We have cast the podcast… with a pod! We now have the three main voice actors cast for my upcoming Post-apocalyptic Steampunk audio drama! I’m still working on a few more episodes, so when it comes time to record, we’ll be able to knock a couple of them out. So far, everyone cast has been vaccinated (an unintentional perk) which means we might actually be able to record the thing together! This would give me an opportunity to direct in real-time (which worked out pretty on Interstellar Sunrise, if I may say so myself) and let the actors play off each other instead of just perform their lines for a screen. We’re still at least a couple of weeks out, but I’m already looking forward to it!
I sent the Crane and the Wolf off to Tiffany to be edited, and am now trying to pick a publishing date with Indies United. I should have the fantasy bake-off with a werewolf for a judge for you this summer!
Personal Note
I would apologize for making this bubblephone all about birds, but y’all, it’s migration season.
My sons are quite aware of this. Every day this week, I have tossed them in the car and dragged them out to a local park with me so I can look for birds. What do my sons (4 and 1) do while Dadddy states into the canopy through his binoculars? Worthwhile things, I assure you.
They like to:
Look at bugs (lines of ants are especially interesting)
Hunt for fossils
Throw rocks into ponds
Quack at ducks
Point at herons
Draw in the dirt with sticks
Poke things with sticks
Swing sticks around (sticks are great)
Point out butterflies
Smell flowers
Pick flowers (mostly the younger one, the older is pretty well trained)
Climb trees
Dig in the mud
Eat snacks with filthy hands
Tell Daddy it’s time to go!
They never:
Touch poison ivy (my 4 yo can already recognize it!)
Watch movies on an ipad or play on a phone
Bird of the Week
It finally happened! After weeks of birding at Gustavo L. Garcia (GusGar, for those in the know) I spotted a bird so rare that it triggered an RBA for Travis County! Well, technically Erik spotted it first and was kind enough to tell me where he saw it but it was still quite a rush to see a golden-winged warbler flitting through the mid-story of a trail I’ve been walking every week.
The golden-winged warbler is a small, mostly gray bird, with a stunning gold cap, black mask and chin, and patches of gold (surprise) on its wings. It is a bird both beautiful and rare: the perfect bird to trigger GusGar’s first Rare Bird Alert.
I promptly called in my best friend and birding master, Tam Tran, to lend some credence to my claim, and to get his butt out during migration season.
And it worked! Not long after Tam showed up and I pointed out the bird to him, one of the top birders off the Travis County leaderboard arrived to try and find it! We gave her overly specific directions to where I had seen the adorbler and crossed my fingers that she too would trigger and RBA.
When I discovered this park, only 18 species had ever been seen there, less than 2 months later, 79 species have been logged! My hope is that this RBA will lure out some of the heavy hitters, who will see birds that I have yet to see there, thus rocketing GusGar past a hundred birds! Who cares, you ask? I do! Yeah!
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