My life has always involved animals and birds. Raised on a dairy farm in the south of England, it was my responsibility to bottle-feed, piglets, calves and baby lambs. I also cared for chicks, ducklings, puppies, and kittens. I loved every minute of it.
When older, I worked for various veterinary clinics and studied Animal Husbandry in my spare time. I intended to become a veterinarian but that never materialized.
After getting married, we moved to America in 1956, then to Alaska in 1966. Three children later, we moved to 20 miles outside Fairbanks. After quitting my job at the NASA station, we started and operated the first Game Bird Farm in Alaska. As well as Game birds there were peacocks, quail, parrots, parakeets, other exotic birds, and poultry. The children had two Welsh ponies, dogs, cats, and guinea pigs as pets, whose care they were responsible for.
While at the farm we applied for Federal and State permits that, when issued, allowed us to aid sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife. This was a longtime dream of mine. Our children were involved with the care of those wildlings.
Our home was, at times, like an overloaded ark. This all seemed natural to our children, and they fully enjoyed the opportunity to be up close and personal with a wide variety of wildlife.
When we moved to bush Alaska, the children were home-schooled. This allowed them to explore the countryside and be close to wildlife in its natural surroundings when they weren't studying, working toward the winter wood supply, which was a huge chore, fishing, hunting, or working in our acre garden.
For thirty-four years I was an avid aviculturist and wrote several articles for Bird Breeder magazine. I also started the TaleSpinners Writers Group, in Wasilla. We produced two anthologies. The first was entitled Between Two Rivers, Volume 1, and was published in 2000. The other, Tall Tales and Short Stories, Volume 2, was published in 2003.
After that, my daughter, Jan Branham, and I decided we should share some of our experiences by publishing true stories in children's picture books, along with facts on each wildling involved in the story. At that time I also decided to compile short stories for my own anthology, Far North Tales, published in 2006, and an in-depth novel about life above the Arctic Circle.
Over the years I have had articles published in Readers Digest, Alaska Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, 2nd addition, and their Cook Book, and several of other anthologies.
I am still writing and have plans for more books in the future.