Prairie Wildlife Photos

These days, I'm busy working on the final draft of my historical romance, Emma's Outlaw, so I thought I'd give you some photos to check out. They are all of prairie wildlife in my area.

Do you remember the afternoon JJ and I sat in the van on the empty dirt road with the suspicious looking dynamite box and waited for the Mountie? Well, these cowbirds kept us company.

I had this photo in mind and just needed to wait for the cowbird to take flight.

I waited.

And, I waited.

Then, I almost missed it because my arm was getting tired holding the camera in position and the bird decided to take off at the same moment I lowered the camera.

About a quarter mile away on the same road but on a different day, I glanced at this familiar old bridge and saw a mule deer hiding underneath. As soon as my mind understood what I'd seen, I backed up to get a photo. The buck was still there--so still--that I thought it was a wooden silhouette like the ones I saw on hilltops along the highways in Wyoming last Sept. He was real, though, because we saw him move his head a few times.

This photo was taken on Hwy 48 around 8pm at the end of June. I was aiming for the reflection of the steel collar and was fortunate to find a yellow-headed cowbird in the close vicinity. You have to look close, but he's on a cattail on the right side.

The barn swallows are dive-bombing me on the way to my office in our renovated garage and when I look up at the nest, I can see open beaks patiently waiting. I'll try and get a pic of that for you for next time.

Do you have these prairie birds and mule deer where you live?

Free Book Giveaway Contest

I'm back from my annual writing retreat at St. Peter's College and feeling great! I got so much done while at the monastery and want to share my joyful feelings, so I'm giving away a new copy of Jillian Hart's Love Inspired The Soldier's Holiday Vow. Yes, the book was released in Dec 2009 but the one I'm giving away has never been read.

I want to make this a fun contest which involves both writers and readers.

Last week, my son and I had a bit of excitement when we found what we thought was 100 sticks of dynamite on the side of the road. Well, it wasn't dynamite but an empty U.S. fireworks container. The thing is, it could have been a dangerous situation.

One of the readers of my blog over at eHarlequin mentioned something about possible terrorists planning a raid at the G8/G20 summit in Toronto.

My theory is that it was left as part of an exercise by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Training Academy which is in Regina, close to where I found the item.

Now it's your turn. Leave a comment on this post between now and midnight June 30th for your name in the draw.

You'll get your name thrown in again, every time you play this 'Who, What, Why' game:

1. What did the container contain? 
2. Who left it? 
3. Why did they leave it? 
4. What was the result? 
5. What is your email address (Use the (dot) and [at] to keep the web spiders from latching onto it.)

That means, you don't need to answer in the above format if you don't want to, but if you do, you'll get an extra chance at winning the book.

I'll make the draw on Canada Day, July 1st.

Have fun... maybe this will inspire a new story for you.

:)

Got My Answer

Yesterday's post was about a box of tubes which looked a lot like dynamite sticks taped together.

Well, I received a call from the RCMP and it wasn't dynamite.

The Mountie said I'd found an empty United States fireworks container.

Which means it was just litter and no danger at all. Still, I'm glad I didn't satisfy my curiousity and look behind it for fuses.

Kind of anti-climatic, isn't it?

Found Some Dynamite... Maybe

Just after lunch on Sunday, I took my son to the city via the route which passes by the cheapest gas station around. About a mile after leaving the highway, I passed what looked like a block of dynamite sticks on the side of the road. Yeah, right.

I backed the van up and pulled alongside. But yes, it really looked like 100 sticks of dynamite all taped into a block. I took photos both with my camera and cell phone although I stayed in the van. The dynamite was stained, making it look old and was probably unstable. We were still 10 miles from the city. It probably wasn’t dynamite but to be safe, I drove about a hundred feet up the road then pulled over to phone the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The Mountie I spoke to said he’d send someone out to see. I said I’d wait there.

Now you have to understand, it was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. My son, JJ, was going on a school camping trip and needed some items. I needed to pick up hubby’s prescription. The pharmacy closes at 6pm on Sunday night. I could only see 2 houses from where we were parked and I really didn’t think it actually was real dynamite that we found. And yet, I was worried some kids would happen upon it and blow themselves to smithereens.

So we waited.

And waited.

I didn’t know how busy the Mounties were, but I explained to JJ they would come when they could. Cars zoomed past. Birds sang. And mosquitoes hovered. Still we waited. After awhile I started to feel silly because after all, who tapes 100 sticks of dynamite together and leaves it on the side of the road? Really.


Well, around 4 pm, the Mountie showed up. I signaled where the dynamite was. By the time he pulled in behind me, he was on the radio calling it in. He couldn’t confirm it was dynamite, but he told the dispatcher to send out ‘a team’ to dispose of it. The Mountie proceeded to take down my personal information then said they’d be in touch in a couple days to let me know what happened.

I looked in my side-view mirror as I drove away… the Mountie was roughly 50 ft from the dynamite, on the far side of the road, standing on his tippy toes to get a good look.
Have you ever passed something weird or suspicious on the side of the road? Did you stop to check it out?