Category Archives: CREATURES

Beady Eyes in the Trees

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So, the other night, my wife and I were taking the dogs out and I had on my headlamp, as usual I always look around first, just in case. Not only have there been reports of coyotes trotting down our street, but we have all kinds of critters in the area, because we are surrounded by wooded areas– Possums, raccoons, foxes, armadillos….and I’m just cautious that way. I don’t like walking into a dark area, or having the dogs do that, without knowing what’s out there. Anyhoo….I was waiting, and sweeping my light around the trees, and noticed some beady … Continue reading →

Goodies, Captured Critters & Politics

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Sort of a quick diary entry of our day, with our usual adventures with photography. Allergy shot today (only 28 more to go. LOL) Afterward, we had a joyful visit to Barnes & Noble (a rare treat these days) and got some goodies. Melissa bought me a pen-cup I loved, and we of course bought some books too. Tesla: The Life & Times of an Electric Messiah, Pocket Birds of North America, Speeches That Changed the World, The Total Outdoorsman (read: outdoorswoman–sexist bastards.) and a fabulous journal. On the way home, we saw a fox with an injured paw. Followed … Continue reading →

Day of the Turkeys

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For our first wedding anniversary, Melissa and I went to Onyx cave in Eureka Springs. Heading out, we were, as usual, watching for good pictures, our cameras at the ready, as I steered the Avalanche (whom we lovingly call Ava Lanche, as in French style Launch-SHAY. She is like another one of our pets.) Just down the road on Highway 23, we stopped to take photos of a tree full of turkey vultures. Creepy and wonderful. This was balanced by a precious little bluebird Melissa captured nearby. But not a turkey bluebird. We were starving, but thought we’d just stop … Continue reading →

Spider-Cabal

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So last night, we got in bed and were reading, trying to relax after our incident with smacking into a deer on the way home. While ironically reading about prepping for various disasters and emergency situations, I felt a little tickle near my ribs. My first thought was that it might be a member of the arachnid species, but my mind immediately soothed, It could just be a wayward hair, or a cat’s tail, or Noodle’s whiskers. With impressive constraint, I pointed beside me. “Baby, is there something in the bed right here?” Melissa looked down and simultaneously shot out … Continue reading →

Reproach Beyond a Dog (poem)

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(I wrote this poem years ago, but now understand even more why this issue is such a big deal for me. As an HSP, certain stimuli is maddening to me, and the barking of a dog is probably the number one thing that will drive me insane…anyway, that issue was the inspiration for this poem. P.S. no animals were harmed in the making of this poem). from Yin & Yang: Poetry & Lyrics From Both Sides of my Disposition   Reproach Beyond A Dog A soothing ritual, nightly enacted; a process habitual, rightly exacted: book on her chest, rum tea … Continue reading →

Curse of Cache La Poudre (novella)

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My new novella. Danica and Rikki have missed their plane, which couldn’t be worse news because now they might just miss their own wedding. When a pilot of a small plane offers to fly them there himself, they jump at the chance; after all, the man swears he has one short stop to deliver supplies to a ranger station in Cache la Poudre, then it’s clear skies all the way. The only trouble is, the stop along the way turns into a destination all of its own, when the pilot, telling the women they’re his cargo, delivers them into the … Continue reading →

As You Were: “well written and highly enjoyable romance, mystery and intrigue, with a light touch of humor”

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Review As You Were by Kelli Jae Baeli Singer/songwriter Tru Morgan is totally in love with her live in girl friend Brittany (Brit) Jabot. Together they share a wonderful home on Red Mountain, Colorado. Their lives are idyllic, filled with their dreams, romantic nights and  riding their beloved horses in a fairy tale, snowy setting. Life just couldn’t get much better for them……. Until one day, a malicious chain of events ends up being the indirect cause cause of a tragic accident. Tru finds herself fighting to find the life she once had with Brit. This in itself is an … Continue reading →

Birds & Bees (with giggling)

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NOTE TO READER: I’ve always found the word “chicken” to be comical. I don’t know why. Thus, I will be giggling as I write about them. So…. How exactly do birds do it? Let’s use chickens, [hehehe] shall we? Roosters fancy themselves clever little bastards. If they want to mate, they’ll call the hens out to dinner–which is usually grain on the ground. He lets them start their dinner and then when they are focused on that, he moves in for the kill, without so much as a smooth pick-up line.   We’ve all got that image of a rooster … Continue reading →

Pickles, Chills, & Snakes

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[This is another writing exercise between me and another writer. We each come up with a subject and both blog it, and don’t see each other’s version until after we’ve posted. It was my turn, and I suggested three unrelated nouns, made to relate in one piece. I chose pickles, chills and snakes.] FADE IN INT. HOUSE – DAY Two people are standing in front of a fireplace, warming their hands. We’ll call them MELANIE and BARBARA. They have been reading Dr. Seuss books all evening and are now taking a break. BARBARA reaches over and swipes her hand across … Continue reading →

Cows With Guns

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My beloved and I have made this pact, starting yesterday, that we would pick a subject and blog it separately, just to see what each of us would come up with. My suggestion yesterday was “Are writers born or made?” Hers, for today, was “Cows with Guns.” Guess which one of us is more cerebral, and which one the goob? She also informed me that the title is from a song called “Cows with guns.” Who knew? I didn’t even do any research on that one except to glance over a Wikipedia page and notice it was the title of … Continue reading →

The Extended Metaphor of Us

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She flew in under my radar. buzzed my ivory tower, until I noticed her there, gracing the sky with her beauty, like an elegant, fragile bird. When I stopped searching the sky for Harpies and pterodactyls, I saw her…strong in her weaknesses, swooping and ascending, wings white as snow, reflecting the sunlight of hope. And when she landed, and I looked into her azure eyes, I saw her soul, her damaged but still strong wings, and I stroked her, felt the softness of her feathers, smelled the scent of wind and rain, heard the beauty of her song. And I … Continue reading →

Chicken-Proper

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The tendency for some humans to be weak-minded disturbs me sometimes. So often, it is easier to embrace the easy answer of “I don’t know” over the more difficult response, “I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.” Example: we’ve often heard the alleged conundrum “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” as if this is some mind-bender of a riddle. It’s not as inexplicable as all that. To wit: from a scientific perspective, at one time, there were no chickens, and chickens appeared in the evolutionary chain because two non-chickens mated, created a zygote (first cell) of … Continue reading →

Deerly Beloved

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Things can change in a nano-second. One minute, you’re moving along in your life, perhaps even having a great day and feeling hopeful, and the next, you are reminded of how precarious life can be. Last night Kelly and I had one of those moments. If anything had been slightly different, it’s possible we would not be alive. We had spent the entire weekend enjoying various activities and meals and socializing with friends. We were on our way back from a fly-fishing excursion in Deckers, and moving through the pitch blackness of Highway 85, between Sedalia and Highlands Ranch, near … Continue reading →

Apostrophe Creature

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In Hamlet, Shakespeare said, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Peeking at me from behind a tree We cannot pretend to understand all the mysteries of this world we live in. I came across one today while walking in the rain. I spotted something odd, and started taking pictures.  I’d never seen anything like it and still am not sure what it was. A creature of some sort, shaped like an apostrophe, but moving around of its own volition. It had little snail-like horns at the top of its head. … Continue reading →

Spider in my Car

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My best friend called me not long ago, and in the middle of our conversation, she said, “Hang on, there’s a spider in my car and I have to pull over before I freak out.” She takes off her shoe to kill it and I warn her that shoes do not kill spiders. They have some kind of shield like on the Starship Enterprise, that engages. You smash them and they get up and walk away.  She claims to have injured it, but crippling a spider is not really crippling a spider–I mean there’s all those legs. You can break … Continue reading →