Wolf Connection - a nonprofit organization that works with At-Risk Kids and Wolves

My sister, niece and I went to volunteer at Wolf Connection during spring break.

This is Maya the Arctic Wolf. She is a sweetie. My sister and niece and I couldn't go in all the wolf pens to spend time with the wolves. But Maya is a very gentle wolf and Kenai was fine with us in their "den".

Wolves might look like dogs but there are a lot of differences. Wolves can crush bone in their jaws and they have very large paws and long spindly legs. They are also much larger than an average dog. I have a husky and this is how she looks.

And this is me with Maya the Wolf

Do you see the difference in their size? Plus wolves are much more powerful than dogs. Of course every dog has descended from the wolf.

Here are a few photos of my time at the wolf sanctuary.

This is Teo and Rene. They are the leaders of the pack at Wolf Connection.

And  this is a video clip of the wolves howling as a pack.



This is my sister Tammy carrying some of the poo away from the pens.

It was a great way to spend a vacation.

Getting Ready for a Trip

My sis and I will be howling with the wolves...literally.

We're going to be volunteering down at Wolf Connections for our spring break.

So if you don't hear from me for a while...don't worry...

I'm just going to be in the mountains, running with the wolves...or maybe I'll be shoveling with the wolves...who knows...

But it should be fun and educational. Plus, I'll post all about it when I'm back with the humans.

SCBWI - Prepare Yourself for the Conference

Saturday morning I went to the workshop to Prepare Myself for the May SCBWI conference.

Nicole Marie Schreiber was the speaker and she gave a lot of great pointers, tips and hints to first-time conference attendees.

Some of her important tips about getting a professional critique, in my opinion, were:

1) Follow the proper manuscript format;
2) Have a critique partner or beta reader read your manuscript; and,
3) Follow the guidelines of submitting your manuscript.

These are all really important things to remember.

She also said to remember the following self-editing tips:

1) Check your spelling and grammar;
2) Show/don't tell;
3) Run through your point of view and verb tenses to make sure you stay consistent;
4) Watch out for adverbs (and cut them out whenever possible) (all "ly" words should get a second look - like she ran quick"ly". You don't really need the quickly.
5) Try to make sure you know who the main character is and that you have a good amount of conflict.

There were lots of other tips but those are the ones that stick out in my head.

Nicole also recommended reading some good books on self-editing. My favorite is Stephen King's book, On Writing.

And one of the great things about this workshop is the way the community gathers around to help each other become better writers.

It was a fun morning, filled with great tips, hints and new friendships :D

Shamrock Run 2013 - Pictures from the Day

In Portland we like to dress up and not in fancy gowns and stiletto heels, no we like banana suits and tutus - even for our dogs.

 

 And if that isn't enough, if we don't want to dress up...we undress...and I'm not talking about in the warmth of the sun...NO! This was a cold, drizzly kind of day...you know, like Portland, Oregon is famous for. And, yet, men (old enough to know better) donned - or perhaps I should say "undonned" their shirts, and went half-naked through the streets.

 Kids dressed up like bugs, ballet dancers and other things I couldn't even begin to figure out.

But all in all it was a fun way to spend a day.

How 'bout you, did you have a fun St. Paddy's Day?

Making Shamrock Suckers

I filled the molds with sprinkles of white candy and little green shamrocks. The only thing was that the green shamrocks didn't show up in the green chocolate. So that was a bit of a fail...or well, they still tasted good.

I stuck the sticks in some floral foam and hide the foam inside a hat then I decorated the top of the hat with green paper grass to hide the floral foam.

I thought it was cute ;D

Family Finale on the Food Fest

It was a St. Paddy's Day filled with food, feasting, family, friends and a lot of fun.

We had seven family members making bolognase sauce which we all put on our plates, then we tasted them and voted. It was an anonymous taste test. We had Fatina put the sauces in the bowls and label them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Only Fatina knew who made what . . . or which sauce was whose. Then we all went around and filled up our plates with a dab of each, labeled so we couldn't get confused. We all tasted the sauces then wrote the number of the best sauce on a piece of paper and slipped that paper into the ballot bowl.

That way no one knew who made which sauce, or who voted for whom.

It was super fun and filling :D

Fatina counted the ballots so there could be no cheating because some family members tried to stack the ballot box (not mentioning any names...Steve).

Nikki won! It was a great way to spend a St. Paddy's Day...and next year there will be prizes and a trophy.

Dinosaur Cupcakes

Fun shamrock day cupcakes

Here's one with fondant

This one is with frosting