House Arrest and Gibbons

House arrest?  Not really.  But I generally write my blog on Tuesday to post it on Wednesday.  And on this Tuesday, I was pretty much trapped in my house.  Sort of.  There had been signs up for a week saying not to park along the street because of repaving that day, and I assumed our narrow street would be blocked off.  A street sweeper went by fairly early, but the paving wasn't actually done till later.  A few cars drove by at first despite the instructions and timing we'd been given, and a few people walked past our house, but I'd assumed in advance that I wouldn't be able to come or go for the day.  My car was in the garage, but my husband parked his along a nearby street and left for a few hours.  I guess I could have gone then, too, but decided to take advantage.

Of being stuck in the house?  Not a bad thing, actually.  I'm finishing the manuscript for my second K-9 Ranch Rescue miniseries for Harlequin Romantic Suspense which is due on October 1, and I have the final edits to accomplish for the typeset version of the first book in the series, Second Chance Soldier, due a few days after.  Being stuck at home in front of my computer?  Great idea!

I blogged here last week about the rescue of a hawk from my backyard.  During my follow-up, I learned that he had been taken to the California Wildlife Center near Malibu.  I was told that he became unsteady and fell backwards while there but he survived.  I'll continue to call them now and then to see if my buddy red-tail hawk gets well enough to be released back into the wild.

The other animal-related thing occurring last week that I hinted about in my blog was that my son had gotten a Groupon for a visit to the Gibbon Conservation Center near Santa Clarita.  I'd never heard of it before.  And the visit was fascinating!  I learned a lot about gibbons and their subspecies, how they're endangered in the wild, mostly in southeast Asia, and how this conservation center--apparently the only one in the U.S.--helps to breed and raise a few each year till some can be released back into the wild.  There's also a gibbon sanctuary in this country where gibbons can live out their days, and many zoos keep a few as well, but this conservation center is unique!  I plan to visit them again--hopefully at a time in the morning where all forty-some gibbons do their concurrent screaming, which they do several times a day.