| | Mrs. D's Picks
This is where you'll find reviews of various media - books,
websites, magazines, anything pertaining to homesteading, homeschooling and
simple living that Mrs. D is excited about.
September/October Picks -
An old hotel, a Japanese parasol, a
secret World War II internment camp. What do any of these have to do with
a Chinese widower trying to get on with living? "Hotel on the Corner of
Bitter and Sweet" tells a story of lost love, family betrayal and wartime
oppression, set in Seattle, Washington.
Henry, a Chinese boy, and Keiko, a
Japanese girl, become best friends shortly after the start of the Great
War. When Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, the United States government starts
"relocating" U.S. citizens of Japanese descent as well as Japanese immigrants,
forcing them to abandon homes, businesses and treasured possessions.
Ford's depiction of the internment camps, though not as inhuman as the Nazi
concentration camps, is nevertheless a frightening image of what a government is
capable of, given too much power. As grown-up Henry works through his
grief and guilt after the death of his wife, events unfold that give him new
hope and purpose in life, and maybe, in love.
This was our September Book Club
read. At first I thought it was a romance, which I don't care for.
After sneaking a peek at the first and last chapters, however, I realized it was
historical fiction, which I greatly enjoy. I could not put it down,
and I appreciate that it addresses one of the "dirty little secrets" of our
great country. One of the benefits of books and now of the digital age, is
the ability to expose such wrongs and make the general public aware, so that we
can prevent them from happening again. I highly recommend "Hotel on the
Corner of Bitter and Sweet" for middle schoolers through adults.
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/54454/hotel-on-the-corner-of-bitter-and-sweet-by-jamie-ford/9780345505347/
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Videos -
All Creatures Great And Small, The Complete Series, BBC Video,
(c)1978
This British television series was based on the books by country
veterinarian James Herriot. Set in the rustic Yorkshire Dales
in England just before, during and after WWII, the young Scottish vet
and his partners face not only feral cats, raging bulls and
high-strung horses, but also their sometimes wildly eccentric
owners. The stories take a lighthearted look at the many humorous
situations that arise in daily life, and in particular, the daily duties of a
vet.
I have been watching this series with my Dad when I am
out visiting, borrowing some of the DVD's to continue watching at
home. I remember watching a few episodes when the series first came out
and enjoying them. I am alternately offended by Siegfried's
arrogance, then charmed by his kindness to a child with a sick puppy. I
admire James' patience and Helen's faithfulness, and am
appalled at Tristan's antics. I get a good laugh out of every
episode. I love the supporting cast of regulars - Mrs. Pomphrey and
Tricky Woo, Mrs. Hall and all the various farmers and estate holders.
I think what I like best about this series is the parallels to my own country
life, and the depiction of rural life "back then", before there were telephones
and electric lights in every home, and when "running" water, in many
cases, actually had two legs. Available from www.bbcamerica.com and on Netflix.
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Homeschool Curriculum
-
See The Light - And Draw!
 Okay, I may be artistic in many ways, but
I cannot draw a stick figure. I loved coloring when I was little; grandma
(a real artist) used to sit me down with tracing paper and carbon paper and I
could trace a picture and then transfer it to another paper and color it.
Drawing freehand? No way. Mrs. S used to come in and do chalk
drawings on the blackboard at school and then take us through, step by step, to
draw it ourselves. Mine were less than impressive and I never caught on to
the techniques that she was trying to teach.
Pat Knepley, of See The Light, is reminiscent of those blackboard
days. With her easel and a clean sketchpad in front of her, she slowly
explains each basic drawing technique and then illustrates it on the
sketchpad. The great part is that this is all on DVD, so you can replay it
over and over until you and your students are able to do it yourselves.
For our free trial we received the first DVD in the 9 DVD series, "The
Basics". In it Pat shares her infectious enthusiasm for art and
shows students how to set up their own tool kit, basic line drawing, contours
and using common everyday items for their subjects. There is also a bonus
lesson, chalk drawing, by another artist. After watching the first lesson,
my son was so excited that he immediately began putting together his own tool
kit, then had to watch the lesson again to make sure he had everything, making a
list of what he still needed for mom. Luckily most of the supplies we
already had on hand for our everyday homeschooling needs. No charcoal
pencils or brushes and paints yet;) We now have days of marathon drawing
sessions and my son is much more careful with his coloring projects. After
watching all four lessons plus the bonus lesson, he started begging for more of
the DVDs. I have to say I agree with him, even I'm inspired!
Designed for grades K-8 I think even high schoolers and adults, such as
myself, can truly benefit from this art curriculum. Simple Bible lessons
are woven in throughout. The first DVD is FREE! Subsequent DVDs are
$14.99 each or all 9 for $99.99. Each DVD includes 4 lessons plus a bonus
lesson. Year 2 is in the works and the company also offers a number of
related products on their website.
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Nutrition 101: Choose Life
 I love this book. Ever since I
was in high school I have been reading everything I could get my hands on about
health and nutrition. My parents liked to tease me about being "the
healthiest corpse in the graveyard", but I didn't care. I've always
thought that what life we do have we should try to enjoy fully. I've also
always had a strong suspicion that what we eat has alot to do with how we
feel. And at Growing Healthy Homes unbelievable as is may seem, are
four people who agree with me.
Based on sound scientific research and
flavored with a Biblical perspective, Nutrition 101 is chock full of information
on each of the body's systems and each one's specific nutritional needs.
This is a text that can be used year after year for health class in all grade
levels. With young children, you may just want to touch on the basics of
each chapter, and do one of the fun activities and make the power recipe.
Older children can study in more detail, delving into such areas as the Nervous
System and amino acids, diabetes, heart disease and natural and artificial
sweeteners and their effect on the body.
My personal favorites were the
alkaline/acid food charts in the Appendices, and the menu ideas. I printed
out copies of the "Food Pyramid Serving Checklist" and found out I wasn't doing
nearly as well as I thought I was in trying to include more vegetables in our
daily menu. This has become a favorite reference for my weekly meal
planning.
Nutrition 101 will help you to raise healthy eaters as
children learn and understand how food is processed, what preservatives do to
our bodies, advantages and disadantages of natural vs. artificial
sweeteners. There are lots of fun projects and a power recipe incorporated
into each week's lesson (see activity guide starting on page 285). In the
very first chapter, The Brain, children make guacamole and sprout an avocado
seed. High schoolers study the effects of ethylene gas (from and apple) on
the ripening process.
The initial investment in this product
does seem a bit high, at $79.95 for CD, $99.95 for the book, and $129.95 for the
combo, but keeping in mind that it is designed for repeated use, year after year
with all grade levels, and that works out to about $10 a year for just one
child, less than that for more children! When you find yourself and your
family actually eating better, likely there will also be a substantial savings
in health care as well.
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Teaching Spanish
I have been attempting to teach my son Spanish since he was preschool
age. Not being fluent myself, I don't quite have the whole converstional
thing down, and so far none of the programs we have tried have quite clicked for
us. Until Speekee. Speekee
teaches Spanish through total immersion, using fun puppets, catchy music and
children who look like they're really having fun. Speekee captures a
child's (and a mom's) attention using only Spanish, no back and forth to
English. Subtitles in both Spanish and English appear on the screen.
The program is basic Spanish from Spain, and it doesn't enter into
regional dialects or Mexican or South American variations. Designed for
children ages 2 to 10 years old, Speekee can be enjoyed by the whole family,
especially when the songs are learned and sung later. Each lesson episode
runs about 15-20 minutes and also has printable activities to supplement the
videos. With topics like "El Parque", El Cafe" and "El Zoo", children
are learning and reinforcing many everyday words that can be used in
conversation immediately. My son looks forward to watching Speekee
and we walk around singing the songs while we're doing our chores and while
running errands.
Speekee is available on DVD, but as it is produced in Spain, the DVD format
may not play on U.S. players. So the best option if you're in the U.S. as
we are, is a subscription to Speekee TV. For a low $7.50 a month, you get
unlimited access to all 10 episodes of Speekee, plus the printables and the
first two weeks are FREE!
The only problem I have with Speekee is that there are only 10
episodes. I would like to see alot more, enabling families to build on the
foundation set up by the first 10. Also, I would like to be able to use it
in DVD format, if the company should decide to produce a version for the
U.S.
We recieved a two month subscription to SpeekeeTV to use and review in our
homeschool. No other compensation was recieved for this review.
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Worksheets on Demand - KBTeachers
Looking for a fun way to reinforce that grammar lesson? Math activities
for your pre-reader? A fill-in body parts identification chart?
Teachers, homeschoolers, parents, KBTeachers offers worksheets, workbooks and clip art to
supplement almost every subject.
KBTeachers has seasonal themed worksheets and
acitvities, changeable elementary math worksheets, English worksheets plus
manuscript and cursive practice pages. There are printable charts showing
the American Sign Language alphabet for letters and
numbers, as well as decoding charts for Morse Code letters and numbers. We
really like the ASL chart, as we're trying to incorporate ASL into our
schoolday. My son is getting interested in codebreaking, so I can see
Morse Code coming into the school room very soon.
Other printable worksheet and workbook subjects include astronomy, geology,
weather and climate, and biology. We just did a study on tears this week,
and the printable eye anatomy chart (simplified) came in extremely handy.
The social studies section is geared primarily for middle
to high school level students and includes ancient civilizations, medieval
Europe, the cold war, and much more. We're touring the continents this
year and are currently studying South America. I've just printed out the
Map of South America as well as a research chart to compare and contrast three
of it's countries.
To get unlimited access to all this great stuff, KBTeachers offers a FREE 10 day trial. If
you like what you're getting, you can continue on for just $29 for one year, or
a discounted $49 for two years of premium membership. You can't lose with
KBTeachers' 30 day money back guarantee.
As if all of the above weren't enough, you can sign up for KBTeachers' free
newsletter, which notifies subscribers of updates to the site, featured
seasonal themes (fall, halloween, Christmas), special day worksheets
(Veteran's Day, National Sandwich Day, Daniel Boone's Birthday), and new offerings.
Many worksheets can be customized and revised to use over and over and
unlimited printables mean more fun for students and less work for the
teacher. Did I mention that worksheets are extremely helpful when you're
on the go, carschooling, or overwhelmed? High-fives for KBTeachers,
which is turning into an awesome resource for our homeschool classroom this
year!
See what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about
KBTeachers.
We received a free one year membership to KBTeachers in exchange for
publishing our opinion here. No other compensation was received for this
review.
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Good Morning God - Apologia Books
Three. That's how many times my second grade son read this book with
his dad before I even got a look at it. "Good Morning, God" by Davis
Carman, illustrated by Alice Ratterree, published by Apologia Press, is a very
child-friendly book. It spoke to my son's heart, which was evidenced by
the fact that he kept re-reading it during our extended visit with family over
Thanksgiving. He even insisted (really, with no prodding from me!) upon
doing all of the Questions and Activities in the back of the book. Good
Morning God became our reading and faith building curriculum for the week we
spent homeschooling on the road. The story follows a young boy in his
daily life for one week, from Sunday to Sunday. It can be read straight
through, or as a bedtime story. If you choose you can read one day at a
time and do the questions and activites for that day. No matter how this
book is used, it demonstrates to our children and ourselves, "the simple and
wonderful ways we can worship God...with our entire being all through the day."
(from How to Use this Book).
Written for 1-8 year olds, this book is a non-denominational Christian
discipleship tool, emphasizing whole hearted, joyful love for God and faith in
Jesus. The many scripture references in the Question and Activities
section are taken from the Zondervan edition of the New International Version of
the Holy Bible. Questions and Activities include subjects such as heaven,
what is a soul, sin, how can you take care of your body, go on a bike ride, and
draw a picture of an ear.
This is a quality, hardcover childrens book, with sturdy pages and beautiful
color illustrations, priced at only $14.00, it is constructed to last a lifetime
with gentle care. The accompanying coloring book is only $4.00.
Other books are available from this company at Apologia Press.
See
what other Homeschool Crew members are saying about this product here: Homeschool Crew.
We
received one copy of "Good Morning God" free for posting an honest
evaluation. No other compensation was received for this review.
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Talking Fingers - Learning to Read, Write and
Type
Talking Fingers “Read, Write, Type”
is an online program that teaches proper qwerty hand position and typing
technique through interactive games and stories. At the same time, children
learn letter sounds, spelling and reading, as well as composition. My son is
reading well above his grade level, but does not get bored. He looks forward to
his daily session on Talking Fingers and proudly prints out every certificate he
earns.
There are 40 levels for students to work through, learning finger placement,
building sentences and stories, with certificates awarded for every 4 letters
mastered. The program keeps track of each student’s progress and starts them
where they left off at the end of their last session. Parents can sign in and
print out progress reports and see where their child is in the program. Students
and parents sign in with separate usernames and passwords (student’s account is
set up by the parent), so multiple children can each have their own record.
Younger children may need help signing in, but should be able to work
independently from there, as the animated characters guide them through
everything. Talking Fingers “Read, Write,
Type”
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Magazines and Periodicals
-
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine - a great
homeschooling resource. Mrs. D loves their Friday Freebies Newsletter,
offering free e-books, unit studies and other free resources weekly. There
are also many opportunities to get free ebooks about Charlotte Mason's
methods, teaching math, special needs teaching and much, much more.
Digital or print subscriptions are available, as well as several excellent free
newsletters such as special offers, schoolhouse support and teacher's
toolbox. Lots of product reviews, how-tos and blogs. www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com.
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Websites -
Living on a dime -
e-book series and website by mother-daughter team Jill Cooper
and Tawra Kellam. Jill and Tawra address issues such as getting out of debt on a
low income, frugal living, cooking from scratch, and family budgeting. The
website is an up-to-the minute information clearinghouse of tips and
suggestions. Ebooks include my personal favorite, "Dining on a Dime Cookbook",
with recipes for everything from breakfast to gift baskets and mixes. Jill also
suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and has alot of good advice for anyone
dealing with illness, to keep on with living frugally. www.livingonadime.com
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The Homeschool Lounge - a great place to network with other
homeschool moms and grandmas. Lots of homeschool related groups, but also
groups for single moms homeschooling, specific issues like boys, french, adhd,
etc. Also groups like Etsy moms, the tea cozy, blogging basics, and work
from home moms. No men allowed. www.thehomeschoollounge.com.
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The Simple Homeschool - This is an awesome homeschooling
site. Along with tons of tips, J Ann Huss offers a FREE newsletter, which
includes monthly FREE unit studies. Also available are 99cent unit
studies, and many choices in more complex unit studies. Unit studies are a
fantastic way to delve deeply into science and history, while enhancing the
language arts and math skills. These print and plop lessons take the
tedium out of doing all the research and writing yourself. Ms. Huss holds
a master's degree in biological sciences and is well qualified to present these
studies, besides testing them out in her own home classroom first! www.the-simple-homeschool.com.
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The Good Life Center at Forest Farm, Harborside Maine is
also worth a gander. This is the website for the perpetuation of Nearings'
philosophy of simple, frugal, purposeful living. The real life location of
the center is at the last home of the Nearings at their farm in Maine. The
site contains info on current happenings at the farm, a bookstore where many of
Scott and Helen's books can be purchased, and other resources and inspiration
for simpler living. www.goodlife.org.
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Grit Magazine - Celebrating rural America since 1882.
What began as a Saturday edition of a daily newspaper, has evolved and morphed
into one of the most popular rural living periodicals currently available.
Picking up where another celebrated back-to-the-land publication left off when
it started touting expensive, complicated devices to "simplify" the
back-to-the-land experience, Grit delivers lots of doable, realistic projects
and real-life experiences from "them that's doin'".
The March/April issue includes informative articles on Angora Goats, electric
fencing and windmills. The online edition offers a wealth of information,
including blogs by Grit staffers who tell about their personal gardening
and farming adventures. Reader Blogs feature everything from backyard
vegetable gardening to fishing to raising livestock all over the US and
Canada. They are homesteaders, city dwellers dreaming of moving out to the
country and doing the best they can with what they've got in town, beekeepers,
young couples taking over the family farm, and outdoorsmen and women. Mrs.
D is proud to add that she is one of Grit's Reader Bloggers. www.grit.com
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www.frugalabundance.com - Miss
Maggie, originator of the Hillbilly Housewife site, has passed on ownership of
that website to her daughter, maintaining its original purpose and great recipes
and menus. This new site continues to promote and support the frugal lifestyle,
while reflecting the changes Miss Maggie and her family have incorporated into
their lives. While the old site is growing and becoming more complicated by
leaps and bound, Mrs. D finds Maggie's simple, uncluttered style refreshing. Too
much info and ads on a page, while possibly good for business, make Mrs. D's
head spin.
Back to the point, Maggie and her family have gone to a more gluten-free,
casien-free diet due to health issues. For others who need to cut out those
items, Mrs. D highly recommends Maggie's menus and recipes. They are simple,
inexpensive and tasty! Click on the "Food Storage" link and you can find her
recipes for Homemade Blender Margarine (imagine - all the benefits without the
hydrogenates), Sprout Salad Bar, and an even heartier, yummier (if that's
possible) version of her Lentil Chili recipe from the old site. The Frugal
Weight Loss section is under construction, offering more excellent low-cal
recipes and common sense weight loss tips.
An Old Fashioned Education is now available on this new site. This is
Maggie's homeschooling page with links to tons of public domain (free!) texts
and books. Maggie shares her lesson plans and philosophy of homeschooling. Lots
of advice for homeschooling on a tight budget - Mrs. D wishes she had had this
resource with her older children! This page can also be accessed at www.oldfashionededucation.com
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Books -
 Half Broke Horses, by
Jeannette Walls, (c)2009, SimonandSchuster
This was a book club read, primarily because much of it takes place in our
own area of Ash Fork, Seligman and Red Lake, AZ. We also found out that
the husband of one of our members grew up with the author's grandmother, Lily
Casey Smith, who is the subject of the book - boy, that was an
interesting discussion! After reading Shy Boy, the descriptions of
breaking the ranch horses was rather disturbing. But there is one section
where the truck Lily and her daughter are driving breaks down in the middle of
the range and the best option is to coax a wild horse into helping them.,
It was nearly Shy Boy all over again. But only for that brief
moment. The most interesting part of this book was the description of
daily ranch life and travel during the Great Depression and the Great War
(WWII).
To read about how children were reaised and treated at that time made me glad
for improvements in attitudes toward childrearing. At 15 years of age,
after spending 10 years working her father's ranch and breaking horses, Lily
Casey Smith rode solo, on horseback, from New Mexico to Northern
Arizona to work as a teacher in the district of Red Lake. Her courage and
resolve were inspiring. There are also stories of Lily and her
siblings narrowly surviving flash floods, tornadoes, and living in a sod
house.
I could relate to her feelings about the big cities of Chicago and
Phoenix. Culture and modern comforts are nice, but too many people.
My favorite lines are when Lily tells her husband "In the city people worry
about themselves. In the country we worry about the weather and the
livestock."
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 Shy Boy -
The Horse That Came In From The Wild, by Monty Roberts, (c)1999, HarperCollinsPublishers
I love this story about Monty Roberts' introduction to the wild mustang and
his happening upon the language of horses which led to his great success in
starting and rehabilitating dozens of horses, travelling the world to teach
others to do the same.
Roberts tells the story of the wild horse, from its' origins in North America
and migration to Europe and Asia, to its' arrival back in North America with
Spanish explorers. From herd of millions which once roamed the great
plains, to a few thousand survivors of government roundups, sport hunts and
starvation. He also narrates the evolution of horse training, from brute
force, to gentle cooperation. Nearly all these techniques have been around
since man first decided to ride a horse but brute force tends to be thought the
quicker, more popular way to "break" a horse. To get a horse to want to
cooperate often takes more time and patience than most people have.
Roberts shows in Shy Boy's story, that taking that time is far more important in
the long run than just quickly getting a saddle on. The proof is at the
end of the book, when Shy Boy make his final choice between the herd and his
gentler...
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Eragon,
by Christopher Paolini, (c)2003
I
was pleasantly surprised by this book. After watching the movie, which we
had checked out from the library several times, we finally decided to read the
book. It is my favorite kind of fantasy novel, similar to The Lord of the
Rings, and Narnia. Some also compare it to Star Wars. Eragon is a poor
farm boy who accidentally finds a dragon egg while he is out hunting. The
ancient egg decides he is its "rider" and hatches for him. Eragon's
homeland is oppressed by an evil king who destroyed all the previous riders
nearly a hundred years before. The only one who can help and educate
Eragon about his new responsibility is an aged and mysterius storyteller,
Brom.
Forced
to flee their homes, Eragon, his dragon Saphira and Brom travel together across
Alagaesia. Along the way, Brom trains Eragon in the skills he will need as
a rider and encourages him to help the Varden people to defeat the evil king and
restore peace to Alagaesia. Many adventures ensue, among them the rescue
of a beautiful elf maiden, and culminating with an epic battle in which Eragon
defeats the king's evil sorcerer, saving the Varden from extinction.
But
the story does not end there. Eragon needs further training, as Brom was
killed before he could impart all his knowledge. Three more books follow
the story, and if they are as captivating as the first, I will be very
happy. So far the second one, Eldest, has not disappointed.
Occasionally
throughout Eragon, I noticed the writing to be a bit less polished than
Tolkien's, but then I had to remind myself that Paolini was 15 years old when he
started writing it. Incidentally, Paolini was also homeschooled.
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Heirloom Skills and Country Pasttimes, by Deborah
Krasner, (c) 1995 - Subtitled "Traditional Projects for Kitchen, Home, Garden
and Family. This easy to read little book, illustrated with the authors
own delightful watercolors, is full of common sense and use-what-you've-got
simple projects. Mrs. D has been sewing all her life, yet only in the past
few years has she delved into making her own patterns. Pages 57 and 61
give idiot-proof directions for simple crocheted or knitted sweaters and a sewn
skirt that beginners can make right away without a pattern!
Other short chapters include: seed starting, gray water, homemade
cleaners and flea dip, pickling wood, beanstalk tepees and sunflower
forts. We LOVE this book. For a jump start on your homesteading
adventure, even if you're in an apartment in the city, or a reminder to keep it
simple, after you've been at it for awhile, this book has inexpensive projects
for everyone. The Homestead will be on the road more frequently again this
year and Mrs. D will be applying some of the container gardening tips to her "RV
garden".
Viking Studio Books, published by the Penguin Group, Penguin Books, U.S.A.
Inc., 375 Hudson St., New York, New York 10014.
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Continuing the Good Life: Half a Century of Homesteading, by
Scott and Helen Nearing, (c)1979
I was looking through old Mother Earth
Magazines and in the Sept/Oct 1979 issue I came across "The Fall Garden" by the
Nearings, directly excerpted from the above book. As I had had limited success
in my garden this year, I was resigned to only being able to use the plant stand
in the south facing kitchen window for the next several months. However, this
article reminded me of when I read the book, of the success the Nearings had in
their winter gardens in Maine! of all places. Now I am encouraged to try some
collards, spinach, cabbage and broccoli outside and see how they do. Of course,
the book covers far more than just the winter garden and Mrs. D highly
recommends it as one of several guides to a more healthy, frugal and sensible
living plan. www.goodlife.org
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Scratching the Woodchuck, Nature on an Amish Farm, by David
Kline, copyright 1997
Dew sparkling on spiderwebs, wooly worms racing across the lane, butterflies
sipping sweet nectar from the flower garden. This is life on David Kline's
Ohio farm. And how he glories in it! During the course of his day
he'll discover small animal nests while spreading manure, mowing hay, or just
standing up to take a deep breath of fresh air, unpolluted by the noise and
exhaust of heavy machinery, gas engines, or radios.
He doesn't add to his list of birds seen on his property by hiding out with
binoculars, he just encounters them while eating lunch, walking to the barn to
milk the cows, or sitting on the porch swing, admiring his wife's garden.
When he identifies a species, he includes its Latin name in his notebook.
Walking through the seasons on the Kline farm, Mrs. D developed a new
appreciation for rodents and burrow dwellers, as soil aerators. He brings
into focus the relationship between human/agriculture and insect/animal life as
he tells of transplanting some wild blackberries without the resulting fruit
bearing much resemblance to the parent; apparently he forgot to transplant the
necessary pollenators as well.
Without distractions such as internet and television, Mr. Kline has ample
time to enjoy the planets and stars, sun and moon, and to study and learn from
the rhythms and patterns of life. His observations are entertaining as
well as enlightening, offering a sometimes new perspective on the place and
purpose of many creatures we label "pest".
Published by University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA 30602 www.ugapress.uga.edu/0820321540.html
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Park Ranger, by Nancy Muleady-Mecham, copyright 2004
Some girls have all the fun. In over 30 years of being a National Park
Ranger, University Professor and Registered Nurse, Nancy Muleady-Mecham has seen
it all and then some. In "Park Ranger", she shares some of her more
hair-raising adventures as a seasonal Park Ranger in such national
treasures as Grand Canyon, AZ, Death Valley, CA, Everglades, FL and Pearl
Harbor, HI.
In the space of one night at the Grand Canyon, she responds to a domestic
dispute and as she's transporting the subject to jail, narrowly escapes being
killed by a drunk hit and rundriver with an arsenal of loaded guns in his
truck. After finally delivering her charge to the jailers in Flagstaff,
she drives to the only place open for coffee - Jack in the Box - which is on
fire. Continuing back tothe canyon, she hits an elk. Talk about your
bad night! And that's just one chapter from this thrilling, suspenseful
read, interlace with humor and reflections of gratitude to be a part of the
grandeur of the National Parks.
published by Vishnu Temple Press in Flagstaff, AZ www.vishnutemplepress.com
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