Squirrels ate our truck.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all--we do live in Jurassic Park, for Pete's sake--we discovered squirrels have been living in the underside of our truck and, evidently, snacking on the parts. We are used to deer, moles, voles, raccoons, and crows sustaining themselves and their loved ones on every living green and flowering plant in sight. And a couple of years ago a gang of muskrats chowed down on our lake trampoline, creating a hole large enough to sink the tramp into flaccid floating flotsam. But the truck?? Is nothing sacred? The folks at the Toyota dealership were puzzled. "You say squirrels ate the part?" Well, in a word, yes. Evidently, the curly-tailed, cute little rodents were not satisfied with digging up all my potted plants in a futile effort to find nuts they did not plant there. The grape vines they ate through just didn't do the trick. No. The allure of plastic and rubber fittings in the truck engine was irresistible. Funny thing was, we thought we smelled nuts roasting on the engine. Only, we thought WE were nuts. So, I wonder. What's next? Will alligators crawl up the rip-rap and devour the neighborhood dogs? Shall we build fences high enough to ward off the wooly mammoths? Can the raptors be far behind? Who says country living is boring??

Loving Lake Life

It's hard to beat spring at the lake. OK, the left-over leaves and the pollen are a pain, but the dogwoods and azaleas make yard work bearable. The lake itself never ceases to amaze. Canoes and kayaks sneak silently into the coves while bass boats zoom around in perpetual pursuit of fish beds. Ski boats and jetskis don't really crank up 'til after Memorial Day, so we have a little window for quiet meditation dockside. Ahhh. What fun to lounge with a lemonade and a book with nothing more than a cool breeze to disturb thought. It's hard to beat spring at the lake.

Susan Coryell Author: Confessions of a techno-dunce

Susan Coryell Author: Confessions of a techno-dunce

Confessions of a techno-dunce

I find it highly ironic that this vintage English major has managed, albeit not gracefully, mind you, to facilitate the publishing of two books via e-submissions. Let me give you one brief vignette illustrative of my technological expertise:  Tech support person:  "First, you have to open all your windows."  Vintage English major:  "Are you nuts?  It's freezing outside."

So...I limp my way along the Internet and pray my computer will learn to understand me.  My techno-savvy daughter says I need search engine optimizing-action on my website.  Yeah, right!  My writer friends, who surely must NOT be English majors, indicate the necessity of linking my website and blog to Facebook and uploading (downloading?) pictures--many pictures.  Sure, I can do that!  In my dreams. And, then there was yet another tech-support person who instructed me to,"...go to your cache (cash?) and cookies..."  I wanted to tell her there is no bakery within 25 miles, but instead I just I hung up on her.

Whereas, I love the fact I do not have to make constant trips to post office and mail box in order to deal with queries, manuscript submissions and galley proofs, I hate my inability to bond with my laptop.  Husband says, "You just have to know how the computer thinks."  Truly, I don't give a rat's behind how it thinks--or feels.  I simply want it to work the same way every time I use it without calling me "illegal" or x-ing me out with a loud bonging sound.  Why does it suddenly decide a certain website is no longer available?  The site was available yesterday.  Did it go on vacation?  Is it out to lunch?  Sigh.  What would Emily Dickenson have done? http://www.facebook.com/

Eaglebait will be back in print soon!

I'm so pleased to let everyone know that the paperback reprint of Eaglebait will be available this spring.  I was able to utilize the Authors Guild Back-in-Print service through iUniverse.  Eaglebait is cited by numerous anti-bullying advocacies but being out-of-print has made it virtually unobtainable.  As soon as I get publication date and ordering info, I will be letting everybody know via my blog, Face Book, my web, and any other way possible that Eaglebait rides again!  I'm especially counting on my friends, relatives, and colleagues who have connections with schools, libraries, social issues and counseling groups to get the word out.  Eaglebait presents a realistic view of bullies in the schools and offers ideas for how students can work through similar problems in their own lives.  Stay tuned, readers.  More info coming soon!

Home again, at last!

We're back at the Lake after 3 months in sunny Hawaii.  Rehabbing an old kitchen for our son and his wife and baby was hard work but rewarding, with an end product worthy of HGTV, if I do say so myself.  Despite long labor each day, we enjoyed swimming and walking at the gorgeous Hawaiian beaches and parks.  And getting to know our almost-two Hawaiian grand daughter was a joy (and a challenge at times)!  A week's mini-vacation to the Big Island (Hawaii) was both fun and luxurious at a resort hotel, and we left exactly one week before the tsunami hit the very place we had dinner our last night.  And the volcano we walked down inside erupted the day after we left.  Yikes!  Was it something we did??  It's spring at the Lake--warm and windy with flowers popping up everywhere.  Golf and kayaking are calling.  It's good to be home.

So...Hawaii's weather is perfect, except for

Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions!  On our visit to the Big Island last week, we walked down into the lava ruins of Kiluea.  The next day, it erupted.  Was it something we did??  Exactly 7 days later, back on Oahu, we had a tsunami.  No damage to Oahu, but several places we'd visited on the Big Island flooded.  Awesome stuff.  As we wind down here, I look forward to working on my two books coming out.  Am checking all the anti-bullying websites to let them know EAGLEBAIT will be available in paperback by late spring.  Also, getting the word out on my "Cozy Mystery," A RED, RED ROSE to be published by LLDreamspell by this time next year.  Spring at the Lake will be a busy time for me!