And The Winner Is ......

The winner of our contest is Arisha. If you want to get to know her better, you can find her lovely blog here: Joyously Living Life.

A very big thank you to all who entered my contest. I loved reading your entries. I wish I could send a free book to all of you. I hope the rest of you will buy yourselves a copy and enjoy the story of Martha, Denali and Falcor. Remember I will send you a signed bookplate if you mail a self addressed envelope to me at the address on the copyright page of the book.

Your Own Personal Copy

You can win your own personal, signed copy of Murder Spins a Tale. Just leave a comment to this post telling me why you want to read about the adventures of Martha, Denali and Falcor. I will put the ten comments that I like the best in a hat and the winning entry will be chosen at random from those ten. Be sure to include your email address in your comment. You can link proof it by using the format flocknfibermysteries at gmail dot com or you can send it to me at that email address. Just be sure I will know how to link your address from your email to your comment.

So here's your chance to get the very first copy beyond the proof copy that I get from the publishers. What a deal! Tell your friends, relations and co-workers. No fair keeping this opportunity all to yourself.

We Have Lift Off

Murder Spins a Tale is now up and running and ready for your reading enjoyment. Please go here Murder Spins a Tale to order your own personal copy. If you want a signed bookplate to place in your book, it is available by sending a stamped, self addressed envelope to me at the address on the copyright page of the book.

And after you've read and enjoyed the adventures of Martha, Denali and Falcor, I hope you will review in on Amazon.com.

It's Almost Lift Off

One more test of my patience. I received my proof copy in the mail yesterday. Express mail takes from Friday to Wednesday if it's going from South Carolina to Kea`au, Hawaii. I approved the proof copy last night and now I must wait again. It will take a week to ten days to get the book available on Amazon. In the meantime, I thought you might like to see a picture that I took of the proof copy cover.

You might also like to check out my web site for Flock and Fiber Mysteries It still isn't connected to my domain name because of technical issues, but you can get to it with the link provided here. I will be changing out the art work on the page for the book as soon as I have my "official" picture of the book cover.

Thanks for keeping up with me and my progress through the self-publishing process. I'll keep you posted on the ongoing adventures of marketing on here; and of course, I'll let you know as soon as the book is available on Amazon.

More About Those Working Dogs

Last Saturday, I was at Ahualoa Alpacas on the slopes of Mauna Kea. They were celebrating Alpaca Days and holding an open house for the public. Officially, I was there to demonstrate spinning with alpaca fiber and to talk to people about the fiber, and I enjoyed doing that. But what I really loved was watching Leo, a young Maremma, doing a perfect job of guarding his flock of alpaca.

It was a lovely sunny day and there was a large crowd wandering around and standing at the fence trying to get as close as possible to the wonderful, furry critters. When the alpaca were away from the fence, the dog could be seen resting in the shade under a tree. But when the alpaca moved up to the fence where the people were, their guardian was right there too making sure that all was under control.

Only once twice did Leo go on high alert: Once when an ATV showed up with it's noise and the second time when a cattle dog arrived in a pickup with some of the attendees. Notice his body language in this photo. It says I'm all business and ready to take on any danger to my flock.

And Now To Countdown

Part of what I've learned in this world of self-publishing is that you do a lot of hurry up and wait. It helps build patience I suppose. But yesterday, we covered a major hurdle. I uploaded the PDF file that contains the interior of the book. And since I've heard nothing saying that there was a problem with the file, I'm assuming that Create Space now has everything it needs to make a copy of my book.

So now I wait. Soon I should hear that they have a proof copy ready to send to me. I'll let them know how I want it shipped and then I get to wait some more. But at the end of that waiting, I will be holding a copy of my book in my hands. It will no longer be a manuscript or a computer file, it will be a book. If that copy of the book has no problems, I will give my OK and within a few days it will be available on Amazon. After that, it will become available in other areas. Don't worry, I will keep you alerted to all of these events.

Counting down 10 - 9 - 8 .........

The Dogs

Two of the major characters in Mystery Spins a Tale are Martha's Great Pyrenees, Falcor and Denali. Great Pyrenees have been used for hundreds of years to guard livestock from predators. They originate from the Pyrenees Mountains and were favorites of the French Court at one time. Today they are still used to guard their traditional flocks of sheep and goats, but they also guard llama, alpaca, fowl, and miniature horses among other critters. Besides being Martha's beloved companions, Falcor and Denali guard Martha's small spinning flock of fiber animals.

Falcor and Denali are based on all of the Great Pyrenees that I have known over the past twenty plus years. However, the core of their characters comes from my first two Great Pyrenees, Denali and Miles.

When Denali died of bone cancer at a much too young age, we got Pele. Pele's sister Maddie joined our family when Miles went over the Bridge. Here they are on a hike in the Cascades in Washington state.

Maddie was bred twice and Karlo, from her first litter, joined us when he was about six months old. Here he is in a mock battle with his Aunt Pele.

Many years ago, my friend Judy wrote this piece about Maddie when there was a discussion on the Great Pyrenees list as to whether you could get a good working dog from a breeder who also sold companion and show dogs. I still love it after all these years and decided to share it with you. Enjoy.

"Maddie, one of Veryl's three pet dogs, has been staying with me for the last two weeks, while her owner escapes our rain and mud in sunny Hawaii. Maddie has stayed here before, so I knew she was good with the sheep (my house is included within the sheep fencing). She has very quiet body movements, and basically ignores the fact that there are animals around her.

This morning I let her out to splash in the ponds and get covered in mud as is her routine (and not allowed at home). She did not come in when I called her for breakfast - definitely unusual. But I could hear her barking her presence to the world, so I wasn't concerned.

When I went out to feed the sheep, Maddie was in the loafing shed - vigilantly guarding one yearling doe (who didn't belong there), one ewe,and one newborn lamb. She wasn't disturbing the pair, wasn't trying to take over the lamb (a common problem with new guardians), she was just guarding. Then she would go out onto the bridge and bark a warning, and return. During the time I was feeding, she did one full round of the field, a solid bark down the creek, and ended up back in with the new family. Looking very, very happy.

My dogs are much more casual these days about lambs. Drew was lounging on the hill that overlooks the entire sheep area, Natasha out patrolling the fence line. I think that as the oldest dog, Maddie gets to call the shots on where her presence is needed.

Maddie is 8 years old, the mother of two litters - one of her "pups" is the 1996 and 1997 top winning Pyrenean in Finland, and a house and yard dog. A pup from her second litter is a full time Alpaca guardian in Alaska.

The first time I saw her was in a show ring, at my first show. She is, however, from solid working lines. Maddie herself has several working 1/2 sibs. One of her mother's sisters guarded llamas until she died at the age of 12. Others worked in other varying environments. Her mother's sire was not only a champion and producer of champions, but had any number of pups who guarded successfully on both small family farms and large open range situations.

I would gladly take this show dog, house pet, brood bitch as a working dog to protect my flock. Her instincts are obviously very much intact, she knows a job when she sees one, and does it. She can do, and has done, it all."

If you enjoyed Judy's comments about Maddie, you might enjoy her blog which describes life on her small farm in western Washington, a farm much like Martha's: Ravenwood Farm Tails