It’s About That Time Of Year

Even though it’s still in the 80s during the daytime here in Arizona’s White Mountains, the wildlife have their own internal calendar. Saturday night, I heard elk bugling. If you’ve never heard the eerie sound of a bull elk challenging other bulls for dominance and summoning cows for mating, it’s a haunting experience. You wouldn’t think an animal that big could make such a high-pitched sound. This signals that it’s about that time of year for the rut to begin, and we’ll be hearing it for the next couple of months. That’s fine. I can’t get enough of it.

With all the rain we got Friday afternoon and well into the night, the world has turned green everywhere we look. Our grass, clover, and plants are definitely enjoying it, and the cosmos that Terry planted a while back are covered with beautiful flowers.

The other day I told you about the Oneisall 7 in 1 pet grooming system I ordered to try to help with the hair Alli is shedding all the time. But I forgot to tell you about something else that Terry ordered to deal with the same issue. It’s a Helio AirBroom 3-piece sweeper, squeegee, and dustpan set for cleaning up pet hair. It works on carpets, tile, and wet or dry wooden floors. The material for the sweeper and squeegee is some type of silicone that amazed me at how well it worked. Going over a carpet with the sweeper that she had just vacuumed, she came up with more hair than I could believe. If you’ve got critters in your house, you need this.

Besides writing another 2,500-word chapter in my new Tinder Street book yesterday, I also did some experimenting. Amazon is now offering AI translations of books into Portuguese, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. I had them do the first books in the Big Lake and John Lee Quarrels series, as well as both of the Dogs Run books. I have a friend who grew up in France before immigrating to the United States, and he ordered the Big Lake and John Lee books in French and told me he was very impressed with the translations. They are also available in Kindle Unlimited in the different languages now. I will be adding translations of more books as time allows.

I also put the word out in a couple of Facebook author groups I belong to that I needed more submissions for my weekly Author Spotlight, and so far I’ve got six new ones in the lineup and commitments for about a dozen more. They are everything from police procedurals to cozy mysteries, romances, and fantasy/science fiction titles, and I’m looking forward to profiling their authors.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an autographed copy of The Ghost of Marlow House, the first book in the Haunting Danielle cozy paranormal mystery series by Bobbi Holmes, who was featured in a recent Author Spotlight. When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she’s never visited the property, Danielle’s not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn’t expect to find one of the house’s previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years—shouldn’t he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living—those who have their sights on Marlow House’s other secrets.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

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Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. This may not be an aggressive driver, but it’s certainly a snarky one.

Thought For The Day – A man who builds his muscles without building his pocket will end up guarding the man who builds his pocket.