Celebrating a Trip Out West

Hello, all! I missed the Celebrate hop last week because I had the good fortune to be traveling out west and visiting Utah. It was an amazing trip and definitely something to celebrate.

I've wanted to visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, since I volunteered as a writer for them back in 2010. That experience led me to the blogging and writing journey that has changed my life in truly wonderful ways, so it meant a great deal to finally visit the place in person.

The sanctuary is located in beautiful Angel Canyon, shown in the picture above, which is of the view from the Angel Cafe lunchroom. It's home to nearly 2,000 animals, including dogs, cats, pigs, horses, birds, rabbits, and many others.

My friend and I stayed at one of the sanctuary cottages, which was located right by Horse Haven and Piggie Paradise. So we got to meet these cuties.

Three little pigs enjoying an afternoon nap

I volunteered at Bunny House and met some adorable bunnies. I also held bunnies for the first time ever. They are the sweetest!

I also volunteered at Dog Town and took several doggies on walks along trails in the canyon. That was not a chore, as this was the view at the end of one of the trails.

Two of my walking pals:

Petunia

Rumba, who was found as a feral stray in the Mojave Desert

Best Friends was one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever visited, and I loved it even more than I thought I would. It was heartwarming and good for my soul to see so many sweet animals being treated with love and kindness. And while I'm sure it's not a utopia, the people we encountered all seemed happy and peaceful too. I think maybe there is something in the Angel Canyon air. ;) 

The sun going down over Angel Canyon

I also visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks and will post about those adventures next week. It's safe to say I'm now totally in love with Utah's Canyon Country. 

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by my buddy Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge, Tonja Drecker at Kidbits, and Katie at The Cyborg Mom. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.











Happy April and best of luck to everyone participating in the A-Z Challenge. Have fun! :)

The Listing Hop & Cardinal Sin Excerpt

I haven't joined a one-time blog hop in ages but when I saw this one on Bish Denham's site it was so simple I had to sign up.

Bish is hosting the hop to celebrate eight years of blogging (Congratulations, Bish!) and all we have to do is write a list. Seriously, that's it!

I decided to list my favorite animal rescue organizations, most of which I've encountered since I started this blogging and writing journey. Click on each rescue if you'd like more info on them.

1. Circle Tail, Pleasant Plain, Ohio
2. Best Friends Animal Society, Kanab, Utah
3. Tabby's Place Cat Sanctuary, Ringoes, New Jersey
4. Sunrise Farm Animal Sanctuary, Marysville, Ohio
5. Triple R Equine Ranch, Greensburg, Indiana
6. EARPS Exotic Animal Rescue & Pet Sanctuary, Brownsburg, Indiana
7. Hope for Paws, Los Angeles, California
8. Red Wolf Wildlife Sanctuary & Rehabilitation Center, Rising Sun, Indiana

So that's my list! One of the things I've loved most about learning more about animal rescues since I started blogging is that I've discovered so many different types of organizations. I had always thought of rescue in terms of dogs and cats but this list includes rescues that work with farm animals, "pocket pets" like hamsters, and even wildlife. There are so many amazing organizations out there doing great work that the list easily could have gone into the hundreds.

Thanks to Bish for coming up with such a fun and easy hop. For a list of all the participants, visit Bish's site here.

This week is the official release of the Untethered Realms anthology Mayhem In The Air, which includes my story Cardinal Sin. I thought I would share a brief excerpt from the story to kick off release week.

I screamed when they threw me into the mass grave with the dead patients. 

I was sure they’d hear me. But they carried on just the same. Before I knew it, they started throwing shovels of dirt on top of me. On top of all of us. 

“I’m alive!” I yelled. Or at least I thought I was yelling. How was it possible they couldn’t hear me? It wasn’t bad enough the idiot doctors had decided I was dead. Now these lumbering fools couldn’t even hear me?  

Just as I was about to give up, the shovels stopped and I heard a worker ask another “Did you hear something?” 

My still-beating heart filled with hope. 

“Hear what?” was the response. 

“Don’t know. Almost sounded like some poor sod crying.” 

Could it be? Did he hear me?

I yelled out again. “Yes! Help me!” 

“I don’t hear nothing.”  

“I guess I don’t either. Must have been a dog barking.”

“No!” I cried. 

The shoveling began again. 

If you want to read more of my story and the nine other stories in the anthology pick up Mayhem In The Air at:

Amazon ~ Google Play ~ Smashwords

Favorite Cat Rescues, the Realms Faire, and Friday Celebrations

Since National Cat Day was this week I thought I would share some of my favorite cat rescues for this week's Friday Faves. These organizations all do amazing work!

Best Friends Animal Society

As I've mentioned before, writing for Best Friends changed my life and signing up to volunteer for them was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Someday I hope to visit Best Friends in Kanab, Utah and take a trip to Cat World which is, in their words, "a place where cats rule."




Tabby's Place 

Thanks to Best Friends I got to know the amazing people and cats of Tabby's Place in Ringoes, New Jersey. Tabby's Place is a cat sanctuary dedicated to bringing hope to cats in hopeless situations. They care for numerous special needs cats and are known for finding forever homes for cats thought to be "unadoptable." I wrote a story for Cat Fancy about three kittens who were rescued by a US marine in Japan and came clear across the world to Tabby's Place, where they ultimately found a home with a woman in Pennsylvania. Tabby's Place is an extraordinary and one-of-a-kind place.

Juanita: One of the darling cats available for adoption at Tabby's Place

Ohio Alleycat Resource

Located here in Cincinnati, OAR is a low-cost spay/neuter clinic for cats that also runs a cat rescue. The clinic has performed more than 6900 spay/neuter surgeries so far this year, cutting down exponentially on the number of unwanted cats and kittens in our area. The rescue, which houses as many as 90-100 cats at any given time, has taken in more than 200 cats and adopted out nearly as many so far in 2013.

Ashley, a long-haired beauty currently waiting for her home at OAR

Purrfect Friends Cat Rescue

Another Cincinnati rescue, Purrfect Friends is an all-volunteer organization which relies on foster families to care for their rescued cats. The Purrfect Friends won this Game of Thrones fanatic's heart when they named a group of adorable kittens after GoT characters. Little mother of dragons Daenerys is still waiting for her forever home.

Daenerys

Paws & Claws Animal Rescue

Paws & Claws is based across the river from Cincinnati in Northern Kentucky and is another rescue that relies entirely on foster families to house its animals. The tireless volunteers of Paws & Claws operate under the motto "one by one until there are none." While they are not limited to cats, they always have numerous cats and kittens available for adoption.

Simba, one of the Paws & Claws kitties waiting for a new home

Moving on from the kitties, I want to thank everyone who participated in my October giveaway. Jossie at Dreaming of Publication won the Polar Night ebook and $10 Amazon gift card. Enjoy, Jossie!

Instead of a monthly giveaway in November I am participating in a mega-giveaway with my Untethered Realms buddies as part of this year's Realms Faire. The faire will be held from November 11-15 and there will be lots of fun, lots of prizes, and lots of chances to win. Visit host M. Pax here for more details and stay tuned for info on our big prize!

For this week's Celebrate the Small Things hop I was hoping to be able to celebrate the Bengals beating the Dolphins last night and going to 7-2. Unfortunately that didn't work out, to the surprise of none of us who follow the Bengals. If there's one thing the Bengals excel at it's taking the wind out of fans' sails.

But they're still in first place and my Buckeyes are rolling at 8-0 so I'm celebrating a fun football season so far and keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the season will bring more to celebrate.

Also, it's been a long and tiring week here so I'm mostly celebrating the fact that the weekend is here. I hope everyone has a great one. :)

Bunnies and Celebrations

Tomorrow is International Rabbit Day, a day set aside each September to promote safe, caring, and healthy environments for both pet rabbits and rabbits in the wild. I have never had a rabbit as a pet and I don't have any experience with them but I definitely think they are flat-out adorable! Who doesn't love a bunny?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

So in honor of Rabbit Day I am listing my favorite rabbit rescues for this week's Friday Faves. This gives me the perfect excuse to share cute bunny pics while also promoting great rescues.

1.) Best Friends Animal Society

Writing for Best Friends as a volunteer literally changed my life and I am always eager to tout this amazing organization located in Kanab, Utah. Someday I hope to be able to visit there, and The Bunny House will definitely be on my list of must-sees. Check out the video below for a peek at The Bunny House and Rescue Village.



2.) The Buckeye House Rabbit Society

This is the Ohio chapter of the national House Rabbit Society organization and they do everything from rescuing rabbits to educating on rabbit care to recommending bunny sitters. This is an all-volunteer group and they do amazing work for the bunnies in our state.

This is Rikki, the bunny currently featured on the Buckeye House site. Click his picture or name for more information on this little doll.

Rikki

3.) EARPS - Exotic Animal Rescue and Pet Sanctuary

EARPS is located in Indiana and focuses on the rescue of pocket pets and other nontraditional pets such as birds, reptiles, and, yes, rabbits. EARPS is run entirely by volunteers and they are a selfless group of people.

Casey is one of the little cuties currently waiting for a home with EARPS. Click on his name or picture for more information.

Casey

4.) Pampered Pets Animal Rescue 

Pampered Pets operates around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and is another all-volunteer organization. While they rescue cats and dogs as most rescues do, they also take in rabbits, and even have a special "bunny lady" among their volunteers. PPAR was started by three loving and caring women and they are a wonderful bunch of people.

Lady Di is one of several rabbits currently in their care. Click on her picture or name for additional information.

Lady Di

5.) Stray Animal Adoption Program

The Stray Animal Adoption Program, based in Newport, Kentucky, rescues primarily dogs and cats but they also take in rabbits. This is another dedicated group of volunteers who work tirelessly around the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area to find new homes for pets in need.

Snow White is one of the rabbits currently waiting for her home with SAAP.

Snow White

Do you have or have you ever had a pet rabbit?  Clancy and I love seeing our rabbit neighbors when we walk in the morning. They are very active in the woods near our home and I think they are too cute for words.

I had an experience earlier this week that made it very easy to think of what I'm celebrating this week for Vikki's Celebrate the Small Things weekly hop.

A church in my neighborhood runs a food pantry and I drove past the church earlier this week during one of their distributions. It was very disturbing to see how many people were lined up outside the church waiting for food. The line was out the door and extended into the church yard.

This was a sobering sight, especially as this is a very small pantry that only serves residents in our immediate area. It's upsetting to know that so many in our neighborhoods are in need and at risk of going hungry.

So this week I'm celebrating that I have a job that pays my bills and provides me with health insurance. I'm able to put food on my table and a roof over my head. I've never had to go hungry. I'm extremely grateful to be able to say all of these things.

I hope you've had lot to celebrate this week and have a wonderful weekend ahead.

Please stop by here tomorrow for a guest post from the wonderful S.K. Anthony, whose debut novel Kinetic was released today!! Woo-hoo SK! :)

And finally, thanks to everyone who has already signed up for my The Ghosts of Aquinnah cover reveal! If you would like to help share the pic & blurb any time during the week of 9/30, please sign up below.

Origins Blogfest

I enjoyed Friday's '80s fest so much that I am excited to kick of the new week with another blogfest. Today is the Origins Blogfest, hosted by DL Hammons, Katie Mills, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Matthew MacNish. Huge thanks to all four co-hosts!

I am cheating a little bit with this post, as I recently posted about my writing beginnings over at Misha Gericke's My First Book, so I don't really have much to add to that post as far as when I started seeing myself as a writer.

But, after I read about this fest, I remembered a post I wrote last summer about my own first book, which I found while helping my mom clean out my parents' attic.

To give a short recap, I wrote my first book for a contest when I was in elementary school. The book was called It's a Dogworld After All, and it was about a group of dogs sailing around the world in the then far-off year of 2001.

I ended up winning second place in the contest, and I remember being extremely proud of the book. I loved writing it, and loved imagining this future world filled with sailing dogs and their adventures.

I couldn't help but smile when I read about this blogfest and thought of my post about my writing beginnings over at Misha's site, as I realized the "beginning" I wrote about for that post was really just a continuation of something I had started way back in 1980. I wrote about dogs back then, and started taking myself seriously as a writer when I volunteered to write for an animal sanctuary now. It took me some 30 odd years to pick up the thread again, and I made quite a few drastically wrong turns, but I'm glad I've finally found myself in the right place.


Thanks again to DL, Katie, Alex, and Matthew for hosting this great fest! 

R is for Rescues

I've learned about many wonderful rescue organizations and animal welfare groups since I started writing for Best Friends, so I decided to share a few of them for my R post.

I'm starting right here in my home town of Cincinnati, with the Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry. This is an amazing, all-volunteer organization that provides pet food to needy families in our area. With the economy the way it is, it's no secret that more and more people are relying on food pantries and social service organizations to help them get through these tough times. When people have already lost so much, I think being able to keep their cherished pet in the midst of so much uncertainty must be an extraordinary comfort. I really admire the folks behind the Cincinnati Pet Food Pantry, and I would encourage anyone in the area to check them out, and support them if possible.

Another great local organization is the United Coalition for Animals, or UCAN. I visited the UCAN clinic last month during their Pets In Need veterinary clinic, and saw first-hand how much they help low income pet parents by providing basic veterinary care to those in financial need. UCAN's primary mission is to keep the pet population down by offering low cost spay and neuter surgeries, and they are now celebrating their 32,000th surgery since their opening in 2007. It's impossible to imagine how many feline and canine lives have been saved, and how many pets have been kept in homes and out of shelters, since this fabulous clinic first opened their doors.

Moving across the country now to Nevada, and the Shelter Pet Rescue Network. Another all-volunteer organization, SPRN focuses on rescuing animals in danger of euthanasia at county shelters, and caring for them in foster homes until they can be adopted by new families. SPRN focuses on "bullie breeds," and is dedicated to helping improve the reputation of pit bull dogs, but they will rescue and care for any companion animals. When I talked with them, they had just taken in a litter of kittens, and the kittens had made themselves right at home among the much bigger pit bulls. One need only look at SPRN's "Happy Tails" for the past few years to see what a difference they have made for so many Nevada animals.

Finally coming back East, and my favorite of the organizations I have written about, Tabby's Place in Ringoes, New Jersey. Tabby's Place is a cat sanctuary, and a place like no other I have encountered. They specialize in cats who are considered "unadoptable," such as those with physical problems or other special needs, those who are older, or simply those who don't have the best personality in the world. All of them have a home at Tabby's Place, and all are cared for by people who love them just as they are. If you'd like to read more about the feline occupants of Tabby's Place, click here for an article I wrote about some of the kitties who captured a special place in my heart.

These are just four of the organizations that I've had the good fortune to discover, and I look forward to learning about many more like them. It's amazing to me to see how many grass roots groups are operating all over the country, doing their best to help animals who are unable to help themselves. In a world that can often be harsh, it's a gift to see so much kindness, and to meet so many who are willing to lend a helping hand to both people and animals in need.

Up for Pups

My latest article for Best Friends is called Flying Through The Air With The Greatest of Ease, and it's about an aerial show to support rescue organizations and raise awareness about puppy mills. The show will be held in Boulder, Colorado in February, and it is the brainchild of Kyla Duffy, president of Up for Pups.

I was really impressed by the innovation and creativity behind this show, as I would venture to guess this is the first time anyone has done an aerial performance in the fight against puppy mills. It's definitely something that will catch people's attention, and I've no doubt those who see the show will not forget it. The whole idea of that kind of performance is completely foreign to me though, as I am lucky if I can walk down the street without tripping over my own feet. Being suspended from the ceiling is not something I can imagine!

I have to admit that I was naive about puppy mills before I started writing for Best Friends. I had no idea of the horrors that go on, and how many dogs are mistreated. I now think back to dogs and puppies I've seen in pet stores, and I feel horribly wondering if they came from this kind of terrible environment. I think it's wonderful that so much has already been done to raise awareness, but I've no doubt there is still a great deal of work to be done. 

I'm very glad to have the chance to support the efforts of Up for Pups and Best Friends, and encourage everyone to check them out and learn more about their work!

My Spoiled Cat

I finished a new article called The Cat Angel for Best Friends this week, and it was a real joy to write about this special lady who cares for so many feral cats. But it also made me sad to think just how many cats are living outside in such harsh conditions. This winter has been such a tough one in so many parts of the country, it breaks my heart to think of so many animals trying to manage outside in the cold on their own.

As a result, I tried to impress upon my own cat Nate how lucky he is to have a home, with a warm place to sleep and food at his disposal every day.

Nate would have none of it.

I adopted Nate three years ago from the Kenton County Animal Shelter in Covington, Kentucky. I had recently lost my cat of 12 years, Tigger, to cancer, and I wanted a new friend for the cat I still had, Thomas. And if I'm being honest, a new friend for myself as well.

Tigger and Thomas were brothers, and both striped tabby cats. When I went looking for a new cat, I had no intention of getting a striped tabby, as I wanted something different. I had my heart set on a tuxedo cat, and I was going to name him Jack. But then I went to the shelter, and I saw a 4 month old striped tabby kitten named Nate. I sat in the cage and played with him, and within an hour, I had forgotten about getting a tuxedo cat and forgotten about the name Jack. I arranged to bring Nate home with me.

I've never regretted that choice, as Nate is a joy, and a character in every sense of the word. When he is not goading Clancy into chasing him around the condo, he can usually be found like this.

He has no delusions about who is in charge of our house. It's clear to him that he is. He meows for food as soon as I come home from work, and won't be quiet until a bowl of food is in front of him. If I decide to sleep in on the weekends, he is quick to get out the megaphone and yell to remind me that his breakfast is late. I bought Clancy a new dog bed a few months ago, and Nate quickly claimed it as his own. When I got a warm scarf for the winter, Nate didn't hesitate to turn it into a bed for himself the first time I forgot to put the scarf away in the closet.

He sees everything in the house as his birthright, and truthfully, I wouldn't want it any other way. I wish I could give all of the cats I wrote about in the article the same comforts of home. 

Since that is not possible, I'm glad I can at least do it for my two loves. 

The "Vicktory Dogs"

Yesterday I received the latest issue of Best Friends magazine. One of the stories is a "where are they now" feature on the "Vicktory Dogs," the name given to the dogs rescued from Michael Vick's dog fighting ring. Rarely has a name been more appropriate. It was great to read the story and see the tremendous progress these dogs have made. They are real winners, and Best Friends has achieved a victory of the best kind.

I remember being so touched by these dogs when I watched the "Saving the Michael Vick Dogs" episode of Dogtown. It was horrifying to see what they had endured, but also heartwarming to watch them finally receiving love and affection, and blossoming under the guidance of the trainers and caregivers. That episode has always stuck with me, so it was especially satisfying to catch up with some of the dogs featured in the episode, and see how well they are doing now.

If you're interested, many of the "Vicktory Dogs" are profiled on the Best Friends' Pit Bulls blog. I have to admit, when the Vick case broke and there was so much media attention focused on the dogs taken from the operation, I was skeptical that dogs coming from those kinds of conditions could be rehabilitated. Sometimes it's great to be wrong!