text:
30 July 2010

The three channel chicks took their maiden flights on Friday, July 23. They continued to practise their new found freedom for the rest of the day. Later in the evening, I witnessed an amazing scene not once, but twice and recorded it in my notes this way; "Dad left the fenced enclosure and gradually made his way to the slight rise of beach-ridge in front of the water. One by one the chicks slipped between the slats of the snowfence and with a running start got airborne and flew to papa." As if to reward his charges, dad let the young ones feed for about 20 minutes before taking them back to the enclosure to do the test flights all over again.

With the channel chicks fledged, that brought our total to seven at Grand Beach this year. That is up two from last year, but down one over-all. Last year five chicks fledged at Grand Beach from two nests while a nest across the lake at Gimli fledged three birds for a total of eight.

The question now, is, how will they fair on their flight south to their wintering grounds along the Gulf of Mexico and how will the oil spill effect them? We won't find out the answer to that question until their return nine months from now in May 2011. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

28 July 2010

SWAT Team Moves In

Last Wednesday, July 21, Paul Goossen of the Canadian Wildlife Service arrived to band the three channel chicks. As the chicks were three weeks old and nearly ready to fly, it became quite the operation. With the precision of a SWAT team, armed only with butterfly nets, Paul, Morgan, Matt and I slowly herded the chicks towards the beach shoreline. Paul instructed us that once they attempted to break through our defence, the idea was to get the net in front of them and have them run into it; easier said then done. Paul, Morgan and Matt successfully captured two while I chased my target like a cheetah on a gazelle. Okay, maybe it was more like an out-of-shape old guy running after a puppy, but just when I thought I had him or her, she took off, as in flying, low to the ground and down the beach. I hiked back to my team, out of breath, where they took a few cheap shots at my unsuccessful effort.

On our next attempt, the chick again attempted to take flight, but this time landed in the water where we quickly scooped it up.

The chicks were each fitted with three bands. An aluminum one with a number on it would identify all the particulars of the who, when and where the bird was banded. The other two bands are coloured plastic. They can be seen with the naked eye if close enough or with the aid of binoculars or a spotting scope. This way information about the bird can be gathered without having to recapture it. One band is coloured, red over black. This identifies the bird as one banded at Grand Beach. The second is an individual colour. This identifies from which nest at Grand Beach the chick hatched. After 26 minutes Mr. Red, Mr. Orange and Mr. Light Green, or is that Ms, were back to what chicks do, feeding, resting and preening, although dad did take them for a bath as if he wanted to make sure they didn't catch any 'human cooties.'

21 July 2010

My Error!

In my morning post, I informed everyone that one of our chicks, banded last year, had been observed and identified at Grand Marais, Minnesota. In fact, this bird was identified at Grand Marais, Michigan, on the south shore of Lake Superior. According to Google Maps this is a 15-hour - 1,262.6 km drive from Grand Beach, Manitoba. Grand Marais, Michigan is about a 2-hour drive from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Does this mean more of our chicks ended up in the Great Lakes population this year, perhaps reaching as far north as Ontario? Stay tuned.

Missing Chick Found

Back on June 2, I wrote a post about how the eight chicks we banded last year had not been seen anywhere from the Great Lakes to Alberta. Well, I am pleased to announce that one of the Grand Beach banded chicks has been spotted and identified at Grand Marais. Now I know most of you who have been following the blog and know the Grand Beach area are asking yourselves, why we didn't see it earlier, considering Grand Marais is a stones-throw from Grand Beach. The reason is this, wait for it, this Grand Marais is 800 km by vehicle (sorry, Google doesn't have a button labelled 'as the crow flies' I could click on) southeast of Grand Beach in Minnesota along the shores of Lake Superior about a two hour drive north of Duluth, Minnesota.

For Grand Beach 'Plover Lovers' this is terrific news!

...to be continued

photo - Jean Carpenter

18 July 2010

Parking Lot Plovers Take Flight

At 11:47 AM, Saturday, July 17, I observed the four chicks, hatched from the enclosure in parking lot #5 at Grand Beach Provincial Park, take to the air and cross the water channel that separates West Beach from East Beach, a distance of about 50 metres. During the week, my colleagues and I had watched them take some short hops along the shoreline, even venturing out over the water a short distance before swinging back and landing. However, the channel crossing was momentous because there was no turning back. It was either make it to the other side or tumble into the strong current of the channel and be swept out into the big lake. They made it!

How are the birds along the Gulf Coast fairing?

Our plovers winter along the Gulf Coast. As you are aware, this is where the worst oil spill ever has occurred. Barring any unforeseen problems our seven Grand Beach chicks will leave on their long journey south around mid-August. I thought you might want to know how the current birdlife along the Gulf Coast is fairing. This is the best blog I have found to date. It is administered by the American Birding Association. Go to http://birding.typepad.com/gulf/

Mommy, Mommy, what's that little birdie saying?

This is a question I have heard often over the course of my guardian work at Grand Beach. I am by no means an expert in plover-speak, but this is what I have observed over the past month. Adult plovers with chicks on the run have two basic calls. There are variations in how many times the call is made and how quickly they are delivered, but the two calls are consistent. One is 'peep,' the other, 'peep-lo' from which this blog gets its name.

When the adult plover delivers the 'peep' call that appears to mean 'stand still, don't move.' It is delivered whenever a threat approaches, whether that's a jogger invading their space on the beach or a raven flying overhead. Once 'peep' is delivered, the chicks stop what they are doing and freeze.

'Peep-lo' translates into 'follow me' or 'come to me' depending on where the adult is in relation to the chicks or whether the adult is on the move. If the chicks heed these two calls, they have a very good chance of avoiding any kind of mammal, bird or human trouble.

11 July 2010

A Day in the Life

Have you ever wondered what a Piping Plover Guardian Naturalist job is like. It boils down to a lot of walking, waiting, watching, observing with short spurts of action. On my iPhone, I open a new note for every 8-hour shift and type in every significant and not-so-significant event that occurs during a shift. This way I have a complete record of the day's activities. Here's what happened during my early morning 4:30 AM - 12:30 PM shift Friday, July 9, 2010.

Weather @ 4:00 AM
20C and mainly cloudy
Wind W 31 km/h
Humidity 78%

4:33 open gate, start shift

4:38 drove into parking lot #5 and was greeted by my first raccoon of the season, quickly sent him on his way

4:44 noticed footprints inside the flagged off feeding area

4:48 parking lot 5 chicks found on beach hiding in willows of designated feeding area, all present and accounted for, as I approached they all scurried down the roadway and into the parking lot, we'll never catch these speeding bullets to band them

5:08 male channel plover greets me, quite agitated, after some time, I only find one chick and it nestles under dad

5:25 the male flies back to check me out still agitated, there is a brisk cool wind coming off the lake so I'm hesitant to keep him away much longer, I'll take one more walk to see if the whole family is huddled together somewhere, then I'll back off

5:44 a sigh of relief, it took me a while to finally observe the channel chicks, I walked in behind the dunes to the top of one and found the male huddled close to the snow-fence of the enclosure, he eventually 'released the hounds' and revealed the three chicks much to my relieve, all present and accounted for on day 10

6:07 forgot to mention yesterday, I found a yellow warbler nest with two eggs and two freshly hatched chicks, no cowbird egg(s), located in small willow behind dunes close to where the plovers nested the last couple of years

7:12 John, Dianne and their grand-daughter Jayne paid me a visit so they could show Jayne the chicks, and the chicks put on quite a show scurrying all about

7:36 greater yellowlegs wading along west shore of channel

8:38 a huge herring gull landed on shore and was wolfing down something, I was sure I knew where the three chicks were, but the male plover didn't like his company, but couldn't scare him off so I went over to investigate, sure enough a nice size pickerel had washed up on shore and the herring gull was trying to make short work of it before any others moved in

9:18 my colleague Shauna, checked in for an update

10:03 chicks resting, good time for a bathroom break

10:38 Matt dropped by for a visit, dad decides to lead the chicks down for a drink of water, one runs so fast it does a header in a footprint, hysterical

10:53 have a nice chat with a fellow from Vancouver, he's just on his way home after traveling across the breadth of the country all the way to St. John's, Newfoundland, he has a load of questions about the plovers and program, I give him the full spiel

11:12 an osprey makes his morning cruise along the lake in search of a fat fish for family

11:18 seven male Sanderlings, a small sandpiper-like shorebird in breeding plumage, make an unexpected appearance along the east shore of the channel in the flagged off area for the plovers, as they nest in the high Arctic the obvious question would be, are they still headed north?

11:30 Shauna drops by after watching the parking lot birds and takes over from me for the afternoon shift

12:05 dad and the chicks come close for a visit, dad takes a bath in a back pool of the channel, all are content

12:30 shift ends

...to be continued

07 July 2010

So how many Piping Plovers are there in Manitoba?

This spring in Manitoba we counted seven birds, you heard that right, 7 adult birds. Two pairs at Grand Beach, one pair at Grand Marais and I saw a single male on Gimli Beach, probably the same bird that nested there successfully last year. However, it takes two to tango and so with no female, there was no nest at Gimli this year.

Manitoba has a very good birding community and between their birding forays and my surveys those were the only birds identified. And believe me, I searched all their historical haunts up and down the west side of Lake Winnipeg and the east side of Lake Manitoba; Delta, Stoney Beach, Clandeboye Bay Special Conservation Area, Twin Lakes Beach, Lundar Beach, Watchorn Beach, Chalet Beach, Winnipeg Beach, Willow Point, Gimli Beach, Riverton Sandy Bar, Hecla Sand Spit and the North Bar of Gull Bay south of Grand Rapids; and visited some of these sites two and three times.

My colleagues Shauna and Morgan did the same on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

The last International Census conducted in 2006, counted about 7000 birds across North America. That number was made up of the Atlantic population, Great Lakes population and the Northern Great Plains population of which Manitoba is a part. Although the numbers were up from 2001, in terms of bird numbers, 7000 is still a very small population. As the Census is conducted every five years, next year will be the fifth one conducted since the inaugural Census in 1991. And as the majority of birds from the Northern Great Plains population winter along the Gulf of Mexico coast, which is currently under siege from the Deep Water Horizon oil spill catastrophe, it will be very interesting to see what next spring's census numbers will be. Stay tuned.

06 July 2010

Ancient Plover Found - ALIVE!

Back in mid-June, I received an email with some amazing news.

On June 14, 1997 a piping plover egg was collected off of Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. It was transported to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' captive rearing facility at the Gavins Point Project. It hatched out on June 22. After fledging, the chick and 15 other captive reared plovers were released on July 26 at the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Montana.

Now the good part. On June 4, 2010, a month ago, the Corps of Engineers' Bismarck crew observed a light blue flagged piping plover that they were able to associate with a nest on a sandbar at River Mile 1304.1 on the Missouri River. This site is about 13 km (8 miles) downriver from Bismarck ND. The crew returned on June 9 and captured the plover on the nest and read its band number. The band revealed it to be the plover hatched at the Gavins Point Project 13, yes, your math is correct, 13 years ago.

As a plover in the wild lives about 4-6 years, maybe 7, this discovery is truly remarkable. It would be like finding a 150-year-old human being - ALIVE!

02 July 2010

Grand Beach Update

As of 5:00 PM today, Friday, July 2, we have seven chicks scurrying along the sands of Grand. The 'parking lot #5' nest began its hatch on Saturday, June 19. The first three chicks were on the move by the following day. It would take egg number four until sometime early Tuesday morning to produce the last chick, much to our relief. They are now 12-14 days old and mainly self-sufficient. They won't take their first short flights for at least another 10 days.

On the morning of Wednesday, June 30, I discovered three chicks in the 'channel' nest, right on schedule. Yesterday, the final egg hatched, but unfortunately one chick was lost. We don't know what happened and the chick was not found. No known predators were seen at the time so whether the chick died of some natural cause or perhaps exposure, we will never know. Although we have lost one chick, we are still very pleased to have three young ones on the move. As you may recall, we nearly lost this nest due to flooding. Only the quick response of Morgan and Matt in moving the nest to higher ground saved this nest from certain disaster.

22 June 2010

Surprise! Surprise!

I started my shift at 4:30 AM today, did I mention I started at 4:30, with a quick check of the parking lot 5 nest. No bird to be found. I then walked over to the beach and feeding area. In the pre-dawn light I saw one chick near the water's edge and dad nestled on the beach keeping the other kids warm. When dad arose you could have knocked me over with a feather. There they were, not one, not two, but three chicks. Yes, your math is correct. That made four chicks. After scanning the beach and counting and recounting four chicks about a hundred times, I went back to the nest to confirm that the last egg had indeed hatched and that we hadn't somehow inherited an orphan during the night. At shift's end all four babies were doing well scurrying along the beach as fast as their little toothpick legs would take them. Stay tuned.

21 June 2010

I am pleased to announce that the first nest at Grand Beach has produced a set of triplets. Hatching began Saturday, June 19 and by Sunday afternoon three cotton balls on toothpicks were scurrying around parking lot #5. Unfortunately, one egg has not hatched although both adult birds continue to take turns incubating and attending to the three chicks. By Sunday evening they had crossed the 'Lawrence of Arabia' sand dunes and settled nicely on the beach. When I returned for my morning shift at 4:30 AM, yes you read that correctly 4:30, just me and a gazillion mosquitoes, mom was on the nest and I found dad on the beach with the wee ones nestled under him. This parking lot in Grand Beach Provincial Park has been a mainstay of the program for over a decade and although in recent years not all eggs have hatched successfully, two or three birds have reached the fledgling stage. We are hopeful another three chicks will make the long trek south in August to their wintering grounds along the Gulf Coast.

10 June 2010

Eggs on the Move

I am pleased to announce that the first ever attempt in Manitoba at moving a nest with a full clutch of four eggs was successfully accomplished yesterday (June 9). Here is how it happened.
I was informed last Friday (June 4) that a move was eminent as last year's Channel birds at Grand Beach had decided to nest on the beach, rather than on the raised dune that had been so successful for them the last two seasons. If a storm rose up, they would surely be flooded out. However, knowing the lake levels were down this year and as it was one of only three nests found across the province, I was hesitant to see any action taken based on speculation that the waters might rise. I asked my boss to hold off so that I might see the situation for myself. She agreed to hold off a few days.

On Tuesday (June 8) I drove up to the Beach with Paul Goossen of the Canadian Wildlife Service. Paul has a great deal of experience with nest moving, having had to perform the task on numerous occasions at Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan. We assessed the situation and came to the conclusion that the nest was well out of reach from any flooding unless it was an exceptional circumstance. Better to leave well enough alone. However, we did select a location where the nest could be moved if need be and Paul showed me, Morgan our STEP student plover guardian and Matt, one of our dedicated volunteer plover guardians, exactly how to move the nest as a last resort. We drove back to Winnipeg secure in our belief that we had made the right decision.

So much for assessments, plans and decisions. By the time we reached Winnipeg a doozy of a storm was rumbling across the Interlake and Lake Winnipeg headed for Grand Beach. I received an urgent text the following morning (June 9) that the water was but three feet away from flooding the nest. Morgan and Matt jumped into action and proceeded with the risky business of attempting to move the nest in less than ideal conditions. I'll save the description of how a move is conducted for another blog, but suffice it to say that Morgan and Matt were able to save the day and nest with a move of about 20 metres to a slight rise on the beach close to the dunes. The plovers accepted the move and new location and were last seen incubating their clutch of eggs in their new surroundings.

Congratulations Morgan and Matt! A job well done in every way. A Manitoba first!

02 June 2010

Where are the Chicks?

No, not those kind of chicks, I'm talking piping plovers. Last summer eight chicks were fitted with leg bands. This would allow us to identify them on their wintering grounds along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico or upon their return this spring. We banded five chicks at Grand Beach and three at Gimli Beach. I had the privilege of assisting Canadian Wildlife Service staff with this task. All eight of these chicks eventually fledged. That means the birds were able to fly on their own and migrate south for the winter. So after six weeks of surveying every beach on the west side of Lake Winnipeg and the east side of Lake Manitoba, where are they? Research has shown that first year adults do not normally return to the place where they hatched. However, they do return to the general area. That is, birds that hatched at Grand Beach may not return there in their first year, but they could be expected to show up at a nearby location like Hillside Beach or Elk Island. But so far, we have not received a report of these birds showing up anywhere from the Great Lakes west to Alberta. So where are they? What happened to our chicks?

29 May 2010

A Bright Spot on an Ugly Day

The wind is howling. The rain is coming down sideways. I'm wet, I'm cold, I'm down. We haven't seen a piping plover on the west side of Lake Winnipeg in a week. I follow the tracks of a 4x4 half-ton truck that someone the previous night had decided to take on a joy-ride down Gimli beach. Then, when I least expect it, there it is, like a spotlight on a movie star in Hollywood, a plover. The colours vibrant, the orange bill and legs shining like the chrome on a classic car. I watch, transfixed, as it scurries along the sand, nestles down in a scrape, jumps up, runs some more, nestles down, eyes me and then ignores me. I am elated. Suddenly, I'm no longer cold, the rain feels like a light sprinkling. But where is the female? After all, it takes two to tango.

26 May 2010

Rewarded with a Whimbrel

No plovers. I visited the Clandeboye Bay Special Conservation Area on Lake Manitoba for the third time this spring. Only a decade ago, it was a nesting area where you were nearly guaranteed to see two or three pair of piping plover. Today I was shutout yet again. Killdeers feigned broken wings, spotted sandpipers teetered along the shore and sanderlings raced along the beach trying not to get their feet wet. Pelicans glided overhead, western grebes danced on the water and a nighthawk and Franklin's gulls twisted and turned as they gobbled up newly hatched insects, but the sweet, plaintive 'peep-lo' call of the piping plover was missing. The beach was not complete without it. However, not all was despair. As I scoured the SCA for plovers, I noticed a large sandpiper standing on a piece of washed up driftwood. When I placed my binos on it, I was startled to see the long downcurved bill, diagnostic of the Whimbrel. This was only my second sighting of this tundra nester, ever. As I left the SCA, I could not help think what of the Whimbrel? Is it the next shorebird to be placed on our list of threatened and endangered bird species? I hope not.

Ken Porteous
2010 Piping Plover Guardian

25 May 2010

Piping Plover Season has Begun!

The plovers have returned to Grand Beach and we have had a sighting of a lone bird near Gimli! We have found our first nest at Grand Beach which means that by this time next month we will have our first piping plover chicks running on the beach.

If you are interested in volunteering, please call us at 204-945-6817!

Ken Porteous
2010 Piping Plover Guardian

01 January 2010

Welcome for 2010

Piping Plovers return in April/May to nest along the beaches on Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba and every year, the Manitoba Piping Plover Guardian Program kicks into high gear to protect the plovers, their nests, eggs and chicks from a variety of threats including human activity, off-leash dogs, all-terrain vehicles, predation by gulls, crows and a variety of smaller mammals. If you wish to help, the Program's contact information is on the left.


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text: There have been quite a few times in the last months of my blog-silence that I have thought “Oh I should write about that…” or “That’s a good tagline, write that down somewhere…” all to the dismay of instantly being distracted by another thought that spirals into a fury of more important to-do’s; “Did I feed the children?? Are they wearing coats? Is their coat too puffy to be strapped into their car seat with them? Should I take… Read more »

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-166-65-126.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-26
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for June 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Smuggler of the Heart, a sweet little "snowy" read ~

Wow, I don't know about you, but we had snow this weekend! I said to one of my boys on the way to church yesterday, "It looks more like Christmas out here than Thanksgiving." :)

This morning, as I was getting ready to stoke up our wood stove I thought how lovely it would be to curl up for a bit with a nice warm blanket, hot drink and a book. If you feel the same way, perhaps you'd enjoy this story~

Disheartened and tired, Samantha Warren returns to Vermont during the winter break. Her passion for history rekindles after finding an old smuggler's chest hidden in her grandparents' attic. Will she be able to return to New Jersey without her heart being smuggled like the chest once was? Or is it already too late?

Samantha gingerly reached for the newfound treasure. A rush of adrenaline coursed through her body, and her nerves jingled the instant her fingers caressed the soft, worn wood. Just as she knew her own name, she knew there was something special about the small chest.

“That you making a racket up there, Sammie?”

Samantha blew a puff of dust off the curved lid and sat down Indian-style on the painted but worn wide plank attic floor. “I’ll be down in a few minutes, Gram.”

Gram chuckled. “Sure, and pigs can fly too.”

Gram might be eighty-something, but she didn’t miss much. She knew Samantha’s passion for history and antiques and how long it had been since she had visited the attic of her grandparents’ beloved 1820s Victorian home. For that matter, how long since she’d been in Vermont, period.

Samantha fiddled with the latch on the chest. Her finger brushed against a small metal protrusion on the side of the lock. In a sudden, swift motion, the latch sprung open and the lid lifted a quarter of an inch, almost as if the chest wanted to share its secrets and stories with her. She lifted it further and peered inside. The musty smell of aged wood and paper greeted her like a familiar friend she hadn’t seen for a long, long time.

She clutched the box to her chest and rushed downstairs. Breathless, she held out her find for her gram to see. “Do you know what this is?”

“I do.” Gram’s eyes sparkled. “And, I must say, it’s good to see there’s some life in you. I’ve been worried about you since you’ve come home.”

Gram didn’t need to be concerned about her. She was a strong independent woman—at least she liked to think she was. Granted, she had felt a little bit blue as of late, but didn’t everyone experience those feelings every now and then in life?

Time to focus on something else. She held the box a bit higher. “The chest?”

Gram motioned for Samantha to join her on the couch. “That chest’s said to have held letters from one of the caves in the Notch.”

“You remember the history?” Gram asked with obvious delight.

“Sure.” Samantha nodded. “When I drive through Smuggler’s Notch, I try to picture it as during the War of 1812.”

“Yup,” her gram said. “That was when the good old U.S. Congress placed an embargo on the imports from England.”
Samantha looked out windows to the mountains. “I can imagine smugglers hiding in the thick forest and storing their supplies of food, clothing, cattle, and such from Canada in the caves and caverns along the Long Trail.” She turned back to her gram and matter-of-factly said, “And then of course, a hundred years later, when the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol, it happened again.”

Gram nodded. “Smugglers avoided the revenue agents by storing the alcohol in the caves where they freely smuggled it through the Notch Pass, down to central and southern New England. Thus it’s aptly named...”
Together, they chorused, “Smuggler’s Notch.”

Samantha smiled at her gram’s joy, which must have been mirrored in her own eyes.

History...her passion. But recently, without her even realizing it until this moment, the joy and excitement she usually felt had fallen flat. She still enjoyed her teaching position at a high school in New Jersey, but her enthusiasm over the last several years had waned. How had that impacted her students? She shook her head, trying to dispel that train of thought.

Perhaps coming back to Vermont for winter break was what she needed—at least she hoped so.
“Samantha, I know I don’t tell you this often enough, but I think you’re a gifted history teacher. I only wish you’d come back home where you belong.”

There were many subjects Samantha would be delighted to discuss, but her personal life, particularly where she did or didn’t belong, wasn’t one of them. Especially since she had been struggling with those very same thoughts moments ago. “Gram, let’s not go there. How about you tell me about this chest instead?”

Gram rolled her eyes. “You’re more stubborn than that old manual lawn mower. I guess I should expect as much with all that red hair.”

Samantha lifted her chin. “It’s not red. It’s auburn.”

Was it her imagination, or was Gram fighting a smile?

Gram coughed in her hand. “Where were we...oh, yes. This chest stayed in a cave where it held correspondence or information from one party to the next.”

“How’d you get it?”

“I’m saving that part of the story.”

Samantha’s heart sank with disappointment. “Why?”

“So I can be sure you’ll come back home, where you belong, from time to time.”

Samantha rolled her eyes and bit back the retort, Now who’s being stubborn?

Reviews: (As posted on

Deila Latham said: "... What a beautiful, heartwarming, soul-stirring little story! JoAnn Carter says more in thirty-seven pages than many authors can produce in an epic novel. It's a thought-provoking picture of a life in transition, a love in the balance, and a God Who never stops caring. Smuggler of the Heart is good stuff. Period."

K.M Daughters said, " I loved Sammie and Tim (and Grandma, too) at first meeting. Sweet prayerful souls are reunited in this lovely, well-written romance. Sammie's "conversations" with the Lord were beautiful and soul stirring. A must read for anyone who enjoys Christian fiction and satisfying romantic endings."

Kara Lynn Russell said, " This short story is a mini-vacation to snow Vermont. Perfect for a lunch time or break time read."_

Purchase Link: also available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble

1 comment:

  1. Jo Anne, this sounds wonderful. The characters came to life in your excerpt.

    Thank you for sharing this.


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Privacy Policy

From version 2.3 onwards, Land Measure Pro uses a subscription based In App purchase service provided by Apple.

To enable the service Apple collect such information as is required to manage your subscription including name, email address and zip code. These go directly to Apple same as with any iTunes transaction and I do not receive or store the information from the transaction separately.

Any information provided to me by Apple by way of sales reports may be used in the future if necessary for contacting customers about improvements to Land Measure Pro.


text:
About Me

My photo
Hi, welcome to my blog, I am a writer of short stories, children's and YA novels . An acceptance from People's Friend finally made me a published writer! Yeah, happy days! I have since had stories published in The Weekly News and The Last Laugh anthology. My main love is writing children's/YA novels...I'm now enduring a fruitless search for an agent... I also draw and paint, I like to draw animals (usually my adorable crazy cats!)Occasionally famous people and motorcycles.

Thursday, 12 November 2009

I can't believe it!

I got a very unasuming white envelope in th post this morning.
People's Friend have accepted one of my stories!!!!!!!!
I can't quite believe it, in fact I won't believe it until I see it, I really can't wait for that first sight of my story in the magazine!
I now feel as if saying I'm a writer is suddenly justified, as before I always mumbled an apologetic, 'I've not had anything published yet...' after saying I did a lot of writing.
It has been a long time coming, I think about 8 years, but back then I sent a story off about once every six to twelve months, so the editors weren't exactly inundated with my work!

Friday, 6 November 2009

another three rejections

I'm new to this blogging idea, but thought I'd have a go.
I read somewhere, Womag's blog in fact (A very helpful friendly place, by the way) that it is best to have a number of stories 'out there' with publishers at any one time. So I wrote more, lots more.
Yesterday sadly three rejections at once from The Weekly News, but it's okay, I take them less personally these days!
One magazine's requirements can be quite different from another, just as one persons idea of a great story might not be the same as mine. It's a matter of opinion, so why worry?


text:
About Me

My photo
Hi, welcome to my blog, I am a writer of short stories, children's and YA novels . An acceptance from People's Friend finally made me a published writer! Yeah, happy days! I have since had stories published in The Weekly News and The Last Laugh anthology. My main love is writing children's/YA novels...I'm now enduring a fruitless search for an agent... I also draw and paint, I like to draw animals (usually my adorable crazy cats!)Occasionally famous people and motorcycles.

Monday, 27 August 2012

A book fit for a novel

Thank you for your help with the never ending novel dilemma.

I did decide to change it, it wasn't quite right, I knew that, or I wouldn't have been dithering so much! So,  I put in the extra scene, I am finding it very tricky and time consuming to seamlessly weave the new events into the book, but it will be better when I'm done.

The reason I asked my teen to read it, is that she loves reading and writing and is very imaginative. She is in a group of young writers (online) and she is a very good critic.  It helps me to know what sort of things they like to read and write about, so her feedback is very constructive. Anyway I will be really glad when this story is properly finished as it has taken me way too long now, it's just getting ridiculous!

My new WIP is 20k words in, and I have just made the decision to hand write it at the same time, mainly because I got this lovely new journal for my birthday! So I have made a start and I think it is going to be helpful, I like to see words on pages, real pages. It is a spine chilling supernatural mystery thriller romance, hehe. Snappy genre.  I am really enjoying it, it is very spooky and sometimes I scare myself whilst working on it.:)

I wonder if anyone could recommend a publisher for this genre? That is, teen supernatural. I would very much appreciate any tips. I know of the mainstream publishers, but I was wondering about e-publishers?
Thank you!!

Sunday, 12 August 2012

The never ending novel

I have been busy editing this weekend. I have checked over three short stories, determined to send them elsewhere (they have all been rejected numerous times).
Must post them tomorrow. I can hardly complain of getting nowhere if I don't send the stories in the first place.
I have also been editing the children's novel,  which has been 'finished' and waiting for a final edit for some time :)  (To date this story is now 12 years in the making)
Anyway, I have just found a bunch of notes, that I had mislaid some months ago, can barely even remember writing, although one page was clearly written at night in the dark, going off the diagonal scrawl of the pencil. Which leads to my new problem, some of the ideas on these notes are good. I like them, I want to put them in! Which means this story is not finished at all.
Will I ever finish it?
I have been contemplating having a copy of this novel printed, on one of the self publishing sites, just to see it in print, but have been dithering about whether it is 'ready'. I'm too afraid of uploading in case I get a flash of inspiration to add another scene here...or there...
I annoy myself so much! Grrrgh.
I think I will know when it's ready, maybe my hesitancy is just comfirmation that deep down I know it isn't ready yet.
Do you have the same worries?


text:
Penguin Palace

Welcome to Penguin Palace, Guest !
HomeHome  PortalPortal  GalleryGallery  FAQFAQ  RegisterRegister  Log inLog in  Log Into Club PenguinLog Into Club Penguin  Penguin Palace's Official BlogPenguin Palace's Official Blog

Share |

 Rules of The Bank

View previous topic View next topic Go down
Poker Pro

Number of posts : 533
Age : 19
Location : I went missing yesterday
CP Name : I Luv Pandaz
Hobbies : Poker
Country :
Chips : 500
Registration date : 2007-07-06

0/6  (0/6)

PostSubject: Rules of The Bank   Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:39 pm

Welcome to The Bank! If you would like your own personal bank, ask me by PM, and I will give you permission to make a topic called:

"Guest's Bank"

You can deposit your chips there. If you deposit your chips there, they will be subtracted from your amount in your profile, but you will still have the chips, but you can't spend chips that are in a bank. But, if you break a rule and don't have 40 chips, you can either choose to take 40 chips out of your bank, or be banned. I don't mean to say that if you don't take 40 chips out of your bank and sacrifice them then you will be banned, but that you have the choice. If you choose to be banned, there is nothing wrong with that.

Have fun with The Bank!

P.S. You also have the right to pool your money with other users, to buy, say, a forum for yourself(like something popular you might like).

Back to top Go down
View user profile http://www.penguinpalace123.forumotion.com
Rules of The Bank
View previous topic View next topic Back to top
Page 1 of 1
 Similar topics
» Martian Rebellion, with figs and GURPS rules(SAVAGE WORLDS?)
» Rules and Guidelines for hosting a party
» Food bank wrap-up
» Need Imperial Flyer Rules

Permissions in this forum:You cannot reply to topics in this forum
Penguin Palace :: Chips :: The Bank-
Jump to:


text:
Panel may lower priority for Anchorage's coastal trail

Posted: Sunday, March 23, 2003

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- The committee that decides transportation priorities for Anchorage served notice Thursday it may bump the proposed extension of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail from near the top of the trail-building list to a far lower ranking.

Now No. 3, the southern Coastal Trail might get moved to No. 11 or 12.

Mayor George Wuerch, one of five members of the AMATS Committee, proposed the change, saying several neighborhood trails should come first.

The committee consists of the mayor, two Anchorage Assembly members and the state commissioners of transportation and environmental conservation. It directs spending for federally funded transportation projects from Eklutna to Potter Marsh.

At Wuerch's urging, the committee on Thursday voted 4-1 to add a footnote to its trails listings, noting that it will consider the lower ranking for the Coastal Trail.

AMATS member and Anchorage Assemblyman Doug Van Etten objected. Among other reasons, he said, the public had not been given a chance to discuss the decision or comment on it.

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail currently runs from downtown to Kincaid Park, about 11 miles. The extension would take it 13 miles further south, to Potter Marsh.

Subscribe to Peninsula Clarion

Trending this week:

© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
Hospice depends on others

Posted: Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Hospice of the Central Peninsula is a perfect example of how an organization depends on its volunteers.

Traditionally, hospice's mission is to help dying people and their family meet the transition from life to death and to help those left behind grieve their loss. This process is facilitated with the help of numerous volunteers.

"If we did not have our volunteers we could not have any of the programs we do," said Sue Bezilla, bereavement coordinator for hospice. Hers is one of the only two paid positions with the agency.The remainder of the work done by hospice is made possible by 45 volunteers.

To date, hospice direct care volunteers have provided services, including bereavement support to 244 hospice clients, including persons with HIV and their families. Support volunteers assist in the office and host gatherings, public awareness, education events and fund-raising activities.

No medical training is necessary.

"It can be anybody like you and me walking in off the street. All you need is a compassionate heart," Bezilla said.

Once volunteers go through the 18-hour hospice training session, they can facilitate grief support groups or go on home visits to terminally ill patients and their families.

Volunteers provided 307 hours of family and community bereavement support to grieving persons in Kenai Peninsula communities, in 2001.

Generally, volunteers are individuals who have been through similar losses and feel a need to help others who are going through difficult times.

"They do understand what it is like to lose someone and not have anyone there," she said. "We give them tools to understand that what they're going through is normal."

In addition, Hospice serves the community by providing referral information for persons who are not terminally ill but would benefit from other services and to community members who have dying relatives outside of Alaska.

Hospice also provides the only medical equipment lending loan program in the area and this service is utilized by any community member that has short term need of a variety of medical type devices. All programs and services are offered to community members at no charge in part because the majority of the work done for the organization is by volunteers.

"It's all volunteers," Bezilla said. "(Without volunteers) people would just be struggling thinking they're on their own."

Subscribe to Peninsula Clarion

Trending this week:

© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
Saturday, July 31, 2010

Saturday's Stumble Upon - Photographer Links

In the collection of Workman-Crapser photos from Grandma Leola, there are several pictures that have photographers' marks.   In theory these marks should help us discover from which time frame the picture might be.  Unfortunately, this assumes you know when each photographer was in business.  I hadn't found a great reference for that information until this past week when I stumbled upon two references:
Another neat find this week relates to the Sterling Methodist Church, from which the Workman family line has many connections.  It seems as though the work of one former pastor, Rev. Bonney, is posted on the USGenWebsArchive.  Rev. Bonney's work:
In the list of marriages by Rev Bonney, it mentions that he "assisted Homer Schautz - a camera exploded".  Interestingly enough, we have a photo in our Workman-Crapser collection with the initials "H.W.S."  I wonder if this photo of a young boy and two dogs was taken by Homer Schautz.

No comments:

Post a Comment