{"id":95,"date":"2014-09-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2014\/09\/24\/adventures-in-writingand-in-life-by\/"},"modified":"2023-05-25T18:09:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T00:09:46","slug":"adventures-in-writingand-in-life-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/adventures-in-writingand-in-life-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Writing…and in Life by Sandy Nadeau"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\tSo you want to be an adventure writer…<\/b>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tI have always loved going on adventures, and I see most
\n\tthings in life as one. For nearly thirty years now, my husband and I often head
\n\tinto the mountains of Colorado to find a new adventure. We have come across several
\n\twhether just out for a drive, looking for fall color, searching for Bighorn
\n\tSheep, moose, or the elk herds during the rut, often finding what we set out
\n\tfor. When I took more serious steps to becoming an author, it seemed natural to
\n\tjust write adventures. Be careful what you pray for.\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tThis year, we began to hear the familiar call of the cranky male
\n\telk gathering the females earlier than normal. This annual wildlife event brings
\n\tout many spectators. You wouldn’t think your home town could be overtaken by
\n\tsuch a large animal along with his growing harem. But it is part of life here
\n\tin the foothills. Not a rare sight, but not usually in my back yard. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tI have a pet peeve, having lived here so long. There’s real
\n\tdanger to approaching wildlife. If they get scared, well, prepare to be kicked
\n\tlike you never dreamed of. One time, we watched one gentleman sneak around some blue
\n\tspruce trees at the park to get a good picture of the bull when said bull burst through the branches almost goring the surprised man. He got
\n\taway and into his car, but I imagine his heart rate took about four hours to
\n\treturn to a normal rhythm. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t<\/a> \n<\/div>\n
\n\t<\/a>Some of the herd moved into the field behind our house the
\n\tother day, I grabbed my camera thinking I could get some great shots of the
\n\tcows and young elk gathering there. We have a five foot chain link fence
\n\tsurrounding our yard and tall ponderosa pines, so I felt safe enough. I clicked
\n\taway getting terrific shots of these large, sleek brown females in the field.
\n\tZooming in, I caught a close up of a female with a blade of grass sticking out
\n\tof her mouth. Mom and calf near each other. With all our rain this year, the
\n\tgrass practically glows green. Beautiful. The huge bull stood up the hill
\n\tacross the upper street watching over his herd that slowly grazed along. His
\n\tmouth open, nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air, I assumed he was checking
\n\tout his girls. I learned later, much later, he was on to my presence. Who knew? \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tThere I stood, as he made his way to the entrance of the
\n\tfield. Snapping photos of this majestic beast, muscles bulging, antlers
\n\tsporting the six points on one side, seven on the other. Huge animal. *snap,
\n\tsnap*<\/i> Oh, he’s so close. Hit the video button Sandy. This is amazing. *whirrrrr*<\/i> recording. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tHe appeared to just be coming down to herd the females back
\n\tonto the road. I’ve seen it done. I figured he would come down and circle
\n\tbehind them. There was no visible agitation to the animal, I felt no danger. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tThen within ten feet of me behind my fence, BAM!<\/i> He turns
\n\tand heads straight in my direction antlers aiming. A wood post and chain link
\n\tfence stood between us. His abrupt action created a terrific need to flee. And
\n\tflee I did! With the video still rolling, I ran for my back door. Not knowing
\n\tif the beast would be angry enough to leap my fence, I just ran. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tRemember what I said about loving adventure? All I could do
\n\twas laugh as I ran. My heart rate soaring into the blue sky above. I didn’t
\n\tlook back. I just got to the door as fast as my legs could carry me. I turned,
\n\tonce behind the screen door, looked to see where he was, half expecting to see
\n\tthe monster within the confines of my yard. Thankfully, he stood on the other
\n\tside near where I had been mere seconds before. When a bull in the rut gets
\n\tfrustrated, they use their rack to rip up bushes or dig up grass which he
\n\tproceeded to do. As I watched him from my protective screen door, he continued
\n\tto stare at the spot where I had been, not where I was. So I began to wonder if
\n\the smelled me more than he saw me. Either way, I’m glad he missed me. \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tI discovered how that man must have felt. I don’t think my
\n\theart rate returned to normal until almost bedtime. Did I learn my lesson? Well,
\n\tsort of. The herd is still around, I’m still taking pictures, but I keep my car
\n\thandy. Then I watched him chase cars going by with his head aimed at the
\n\tbumper. Uh oh.\n<\/div>\n
\n\tThis is so going to be in a book someday….\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t—-\n<\/div>\n
\n\tEditor's Update: A few days after this incident, Sandy had out her camera again! (Thanks to Sandy for providing the elk pictures and videos)\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t—————–\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"Red<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\t\t\t\tclick to buy\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n\tSandy Nadeau's RED GOLD is a tale of adventure, danger and intrigue. Don't miss it!\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tMandy
\n\tPhillips loves life with her husband running an adventure ranch in the
\n\tColorado mountains, but when Mr. Shonee, their crotchety old neighbor,
\n\ttries to stop them from building a kid-size old west town their dreams
\n\tof expansion are crushed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIs Shonee just being a difficult neighbor, or is something more
\n\t\tsinister going on?\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tA discovery on the property of Colorado's state
\n\t\tmineral leads to more mysteries for the ranch, and then a teenage guest
\n\t\tfinds herself thrust head first into danger.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tMandy will have to rescue her, but who will rescue Mandy? Her faith
\n\t\tin God is her only source to keep the guests safe, solve the mysteries
\n\t\tsurrounding her ranch, save her neighbor from himself, and discover the
\n\t\tsecrets of the Red Gold.\n\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  So you want to be an adventure writer…   I have always loved going on adventures, and I see most things in life as one. For nearly thirty years now, my husband and I often head into the mountains of Colorado to find a new adventure. We have come across several whether just out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[512],"tags":[60,26,3],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-about-books","tag-elk","tag-guest-blogger","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}