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2 11, 2018

Secret Pals

By |2018-10-22T10:41:37-05:00November 2nd, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

My new school did secret pals for the month of October. It was a really fun way to get to know the other teachers.

We would leave things by the sign in computer and they would disappear throughout the day.

The best part is always the timing of the surprises.

My secret pal got me a travel mug and flavored coffee on the very day my 5th and 6th graders made me want to quit.  I’m glad I didn’t.

The next week she got me an orchid plant.  It is beautiful.

Beekeeper Brian researched and found it is best suited for east facing windows.  My kitchen window just happens to face east. Now I enjoy it as I’m working in the kitchen.

I can also see it when I am walking back to the house from the chicken yard.  It is a very pleasant sight after mucking around in the mud collecting eggs and feeding chickens.

It makes me smile.  I hope it lives a long time.

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29 10, 2018

Black Cats, Black Dogs, and Bad Luck

By |2018-10-18T10:32:41-05:00October 29th, 2018|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|2 Comments

Around Halloween time, black cats and black dogs get a bad rap for their reputation of bringing bad luck.

Black cats have had a major role in folklore and mythology for centuries. Some of it good, some of it not so good.

In some places owning a black cat is considered lucky. In others, a black cat that crosses your path signals misfortune will come your way. This illustration from thesprucepets.com shows more folklore connected to black cats.

Illustration: Hugo Lin. © The Spruce, 2018

Then there’s all the black cat connection to sorcery, witchcraft, and devil worship. Cats are nocturnal and roam at night. Folklore says witches often take the form of black cats to carry out their nefarious schemes. Satanic cults use animals for ritual sacrifices, particularly black ones. Around Halloween many shelters will not permit black dog or cat adoptions because they fear for the animals’ safety.

But black cats aren’t alone with their associations to ill luck, black dogs  also have the reputation. Folklore stories tell of a huge black dog with glowing red eyes that roams the countryside as the embodiment of the devil and warns that meeting a black dog at night is an omen for death.

Big, frightening black dogs appear in The Hound of the Baskervilles, the Harry Potter series, movies like The Omen and even on “Beware of Dog” signs.

Superstitions surround black dogs too. The Irish claim if a black dog visits the grave of a priest that priest was untrue to his vows. In Germany, if a black dog visits a woman’s grave it means she committed adultery. And, if a black dog follows you home, it brings good luck.

All this superstition and folklore has led to the Black Dog/Black Cat Syndrome. Animal shelter workers note that dark colored cats and dogs are overlooked for lighter colored companions. Campaigns to promote adoption of black animals help diminish the phenomenon. However, the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) tends to discount the syndrome. In fact, this 2016 ASPCA blog shows that black animals are actually adopted more.

To me, a dog or a cat is a good dog or a good cat, regardless of appearance. Color has nothing to do with character.

So should you come across a black cat or black dog in your wanderings this Halloween, don’t run away.

It could be they’re not out to cast a spell or bring you bad luck—they’re probably looking for a little love.

 

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26 10, 2018

Grumpy Chicken

By |2018-10-22T10:26:37-05:00October 26th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

It is not uncommon to get pecked on the hand while gathering eggs. This can be very disconcerting at first but I am not bothered by it much anymore – except for Grumpy Chicken.

She is a black top hat bird who has left marks on my hands. She even started pecking me when I was gathering eggs from the nest box next to her.  This is totally unacceptable.

The rule on Miller Farm is “I feed you and you feed me.” Grumpy chicken protested this arrangement regularly.

I used Rachel’s technique of throwing Grumpy Chicken out of the nest box before gathering eggs.  The first time I did this, she pecked at my feet.  The muck shoes must have been harder on her beak than my hand because she only did that once.

Then we started playing the game “get all the eggs before Grumpy Chicken gets back in the nest boxes.” I got really good at it.

I guess Grumpy Chicken is a sore loser because she doesn’t play anymore.  In fact today when I went out, she was not even in a nest box.

Chicken Wrangler Sara – 1

Grumpy Chicken – 0

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22 10, 2018

From Lizards to Headlights and Taillights

By |2018-10-16T13:26:41-05:00October 22nd, 2018|A Writer's Life, poetry, writing|1 Comment

Many years ago one of my grandsons lived next door. He was home-schooled and sometimes I helped with his homework.

Writing was his least favorite subject. Fast forward to his first year in college and he loves his creative writing class. He sends me links when the Southwest Baptist University newsletter publishes his work.

His most recent publication was a poem, which reminded me of another homework poem, one I’d helped him with years ago. That poem was about a lizard.

Lazy lizards leap from leaf to leaf

As green as a Sprite can

Lizards like to hide under the weather

Running, hiding, and sneaking around

Crazily, hastily, and hurriedly leaving their tails behind them

The miniature lizards are tiny compared to the big, blue sky

You can read about the do-your-homework challenge we had before he finally wrote the lizard poem here.

His newest poem is about seeing headlights and taillights as he journeys back and forth to college. I’ve copied it here, but you can also view it in the SBU Student Media Organization newsletter here.

As I drive down these roads

Each day, every night,

I look up, I look back, and

I see headlights and I see taillights

The taillights in front, the headlights behind

When they travel this life with me,

The headlights ahead and the taillights in back

When going to places I've already seen.

There might be a lesson here or there might be none,

But I do know behind each pair of lights is a someone.

He may be an old man with nothing but the past,

Or she may be a young girl nervous about class,

They could be a happy couple, but then again maybe not,

Or it might be somebody having the same thought.

Maybe they’re hurting, or maybe they're fine

Maybe they've given up or maybe they're still trying.

Will I ever know, and do I really even care?

Because what do I give them but the occasional stare?

Are they in need, and if so, why?

Could I help them, should I even try?

If they're as real and loved as I am, or maybe more,

Then why is it they're so easy to ignore?

Is it because I don't know them individually

But can only speak in generalities?

The answers to these questions I may never know

But I frequently ponder them as along these roads I go

And each day, and every night,

I look up, I look back, and I see headlights and I see taillights

Looks to me like we have a budding writer joining his multi-published father, Dr. J.B. Hixson, and his Nana.

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19 10, 2018

The Power of Not Thinking

By |2018-10-18T10:48:06-05:00October 19th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Guest blogger, Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

 A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara 

I have often heard people speak of “the power of positive thinking.” HiResHowever, I’ve become convinced lately that there is, at times, even greater power in “not thinking.”

For example, when my alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m., I get out of bed, put on my swimsuit, get in my car, drive to the outdoor pool, and jump in before my brain wakes up and realizes that it is January.

No thinking person would behave in such a manner, no matter how “positive” their thoughts.

As moms, I believe “not thinking” is a crucial skill.

For example, when a child (who sleeps on the bottom bunk) comes to your side of the bed in the middle of the night and says, “Rachel (who sleeps on the top bunk) is throwing up and it is dripping down the wall” a mom can get everything cleaned up without giving it a thought.

Most recently, I employed this “not thinking” skill when helping my husband butcher chickens.

I do not usually participate in this process. However, I called everyone I knew who had expressed an interest in observing or even learning this task (a surprisingly long list) and no one was available.

Hesitantly, I donned latex gloves and started plucking chickens. I must say, I felt a certain satisfaction since I was plucking the horrid roosters.

As long as I was “not thinking,” it was not a bad task.

People talked about how bad the chickens smelled, but my nose detected no foul (fowl) odor at all. It made me wonder if perhaps Rachel had secretly bathed the roosters.

I even carried on a pleasant conversation with my husband the entire time. Part of this conversation included, “Hey look what I found!”mm35reddevil1-1I kid you not – it was a marble, which made me think of a song (of course):

“I know an old rooster who swallowed a marble…”

I’m so glad that when my brain goes into “not thinking” mode, it still allows songs to float in and out. A silly song seems to make any task a little more pleasant – as long as you don’t think about it.

The Power of Not Thinking originally appeared on February 1, 2013

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15 10, 2018

The Tale of a Book Title

By |2018-10-14T20:32:47-05:00October 15th, 2018|A Writer's Life, Writer's Life, Writing Craft|2 Comments

Book titles and covers are important because the old adage — Readers do judge a book by its cover — is true. So, how can an author know beforehand what’s going to resonate?

Wiser people than me have come up with three criteria.

  1. A great title needs to create an image that synthesizes the story and suggest the story’s meaning or theme.
  2. The cover must also grab the attention of a casual book searcher.
  3. A title must describe the contents while being so piercing and articulate that readers will take notice.

Recently, I rebranded three previously published individual titles into a series. I considered coming up with new titles for each book, but each book already had an ISBN and the content was not changing. It wasn’t necessary.

Instead, I used a branding tagline or blurb (below) and a graphic — the ribbon — to link the books.

PROMISES series 

Two men and one woman met at Eighth Army Headquarters, South Korea in the turbulent Vietnam War years and found their lives linked together forever. The PROMISES series tells their stories through the decades that follow.

In making my decision, I examined my titles based on the expert’s criteria.

  • Book 1 is Love in the Morning Calm, Prequel to the Pendant’s Promise.

With love in the title, a reader gets the story will be a love story. The picture of Headquarters, Eighth Army identifies the setting as a military. A knowledgeable reader may also recognize that another name for South Korea is Land of the Morning Calm.

Conclusion: I may have I tried too hard.

  • Book 2 The Pendant’s Promise

The cover design with the Pendant, the Vietnam Wall, and the word promise signal another love story. I love this cover because my very talented daughter designed it. With the rebranding, my current graphic designer, Jim Peto at Petoweb.com, enhanced the graphics.

Conclusion: The title and the cover artwork make a reader notice.

 

  • Book 3 Until He Returns

The old Army green color clues a reader of the setting and time frame. The title suggests whoever needs to return is in the military. (Those who have read the first two books will know the character has been MIA since book 1.) Close examination reveals the character’s name on the dog tags.

Conclusion: Unsure whether this title hits the mark the mark or not. While the dog tags are clearly visible on the paperback cover, the tags are not readable on the eBook thumbprint.

 

  • Book 4 Promises to Keep

This is the final book of the series, which will be out next month. The title ties back to the second book’s title and the series title. The couple clues the reader it’s another love story. The sunset background suggests the end of the day and the last of series.

Conclusion: It synthesizes the story and suggests the story’s theme.

 

Overall, I give myself a generally good grade for my titles. What say you?

Should you want to read any of the books, simply click on the buy links on the sidebar. The buy link for book 4 will be added next month.

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