Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts

8 Flood Warnings, 1 Flash Flood Watch

And more rain coming. We have storms through Monday, then tapering off and starting up again on Saturday again. But of course this is all subject to change. Even when it said we had barely any chance of raining, it was pouring.
rain 055 (640x427)Here they said no chance of rain.
rain 056 (640x427)I was running puppies out during these breaks, though at one point we did have a half clear sky. You know, you get complacent. You think it’s poured its guts out and that’s it. No more rain. It’s clearing. That’s what a normal storm would do. But…it’s not true. It’s an illusion. Get complacent and you’ve lost your chance to run out when it’s “dry.”

I ran out to get the mail one time. It’s a couple of blocks away, and it was one of the times I thought it had really ended. Another time, I grabbed my garbage can since they did pick up. Yay! I took the dogs out when the sky looked like this thinking I’d better really walk them and make sure they did their thing.

And then it let loose.
rain 064 (640x427)pouring rain (640x427)rain and tree (640x427)
I will give the weather service credit for raising the percent to 45% chance of rain when it was pouring.

Soooooo, I had to get some really important documents signed, notarized, faxed and fedexed. I had gone out the night before, after they sent them to me soooo late and we were in the middle of a terrible storm. Thunder, lightning, deluge of rain. It’s dangerous. It’s not fiction. People most often drown in cars swept away in flood waters. But I had a deadline on the documents. Which is why I was soooo irritated that they hadn’t come in earlier and I could have taken care of the matter then. Even when I had gone out earlier to mail a package, and planned to go to the grocery store, the torrential rains started, and I returned home. Underwriters waited til the title company was closed. I didn’t get them until nearly 6 pm. Six-thirty, the fedex office was going to be closed. They also do faxes and notary. I assumed that since the rains were going to continue ALL NIGHT LONG, it would be better to go out then.

WRONG.

With that much rain in such a short period of time, roads were badly flooded. Lower riding cars than mine were sitting still, in a quandary, not sure what to do. Cars moved around the barrier, which I didn’t mind, but were headed straight for me, and I had to pull over when I could. I ended up doing the same thing when I saw the floodwaters ahead and trucks that ride higher than mine were submersed in water up to their headlights. A low riding truck had put his flashers on and just stopped before he entered the floodwaters.

Turn around, don’t drown has become the motto to warn people how dangerous it is to enter flooded roads. Car engines stall out. The car quickly fills with water. People drown. At Fort Hood, they were still searching for 6 soldiers missing after their truck was swept away in flood waters, 3 drowned, 3 are in stable condition, and 6 still unaccounted for.

I called the title company in the morning to let them know I was going to risk going out to get the documents signed, but that we’d had really bad flooding. Our streets are fine. The road we get on from there was fine. The roads leading to the main one where the businesses are located and where I needed to go, flood. Since I’m new here, I had no idea.

My neighbor had gone to the grocery store in the same plaza. I had heard him leave, so I called his wife to see how the roads were. She told me where he was at. So I tried calling him, but no answer. I let everyone know I was going and would let them know when I got there and got back safely. Then I got in my car and drove the wet streets, took a different road, and it was fine. Now, we’d had rain ALL NIGHT LONG. And that morning when I got up, it had started up again. But we had a two-hour break from the rain before the bank opened. I was there 15 mins before it opened. The post office is behind that, and the grocery store next to it. So I figured maybe I could make it to all three before the deluge began again. It was coming. The sky was turning pitch black. I was running out of time. I needed to get the paperwork done pronto, risk getting some groceries, and return home before the rains started and the road flooded again.

Okay, now this is like a book. Conflict, conflict, conflict. Deadlines. Ticking time-bomb. Threats. Bad stuff coming. Yet the thing I had to do was so important, I had to get it done, pronto. Motivation.
You always wonder why anyone in their right mind would leave their home in the middle of a disaster, unless their home is flooded and they need to leave to get to safety. Most of the people were trying to get home from work. Others, like me, were going somewhere. I had a really important reason. Anything else, and I would have said, no way, Jose, and stayed home. Not worth the risk.
So, I get the documents signed notarized, faxed. Drive to the postal annex and the clouds are looking eerily ominous. Darkening by the second. But no rain. So I run inside, get the paperwork fedexed, and run right next to the grocery store. I can do this. I wanted to get bottled water in case we have problems with our water. I needed potatoes. That’s the Irish in me.

And then it happened. I had just left the grocery store when it began. The deluge. Now…I wasn’t wearing a rain jacket. Dummy me. It was in the car. It was so hot and wasn’t raining, and I just didn’t think of it. I just thought: run in, and get out.

I had bought eggs. I think buying eggs is a mistake for me. I bought some and crushed them (since I don’t buy them but rarely), and then I bought some and we had the power outage and I had to throw them away. So I bought some and the rains were coming down hard, soaking me, lightning striking right overhead, I’m running for the car, pushing the metal basket ahead of me thinking, this is so not good. I’m throwing the 3 bags I picked up as fast as I could into the car. The bottled water is heavy and it took me a couple of minutes longer to throw it in the car. Then I had to run the basket to the basket corral. And then I ran back and got into the car and just sat, soaked, the adrenaline still pumping.

And I thought–oh, no, where did I throw my eggs?

fog 002 (640x427)
I kept thinking the road’s going to flood before I can get home. It was coming down hard. The lightning was cracking right overhead. But 5 cars were trying to back out at once. My windows had fogged up and I couldn’t see. I don’t usually have to use the defroster, so still having a time with figuring it out. I finally leave after 3 of the cars leave, and then I’m on the road, barely able to see because the rain is coming down so hard. The road is beginning to flood. I make it home, drive into my dry garage and just sit there. The adrenaline still pumping.

I unload the groceries, greet the puppies, put away the groceries, no, I didn’t look at the eggs. I couldn’t. Not yet. I let everyone know the documents were off, the title company, my realtor, my kids, my friends to let them know I was home safe and sound.

And then I checked the eggs.

One egg cracked. And I’ll have some for breakfast.
fog 004 (640x427)
 

That’s my story, rained all morning, night, have a short break and it's raining again. More rain coming.  And I’m back to the real world of edits. And I’m not going anywhere.

But then the day of closing comes...

Have a great day!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!

storm 004 (640x427)storm 006 (640x427)
Storm Total Rainfall and Flood Reports
storms between night (640x427)I thought I had left a light on outside because all of a sudden, it was really light out at 8:30 pm, and then it stormed again.
More thunderstorms possible this afternoon. But in the meantime, sunny skies and look what I captured when I took the puppies out for a walk? A baby dragonfly.
blue dasher dragonfly (406x640)I think it’s a blue dasher.
baby blue dasher dragonfly (544x640)
Oh, oh, just saw daddy cardinal with TWO baby cardinals feeding them! I wondered if there were two of them. But they were on the patio and by the time I noticed them, I missed getting a picture of all 3 of them together. More later.
Okay, off to write. Have a super great day!!!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Wild Storms Again Last Yesterday through Last Night

storms

tomato plant knocked over in storm

Hmm, this is the second time my tomato plant container was blown over in a storm. I took out the wrought iron trellis, figuring it was making it too top heavy. Obviously, that didn’t make any difference. I’m going to try putting the trellis in the ground and tying the tomato plants to it. Maybe that will work….

And MAX! Leave the tomatoes alone.
:)

Electricity went out so I kept the computer off. Bad electrical storm.

I found a used barrister bookcase at a real steal–a lady had it in her laundry room and wanted to get rid of the 40-year old cabinet that was her father’s. I had books stacked up in the corner of my office. So I was thrilled. I either was putting books away, or digging up grass around the plants I moved from out front to out back and planting flowers. Or, one flower. A pine branch fell in the storm, and broke off several of the flower stems for the ones I had sitting “safely” on the patio until I plant them.

new barrister book case 400For $80, when new ones cost around $600, it was a steal. :)  Now I have to organize the rest of the room and hang up pictures. Finally.

Okay, I’m off to write. Hope you have a lovely day!!!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

What Kind of Bird is It?

What Kind of Bird is it?
What Kind of Bird is it?
Bluebirds
Bluebirds
Bluebird
Bluebird
Bluebird
Bluebird
What is this bird?
What is this bird?
What is this bid?
What is this bid?
Bluebird taking off
Bluebird taking off
I've never seen bluebirds ever. But I kept seeing birds flying around the window when I had the blinds open. They're after bugs caught in the corner of the house. I thought they were just a bunch of sparrows. So I finally pulled up the blinds so I could watch them while I was typing on my story. Yes, I was really writing. Trying to write. Hey, I got my word count and one of the promo blogs done.

But I was so surprised to see bluebirds, I had to try and take pictures of them. This is through a screened window, so not the best shots, but still, I was thrilled. But then I saw another bird, not sure what it was. A mockingbird also flew in there, but the bluebirds chased him off. And then I'm not sure what the other bird was on the roof. It looked different from the other on the roof that I believe is the same bird underneath the eves, a small gray and black banded bird with pale yellow feathers on it's belly and throat. It looks white in some pictures, but it was actually yellow.

It's not a sparrow. I have tons of those and it's not the same.

Okay, back to writing. Have a super great Saturday!!!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Life...In the Form of Art Sculptures

boy and his dog reading a book
boy girl bench puppy
lovers
baby
And there you have it. The beginning and…the beginning again.
Still working on Billionaire!
Have a great day!!!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

More Heavy Thunderstorms in Texas!

We have a river flood warning today, no wonder. It rained sometime during the night as I found standing water in a few areas. And it was sprinkling when I took the puppies out, but also looking extremely ominous, lightning, thunder, dark clouds.

Now it’s pouring.
storms in the morning (640x427)more storms an sunrise (640x427)storms in the monring and sunrise (640x427) storms dark (640x427) (2)
And that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. No rain, or very low the rest of the week!

Have a super great Saturday! I only wrote 400 words yesterday. Had to run a ton of errands, and then I worked on 4 Celtic bears. So I’ve got to make up for it today, if I can.

So off to write unless I have to shut down. *sigh*

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear: Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Butterflies! & Faery Realms Party!

Tawny Emperor Butterfly
Tawny Emperor Butterfly
These butterflies love to eat rotting fruit. I have pears that they are enjoying. And here is the underside of the Tawny Emperor Butterfly!  They say they’re very jumpy, so it’s hard to get close and take pictures, but it was cool out when the one was resting on my brick work. The other above might have been feasting on the fermenting pears and drunk.
Tawny Emperor Butterfly
Tawny Emperor Butterfly and Yellow Jackets eating fermenting pears
Tawny Emperor Butterfly and Yellow Jackets eating fermenting pears
Comma Butterfly
Comma Butterfly
Loved the shadows he created! :)
Comma Butterfly
Comma Butterfly
Swallowtail Butterfly
Swallowtail Butterfly
And here I’m sharing all these butterfly pictures on Facebook, while I’m trying to identify them, and a friend saw this in the news about Monarch butterflies on the weather radar.  Coincidence or something else? Too cool!
http://www.grindtv.com/…/mysterious-cloud-radar…/
landscape with rainbow
It seems the perfect place for the faeries!
Okay, I’m still working on Call of the Cougar. Have 2,000 words left to reach goal, though I’m a long way from the end. But I need to write a guest blog for the new release for Oct first.
TallDarkAndParanormal2D_1400px
TallDarkAndParanormal3DBundle_800px
Only 99 cents! Limited time offer!
Preorders Available from Amazon Now:
http://www.amazon.com/Tall-Dark-Paranormal-Thrilling-Tales-ebook/dp/B00N55HGOA
Kobo:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/tall-dark-and-paranormal
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/471539
ITunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/tall-dark-paranormal-10-thrilling/id915571414?mt=11
All Romance Ebooks:
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-talldarkandparanormal10thrillingtalesofsexyalphabadboys-1611082-166.html
Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tall-dark-and-paranormal-opal-carew/1120323237
I’m working on setting up a Christmas party for the Faery Realms Box Set–also 10 authors and 99 cents!
Faery Realms Facebook Party
Faery Realms Facebook Party
Young Adult Faery Fun will be had by all! Hosted by the Faery Realms authors who are bringing prizes to add to the fun! Only 10 stories for 99 cents!
Kobo – http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/faery-realms-ten-magical-titles
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Faery-Realms-Magical-Multi-Author-Novellas-ebook/dp/B00JOP9OC2
Or the short link: http://amzn.com/B00JOP9OC2
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/428544
B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/faery-realms-anthea-sharp/1119219398

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Anthea_Sharp_Faery_Realms_Ten_Magical_Titles?id=rAFZAwAAQBAJ

Here’s the schedule so far:
Central Standard Time
9 am
10 am Rachel Morgan
11 am Talia Maya
12 pm
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm Anthea Sharp
5 pm Julia Crane
6 pm Dana Julia Burnett
I’ll slip in for the time slot nobody wants. Okay, off to write up what a werewolf would want for Christmas and back to Call of the Cougar!
Oh, can’t remember if I showed her off. Here’s another Steampunk Bear for an order.
Steampunk Bear
Steampunk Bear
And the other day, I was working on hats.
Steampunk Bear Hats
Steampunk Bear Hats
Have a super great Wednesday!
Do you have a lot of butterflies around your place?
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
www.terryspear.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears
http://www.celticbears.com

Charlotte, NC for Authors After Dark

Charlotte, NC 023 (427x640)
Aren’t they beautiful? Did anyone notice it got to be Wednesday already? How did that happen???
I lost 2,000 words on my mss. And how did that happen? I’ve been having trouble with saving, so I redownloaded my Word. But I thought I had saved Call of the Cougar before I left, it’s supposed to be saving every minute, and I sent the “saved” file to my email before I left, and when I got home, 2,000 words were missing.
All of ch 13.
Spooky music begins here.
Thankfully, I had printed out those pages (so I knew I wasn’t crazy) and had chapter 13, at least in printed form. And there were my 2,000 words.
So not sure what’s going on, but I’m saving as a new title now, to ensure I don’t have a heart attack again.
Off to work on A Silver Wolf Christmas. Only 16,000 to go on Call of the Cougar, but I’m worried about meeting the deadline on A Silver Wolf Christmas…priorities, priorities!
Came up with the idea for 2 stories to pitch also, but still trying to come up with the 3rd.
Have a super great Wednesday! It was miraculously cool here this morning and I took a picture of the sunrise in Texas, the North Star and another star below it.
sunrise and the North Star (640x427)
I was just taking out the garbage–mundane life–when I saw this dramatic sunrise, and all of sudden the mundane was no longer the mundane.
And I was surprised to feel how wonderfully cool it was when we’re going to have 100s all week.
And while I was watering the new shrubs, the birds were gathering all over the  electric lines. Yesterday, I took a video of them as they were so excited to play in the water while I was watering some shrubs around the back patio. It was fun to see them playing when before that, they had vanished.
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
www.terryspear.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Savage Hunger--Rights Sold to Tantor to Produce in Audiobook Format!

Super news for the first book in my Heart of the Jaguar series. Tantor just bought the rights to produce Savage Hunger in audiobook format. It’s my first sale to them, so this is ultra exciting for me.

I also just received this fantastic review on Savage Hunger from Lost in Books by Cassandra, as though it was fate that both would happen on the same day. :)

You know I’m teasing, right?  :)



Savage Hunger
Heart of the Jaguar #1
by Terry Spear

Connect with Terry:
~ Website ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~
~ Wattpad ~

My Thoughts – 5 out of 5 Unicorns – I loved it!!!

I love Kat as a character.  She is brave and confident and doesn’t want to just sit around while everyone else does the protecting.  But my favorites are Maya and her twin brother, they are awesome how they stick together and go out on a limb for each other ;)  I’m hoping Maya’s story is next :)  There is plenty of action and conflict in this story to keep you hooked. 

Terry does an awesome job of building the world because I was never bored reading it.  If I wasn’t watching my sister’s kids (4 of them), I’d have read this in one sitting :)

I highly recommend this book to my shifter loving friends, jaguar lovers & those who already love Terry Spear!!  Can’t wait to read more and since I have next book with me on vacation it will be soon!!!

Interested in reading???

~ Amazon ~ AmazonUK ~ B&N
And I’m back to working on edits to Her Highland Hero, and writing the novella: His Wild Highland Lass.
I was pondering the novella this morning. I had reached 12,000, but the problem with writing a 20,000-word piece of work is that you have to get to the point pretty quickly. So I was thinking about the opening and I’m going to have to rework it, have the hero see her sooner, not the build up so much, like I can do in a longer novel. But I want also to have her see him first. It means my word count will go down to begin with, but when I add her new scene it, that should bring me back up on word count. In the end, all that matters is the story turns out right. :) I always have to just write away, and then I begin to see who the characters are, what their pasts are, what the problem is. I often can’t figure that out by trying to plot it out first. And  in the end, that works for me!
My beta readers LOVE Her Highland Hero, soooo, it’s on track. :) And I can’t wait to share it soon! Oh, and that’s why I didn’t post yesterday! Juggling 2 books at the same time. Back to juggling!
Have a super, lovely Saturday!!
her highland hero cover with title cursive copy
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
Goodreads:
Facebook:
Twitter: