Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Kimberly A Cook

Got A Pumpkin Invasion?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Running errands on Friday I stopped at the store and saw the big orange invasion; pumpkins everywhere! White pumpkins, bumpy pumpkins, baby pumpkins, miniature pumpkins, regular pumpkins and ceramic pumpkins. Plus all the Halloween candy one’s heart desires.

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A pile of perfect pumpkins!

 

Time to stock up now! If you want the good Halloween candy you have to buy in September, because the locusts come in and all that is left by mid-October is the candy nobody really likes. Consider yourselves warned.

The reason I was in the garden section was to find discounted items for the Fairy Rock Garden and perhaps a gazing ball on sale. Scored on all accounts. The garden art was twenty-five percent off, including the gazing ball, picked up some plastic butterflies,  a couple mini-elves and a mini-house.

Bargains make me so happy, but I’m sure there must be a garden art intervention in my future.

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Pumpkins for every taste. Think these are free range pumpkins.

 

More leaves are turning colors and falling off the trees, the tomatoes are giving their last crop of bounty and the weekend rainstorm reminded us all why we like sweaters and warm socks. The sun is coming back this week, but the shorter days tell the story; soon it will be time for pumpkin pie!

So the outside chores to do list is heating up. I will try to finally get the garage cleaned up and mucked out. Then it will be time to put the lawn swing away for the winter and break out the fuzzy blankets and fleece lounging jammies for cuddles.

Celebrate the seasons and enjoy the simple pleasures. Planting new bulbs is always a good idea to see what pops up in the new year. Must go back to the garden section while the sales are still raging. Plus pick up some extra Halloween candy. Just to be sure……

Got treats for tricks?

 

P.S. A salute to the first responders, law enforcement staff, military personnel and citizens who helped this past weekend after the terrorist acts on the East Coast. Wishing all those wounded and injured to heal fast and know you are in our hearts and prayers.

While we seek justice against terrorist acts, we must not lose our compassion. Fighting terrorism is not easy and it won’t be finished overnight. But with a United States population of more than 330 million strong, we’ve got this and we will finish it one day. Count on it.

 

Harvest Moon Tonight!

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by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Tonight is the full Harvest Moon and I can feel the nip of Fall in the air. Mornings are cooler and some leaves are starting to turn colors, so that means comfy blankets, reading books, Hallmark Holiday movies and tons of FOOD! Fabulous.

To celebrate this big moon, felt an old time song would do the trick. Haven’t seen this movie yet, but Gordon MacRae was a pretty handsome guy back in the day and he could sing too! Not just a pretty face. He starred in “Oklahoma” and “Carousel” too. I might break out in show tunes!

Doris Day is amazing. One of my favorites and a great comic actress as well. Plus animal lover. Love her a lot.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday! Stock up on hot chocolate mix and apple cider now!

 

Rolling Rocks In The Garden?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Back to the rocks! This past weekend I finally got to put rocks in the Fairy Rock Garden. This might seem pretty straightforward, but in the end I needed three different types of rocks. So far.

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Bags all lined up like soldiers. That was as far as I was going to haul them. 

 

First choice was to use white rocks. Researched them at Home Depot and did not like the look. Shopped online and found a landscape company close by with rocks to be used in fish aquariums. Got a five-gallon bucket of those. They are so pretty I want to use them for jewelry.

Decided the aquarium rocks would be used to simulate a pond and then I would go with decorative river pebbles. When I bought the six bags of river pebbles, the pond pebbles looked nice too. Bought two of those bags.

There was not one place on those rock bags that said how much they weighed, but I knew it was more than thirty pounds of kitty litter. Used my Air Force Reserve flight gloves, since the nomex with leather grips really help grab plastic bags. Full of rocks. Wet rocks.

Thursday loaded the rock bags from Home Depot into Subie. Friday unloaded the rocks from Subie to the garden. Saturday I decided it was not rock moving day.

Sunday it was time. The rocks spread pretty well but I almost forgot about the aquarium rocks, but I remembered in time to make the rock pond.

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Get your freshly washed rocks! See the agate aquarium rocks for the rock pond?

 

They were drying out and looking dirty, so then I had to wash my rocks. About this time I figured I was doing play therapy and I could not have been happier. Whatever floats our boats!

Even found the piece of black obsidian Mom brought over from her yard and gave it a good scrubbing and added it to the landscape. Then I started moving things around. HGTV in the rock garden!

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Pretty rocks in my own rock garden. Fabulous.

 

Then I began finding fun rocks in the Fairy Rock Garden. Started pilfering my own pebbles. Once a rock hound, always a rock hound. Still have a bucket of aquarium rocks left too. Priceless!

Then my new Fairy Houses 2017 Calendar by Sally J. Smith arrived. The pictures are what dreams are made of and where fairies truly live. There is a Fairy Garden industry!

But now I have to order the doors for the Fairy Houses, get ready to put a roof on the stump with pine cone pieces and unleash the hot glue gun. Plus move the elves in to guard the perimeter.

It’s not easy being a Fairy Rock Garden developer, but I’m having a blast.

Whatever play therapy works for you, have fun!

 

 

 

 

Oregon Love For Louisiana Kitties!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The long weekend messed me up on my Tuesday blog post, but I did get lots of things done that involved furnace guys, cleaning out things and moving rocks. The glamour of it all!

But on this eve of 9/11, it’s nice to know that no matter what the disaster in our nation, we lend a helping hand to our fellow citizens, including the furry ones. A total of 31 cats and kittens arrived from Louisiana yesterday to help make room for felines affected by the flooding there and to bring some furry Southern charm to Oregon.

Remember those we lost on 9/11 and the first responders and construction workers we are still losing to illness fifteen years later.

Honor them by adopting a Southern feline friend in need as an act of kindness.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday.

P.S. No Sound on the video. Just cute kitties.

How About These SEALs?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Heading into the long Labor Day weekend, wanted to send a shout out to all the troops around the world who will be working hard while we play. Then thought it might be super cool to watch these Navy SEALs play at a football game. Jumping into a football game that is.

Have a great, safe weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

https://youtu.be/x_7tsRrgA2Q

 

Cranky Or Kind Seagull?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Back to the beach! Looking at my pics from our early August beach trip, I’m always surprised with what I see afterwards. Take this normal seagull. I took five pictures of him doing his feather cleaning and then a couple of him/her looking out to sea.

Five. Looking closer at the pictures when I got them on my computer, I noticed one photo of a nice, normal kind of happy looking seagull. Fluffy, pretty, bright colors.

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Normal seagull guy on the rocks. So to speak.

 

Then I looked at the other four and saw the feather cleaning shot, couldn’t see his/her face. Then when I looked closer at the final three, I spotted this. Cranky seagull. Or is that just my imagination?

Checked the rest of the photos and three of the five are cranky gull. It almost seems like he knows what I’m doing and he’s not happy being a victim of the paparazzi. Maybe he is a celebrity seagull?

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Cranky seagull! It’s the mouth right?

 

The best advice when taking photos is take as many as you want; you never know what will show up. When I went on a Europe camping trip for three months in 1983, I took 70 rolls of film; one for each day of the trip. Ended up selling a few rolls to my Autotours EX57 buddies, but I used most of them. When in doubt, take the photo.

Then be prepared for something to happen you couldn’t have arranged in a million years. Like this crazy person walking out onto the sea cliff across the bay from me at the same time a small boat was headed toward the harbor. Imagine!

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You cannot plan this stuff, so you have to be ready to take the photo.

 

If it had been earlier or later in the day, the lack of glaring sun would’ve made the colors deeper. But short of hiring people to stand out on rocks, we have to take what pops up in front of us. Literally.

So always be prepared with extra memory cards and backup batteries. There may be a cranky seagull in your future.

Photo on!