By Ann Byle | The Grand Rapids Press

Actress Patricia Heaton has a new feather in her cap -- make that lots of feathers -- thanks to her recent purchase of dramatic rights to Lowell resident Bob Tarte's book "Enslaved by Ducks."

Tarte recently signed the option contract, which took 14 months to negotiate.

It gives Heaton, co-star of "Everybody Loves Raymond," the right to develop a television series, a made-for-TV movie, a full-length movie or whatever else she thinks up. And that's not to mention any merchandising that may follow, if a production is a hit. Think theme-park rides, T-shirts and McDonald's cups.

"If she hasn't done anything in those 18 months, she has the option to renew the contract," Tarte said.

After reading the book, Heaton spent about 40 minutes on the phone with Tarte and his wife, Linda, discussing the book, the characters and, of course, the animals.

The Tartes keep a menagerie of fowl, from chickens to geese and parakeets to parrots. There's also a rabbit or two, and the occasional cat. Bob Tarte records his hilarious transformation from city slicker into farm dweller in "Enslaved by Ducks."

"She was very nice, very down to earth. We talked about her ideas for what she would do with the book," he said of Heaton. "One idea is an hour-long television show with the flavor of 'Northern Exposure.' She asked what we thought, and I said it sounded fabulous.

"Patricia e-mailed us in December and said that when 'Raymond' was done filming, she was going to pitch her idea to the network as a TV movie or TV series."

Tarte's book, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, caught Heaton's eye and tweaked her sense of humor after she was introduced to it by Hollywood rights agent Howard Sanders. Sanders learned of the book through contacts at Algonquin. Tarte's second book, "Fowl Weather," also will be published by Algonquin.

"It's interesting to think about what would happen if the Linda character were the main character," said Tarte. "And we're wondering how much input they'd want from us."

The right to the Tartes' life stories was a recent addition to the contract with Heaton's production company, FourBoys Films Inc.

"We agree to let her tell our story how she wants to," Tarte said. "I thought this addition might mean they were kind of serious about developing something."