penitpublications – Living de Good Life

Diane Orr, Author at Marysville, Ohio 40th Annual Festifair

Here We Go!

So, I did something I have never done before: attended a local street fair as a vendor…Author Diane Orr! After days and weeks of thinking and preparing, finally it was time to load my books into boxes, and along with tables, canopy, crayons, coloring pages drawn by an amazing young artist, filled up my new-to-me Honda Pilot (exactly WHY I wanted the Pilot when I totaled my car!). Additionally, I packed a host of other things I thought I might need and we off we went!

I was so nervous…kind of like a “first day of school” nervous. Having done all the preparation I could think of (of course, never having participated in a street fair before, I really had no idea what I was doing!) I didn’t really know what to expect. Set-up went very well, thanks to my husband. I was also blessed to have very friendly vendors on either side of me!

Here They Come!

Slowly, people began trickling through the streets. Gradually, the trickle became a steady stream and at times like a rushing brook! I sold quite a few books, although not nearly what I had in stock, but the most fun thing for me was interacting with the people who stopped at my tables (wish I had pictures!).

I enjoyed giving flyers to teachers who teach in area schools that I have not visited. An Art teacher from the school I did a virtual visit showed me pictures the children drew of some of my animals! There were absolutely adorable!

But, the icing on the cake were the children! One girl said I had visited her school when she was in fourth grade. She remembered that I read my first book My Name is Mocha (I believe that would have been fall of 2019). A little boy said he watched the video of my farm (that would have been my first virtual author visit this past spring). Some children said they already had purchased some of my books from one of my author visits and were deciding which they wanted next.

It was also wonderful for people who had never heard of me to stop by my booth and look at my comments. I really enjoyed talking to them. One family stopped by and their male Great Pyrenees’ name is Odin and their female’s name is Freya!!! There were so many wonderful comments and interactions!

Here is An Amazing Artist!

I was thrilled and blessed to have an amazing young artist, Corinne Blamer, draw color pages of Mocha and her calf, Odin guarding some chickens and Merlin with some of his hens. I have known Corinne since she was just a baby and it’s so hard for me to believe that at her young age, she has been gifted with such talent! But, the evidence is clear when you look at her drawings! With each color page, I gave a free pack of crayons. And, of course, FREE CANDY, which attracted kids of all ages! I just have to share these amazing drawings for those of you who didn’t get a chance to see them!

Here Comes the Wind!

The most disappointing thing of the day was the wind! Of course, I had purchased a tent that I thought would help protect me and my book display from weather. However, because the wind was so strong, it nearly lifted me into the air with the tent a couple of times! So, after several times of thinking I was going to look like Mary Poppins flying across the sky holding onto my tent, I took it down!

Here is to the Future!

All in all, not discounting the stress and intense preparation, I really enjoyed participating in the @MarysvilleFestifair! I loved talking to the teachers, parents and most of all the children. We talked about my author visits, my books and the animals here at de Good Life Farm! I definitely think I will plan to participate next year if at all possible! Thank you @MarysvilleFestifair attenders for being kind to a newbie vendor and making it a good day for Author Diane Orr.

Here is a Chance to Win a Free Book!

Attenders and book purchasers @MarysvilleFestifair were given the opportunity to enter a drawing for a free book. Local entries will also have a chance to visit de Good Life Farm and have their picture taken with Mocha! If you are reading this blog and would like to enter the drawing, I will hold off drawing winners for one week. Please comment on this post with your email address or go to the Contact page at http://www.dianeorrauthor.com. Send me an email providing your name and email address with “entry” in the subject line. Next Monday, I will add these entries to the entries received at the street fair and do the drawing! There will be more than one winner…SO ENTER!

Odin, King of de Good Life Farm, Protector of the Six Realms

I am a storyteller…not stories in the sense that I am a liar…but I tell stories that must be told…REAL LIFE STORIES! To date, all of my published works are nonfiction books for children. They are stories that must be told about our animals who cannot tell their own stories; they just live their lives and I feel like they count on me to tell their stories.

Yesterday, a story happened in front of my eyes. I often say that I wish I could capture the videos/pictures my brain sees and somehow share them with my readers…but, alas, stories with pictures are the best I can do. This story could have been a horror story. It could have been a devastating tear-jerker. But, instead, it is a story of a hero…more accurately, two heroes who worked together to do the job that they were created to do, and the result was an heroic rescue which averted the demise of some of de Good Life’s residents!

You’ve probably guessed one of the heroes…and if you guessed that gorgeous “white lion” pictured up above, you are correct! Odin is an amazing protector of “his” chicken flock and our cattle (Have you read My Name is Odin!?). He has owned the role and has shown himself to be trustworthy! The second hero isn’t as big, not as loud and not as fast, but he is beautiful in his own rite and has a very important job to do guarding from his vantage point, which he does quite well (if you haven’t read My Name is Merlin!, then you MUST!)!

Merlin with a few of his girls after their close call with the hawk

I will start at the beginning…it’s a very good place to start. Typically, I do not open the door of my chicken coop to let the chickens free range until afternoon, so that their egg-laying is finished while they are in the coop and I do not have to replay Easter morning egg hunts every day. This day was no different.

After letting them out, gathering and bringing the eggs in, I was sitting at the dining room table talking to my mom and dad and watching out the sliding glass door as I often do. I saw some chickens fly…which they do from time to time…and then it looked like one of them had hopped up on the fence post! Now I had never seen them do THAT…and less than a second later, in HORROR! I realized that IT WASN’T A CHICKEN…IT….WAS….A….HAWK!!! I literally screamed those dreaded words, “IT’S A HAWK!”! I sprang up and ran out on the deck and immediately heard Odin in his biggest and fiercest bark warning the chickens of the predator. My first thought was “Oh my word! How brazen to fly around and then perch on the fence post!”

I watched for a split second in amazement as Odin was doing his best to scare it away. He was literally high jumping and barking his loudest, meanest bark and running around like crazy! Thankfully, it finally flew away!

The fence post that hawk DARED to perch on…just next to the chicken coop

But, at the same time Odin was going on the offensive to get rid of the danger, I saw Merlin going on the defensive: taking care of his girls, talking up a storm to them, telling them what to do, where to go and where not to go…gathering them close to himself so he could keep them safe! Some of them had been in the cows’ shelter and some of them were halfway between the shelter and their coop and some of them were near the coop! The chickens that hadn’t been near Merlin were the ones I had seen flying toward the coop for safety!

The chickens busy working on the manure pile

I ran back through the door into the house and breathlessly announced I was headed out to make sure it was gone and that everyone was safe (and yes, I had a grass-fed beef bone in hand to reward Odin for his diligence). Once outside, it took several counts to make sure the chickens were accounted for and ok. I went into the coop to make sure and three of the hens were cowered under their roosting bars, as far back into the back corner of the coop as they could get. I realized they must have been the hawk’s targets. They were pretty badly shaken, but safe and unharmed!

Where I found the 3 hens cowering…no doubt they were the ones most traumatized by the hawk.

Leaving the coop, I wanted to check on Merlin and the other hens again, and when I got outside I was again amazed! Merlin was standing on the very top of the manure pile, standing guard. His body language was almost defiant and he was chattering up a storm. It was almost like he was standing up there as a beacon to the hawk, just making sure he was gone and wasn’t coming back! And the whole time, he was talking and chattering as if to say “And don’t come back!”

As I left the pasture, Odin was happily gnawing on his treat for being an EXCELLENT livestock guardian! And me? I was filled with awe and wonder at the amazing creatures that God has created! Watching them do what has been hard-wired into them was amazing, working as a team as if they had rehearsed it!

Odin enjoying his treat after a job well done…a raw beef bone!

I know my adrenaline was still pumping for quite awhile after the excitement, but I was mostly just feeling so thankful! This story easily could have been a tragedy but instead, it was an amazing story of two heroes who worked together like a well-oiled machine to take care of a dangerous predator to their flock! I am so thankful for them both!

Tag: penitpublications

Author Diane Orr Attends Marysville, Ohio Festifair!