Andi and Taffy's Blog

Welcome to the Circle C Ranch

This is where Andi Carter, the main character of the Circle C Adventures series for kids, shares about her family, her horse, and her adventures in the Old West of the 1880s.

Click on a category to learn more

Daily Journal

Places to Visit

My Friends

Andi and Taffy's Blog

Howdy and welcome to my blog!
Click the sidebar graphics to see what's new on the ranch.
Have fun and please leave a comment!

Jul. 23, 2008

Chapter 6 of "Andi Lost" by Saved Girl

Posted in Young Andi Stories

Saved Girl is going great guns. She sent me another chapter for her Young Andi story, Andi Lost.
Click the graphic to go straight to Chapter 6. If you want to start with Chapter 1, click here: CHAPTER 1.

Comments (3) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jul. 22, 2008

My Rattlesnake's Rattle

Posted in Photo Gallery

Here's a picture of the rattle my brother Mitch brought back for me a few years ago. He'd been up in the hills and stumbled across a large rattlesnake. He killed it, cut off the rattle, and gave it to me. I keep it in my Treasure Box. Don't you wish you had one of these?

Here's the snake before Mitch killed it. Do you see that rattle?

If you want to read about rattlesnakes in California and HEAR a rattlesnake shaking its rattle, click here:
CALIFORNIA RATTLESNAKES

Comments (4) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jul. 12, 2008

Chapter 5 of "Andi Lost"

Posted in Young Andi Stories

Yikes! I forgot to post the entry to let you know that Saved Girl wrote another action-packed chapter for Andi Lost! Sorry, Saved Girl!

Click the graphic to read the latest installment:

Comments (1) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jul. 3, 2008

Homeschool cover girl--in Brio Magazine

Posted in Photo Gallery

It's my cover girl's birthday this month (her 21st, if you can believe that!). To honor her I am going to post a picture of the two-page spread the July issue of Focus on the Family's Brio Magazine printed. So, with no further ado, here it is. Brio did a nice job with the article that she (and I) wrote over a year ago (these things take time to get published).

Jessica, at 16 years old, portrayed my main character, Andi, a 12-year-old. Another trivia fact: Jessica was the first youngster to read my Andi stories (at age 10), so it seems fitting that she should be on the cover.

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

It's probably best that the print is too small to read. I'd no doubt get in real trouble for posting this otherwise. As it is, it's an advertisement for Brio, so how can they object to that? Go on over to your local Christian bookstore and pick up a copy if you'd like to know what the article says.

Comments (4) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 26, 2008

Virginia, friend or foe?

Posted in My Friends

Well, I found a picture of "Virginia" the other day, so I thought I'd post a little character sketch on Virginia Foster, my (Andi's) "thorn in the flesh" from Dangerous Decision.

As probably most of you know, Virginia Foster is the younger of our schoolmaster's daughters. Her older sister, Grace, is Melinda's age, and she and Melinda get along just fine. I'm afraid I can't say the same for Virginia and me. It's not like I haven't tried! It didn't help that she found Cory's snake in her desk the first day of school, but really! It wasn't my fault! But since then she has done nothing but find fault in everything I do. I think she picked up that attitude from her father, our schoolmaster. He hasn't liked me much from the day I nearly (accidentally) trampled him with Taffy.

I do feel sorry for Virginia, so that's why I've at least tried to be friendly. I guess her family moved out West to help her regain her strength from being ill all the time. She really is a sickly-looking girl. Pale hair; pale skin--she hardly ever goes outside. And she faints. She hasn't got much "sand" in her, as we say it out here, or "grit" would be another word. And she's scared of bugs and snakes and boys and loud noises. And she can't ride a horse, either. (I learned that the hard way, when she insisted she could, but it was all a big, fat lie).

Virginia sort of softened up a bit after our class's run-in with an escaped convict. We've been on better terms since then, but I'm still cautious. I used to think she was just showing off in front of our class with how smart she is (she really is the smartest scholar in the school) and it made me mad, but now I'm all right with it. I mean, how would you like to have your father teaching your entire class and always expecting you to know all the answers?

It's possible (but not very probable) that we could one day be better friends.

Comments (6) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 23, 2008

Tell me what you think....

OK, I'm almost out of bookmarks from the last book, so I decided to design some more "all-purpose" bookmarks this time around. Instead of having book covers on the front, I decided to go with a picture instead. (And I know the words are hard to read. Hosting on ImageShack sort of makes things a bit small to see on the screen. Do your best).

Opinions, anyone? Mistakes? Suggestions? I am open. I save a lot of $$$ if I design my own bookmarks before taking them down to the professional printing company in town. The last set of bookmarks I had made were B&W on the back; this time I think I'll go with full color both sides. When they are finished, if anyone wants bookmarks to pass out to their friends and libraries, etc., just PM (or e-mail_ me with your address and I'll happily send them your way. It will be a few weeks, however, before they are printed. And I want to make sure they are just right, so let me know what you think! (And yes, I was trying to think how I could make this a contest, but my creative mind is sapped today). I don't have another design in mind, so I can't have a "choose your favorite bookmark" contest. Sorry!

Comments (6) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 23, 2008

Chapter 4 of "Andi Lost"

Posted in Young Andi Stories

Saved Girl has come through again....with Chapter 4 of Andi Lost. Click on the graphic below to enjoy the newest addition:

Comments (0) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 20, 2008

Lin Mei--a new friend

Posted in My Friends

This is my new little friend, Lin Mei. I never really discovered how old she is, because she was snatched from her home near Canton, China, when she was only about four or five years old. But I think she's about eight.

She can't remember much of her life in China. She only knows that her father owed a lot of money to a gambling den, and he sold his own little girl to an old woman. Lin Mei cried and shrieked; her mother cried, but the old woman bought her and put her on a ship to America. I guess the old woman promised Lin Mei's parents that she would have a much better life in the Golden Mountain (America). Can you believe that? Little Lin Mei became a Mui Tsai, which translates "little sister" but really means "slave."

I met Lin Mei while I was attending Miss Whitaker's Academy for Young Ladies (a whole other subject!). She was a kitchen servant. I had no idea she was a slave. The Chinese man in charge of the school's kitchen was passing her off as his niece. Jenny (my roommate) and I felt so badly for this miserable, overworked little girl. We decided to befriend her, little knowing what terrible things would happen because we did!

You can read all about my adventures with Lin Mei in Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers, coming out fall 2008.

I hope to post some entries in the "Old West" category about the true, historical facts about the "Yellow Slave Trade" in the west, many years after the Civil War was fought and slavery was abolished. Stay tuned!

Comments (3) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 18, 2008

Great ideas!

Thanks for the brain-storming ideas. Not only have you left your ideas in comments, but some have e-mailed me, too! Snakes and fires and storms and squatters and bad guys and....you readers are full of ideas! I have written two (2) chapters so far. Since May. My goal is to write Trouble with Treasure this summer.

My other goal is to post here more often! I need to fill up all the categories on the left sidebar with interesting (and some true) entries. Trouble is, so many other things are keeping me (Andi) busy.

If any of you are going to be at the WATCH homeschool conference in Seattle August 8-9, I hope to be there too, selling books. Stop by and say hi!

Comments (3) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Jun. 9, 2008

Ch. 3 and I NEED HELP!

Posted in Young Andi Stories

Wow! Saved girl believes in non-stop, nail-biting action all the way around. Here is chapter 3 of Andi Lost, the Young Andi story she is writing and I am posting on the Andi and Cory blog: CHAPTER 3.

I'm starting to get a fuzzy idea that I might need your help for the next book. As I read this newest chapter from Andi Lost, I really liked Saved Girl's idea of the snake. I think it might be an idea I could use and add to Book 5, Trouble with Treasure. I have even written the rough draft of the first 2 chapters. But ideas are few and far between. I've got a general idea for it (as in a longer-than-usual nutshell summary):

Andi, Cory, and Jenny (from San Francisco) jump at the chance to keep Mitch company on a two-week trek into the Sierras to check up on the Carter logging camp. With an old survey map (AKA treasure map) in hand, Cory is sure they'll strike it rich by nosing around old gold diggings along the way. They come across a shack that looks abandoned. It's not. One of the members of a gang that robbed the Fresno bank is hiding out. Mitch unwittingly sets off a chain of events that kills the outlaw, but leaves him with a bullet in his leg. Alone, in the middle of nowhere, it's up to Andi and her friends to keep Mitch alive long enough for Cory to go for help--and before the other bank robbers return.

A plot like that will take me about 6 chapters to write. I need MORE. More sub-plots, more surprises (like the snake idea tossed in to get the blood moving). Got any ideas? I'm hoping to write the book this summer and submit it to my publisher in the fall. Feel free to send me ideas of what kinds of adventures could these 3 kids get themselves into on a "camping" trip up in the hills that goes bad.

So...please brainstorm with me! You can write sentences or lists or just jot down ideas. Even if I don't use an idea, it might spark me into another direction--full of danger and adventure.

I might even have to start a new category titled "Brainstorming."

Comments (10) ~ Leave a Comment! ~ Permanent Link

Last Page | Next Page