Put My Kayak Away? Never!

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Tamra

Okay, maybe when that white fluffy stuff starts to fall . . . then I’ll put it away.

But for now, I’m still finding warm, sunny days to paddle around to my heart’s content.

There’s something soothing about being on the lake all alone.

The wind rustling the leaves . . .

the water lapping at the shoreline.

There’s still spots of color here and there, too.  When the sunlight hits them just right, it explodes and catches your eye from across the lake.

I only had my big lens with me this time, hoping to catch some signs of wildlife.

I scored . . .

The heron was across the lake from me.  He was kind of skittish though – I’d only paddled a quarter of the way across to get a liiiii-ttle bit closer, when he took flight.

When I continued on my way,  I came across one of the adult eagles.

He too, took off when he saw me coming.

 

I admit it.  I didn’t take a shower before heading out that morning, but really!

This little guy let me take a couple photos though. It was the ONLY turtle I saw sunning himself, which surprised me a little.

I’ve been eagerly watching the weather and it looks like I’ll get another chance to go out Thursday or Friday. And I have it on good authority the geese have been stopping by on their way south. *rubs hands together gleefully*

 

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A Favorite Animal Character?

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Tamra

Some of you may remember how goofy I’d gotten over the bullfrog who moved into my garden this summer.

I took tons of pictures as he posed on the rocks.  I looked for him everyday while watering the plants. I even found myself talking to him.  Some of the young campers started coming into the office either in a panic because they didn’t see him on his perch . . . or they came in to report seeing him swimming-sunbathing-hopping-hiding.

Well, this is why I was so in love with that frog;  Cooper has a frog.  A three legged frog to be exact!

illustrated by Carl DiRocco

Talk about fate!  When I wrote Cooper and Packrat, I’d never had a frog in my garden.  Oh, we’d rescued a few from the pool and seen them at the lake, of course.  I’d had tons of spring peepers climb the house to eat bugs under my porch light, too.  But a garden frog?  No.

I lost track of my frog somewhere around the end of August when I started school.  I wonder if he sensed summer was at an end and he needed a better place to winter? I’d like to think so.

So tell me, do you have a favorite animal character from the pages of a book?  An animal sidekick?  A main character?   What made them special to you?

 

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Cooper and Packrat Sneak Peak

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Tamra

Carl DiRocco has brought Cooper and Packrat to life!

Aren’t they adorable!?  I just love Oscar ~ the frog in Packrat’s pocket.

According to Melissa (my editor), the jacket art from Carl arrived  late last week.  This is just a sample of the cover image.  I can’t wait to see the whole jacket . . . rumor has it that Oscar’s on the back!

As I continue to make headway with my revisions, these boys will be a source of inspiration.

 

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Abandoned Squirrel Baby . . .

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Tamra

Working behind a campground counter is never, ever boring.  One of my favorite perks of the job, is when young campers share things with me they’ve found or seen in camp.   I’m not talking about everyday things like a flower or a bird feather.   I mean the cool and unusual stuff.

I’ve been brought

a turtle that had (sadly) been run over but (luckily) still lived . . .

all kinds of bugs . . .

bones . . .

frogs and salamanders . . .

old bottles.

If I don’t know what they have, we google it right then and there.

For example:  Over Labor Day weekend, a couple of my seasonal kids rushed into the store.  They were obviously frantic.

“Tami! Quick! What do you do when a baby squirrel has fallen out of its nest and the Mom isn’t coming for it?”

“How long has it been?” I asked.

“An hour.”

So I looked it up.  Of course, the first thing we did, was have them call a squirrel rehabilitator.

While they waited though for a response, they wanted to do the right thing.  The girls would rush in, ask a question and rush out to perform the duties, only to rush back in again with a new question.

“We waited two hours and the mother still isn’t calling or coming for it, what now?”

“We filled a soda bottle with warm water, put it in a glove and the baby’s curled up against it.  His body temp is coming up, but the Mom still hasn’t come to get it, what now?”

“What do we feed it?  Not milk?  What’s Pedialyte??”

“Hoooooow, do we feed it?”

Eventually the rehabilitater called and agreed to meet the family to take the little one.  I learned so much and really enjoyed my experience with the girls.  I sure hope the little squirrel is doing well.

Has anyone else out there every encountered injured wildlife?

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2012 Fall Writer’s Schmooze

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Tamra

There’s nothing like a good writer’s critique circle to spark your creative mind.

And I have bragging rights to one of the best.

Back row: Mona Pease, Laura Hamor, Denise Ortakales, Val Giogas, Mary Morton Cowan, Anna Boll, and me ....... Front Row: Jeanne Bracken, Nancy Cooper and Christy Webster

Not only do these women lay out one of the most delicious pot luck lunches I’ve ever drooled over, but they’re all very, very talented children’s book writers!  With the help of Christy Webster from Random House Books for Young Readers, we dissected and  examined picture book texts, historical novels, historical verse, middle grade and YA chapters too.  Laura Hamor even brought her most recent storyboard to share.  I always love to hear the new and brilliant ideas my friends have dreamed up, as well as their re-worked manuscripts.  I learn something new every time we get together.

To my surprise, glasses were raised to celebrate Cooper and Packrat‘s sale to Islandport Press!  How sweet was that?

When the work was done . . . and the supper eaten, we joined the campground campfire to chat and listen to tunes.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Now, it’s time for me to dig back into Cooper’s revisions!

 

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Sharing The Process With My Students

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Tamra

I’ve been back to assistant teaching for a week now, and it’s been so much fun telling my students  about Cooper and Packrat being picked up by Islandport over the summer.  During some of last year’s lessons,  I’d highlighted the similarities between their classroom writing and the process I used to write Cooper.  They asked very good questions, like:   How many times did you have to rewrite it?   How long did it take you to write 35,000 words anyway?  How the heck did you ever fiiiiind  35,000 words to write?  How do you choose the storyline?  The characters?  Do you really have to do research?  Whoa, you make more mistakes than we do, Mrs. Wight! (after seeing a manuscript full of critique notes from a writing friend)

And they kept me going, asking every now and again if I’d heard anything from the publishers.  Why did it take so long anyway, they’d say over and over again. I warned them they could be graduated from high school before I sold a novel, but they just wrinkled their noses and laughed at me.

These kids are some of my biggest cheerleaders.  And there’s even a few of last years eighth graders who came back from the high school to  congratulate me. Soooo many hugs!

Already the new wave of questions flow:  How come it won’t come out till August?    Will it be an e-book?  Will it have pictures?  Can we read it first?  Pleeeeeease??

*rubbing hands together*   So for them to now go through this final process with me . . . it’s going to be so awesome!  It’ll be more fun than doing it from my quiet, winter, campground office, that’s for sure.

 

 

 

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Some Foggy Morning Pics

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Tamra

What a lovely kayak ride I had this morning!

Everything was so still and peaceful at 6:30am.  The fog was thick, but it gave me the illusion I was all alone on the lake.

Well, me and the very vocal baby eaglet!

And a gray heron . . .

and a flock of geese in V-formation . . .

and the fishermen . . .

and the loons . . .

I didn’t see the loon family, but I’m not surprised really.  At times I couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of me.

The adults above flew in and were fishing together.  It’s that time of year . . . the adults will gather together more and more over the next few weeks until they eventually head to the coast ahead of their little ones.

One of my campers reported that that baby loon was left alone for quite a time yesterday.  He must be doing really well!

 

 

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The Reason I Keep Renting These Lenses

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Tamra

So the ginormous rental lens I mentioned a couple weeks back?  Well, it came in.  But it was for a Nikon.

I have a Canon.

Someone goofed.  It wasn’t me.  It wasn’t the lens rental place.  It was HE-who-shall-remain-nameless-because-I-think-he-works-sooooo-hard-and-I-appreciate-HIM.

HE fixed the problem, and on Wednesday, the re-order came in.  Needless to say, I’ve been taking it out as often as I can!

Wednesday, after the visit with my editor and publisher *grin*, I went out in the kayak to check on the loon family.  All three are doing well.  The baby has grown quite a bit!

Baby at 12 weeks

 

He’s lost his down and has his parents markings.

Both adults are still feeding him, although I noticed he is diving for much longer periods of time now.

Listening to their where-are-you-wails and the soft hoots can always calm my soul.

Loon wailing

 

The sun wasn’t in the best position for photos, and I didn’t want to disturb the loons by trying to get around them.  Still, these images came out pretty good, I think.

This gray heron has been quite elusive over the past few years.  These are the best pics I’ve ever taken of him!

And then of course, there are my eagles.  All three eaglets have survived, thank goodness, and they’re seen quite often around the lake.  The youngest is quite a yeller, I’m afraid.  He cries and cries and cries for food.  The day I saw him, he was bugging an adult so badly, it chased him down the lake.

Here’s the little one, back on the nest, begging.

As you can see, the nest has fallen.  Some campers swear it was struck by lightening last week.  I think the cause could be from the weight of three very busy eaglet triplets.  In 2005, an amazing wildlife biologist came to band that year’s eaglets, and he let me follow along to document it. He’d estimated back then, that the nest weighed 700 lbs.  They’ve added to it every year since. And because it sat at the tip-top of a red pine,  he warned that it wouldn’t last forever.  Sadly, he was right.

I did read today, though, that eagles who are successful breeders year after year (and I can attest that these two are!)  will re-nest in a nearby tree.  I hope, I hope, I hope, they do!

So, why do I keep renting these lens?  Well, you see, I’m trying to find just the right one. I’m going to treat myself . . . and it’s going to come in very handy.

Not only do my campers like to see wildlife photos on the campground blog, but I’ve just signed a contract for a middle grade novel to be released in August of 2013.  Cooper and Packrat:Mystery on Pine Lake is a story very near and dear my heart, because these  12 year old boys are nature geeks like me.  Their story is an eco-adventure mystery set on Pine Lake at Cooper’s family’s campground.  Their first adventure focuses on a pair of nesting loons who are in danger.

When Islandport Press posts their official press release, I’ll be sure to let you all know.

In the meantime, I think I’ll try to get out on that lake very, very early tomorrow morning.

 

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August Kayaking

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Tamra

I ordered one of those ginormous rental lenses again!  It’s a different model than the one from last May, but it received good reviews and I wanted to try it out.

It arrives tomorrow.  But I couldn’t wait that long to get out and find my eaglets and loons. (Fridays are a huge camper check-in day too, no way I could sneak away then)  So I decided to take my old, beat up but faithful lens out today.  The teacher I work with came along.  We talked about the classroom, our students who moved on to ninth grade . . . we talked about my writing and photography, and then we heard a familiar call.

One of the eagle babies was hollering like crazy. We found him high in a tree quite a ways from their island.  I told Shannon, “They still cry for food weeks after leaving the nest.  They’re probably hoping Mom or Dad will feed them.”

Funny thing is, as we made our way past, we realized one of the adults was sitting just below the baby.

Would you call that tough love???  Listening to all that crying but hoping they’ll swoop down and scoop up their own fish dinner?

As we paddled a little further, the call of the loon echoed across the lake.  Oh, how I’d missed it!

The parents were very attentive to their baby today, unlike the eagle adult!  They dove left and right, popping back up with minnows in their beaks every time.

I can’t tell you how many shots I took of  loons with wriggling minnows in their beaks.  Sometimes they’d call a soft hoot and glide over to the baby.  Other times they swished it around in the water to attract their little one.

I noticed  the baby was diving now too!  He stayed under for much shorter periods than his parents.  And rather than the graceful, slow surfacing of the adults, he kind of popped out of the water like a cork.  Still, he came up with one or two minnows of his own.

Let me tell you, the young one is eating very well!

And all the while I watched him feed, that eaglet (who I suspect is the youngest of the triplets) cried and cried and cried.

I don’t think the loons have any sympathy though, seeings how the eagles would probably still steal their chick, given half the chance.

Stay tuned for more wildlife pics, as I test out the new lens!

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Oscar

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Tamra

This afternoon, I set out to feed and trim my flowers . . .

And look who I found living  in my garden!

He’s an awfully big frog in a teeny, tiny pond.

I can’t figure out how he got here.  We’re quite a ways from the lake and it’s all uphill.

Then again, he has everything he needs in my garden. Some running water,

a nice rock to sun himself on . . .

This one is a male. I can tell, because his eardrums are larger than his eyes.

 

and plenty of food.  I read that bullfrogs will eat almost anything!  Insects, small mammals, frogs (even other bullfrogs!) crayfish, worms, baby birds, and minnows, to name a few.

I sure hope he sticks around for a little while.

I think Oscar’s kind of cute.  Don’t you?

 

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