Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

Kimberly A Cook

Need A Doggie Alarm Clock?

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by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

I’m not a big fan of alarm clocks. Think it comes from reveille in the Army and Drill Sergeants screaming at me while in a sound sleep. Peeling myself off the ceiling is not a nice way to start the day. My clock radio with CD player wakes me with Maui music,  unless Spec Ops Cat sits on my face first.

So this big, furry, whiny alarm clock would take some getting used to, even if Caera is gorgeous and smart! Who is really training who here?

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

Up For An Urban Adventure?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

While the East Coast hunkered down for snowstorm Jonas last Friday, those of us on the West Coast felt a little guilty. On my way back from grocery shopping that day I decided to take a detour and check out a park by the river. I drive by the road to the park each work day on my way to and from the day job, but I’d never taken the turn less travelled, so to speak.

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A river, a boat and tranquility. Ah. 

 

I wound through an industrial area and continued around a few curves and then right there, a park! Motoring into the little gem, I found a nice parking lot with bleachers and restrooms, lots of grass and a boat launch. There were quite a few people out unloading fishing gear, vacant boat trailers and some people just watching the river from their vehicles.

Being close to water calms me down. Not necessarily in it, unless it’s a hot tub, but I love a bubbling brook, stream or the crash of the ocean. One of the books on my nightstand right now is “Writing Wild” by Tina Welling. It’s all about getting in touch with nature to increase your creativity.

In these days of hurry, rush, too much traffic, noise and digital everything its the perfect time to reconnect with nature and take a calm break. Now the folks back East got a little too much nature this past weekend, but some hardy souls enjoyed it if they had power and snacks.

Saw people on tv playing in the snow in Central Park and Times Square in New York and sledding down the “Rocky” steps at the art museum in Philadelphia. Definitely a one-of-a-kind urban snow adventure.

Do you have natural places close by you pass and never visit?  Do you take them for granted? Maybe it’s time to stop and smell the trees!

 

Can You Cuddle With Mr. Spock?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Right now Nashville is getting hit with a snow and ice mess and Washington, D.C., is bracing for two feet of snow. I saw a news report about a new Blizzard Buddy app for folks to use to try and date while snowed in – creative!

Here in Oregon it’s 53 degrees today and rainy, so I wanted to offer some snuggle suggestions from those of us not being beat up by winter weather. How about cuddling up with a large feline who goes by the name Mr. Spock? He keeps getting reported to authorities for being a Bobcat! He’s not, just a big boy Maine Coon cat kind of guy.

Stay warm out there, take care, have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

https://youtu.be/NL2SZxdwxtc

Signs of Spring?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Spent part of Sunday dragging things out of the house into the garage between football games; some folks call it cleaning, I call it pile management. On one such trip I heard a chorus of birds that sounded like an invasion. Looking up I tried to find geese, but no birds.

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A reminder of one of my favorite roses, the Double Delight. These blooms will return right after Spring!  

 

Following the cacophony around to the front of the house, I spied a bird convention taking place across the street in a very large tree. Birds were packed in like sardines; which is an odd visual if you think about it.

Too dark outside to grab the camera, I fished the camcorder out and tried to focus and get the sound. Got a few clips, but still couldn’t tell which kind of birds. Maybe crows? Either way, it’s a sure sign of Spring when the birdies start to return and congregate.

I noticed the heads of daffodils peaking above the ground over at my Mom’s house on Saturday. Since she’s in a warmer area her daffodils always beat my daffodils out of the ground. Her yard maintenance folks had also trimmed the roses, which I wait to do until President’s Day. Yet another sign of Spring.

Since we were drowned in December with 17 inches of rain, any sign of the round yellow orb causes us to rush out of our homes like Meerkats and squint at the sky. Monday was a no rain day and I had to scramble to find my sunglasses. That sun thing is bright!

Of course, according to the retail world, Valentine’s Day shopping started two days after Christmas. I kid you not. I went to the store to find holiday bows and wrapping on sale.

The bows had vanished and the only gift wrapping paper left was the weird designs, you know the ones, grumpy Santa’s, odd elves and goth reindeer. I walked around the end of the holiday treats on markdown and smacked into the Valentine’s Day candy. Rows of it. On December 28th!

While I can’t wait for Spring, my favorite time of year, I think I’ll pay attention to nature’s calendar and ignore the retail buying calendar. On Jan. 4th we had snow and ice. This past weekend the retail ads had bikinis on sale. Stock up on flip flops now!

Got signs of Spring?

Got A Squirrel Snow Plow?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Sunday before last on Jan. 3rd we all woke up to snow. It was quite the surprise since we were expecting freezing rain at 4 p.m. not snow at 7 a.m. But Mother Nature doesn’t like to disappoint, so we got freezing rain later in the day too. Fantastic!

Us Portlanders who listened to the weather reports swarmed the grocery stores on Saturday; one must not be iced in without snacks and junk food. I’d filled the bird and squirrel feeders too, just in case they had those YakTrax non-slippy things for their feet.

Spotted bird tracks in the snow, but no squirrel prints. Until I saw this video, little did I know he might have been out working the power lines with our PGE crews. How good is this squirrel at plowing? Would you do this for peanuts? He did! Bet his nose was cold too.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

Is That A Rock Or A Sheep?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Photography is one of my true passions and I was thinking about the photos I didn’t use in my blog last year. Thought I’d give you a peak at a very fun experience I had with my buddy Joann, aka Gate Girl, while we were on our way out to the thunderegg beds last September.

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What I saw from the car.

 

Gate Girl can spot any animal at 1,000 yards, I swear. She can also tell me what fashion accessory they might be wearing. A hunter and country girl, she is always asking me to see stuff I can never find with my challenged eyeballs. So concentrating fully on the rutted dirt road to get us to the mining beds, this was my first alert.

“Sheep! Big Horn Sheep!”

Since I didn’t see any standing right in front of me on the road, I turned to see her pointing directly left.  I could see a desert slope, some trees, rocks. No sheep.

“Look, right there!” she exclaimed.

I pulled Subie over to the right side of the one-lane road and proceeded to scan. Nothing. Then I grabbed my first ELPH camera and went full zoom. Maybe a brown something, Might have legs. Dug around in the other bag and grabbed out the newer ELPH camera with the longer zoom. By jiminy, brown sheep things!

“I think that’s a rock,” she added at the large clump next to one of the sheep in my viewfinder. “It moved!”

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Aka the rock, Barbary Coast Sheep. Not moving.

 

Besides almost throwing the camera over my head at that outburst, I tried to find the moving brown rock with my Canon Powershot ELPH 340HS point and shoot. Given the camera is the size of a deck of cards and doesn’t have a zoom lens to balance in my left hand like the 35mm, I tried not to get seasick at the same time.

I managed to find the rock, er sheep, focused and took several shots. They started to move; sheep are such unreliable models that way. At the end of the short time before they ran off, I took 23 photos and waved three cars past who were blocking my view. They had no clue there were sheep.

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Big guy and one of his harem. Wow.

 

Back at the Richardson’s Rock Ranch gift shop we asked about the sheep. The family brought six of the Barbary Coast Sheep over from Africa about five years ago and now they had close to 200. They are not for hunting, just amazing animals on the ranch.

And I got to see them because of Eagle Eyes Gate Girl and my zoom lens. Never leave home without it. Priceless! Got zoom?