
umber does not mean
somber, though pandemic frowns
steal sunflower smiles
umber by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell
by Angie 4 Comments

umber does not mean
somber, though pandemic frowns
steal sunflower smiles
umber by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell

Photo by Angie Quantrell
Text by God

Photo by Angie Quantrell
Text by God
by Angie 2 Comments

Photo by Angie Quantrell
by Angie 2 Comments

pasture grown fledgling
flightless, injured; parents guard;
frightened, precious. help!
fledgling by Angie Quantrell
This pretty red-tailed hawk is now rehabbing at Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton, Oregon. Visit link to learn more about this wonderful organization. http://bluemountainwildlife.org/

by Angie 2 Comments

The Adventures of Gunner the Poodle Pony, Gunner Meets Stella
By Lynne McGlothlen
Illustrated by David Gnass
Mascot Books; June 2, 2020
Happy book birthday to The Adventures of Gunner the Poodle Pony, Gunner Meets Stella by Lynne McGlothlen! Thank you, www.mascotbooks.com, for sending me a copy to review.
Meet Gunner, a standard poodle who looks big enough to ride! This story of Gunner is based an a real standard poodle named Gunner. Gunner is a therapy dog who visits residents and families in hospice and senior care centers.
I loved reading this story about Gunner meeting Stella, a young girl who was visiting her grandmother in a hospice center. Stella was very sad, but Gunner helped her to express her feelings and performed tricks to make her feel better.
I am fascinated by therapy dogs. I learned more about dogs who go to school to become therapy dogs as I read The Adventures of Gunner the Poodle Pony. I even learned why he is called a poodle pony!
Readers who love dogs and adventures will enjoy this book. This book would also be good to read with children who are going through the loss of a grandparent or parent due to illness. The Adventures of Gunner the Poodle Pony is a great book to read to open up conversations with children about scary end-of-life events.

Why I Liked The Adventures of Gunner the Poodle Pony:
~ I loved learning more about poodles
~ I loved learning about therapy dogs
~ I was happy to read that Gunner was able to encourage and help Stella as she faced the loss of her grandmother
~ The story is easy to read
~ In this story, Gunner actually talks to Stella. He is a poodle gifted with conversation skills!
~ The backmatter taught me more about the author, poodles, dogs, and therapy dogs
~ Gunner is pretty adorable!

Amazon Blurb:
Gunner is a special poodle. He’s what you might call “amazing” even! Gunner can do all kinds of tricks, but his most important job is to help others when they are sick or sad. When Stella’s grandmother is sick in Hospice, Gunner is there to comfort her.


Bandit the Cow Dog
Written by Phil Mills Jr.
Illustrated by Jeanne Conway
Mascot Books (June 2, 2020)
Happy Book Birthday to Bandit the Cow Dog by Phil Mills Jr.! Thank you, http://www.MascotBooks.com, for sending me a copy to review.
As a lover of horses and ranches (and having an unfulfilled lifelong dream of living on a ranch and raising horse), I loved reading this colorful picture book.
Set on a ranch in Wyoming, the story is told from the eyes of the retired Australian shepherd working dog, Bandit, and a young girl, Mary. Mary comes to visit her grandparents for the summer. Once on the ranch, Mary quickly learns she has daily responsibilities and chores. She even finds out that eggs do not have to be white and one must help out as a member of a family. All goes well until Mary forgets one essential rule on a ranch: always close and secure gates.
Bandit the Cow Dog is a fun read. I think young readers who enjoy animals, ranches, horses, and dogs will like this book. Happy Book Birthday!

What I Like About This Book:
More about Phil Mills Jr.

Amazon Blurb:
Spending the summer on her grandparents Wyoming ranch was a new and exciting opportunity for ten-year-old Mary Andrews. She lived in Denver, Colorado, and being around horses and cattle every day was a different experience. Having to do daily chores like gathering eggs and keeping an extra-close eye on her dog Princess was also new. She found it hard enough to just make her bed and keeping her clothes picked up.
But life took a dramatic turn for the young girl when she was given her first horse. Mary had never ridden before and there was a lot to learn. Thankfully, Bandit, the ranch cow dog, was around to watch over her. Bandit may have been retired, but he still liked herding chickens and trying to corral the ranch cats. Mary would soon learn having a horse was a lot different than having a dog. Along with such ownership came greater responsibilities. That would also mean learning to admit your mistakes, no matter how difficult, and then accepting the consequences, especially when Bandit knew the truth.


***Now I have a flower photo here! So pretty! Upgrade complete. Well, much still has to be done, but I have the space to do it now. 🙂
(pretend there is a very beautiful photo here of flowers, taken in Victoria, BC)
Hello, friends!
I have apparently reached the end of (photo/image) storage on the free WordPress platform. I must upgrade before I can add any more posts featuring images. I LOVE including photos, so just putting words…it’s not gonna happen. Maybe just this once, while I ask for feedback.
I would SO love your input before I choose. You can tell I’ve been dragging my feet, as I haven’t posted since April 21. Oops. Time flies when one is avoiding a decision.
Which WordPress program to you use?
Is it easy to upgrade?
How difficult is it to set up a website?
What happens if you decide to quit paying for the upgrade (I’m thinking when I die, I don’t want my stories to disappear…)?
Any words of wisdom?
Thank you for your help!
by Angie 11 Comments

Creating fairy gardens
People.
This experimental RV living situation is really hanging on. At (approximately) day 1,339 of tiny living, far longer than we expected, life revolves around creativity, tiny-ness, storage woes, lost or in storage items, and a general lack of wardrobe.
For instance, last weekend we rearranged the furniture.
Don’t get excited. That only means we moved a rug, the cat tree, our box (end table), the couch, and chair. Those are basically the ONLY things that can be moved. Though Donavyn came in to see and suggested we move the stove over there and the table over there…(they are all built-ins). He was trying!

The cat is discombobulated by the move. She is not comfortable. Her cat tree is not by daddy’s chair. She can’t figure out where to sleep. The scratching options have moved. But she does love being the in the slide and having 3 open windows at her beck and call.
The grands appreciate the long line of seating. Enough that the both boys fell asleep, tangled on the couch.
I love the evenings sitting on the one end of the couch in the slide, windows open, listening to the fountain right outside dripping and splashing. TV is off, book in hand. It’s quite like camping in the forest, but for the sounds of distant civilization.

Hmmm. One of my computer keys is making a squeaking noise. That is not normal. Nor is it good.
We have baby goats next door! 4 adorable smaller-than-my-cat stiff-legged bundles of energy and cuteness.
Our neighbors pass on cool items. We take advantage!
Our medicine cabinet is a gallon ziplock bag.
The parking shelter is perfect for outdoor homeschool activities, especially those involving water and/or messes.

The pasture. Swimming, biking, ball games, gardening, wildlife, throwing innumerable balls for the dog. That’s all summer (but winter? Sledding rules.).
We have nesting fly catchers! I’m excited about this. FLY catchers. Just imagine how many the mommy and daddy will catch for their hungry babies. Two adult males in my immediate vicinity can only imagine the bird droppings all over. Where is their sense of nature and adventure?

The cat has been warned off of fly catchers, finches, and quail. She does not listen, but one can hope.
The hawks are nesting. I can hear them peeping and calling to each other. Soon it will be time for them to teach the young ones to fly. And then hunt.
The rabbits who nibbled off most of my spring flowers have moved on. We HOPE. (As opposed to ‘became someone’s lunch’). One wonders how 7 fluffy bunnies suddenly went missing.
Despite it being day (approximately) 1,339 of bumps and bruises from forgetting to look where one moves (we should learn, one would think), life is good in our RV tiny home.
As you can tell, we spent most of our time outdoors. The patio has become our evening resting place, sitting in camp chairs, watching the wildlife antics, calling the cat down from not-our-property, laughing at quail fighting over each other.
Here’s to day (approximately) 1,340.
