Allie Bock Update

 

Hi guys! I hope your summer has been great! Did you do anything fun? I would love to hear about it if you did. Writing Update August flew on by for me and I've been busy with work. I had planned on releasing my third Sunnydale book in the middle of this month, but I'm pushing it back to October. It is Delilah and Kade's story. They used to be high school sweethearts until something happened that tore them apart. I can't tell you as you'll have to read the book when it comes out. ;) Fast forward 11 years, Kade gets himself busted up by a bull at a rodeo and is on bedrest. Delilah left her job as an emergency room nurse and then finds out that she needs money. Kade's brother offers her a position as their in-home nurse to care for Kade. Will she be able to put aside her feelings for him? Will she take the job, even if it means risking her heart? Anyway, the story is being read by my beta readers and going through a couple rounds of edits. Plus, it is getting a new cover in September. I was going to try to make my own cover, but who am I kidding? I'm not a graphic artist. My next project is working on deleted scenes and extra epilogues. They should be done by the end of September and I can't wait to share them with you!

Country Living I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of my life with you. Hubby and I are raising American Bucking Bulls (ABBI). Even though the name has bulls in it, it includes cows, calves, bulls, and steers. It is the second biggest cattle registry in the United States right behind Holestien (the black and white milk cows). ABBI cattle compete at events as 1, 2, 3, and 4 year olds with them being divided into age groups. Then, they become rodeo bulls or go to the Professional Bull Riders events. Their job is too buck off riders in less than eight seconds. Needless to say, these cows are super athletic. In our first year owning them, we underestimated how high they could jump. Hubby built a corral, alleyway, and chute so that we could give them vaccines, deworm them, and put fly spray on them. The fence around the corral was planned to be six feet tall, but it was only at 5 feet because he ran out of supplies. We had the weekend off and it wasn't going to rain, so we decided that it shouldn't be a big deal to run them into the corral. Boy were we wrong! Well, we got them in fine. We had 2 black cows that led the way. But then there was Wiggins. She was a large white cow with small black spots. She had long sweeping horns and fire the blew from her nostrils. (The white cow in Falling for My Cowboy was modeled after her.) She had a 3 month old calf by her side that trotting into the pen after her. I closed the gate behind them as Hubby started them towards the chute. Wiggins took one look at him, eyed the far wall of the corral, and snorted. He took a step towards her to turn her. Her head came up, her eyes blazed, and she took off at strong trot passed him. She took three strides before launching herself into the air with the grace of a deer. She folded her front legs up close, sailing over the fence to land in our yard. Then, she trotted down our driveway, away from the herd. We did get her back into the pasture, but we didn't try to get her into the corral until it was over 6 feet tall.

Corn Chowder Recipe This is the season for sweet corn. We love to eat it with loads of butter and salt, but we always have leftovers, being it is just the two of us. I found a recipe on Pillbury to use our leftover corn. It was so good! Ingredients: Corn (I had 8-10 ears of cooked sweet corn. The original recipe called for 2# of frozen corn) 1# of red potatoes 1/2 cup of chopped onion 32 oz of Chicken broth 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon of pepper 2 tablespoons of corn starch 2 cups of half-and-half Chopped Bacon - optional Cheddar Cheese - optional Directions: 1. Remove corn from the cob and put kernels in crock pot. 2. Dice potatoes to the size you like. 3. Chop 1/2 cup of onion 4. Put corn, potatoes, onion, chicken broth, salt, and pepper in crock pot 5. Turn on high for 3-4 hours. 6. My hubby doesn't care for cooked potatoes so I took over half of the cooked mixture and ran it through my blender and put it back in for another 30 minutes. 7. Whisk the cornstarch into the half-and-half. 8. Pour it into crock pot. Add bacon if you are using it. Stir. Cook on high for another 15 minutes. 9. Ladel out and enjoy! I made it with the bacon and thought it would have been great without it too. It freezes well also! This is a portion of my September newsletter. I also include some great reads and specials. If you would like to receive it sign up HERE and receive My Cowboy Crush for FREE ($2.99 value).