Woodchucks, Wind, and Wildfires (March Recap)

Hi people!

Well, since I don't really have anything to say right now, let's get on with the recap, shall we? ;)

Life/random (in no particular order):

-March was the windiest month of the year so far.  KS is known for wind; especially in March every year.

-Golden Belt Vocal Festival!! :D

-We need to keep the people that were victims of the wildfire(s) in our prayers. The one at Ashland in western KS was said to be the biggest grassfire in world history.

From Google

-We found out that Siri has several answers to the question, "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

"As many cookies as Cookie Monster could muster if Cookie Monster could master cooking cookies."

"Well, since a 'woodchuck' is really a groundhog, the correct question would be: how many pounds in a groundhog's mound when a groundhog pounds hog mounds?" 

"I suppose it depend on whether you are talking about African or European wood."

"None.  A 'woodchuck' is actually a groundhog, so it would probably just predict two more weeks of winter."

"Assuming a spherical woodchuck in a vacuum... about 42."

"A woodchuck would chuck as much as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

"Just because it could doesn't mean that it would."

"A so-called 'woodchuck' (correctly speaking, a groundhog) would chuck — that is, throw— as much as the woodchuck in question was physically able to chuck if woodchucks had the capability (and, presumably, the motivation) to chuck wood."

And eventually, after you ask it enough times…

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

"I imagine that groundhogs would prefer a different question for a change."


-Homeschool conference! Lots of books.  Lots and lots of books. ;D

-Gus was born.

-I discovered that Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog, was named after a WWI pilot.  The song "Snoopy's Christmas" was written about that pilot.

-I got a dobro strap!!

-Our church had a potato bar. Butter, ham, broccoli & cheese, bacon bits, chili... it was delicious.  And some of us got to be a bit of entertainment! Just in case you're interested...


Books:

Finished:
Crown and Jewel by Jeri Massi: 3.5 stars
By Searching by Isobel Kuhn: 4 stars
-------------
Dandelion Dust by Faith Potts (not yet published): 5 stars
The Unexpected Request by Rebekah Morris: 4.5 stars
Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier: 3.5 stars
A Horse for Kate by Miralee Ferrell: 4 stars
Choice Summer by Shirley Brinkerhoff: 3 stars
Set Free by Rebekah Morris: 3 stars
-------------
Started:
But Not Forsaken by Helen Good Brenneman

Snippets:

I didn't do a whole lot of writing this month, and to be honest, I enjoyed my little break thoroughly. XD
These snippets are from a scene I wrote for Faith's Imagine This challenge.
If you'd like to read the whole story, click here.
And now, on to the snippets!

     “Ouch… ouch… ouch… oww!” Jerry tried not to scream as he gingerly opened the hatch again.  He pulled himself up out of the turret to sit on the rim and carefully inspected his now-bloody knuckles.  “I must be the only person that keeps smashing his hands under a tank’s hatch,” he muttered.

     With a sigh he wiped the blood on his pant leg and hopped to the ground.

     Rounding the corner of the tank, he barely saw the cannon arm before it crashed into his forehead with a dull clunk!  Jerry bit back the shout that rose to his lips, though a loud groan escaped.  

     “Jerry, what the—”

     Jerry whirled around.  “Toby, don’t say one word.”

     Toby’s eyes twinkled.  “What’s the other guy look like?”

*****

     Trent gently took Jerry’s hand in his to examine it.  “You’ll be fine after a few days of soreness,” he announced.  He set his pack on the ground and, bending over to pull something out, Jerry saw a pen fall out of his pocket.  When it hit the ground, the cap flew off and Jerry noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of the pen.  Trent glanced down at it, then casually but quickly covered it with his booted foot.  Jerry momentarily wondered about it, then dismissed it with a shrug.

     “Here we are,” Trent straightened, a roll of gauze and a bottle of antiseptic in his hands.  He quickly disinfected Jerry’s knuckles and wrapped some cloth around it.  “And there you go.  You’ll be good as new in a few days.”

     “Thanks,” Jerry said with a grin.  He turned and walked away, glancing back once to see Trent rapidly snatch  up the fallen pen and place it back into his pocket, eyes darting from side to side rapidly as if he hadn’t wanted anyone to see.

     That’s weird. Jerry shrugged and moved on.

Pun of the Month:

I tried to catch some fog but I mist.

Music:

As I mentioned earlier, the Golden Belt Vocal Festival was in March.

The songs we sang were:

"Fill-a Me Up" :20

"Down to the River to Pray/ Lord, Listen to Your Children" 2:27

"Joy Overflowing" (women's song) 6:03

"I Will Boast with The Solid Rock" (one of my favorites) 8:41

"Let Everything that Hath Breath" (my all-time favorite!!) 13:47

"The Last Words of David" 29:06 

"Pie Jesu" 32:49

"Speak, O Lord" (men's son) 35:35

"Give Me Oil in my Lamp" (another of my favorites; the guys show a hidden talent ;)) 39:56

"A Mighty Fortress is our God" 43:14

Well people, have you ever sung in a choir?  Asked Siri a question and received a funny answer?  Read any of the above books?  I'd love to hear about it! ;)
~Kaitlyn

A Benchmark Post: Sitting too Long at a College Football Game (Chatting with Chowboy)

Hi people!

As you can see from the title, this post is a chat with my brother Chowboy... who actually took the computer from me months ago when Blogger was up, clicked on "new post", and typed in a title: "A Benchmark Post: Sitting too Long at a College Football Game". 

He never wrote the post; just the title.

So, rather than deleting it, I decided to make this my next sibling chat. ;)
Hello, Chowboy!

Howdy

I've interviewed Kordell and I've interviewed Birdo, but I've never had them tell a bit about themselves; so, I shall ask you: would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, let's see. A chair, couch, my sister, carpet, bookshelves, cabinets..... Would you like me to go on?

*Eyeroll* very funny.  I didn't say things around you, I said things about you.

They mean the same thing. Honest. I looked it up in the Thesaurus.

*Laughing* yeah, ok.  Well... what are your interests?  Hobbies?  Favorites?

One of my hobbies is my goat herd. My interests include goats, sports, school, (Yes, I'm one of those weird people who actually like school), and playing the banjo. Favorites: In the world of sports, I like the Royals, KU, and the Packers (Yep, I'm a Cheesehead). I won't bore you any more, although there is more.

Thanks, Cheesehead.
Yes, folks, he is one of those 'weird people' that likes school.  We call him the Teacher's Pet. B-)

Ha ha and that's not all I get called around here. :)

What's that supposed to mean?

I have a bunch of nicknames around here. I have 2 older brothers and one younger who as you can imagine like to give me a hard time.

Very true.

..........................

What's that?

I don't have anything to say.

Well... give us a pun.

Choices choices choices. Well let's see what we can come up with.
Croutons are very crummy.

You came up with that all by yourself?

Yes Ma'am.

I expect nothing less.  Good one, by the way.

I walked into a Ford dealership to buy a car. Ford just came out with a new model and I wanted to take a test drive. I loved it and so I bought it. Ford called it the Ford Future. After signing the papers the smiling car salesman walked up to me and said "Congratulations! Here are the keys to your Future!"

Oh goodness. XD

What do you call offensive Petroleum? Crude oil.

Haha!
You'd better stop before you use up all of the puns so that I can't use any in my monthly recaps. XD
In closing, what words of wisdom have you for us today?

Are you serious, or are you wanting me to say something funny?

Um... both.

I can impersonate the local undertaker.

Well, that's true!  And you're quite good at it, I might add. ;)  You've had us laughing so hard more than once.  XD

Read your Bible.

*Nods* that's wise.

Thank you.

You're welcome.
Well, I think it's time to end this post.  Thanks for coming, Chowboy!  (And thanks for actually using punctuation!  Birdo and Kordell could use a lesson from you.)

You're welcome. See ya.

Well, there ya go, folks!
I hope you enjoyed. ;)
~Kaitlyn

New Additions

Hi people!

As promised, here are the baby animals. ;)

First off the goat kids, or the goatlets, as they're called around here. ;)

Danny Duffy

Little Joe (he's the biggest one out there! XD)

Roscoe

Hannah (brown) and Brooklyn

Brooklyn and Lillian are twins, Roscoe and Hannah are twins, and Little Joe and Danny Duffy are twins.

Danny & Joe nursing

Goatlets are so fun to let you suck on your finger... until their teeth get sharp. ;)

Goats love to climb/chew on everything... including people XD

Calves:

Sam

Just in case you noticed the pattern and was wondering... yes, they're all three-letter names on purpose.  He started out with Sam and Max, and from there... he kept the system. ;)

Oops, somebody's on the wrong side of the fence! ;)

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed! ;)
Stay tuned for a sibling chat!
~Kaitlyn

Better Late Than Never, Right? (February Recap)

Hi people!

Well, even though it's mid-March already (where does the time go?!), I'll go ahead and do my Feb. recap. ;P

Life:

-6 more baby calves were born! (Yes, a post is coming with all the little ones, and I promise I'll work to get it up ASAP!)

-I vanquished NaNo Makeup!! With a total of just over my goal, 20k. ;)

-I grew closer to God, through the help of some friends. <3

-I realized how tall my brothers are. O.o

-I found a new fascination with playing the dobro.

Books:

Finished:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: 4.5 stars
For One Moment by Christmas Carol Kauffman: 3.5 stars
-----
Not Regina by Christmas Carol Kauffman: 4 stars
Courageous Love by Susan K. Marlow: 5 stars
No Way Up by Mary Connealy: 3 stars
The Pharaoh's Daughter by Mesu Andrews: 3 stars
The Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis: 4.5 stars
The Bridge by Jeri Massi: 3.5 stars
-----
Started:
Crown and Jewel by Jeri Massi
By Searching by Isobel Kuhn

Snippets:

Oh boy, I worked on 4 stories this month, 3 of them brand-new.  Um... hmm.
Ok, here are some snippets from a brand-new story that will currently remain unnamed.  I do have a title for it, but it will likely be changed, so I will not share the title right now.  (Well… that and the title may just happen to spoil the plot for someone I know. B-))

The hot, late-evening desert sun beat down unmercifully on my neck as I rode.  I didn’t know where I was going, so that made the heat even more unbearable; for all I knew, I could be simply going in circles, and I’d wind up dead in the middle of the desert.

I didn’t care.  My life had no purpose.

I wasn’t even sure how long I had been wandering around; I had been keeping track in a small calendar I carried around in my pocket, but I eventually gave up.

My pack horse lagged behind me, ears drooping.  I would have to find some water soon, or my canteens would run dry and I’d be stuck.  Not that I cared.

I didn’t have much of a backstory; I was a drifter, and my story matched that of most drifters: my parents died when I was young, my siblings and I were separated, and when I became a man, I struck out on my own for fame and fortune.

Fame and fortune.  Ha, I soon found out that neither were easy to come by; nearly impossible for a man of my standings, really.  So finally, after being left by my wife, swindled, and broke, I packed two horses chock-full of goods and set out for the west.  I had heard that there was gold over in California, but after being in the desert for longer than I cared to, I finally decided that if I ever got out of that place alive, I would never go west again.

But now, I was so miserable that I didn’t even care if I lived or died.  My water–and food–rations were running low.

Suddenly, out on the horizon, among the shimmering waves of heat, I spotted something that made my heart leap, then die.  It was the unmistakable sight of trees; but I knew it was only a mirage.  I’d had several mirages in my wandering, so this wasn’t exactly a surprise.  I just wished it didn’t have to be such a disappointment each time.

But then my horse, Shalimar, picked up his head and his ears swiveled forward.  Looking back, I saw that the two-bit packhorse did the same.  Horses don’t have mirages… do they?

I gradually allowed myself to hope.  Could this really be what I had been longing to see for days, perhaps weeks?

Shalimar picked up the pace with no urging, and soon the trees on the horizon became bigger and more lifelike.  My horse whinnied, and I was shocked to hear an answering nicker.

“What’s going on here?” I wondered to myself.

Finally we were there.  My thirsty eyes were met with a sight that quenched any other want from my mind.  I had finally found water.

I quickly dismounted, wondering how this pool appeared in this god-forsaken wilderness, but then remembered hearing about men finding an oasis or two in the middle of the desert.

I stumbled to the edge of the clear pond and drank my fill, then I almost spewed it back out when I looked up at the other side of the pond and saw something that made my stomach heave.

A man lay unmoving, face down in the burning sand.  I swallowed hard and shoved myself to my feet.  I still felt weak from not enough water, but this new liquid refreshed me.

As I cautiously approached the prostrate figure, I froze when I saw his hand, outstretched… gripping a six-gun.

Ok, so that was just one long snippet. *hides* Sorry, I'm one of those authors that loves writing cliffhangers but hates reading them... so you have my sympathy. ;P

Pun of the Month:

Jokes about German sausages are the wurst. B-)

Music:

Like I said, I love playing dobro.

Here's a video of a dobro solo, so you can see how cool it sounds. ;)

This is a popular Johnny Cash song, "Folsom Prison Blues," for those of you who like/know old country. ;)

Well, that's all for this post!

Thanks for reading!

~Kaitlyn

A Question of Honor: Blog Tour

Hi people!  

Today I'm participating in the blog tour for my friend Jesseca's latest book, A Question of Honor!

About the Book:

An awesome cover to go with an awesome book! ;)

A man. A child. A war. 
When German soldiers invade France during World War II, young Joyanna's perfect world is shattered. In the hands of those who hate her, she battles to comprehend why people can be so ruthless and cold toward those whom they have never met. 
David Sullivan, pilot in the Royal Air Force, was certain he would never hate, but a painful loss forces him to either reconsider or do the inconceivable—forgive. He is suddenly challenged by the realization that doing God's will is not easy, but most important. With the lives of freedom-fighters relying on him, he must learn the difficult lesson that he is not in control, but merely one who must surrender his heart of obedience to One greater.
A sudden turn of events lands Joyanna and David in the same country—but for far different reasons. When their paths cross, David finds he must make a decision that will affect them both for the rest of their lives. 
Will he choose vengeance, or will he let his life be ruled by a higher standard? A standard of Honor.

Find on Amazon and Goodreads

About the Author:

Jesseca is an 18-year old daughter, sister, and a child of God. Her days are spent reading, cooking, spending time with siblings, or playing piano.  And writing, of course! At an early age words fascinated her, and her love for the printed page has only grown. She lives with her parents and seven siblings in the sunny state of Kansas, and she’s convinced there’s no place like home.

Website~Blog~Amazon~Goodreads~GooglePlus~Pinterest~Instagram

This time, I will be doing an author interview! :)  So, on to the questions:

1. What inspired A Question of Honor?

That seems like it was so long ago. The story idea actually came from some pictures on Pinterest, if I remember correctly. The story has changed a TON since then, and it's completely different than what I started out with, in more ways than one. But yes, pictures from pinterest, and an interest in WWII is what sparked the story idea. 

2. What was your favorite part of writing A Question of Honor? (the researching, editing, writing, etc.)

Ohhh, definitely the first edit! Well, unless I decide to drastically change the plot. The story is down on paper, so I don't have to try and plot, or figure out what happens next. The first edit is also when, for me, a lot of research comes in, which I really enjoy! As you might have guessed, research is one of my very, very, VERY favorite things to do!

3. Are your characters completely from your imagination, or are they based off of real people?

Do you seriously expect me to answer this question? Why in the world would I tell you something like that?! It's my secret!

I mean, I could say that Elaine is based off of me and David is my future husband, but I'm sure that's not what you're getting at . . . 

*grins* Okay, I'll be serious. No, not really. Their decision to go fight in Europe is loosely based on the decision of American pilots who went overseas to fight with England, but my characters aren't really based off any one person. I'm sure I've unintentionally added little bits of people that I know into them, but they're all from my imagination. 

4. What do you want your readers to take from the story?

That no matter what circumstances are going on in our lives, no matter what we're dealing with, God is in control. And he has a plan and a purpose, even when we can't see it. And when life seems to be more than we can handle, He is there waiting for us to give up trying to do it on our own, and waiting for us to fix our reliance on Him. 

5.  And lastly, do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring authors?

First of all, write what you want to read, or a subject that is close to your heart.  Because if you do that, it becomes something you're passionate about. Also, find someone you trust to critique you work. Preferably not a family member. I know it can be so difficult to hand over something you've written to someone else, but if you want to grow and improve in writing, you need constructive feedback. And I've learned form experience; it's not as scary as it all seems. ;) 

Excellent answers! :)  Jesseca is also hosting a giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Schedule:

Wednesday: March 1st

Angela Watt -- Review/Author Interview @ The Peculiar Messenger

Faith Potts -- Author Interview @ Stories by Firefly

Thursday: March 2nd

Kellyn Roth -- Review @ Reveries Reviews

Faith Potts -- Review @ Stories by Firefly

Kaitlyn K.--Book spotlight/Author interview @ Twin Thoughts

Friday: March 3rd

Deborah C.--Book Spotlight @ Reading in June

Soleil B.-- Book Spotlight @ Reviews by Soleil

Victoria Lynn: Book Spotlight/Review @ Ruffles and Grace

Brianna Henderson -- Review/Author Interview @ Ramblings of a Pilgrim on the Way

Anika -- Review/Author Interview/Book Spotlight @ Anika's Avenue

Rebekah Ashleigh -- Review @ Rebekah Ashleigh

Saturday: March 4th

Livi Jane--Review @ Living for the Other Side

Victoria Lynn -- Author Interview @ Ruffles and Grace

Emily Putzke -- Author Interview @ Taking Dictation

Julia Ryan -- Review @ The Barefoot Gal

Rebekah Eddy -- Book Spotlight/Author interview @ Rebekah's Remarks

A Question of Honor releases tomorrow, March 3rd.  I've had the privilege to read it, and trust me, get AQoH and you won't be disappointed. ;)
~Kaitlyn