I "heart" hummingbirds!

Many people might find it hard to believe there are hummingbirds nesting and raising babies in Canada in the wintertime, but there is a population of Anna's hummingbirds that overwinters on southern Vancouver Island. For years I've kept feeders in my garden and have had the pleasure of watching them year round.

Here's a photograh I took several years ago, and yes, that's snow you can see in the background!

This year the weather has been milder, but not without its challenges. For the past week, a male Anna's has spent long periods of time perched on the largest feeder in my yard. I've never seen this behavior before and at first I thought he might be injured or sick, but he seems fine and now I believe he's just being territorial! I've started calling him Tuff because he often displays white tufts of underfeathers near both wings, and because he has happily turned out to be tougher than I thought!

Here's Tuff at the feeder.

And here's Tuff in the California lilac.

For even better photographs of hummingbirds, I've started following Hummingbirds Up Close on Facebook and visiting the Hummingbirds Up Close website. If you "heart" hummingbirds, you'll love these sites! Both have beautiful photograhs as well as truly amazing videos of hummingbirds building nests, incubating their eggs and caring for their babies.

While I'm talking about hummingbirds, I feel it's important to offer a few tips to those who might consider setting up feeders in their own gardens. Please do not add red coloring to the nectar. The birds will be attracted to the red plastic on the feeder, and the chemicals in the food coloring aren't good for them. Please do clean your feeder once a week and refill it with fresh nectar. This will prevent toxic mold that's lethal to hummingbirds from growing in the feeder. Make your own hummingbird nectar by dissolving white sugar in water. In the summer I use a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. In winter, when they need more energy, I mix a ratio of 1 part sugar to 3 parts water.

If nesting birds have you longing for springtime, I hope you'll consider entering my February contest because I'm giving away this adorable cupcake holder filled with yet-to-be-determined goodies!

To enter the draw, simply go to my website, subscribe to my newsletter AND send me an email telling me your favorite first sign of spring! Only newsletter subscribers are eligible, and the winner will be announced in the next issue.

I'm also thrilled to share the cover of Daddy, Unexpectedly, my next Harlequin American Romance (May 2013). I have loved all my covers but I especially love this one because the hero is very much as I imagined him as I was writing this story. Swoon!

This is the third and final book in my Ready Set Sold series about three women who own a Seattle-based real estate business. If anyone would like autographed bookplates for these three books (The Christmas Secret, The Daddy Project, and Daddy, Unexpectedly, please send me an email with your address and I'll pop them in the mail to you!

Happy reading!

Unitl next time,
Lee
Maggie's Way (Harlequin Heartwarming, May 2013)
Daddy, Unexpectedly (Harlequin American Romance, May 2013)
www.LeeMcKenzie.com

DECEMBER WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Marcy! You’re the December winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Lee McKenize, Laura Marie Altom, Linda Warren and Marin Thomas through their Web sites.

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

ADUSTING TO CHANGE

Recently my husband retired and I’ve had to adjust my writing habits. I was used to him leaving early and coming home between 5:30 and 6. I had all day to do my thing. I found I write best when everything is quiet. Now hubby is home and usually working on something that creates a lot of noise. That was an adjustment. But I love the man and he was worth a little change. It certainly keeps me on my toes, especially when I’m deep into a story and he hollers from the kitchen, “Have you seen my truck keys?” Or, “I wrote a number on a piece of paper and left it on the table. What did you do with it?” I can now write while questions are being fired at me. Muse gets a little cranky though.

So I was really happy when he took up a hobby. My family has been in ranching for generations and he’s helped many times to feed cattle and bale hay. He decided to buy ten Brangus cows and a bull and they have kept him busy. He’s gone most of the day and when the back door opens about 4 or 4:30 and he hollers, “I’m home,” I’m happy to see him. And to listen to his stories of what happened that day with the cows. With the severe drought we’re having in Texas, those cows are eating better than we are. Suffice to say we’re never going to make any money on these animals.

Hubby always carries a camera in his truck to get pictures of new calves when they are born. He came home a few months ago and said we had a new calf and then showed me this. A ram showed up out of nowhere and no one claimed him. My husband checked with all the neighbors. Now we had another animal to feed. Hubby wasn’t happy. After several months, he gave it away.

Brangus are Angus and Brahma mix and so far we’ve had only black babies...until recently. Then this little fella was born. He looks out of place with all the black animals. But he’s so cute. I might have to name him. Any suggestions?

Isn’t it wonderful that life keeps changing? It keeps life interesting. How do you feel about change?

Linda
The Texan’s Bride - Oct ‘11
www.lindawarren.net

APRIL WINNER!!

CONGRATULATIONS Juliet Burns! You’re the April winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Marin Thomas, Megan Kelly and Leigh Duncan through their Web sites.

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

So check back often and be sure to leave a comment. Good luck!

NOVEMBER WINNER!

CONGRATULATIONS MJFredrick! You’re the November winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Rebecca Winters and Laura Bradford through their Web sites.

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

So check back often and be sure to leave a comment. Good luck!

JULY WINNER!!!

Congratulations Varina M!! You're the July winner. Please contact Marin Thomas, Lee McKenzie and Laura Bradford through their websites for your free books. To enter the contest simply post to the American blog and your name will go into the drawing. Good luck and thank you for participating in the Harlequin American blog.

Announcing contest winner today!

Please visit my blog post from a couple of days ago here at the Harlequin American Romance Authors site to learn the winner of a free book from my backlist.

The post is entitled "Good things!"

Thank you.

All my best to you,

Barbara

Barbara White Daille
http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com

Lee’ s Christmas Checklist

Dear Readers,

By the time you read this, I will be pretty well ready for the holiday.

Shopping done (as many 100-mile gifts as possible). Check.

Menu planning and grocery shopping for Christmas Eve buffet, Christmas morning brunch and Christmas dinner. Check.

Pick up the turkey (organic free-run) from the butcher. Check.

Gifts wrapped. Check.

House decorated. Check.

Get into the spirit of the season by watching my favorite holiday movies (While You Were Sleeping, Love Actually and White Christmas). Check.

Today . . . Christmas Eve . . . I only have two things left to do. Decorate the tree and wish you, our dear and cherished Harlequin American Romance readers, a holiday filled with joy, peace and love.

xoxo
Lee

PS: To celebrate the much anticipated (by me!) release of my July American Romance—FIREFIGHTER DADDY—I’m running a contest on my blog, The Writer Side of Life. The prize? An autographed firefighter calendar and other goodies. Every time you post a comment on one of this month’s posts, your name will be entered in the draw. To increase your chances, you’ll receive five bonus entries if you become a follower of my blog (click on the link in the sidebar) and ten bonus entries if you sign up for my Very Occasional Newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter, simply send an email to lee (at) lee mckenzie (dot) com. I know you know the drill—remove the spaces and insert the symbols.