Chick Pics & Writing News (At Last) #Authors4ALSA

I'm so sorry, but it's just going to be another quick update. After a week 'away' enjoying my wedding anniversary, everything else has fallen behind...and an exciting thing has happened.

Chick Update
Yes! Last Wednesday-a whole day ahead of schedule-the first of the six eggs under mama Firefly pipped and hatched in the space of a few hours. That little baby couldn't wait to get out.

A second followed that same evening, and by the time I checked them again next morning, Firefly had three little fluffballs under her wings.Two more hatched in the afternoon. Sadly the sixth egg was a dud - I'm afraid the attempted theft by one of my other chooks that left it lying out in the cold for an unknown time the week before may have been the cause. Who knows?! Five out of six is still pretty good going, and even more so for posted hatching eggs. 

And at five days old, they've already grown out their wings.

Look at those wing feathers!

Now, if you haven't died from cuteness overload...

Writing Update

Reunion has gone back to my editor, so I'm waiting for it to return.

And finally, don't forget...

The skies are Blue,

Our books are too.
​We're fighting ALS

with some help from YOU! ​

Twelve enthusiastic sci-fi romance and paranormal romance authors. Fifteen fantastic blue covered books. One month to help support an outstanding organization.

From May 1-31, 2018 these authors will donate a minimum of 25% of their sales of these books to the ALS Association, an organization dedicated to providing ALS patients and their families with a multitude of different types of assistance, and continuing research to find a cure for this deadly disease.

#ThinkBlue     #Authors4ALSA     #ThinkBlue4ALSA     #BlueCovers4ALS

The Immortal Greek by Monica LaPorta

The Chameleon by Diane Burton

Seeking Vector by Cynthia Sax

Prophecy by Lea Kirk

Operation Phoenix by Susan Hayes

Not His Dragon by Annie Nicholas

Morgan’s Choice by Greta van der Rol

Mind: The Emergence by Jenn Nixon

Mind: The Message by Jenn Nixon

Mind: The Fracture by Jenn Nixon

Keir by Pippa Jay

Inherit the Stars by Laurie A. Green

Forged in Fire by A.R. De Clerck

Dreaming in Moonlight by Tricia Linden

A Time to Begin by Tricia Linden

See all the books here: http://www.leakirk.com/supporting-als.html

Blue Book Cover Brigade Team Page on ALSA Site http://webgw.alsa.org/site/TR/Endurance/GoldenWest?team_id=367681&pg=team&fr_id=12950

Happy Beltane and Go Blue For May

Today is the first of May and Beltane, a day symbolising the start of summer, the end of the chilly weather *stares out window at galeforce driven winds* okay, in theory, and for me a celebratory month. Today also sees Romancing the Genres celebrating its 7th Blog-o-versary. The topic is surprising things people don't know about us that have happened over the last seven years, and we've been encouraged to do giveaways! My post will be on the 18th of May, and you'll have to wait until then to know my surprising fact and what I'll be offering up, but I also have an extra post on the 5th of May with what I'll be celebrating this month and why May is so very special to me.

Bonfires are of special significance for Beltane - deemed sacred - so you may be wondering why my ring of fire above is blue. Well, as Laurie posted yesterday, we are going blue for May!

Looking for Blue skies and smooth sailing to cure ALS

May is ALS Awareness Month and twelve sci-fi/paranormal/time-travel romance authors have joined forces to donate 25% of their May book sales to the National ALS Association! Help us raise money to support the ALSA in their mission to provide care for ALS patients and continue their research to find a cure for this heinous disease.

Look for these hashtags on Twitter to find and help support our efforts:

#ThinkBlue
#Authors4ALSA
#ThinkBlue4ALSA
#BlueCovers4ALS

Find more information and links to all the participating authors on the landing page (Lea’s site):
http://www.leakirk.com/supporting-als.html

Or check out the Blue Book Cover Brigade Team Page on the ALSA Site (where you can also find more information on the condition, the association and their work, and more ways you could help):
http://webgw.alsa.org/site/TR/Endurance/GoldenWest?team_id=367681&pg=team&fr_id=12950
ALSA Twitter: https://twitter.com/napaALSride
ALSA Facebook Group:  https://www.facebook.com/RidetoDefeatALS/?hc_location=group

Pssst, if you already have Keir I've decided to donate any proceeds from sales of any other of my blue cover books, so even if you just opt for my short story Reboot at only 99 cents, you'll still be contributing to the cause! Just click any of the covers below to go to the sale links, and be sure to check out all the other authors books by going HERE: http://www.leakirk.com/supporting-als.html

And May all your skies be blue!

Chook Update
Goodness, it's been a while. Not sure where we got to. So...

Phasma in the snow...just over a month ago

New girl Phasma has laid her first eggs! It took us a while to figure out it was her as unlike the Pekins she doesn't perform the loud and proud egg song after laying. Instead we get a mournful banshee wail if she can't get in to lay - chickens have this weird thing that no matter how many nest boxes you provide them with, they all want to lay in the same one (and often all at the same time!). Or in the case of mine, the corner between the two nest boxes, and they will all try to squeeze in (or stand outside complaining). However, she's now gone broody and a savage one at that. I have to wear gardening gloves to turf her out of the nest box so the others can lay! Oh, well...

Kairu with Scoop in the background

More surprising was catching old timer Kairu back to laying eggs. At almost five years old and after she struggled at the end of last year, we thought her egg days were over (garden hens average 5-7 years in age, and grand matriarch Scoop, who is 6, stopped laying at age 3). But nope.

Saffie considering a cooling dip during a brief heatwave!

And then new girl Saffron started laying too...which is just as well as baby Firefly went broody for the first time after laying for just four weeks. But that's a good thing because...

Hatching eggs! Yup, having hatched Firefly last year - the only surviving hen out of 12 eggs - she's about to become a surrogate mum herself. As I don't breed my own, I'm concentrating on the passing on of skills. Firefly's surrogate mum Pitch (who sadly passed away recently) was a master forager, a fiercely independent and curious soul, and Firefly inherited that. So I'm really hoping her chicks will too. These are Barbu d'uccle eggs - also known as the bearded bantam. They're even smaller than my sablepoots (with which they share some genetics), with a neck ruff and feathered feet. They're reputed to be super friendly, and popular with children as their small size makes them easy to handle. Since my sablepoots have gone from refusing to hand feed to being constantly under my feet in the space of two months (compared to my Pekins, some of whom still don't want to know years down the line), and are related to d'uccles, I'm hoping for some really sociable girls. Nine days to go!

Writing Update
Um, don't even ask...

Cosplay Update
Youngest's Plague Knight costume is coming along...

 ...while I bought a couple of pieces for a quickie Tenth Doctor cosplay for eldest. Middle child's X-men Quicksilver just needs some gadgets made for his belt and his trainers painted silver.

Meanwhile it looks like I'll still be wearing my Anakin outfit, since I never seem to get time to do myself a new one. Sigh.

Hellos and Goodbyes

I haven't had anything much of interest to post lately, and if any of you saw the recent weather reports for us in the UK related to The Beast From The East and Storm Emma, you can imagine life was a little more complicated for a few days.
But despite nothing of interest writing and SFR wise, I know some of you like my chicken updates and there's been quite a bit of development there, so I thought I'd do a quick recap on that at least.
First the bad news...

Farewell to Pitch
Of course the snow storm would hit us just as we moved the girls to a new coop and run. With the coop being plastic (which I always feel lacks the warmth of wood) and bigger with the intention to house more chickens, I fretted over whether my girls would be able to keep warm in the sub zero temperatures. Fortunately there are wiser people in several of the chicken groups I belong to, and after taking some precautions - extra bedding (deepening the layer of wood shavings and adding straw), sheets of cardboard for insulation plus a couple of thick blankets over the top to conserve heat and cut down any drafts - my girls appeared to keep cosy and dry throughout. My main concern was my two older girls Kairu and Scoop - non-farmed chickens tend to live 5-7 years and these two retirees are currently 4.5 and 6 - and younger, smaller Firefly. But everyone was happy and apparently healthy. The snow cleared, I removed all the insulation, and all seemed fine...until I opened the coop the morning of the 7th to find Pitch had passed away in the night. She was just two years old, still young for a chicken. She'd shown absolutely no signs of illness or distress the evening before, enjoying a brief romp in the garden with the flock and eating her share of bedtime corn. Chickens, like most creatures, are capable of hiding any signs of weakness to the point where they are often too sick to save by the time they show it, but when you know your pets well you can usually pick up that something is not quite right. We didn't.
You can't help but feel to blame in this situation with a young bird. We haven't lost any of them since a fox attack two years ago, and one to old age before that. Pitch was always such a feisty, lively character who liked to be in the middle of anything we mere humans might be up to, especially if she thought food might be involved. She hatched and raised two beautiful chicks last year, one of whom is Firefly. She was joint second in command of the flock, sharing seniority with our two oldest girls. She'll be missed.

Pitch when we first brought her home

"Are you sure you don't have food, human?"

Doting mama

Testing out the new coop a couple of weeks ago

Fun in the snow

Baby Firefly Is All Grown Up!
On a happier note, we have cause to celebrate. Baby Firefly has laid her first eggs! It's always a concern for the first one - chickens can get egg bound, which can prove fatal, or can suffer a prolapse which involves things you probably don't want to know about. So a successful first lay is a relief. We thought she might have been responsible for a tiny egg two days previously, but I didn't catch her in the act until she laid her second.

BTW, those aren't both her eggs - Mama Pitch had been in there laying with her. Bless!

Hello Girls!
And despite the weather and distance (sometimes it feels like fate is throwing everything in your way, doesn't it?) we were finally able to pick up my two new girls: a pair of lemon millefleur sablepoots (also known as booted bantams). I've been trying to get hold of these for a while as I want to expand the breeds of bantam we have, and it hasn't been easy! Sablepoots have a reputation for being friendly, though these two apparently need more handling since they won't even take food from me right now. And if you think the Pekins are small...these darlings are almost half the size! We've taken a break from the TV/film character names for these two and gone for yellow flowers instead: Saffron and Jasmine. Saffron is definitely the boss, and the noisier and more active girl in the video.

"What this shiny thing, Hand That Feeds?!"

These two are currently in quarantine - I haven't done this before, but with another avian flu outbreak and now having the facilities to cordon off new birds, and with Pitch's passing too, it seemed wise. The two flocks can see each other to get used to the sight, sound and potentially smell as well before I introduce the new ones. I suppose at least now I'll have room for an extra hen further down the line...

The Great Chicken Run Build
While the coop is done and the main construction too, I still need a roof. The wet weather, followed by heavy snow, followed by more wet weather has not only prevented me from working on that but proved I might need to scale up my ideas more than I planned. I found myself using a broom to try sweeping the melting snow off the temporary roof I'd put up because it was fountaining into the run and soaking my girls, so something better needs to go on. Just as soon as I get some dry weather to do it. O.o I'll finish with some photos of the big freeze!

Kala: "Stay put, girls, the damn Hand That Feeds let all that cold, white stuff in the run again!"

A nearby park

Firefly: "Nope, going to sleep through the white stuff, night night!"

Kala: "Why you let this nasty white stuff in, Hand That Feeds?"

Phasma: "Maybe if I stand really still, no one will see me..."

Boldly Going Fourth: An Unexpected Winner #SFRGalaxyAward #scifirom

Unexpected

A Scifi Romance Novella

Goodreads | Webpage

Amazon | Other Retailers

So Unexpected has lived up to its name yet again. Much to my amazement, it won a SFR Galaxy Award last week (my fourth now since the awards began), for one of the best and most interesting aliens. Of course I love my two MCs, but it's always great to learn someone else did too, and enough that they chose it as one of their standout SFR titles of the year. It's restored my faith that maybe my particular brand of SFR has an audience, albeit a small one. You can see judge Jo Jones' other selections HERE, and check out the rest of the winners and info on the awards themselves HERE.

Huge congrats also to fellow crew mate Greta on her first SFR Galaxy Award (and long overdue!), and my thanks to the judges for their time and consideration, and to the creators and organizers for their efforts. May the awards long continue!

Status Update
Brace yourselves but...I have actually finished the edits on Reunion! A shock, right? At least, I've done the sections my editor highlighted. I still need to do another full read through to be sure I'm happy (ha!), but the supposedly difficult bit is done.

Chook Update
We are about to embark on the Great Chicken Run Build this week! It's going to mean disruption for my girls, and rather cramped accommodation for them for a while, but hopefully by the end they'll appreciate it all. I know my back will be grateful at not having to crawl around to clean and restock their current run.
Kala and Phasma now seem fully settled though ranking bottom of the pile. Phasma is still very antisocial, while Kala is quite happy to get up close and investigate. Hopefully next week I'll have plenty of pics of them enjoying their new luxury run!