Mother's Day Collages

Two collages I made for Mother's Day 2012. My wife found places online where these were selling for $50 and up. We figured we could do something similar for much less. It was really fun going around our hometown looking for natural letters in our surroundings. We ended up spending only about $6 per picture including the frames.

Of Cowbirds and Starlings

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I noticed several birds on my front lawn. Three in particular drew my attention. Two were brown and rather large, and the third was sleek black and about two-thirds as big. The smaller bird I identified almost immediately as a Starling, as it had the tale-tell yellow beak and yellow streaked feathers. The other two puzzled me for some time.

              
As I watched the trio wander around my front yard, it was obvious the Starling was hunting for food. The two brown birds were tagging along and, appeared to be bullying the Starling. It wasn’t until the Starling found a big juicy bug and rammed it down one of the other two’s throats, that I realized what was going on. The Starling was trying to teach these two juveniles to hunt, the problem? They were juvenile Cowbirds.

             

 Brown Headed Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and rely on the other birds to raise their young. This often involves the death of the host bird’s young, as the infant Cowbird takes an immense amount of time and food to raise. If the host bird rejects the Cowbird egg, the adult Cowbird may retaliate against the host’s nest or eggs by smashing or destroying them.

              
While I am not overly fond of Cowbirds, I am also not entirely thrilled about Starlings either. Starlings are one of the few invasive species that we can identify their introduction onto a continent. 60-100 Starlings were released in Central Park in New York City in the 1890’s. From there they took over the continent, and are known to be aggressive at taking over native birds’ nests. They are also known for unloading all their fecal matter before landing in their nests. While growing up, a pair nested in our garage and plastered my dad’s car every time they flew in. In short, most of the poop that pigeons get blamed for is actually the result of Starlings.

             
Knowing all this, I paused to reflect on these three birds on my front lawn. The Starling, an invasive species, was now being pressed by a Cowbird to raise her young. I didn’t know whether to be thrilled or disappointed at the predicament. Both types of birds cause damage and additional stress on their surrounding species. Both species force their way in and take over otherwise peaceful situations.


As a society I often wonder if we are not like Starlings and Cowbirds, imposing our will on those around us regardless of the consequences. Do we put our fellow men at a disadvantage by pushing our agenda without consideration for those who are already there? Are we destroying the traditional family by forcing the acceptance of an alternative lifestyle?


As an individual I am very protective of my family, I also believe in being as self-reliant as possible. After watching this scene unfold in my front yard, however, I stopped to examine myself. Do I force my will on the rest of my family? Do I accept input from my wife and my children when it comes to activities and how we spend time together? I know that I am not perfect, but that is no excuse for not trying to improve how I treat my family, my community, and my fellow man. 

Kendall Purser

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Book Review- The Freshman Detective Blues

The Freshman Detective Blues by P.J. Petersen

I was quite surprised at this one, I read it many years ago and I forgot a lot of the story. There is enough about relationships in the plot to keep girls interested. As the title implies it is written for high school age children, though I really enjoyed it as a twenty-something year old. Eddie and Jack discover a skeleton in the bottom of Muir Lake which opens up a boatload of questions about what happened at the marina nine years before. At the same time Eddie attempts to woo Wendy Westfall on a scrounger's budget.The character dynamics I found quite entertaining, and the descriptions of boating, scrounging, and tinkering accurate.

I read this for a better idea of how to write scenes that involve boating and docking in different environments.

Book Review- The Fireball Mystery

The Fireball Mystery by Mary Adrian

A good book for young readers. The main topic of the book is astronomy, although the plot does take place in a boathouse community, so boating is also a major theme. The two children (Tim and Vicki) who are the main characters have a canoe and their father purchased a nearby island which they visit regularly with their new friend Joey whose dad owns a rowboat which is terribly slow. The children are stargazing on the island when a small meteor strikes nearby. They return to the island to find that Tim's new telescope is missing, and so they embark on a number of investigations to find both the meteor and the thief, not to mention the source of the mysterious lights seen at night out on the island.

My main purpose in reading this book was to get a taste of how authors portray boating for a book that I am working on about a mouse who learns to sail (Voyages of the MS Rodent).

Journeyman's Tithe- Cover

I finished my cover design for The Journeyman's Tithe, I am currently waiting for feedback on my manuscript from my editor(ie- my dad). The cover is fairly simple, again this is an experiment in self-publishing an e-book, so I built it myself using GIMP. GIMP is my favorite free image editing software. It has been compared to Photoshop in functionality, and I can tell you that the same quality of images can be made with GIMP, you just have to learn the GIMP way of doing things.

Journeyman's Tithe- First Draft

I completed the first draft of "They Journeyman's Tithe" today. It was quite thrilling to get through a draft that quickly. Granted it is only 15 pages right now, but it was very satisfying. I will send a copy to my editor/family so that I can start getting feedback. I am planning on publishing this completed work on Amazon by the end of the year. Next up the cover design!

The Journeyman's Tithe- Chapter 5 Excerpt

The Journeyman's Tithe
E-book
The initial idea for this story came to me in 2004 while serving a mission in Missouri. I jotted down 7 pages which included: pencil sketches, a basic outline, and three pages of initial text, so that I could return to the story later. I took interest in the story once again in a college writing class in 2008, and most recently when I realized it would be a good piece to explore the world of e-book publishing. I plan to have it published on Amazon by the end of 2011.


Excerpt:
Chapter 5- A Pause in time

Fey stopped at the toll gate and patiently waited his turn at the end of a long line of carts. The weather was cheerful and he did not mind the wait, especially knowing that he would be twelve gold pieces richer for the trip. He was a bit lonely though, since his companions were not with him on the journey.

He looked up at the mountains to the left of the road. A heavy mist drifted down from the highest peaks and intermingled with the highest trees. His thoughts drifted to his friends, and he wondered how they were faring. He knew the tale of the Mountain Road, as his father had told it to him all his life, but he had never considered that it might be true.

Fey pondered on this a moment, when the sun came from behind a cloud and pierced the mists on the mountain revealing for the briefest moment a distant peak with the silhouette of an old temple. There was a great cry from the wagon drivers in the line and all the pedestrians looked up as well. An old man on a nearby cart was heard to say, it had been many years since the temple had been seen from this point in the road.

Fey stared on in shock until the mists once again covered the faint image of the temple.

“Hey, move along!” shouted the driver behind Fey. “It’s your turn!”

Fey quickly came back to himself and urged the horse forward to the nearest check station. A burly man with a black mustache inspected the laden cart carefully.

“A lot of furs here for one man,” he said gruffly.

“Most of them belong to two friends of mine,” replied Fey.

“Why didn’t they come along?” the guard asked.

“They took the old Mountain Road,” said Fey a little embarrassed.

The man with the black mustache stared in disbelief.

“No one has used that road in ages! Some say it doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Fey sighed, “That’s what I told them, but they went anyway.

“Move along!” Shouted the man behind Fey once again, “I want to be in Glorydale before nightfall!”

“Hold yer horses,” growled the guard, giving the man an evil eye. “That’ll be six gold pieces for the cart, and one for each friend’s goods.”

“Eight gold pieces!” guffawed Fey, “I have never been charged for bearing another’s goods, when did that become law?”

“It hasn’t” said the guard fingering his mustache, and attempting to conceal a smile. Fey stared at the guard dumbstruck, but finally dug the money out of his purse before the man behind him made any more fuss.

“Here you are my good man,” said Fey brightening up at a sudden thought, “But I will have you know, this is the last time I travel by your road.”

The guard laughed outright and drew the attention of the other guards and passersby. When he finished laughing, Fey continued.

“Laugh if you will, but you will never see me again, I make my return trip by the Mountain Road!”

And with that he left the guard with the black mustache staring after him, as he passed through the gate down the road to Glorydale.