San Diego views:

USS Midway

I wish I had pics of everything I got, but suffice it to say my suitcases were full on the trip home. And even with all the goodies we got, the best gifts I brought home with me were the memories of time spent with friends and tons of inspiration.

I'll leave you with a wall plate I won at a Harlequin gathering at RWA Nationals a few years ago. It has been hanging in my office ever since.

And a door knob sign courtesy of brilliant author Kristan Higgins at this year's RWA. It's hanging on my office door and my kids are getting a kick out of it. I hope it works!

I'll be posting again soon because I have news! :)

Mama Hen & Baby Chicks

Our latest baby!

Happy Summer! I was up early this morning and saw the full moon just above the horizon at daybreak. Apparently, the 2016 summer solstice is extra special because the northern hemisphere hasn't had a full moon on a summer solstice since 1967! It's also the 4th full moon since the spring equinox, which isn't that common either. You can read more on it in this cool article at earthsky.org: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/june-solstice-full-moon-in-2016.

What it all boils down to is...my kids are finally out of school for the summer! Their last day was the 14th and my eldest graduated from high school the next day. A lot has been going on this past week, as you might imagine, and it all began on Sunday the 12th, when I went to the coop and discovered this little one peeking out from under his mama!

Exactly 21 days prior, I found Watermelon, my largest Black Australorp sitting on a couple of eggs. She was acting broody (aka hormonal and protective of the eggs)...so I put a couple more under her. The total was only 4, since we've never been through a natural hatch and I wasn't sure if she'd abandon the nest or not. A week later, I found one egg broken. I believe another hen had hopped into the nest while Watermelon was taking a water break. It's shell might have been weak too.

Anyway, we were down to three eggs. She didn't actually lay the eggs...although one may have been hers. One was a green egg from my Easter Egger named Moon and one was a dark brown egg from one of my French Black Copper Marans named Venus. The third was either from Watermelon or one of my Barred Rocks.

On the 12th, the little one above hatched, followed by egg #3. Unfortunately, that baby didn't make it. But by the next morning, the green egg hatched...

2nd baby

Now, my roosters are French Black Copper Marans, which means that this chick...assuming she's a she...is an 'olive egger'. I'm really hoping 'she' ends up laying olive green colored eggs! Her mother's eggs are a light to medium shade of 'easter egger' green and dad comes from a breed that lays very dark brown eggs, so we'll see...

First baby at day 1

Second baby on the left

Hiding under mama's wing

Watermelon is proving to be an amazing mother. She's protective, tolerant, immediately taught them to drink from a glass bottle waterer (the kind in rabbit/hamster cages)...which she remembered from her chick days. And when I took her out for a second, so that I could clean a spot, she freaked and wanted to get back in the cage with her babies. I set up a rabbit cage in the coop so that they'd be safe from trampling/pecking, yet they'd still be with the flock. Kind of a brooder/nursery.

The baby's are doing great and growing quickly. The cutest thing is that they like sitting on top of their mother, piggy-back style.

Cool view from up here! (chick #2)

Chick #1

1 week old. See those feathers coming in?

And for those of you who read my red fox post, we haven't seen the fox in a week or so. Granted, we're 'supervising' the flock's free ranging. We started by letting them loose a couple of hours in the afternoon, while three of us (two sons and myself) stayed outside on the lookout. This, obviously, isn't an arrangement we can maintain. About a week ago, I shaved my dogs and we put their hair around the fence line where the fox was coming from. I wouldn't rely on that alone, but I had spare dog hair so why not? Now, when the chickens are loose, one of us goes out and walks around or grabs eggs every ten minutes or so, just to let the fox know we're there. In the meantime, we're building a stationary, fox and predator-proof pen/aviary for times when we aren't outside to deter the fox.

That's my chicken update! I'm so looking forward to another broody hen. Seeing these babies hatch and interact with their mother has been so heartwarming.

Happy summer to all! I'll leave you with one last pic. It's fuzzy because my phone camera can't handle low lighting. This was the full moon at daybreak today from my back porch. The photo didn't capture how bright at big it was in person.

I should stick with baby chick pics ;).

A gardening post

Luna Moth in Rula's garden

Hi everyone! I'm over at the Harlequin Heartwarming blog today, blogging about weed-free, dream gardens with author buddy Catherine Lanigan. Do you have faeries in yours? What about a spider web as tall as you are? No kidding. Come see the photo I took of it and many other pics!

A Midsummer Night's Garden...or Not

See you there! :)

P.S. - The Luna moth in this pic is a new visitor :). The one in the photo in the upper right of my blog was from a few years ago. I just love them!

Also...I finally have a newsletter sign up! Check out the left column here or the newsletter page sign up on my website. I won't spam inboxes. I'll only be sending out release news a few times a year, with added tidbits or news from the home front :).

My backyard chickens, coop building and hawk attacks

While helping my rooster scare off a hungry hawk this morning, it occurred to me that I never posted updated photos of my backyard flock. That handful of chicks I posted pics of back in March quickly grew to a flock of 18 chickens (they call the addiction 'chicken math'). One of them ended up being a rooster, which is fine since we live in the countryside. He has saved quite a few hens from hawk attacks, but we did lose one not long ago...and another to egg-binding complications. So our current number is 16, including the roo, Excalibur.

Excalibur, an Easter Egger

Taken when he was younger.

We have Easter Eggers, Speckled Sussex, Plymouth Barred Rock, Cuckoo Maran, Buff Orpington and Black Australorps. I'd  have to say that my favorites are the EE and Barred Rocks. This spring, I'd love to add some Rhode Island Reds to our family.

If you recall, we decided to build a coop from scratch. Yes, I thought it would save money. No, it didn't. Well, it did if you compare what we made to buying an equivalent, but it wasn't the cheapest project. I just got all HGTV with it LOL. So here are a few pics summarizing the process. It's 8 x 8 with a sealed floor covered in sand that I scoop like kitty litter. We put in sand/sweet pdz filled poop boards under the roost and every window, eave, vent etc...is covered in 1/4 in hardware cloth to keep out predators. Lots of door locks too!

Note: I now have shredded pine in the nest boxes. They thought the shredded paper was delicious. 

Cynder our Barred Rock

Zuni my sweet Easter Egger who lays blue eggs

The hen up front is Rain, an Easter Egger. She lays pinkish brown eggs. My other EE, Moon (not pictured), lays green eggs.

The nutrient difference free ranging makes. Store bought on the left. Ours on the right. See the color?

So now my biggest problem is hawks. I love all animals and know the hawks needs to eat too, but I'd rather they not eat my chickens. We have evergreen trees the chickens hide under...and plenty of other places to take cover, but the hawks have figured out that our evergreen trees have a fence near them. A perfect place to perch and wait.

That hawk I mentioned was hanging out this morning? He came back while I was in the middle of writing this post and went after one of my Buff Orpingtons named Pippa (after the little girl Pippa in The Promise of Rain). I heard our rooster alarm and ran out in time to chase the hawk away, but he did manage to peck at her comb. I now have her in our basement in a large dog crate I converted into an emergency chicken hospital a few months back. I cleaned up the blood and am hopeful that she'll be okay. She's pretty shaken though and I locked up the rest of the flock in their coop for the rest of the day.

They really love free ranging but I need to put more places for shelter up. This is their first winter with us and many of the shrubs/small trees, such as our fig, that they were successfully using as hiding places, have lost their leaves. We have large expanses of grass where I'd like to add large, ornamental grasses or shrubs where they can hide (berries to eat would be a plus). If only I could train my dogs to guard the flock and not eat them. They're still getting used to our new kitten, Grimalkin.

Predator scares or not, I absolutely love having chickens. I've done so much research on keeping free range, backyard chickens as safe as can be, but I'm off to do more. Finding that balance between giving them a beautiful life and keeping them safe isn't easy. Parenting is parenting...tough no matter what species you're caring for! Tips anyone?

I'm heading downstairs to check on Pippa. I hope you enjoyed the coop building pics!

Note: Many thanks to www.backyardchickens.com and all the backyard chicken keepers that hang out there, www.the-chicken-chick.com, www.fresh-eggs-daily.com and so many other chicken keeping sites. I'm a lurker, but without all the info and ideas shared online, plus great books and magazines, I wouldn't know half of what I do about caring for a flock of fluffy butts. Thanks!!