"Holly's Story" is finally available for sale!

I got my 3rd and final proof in today, and everything looked perfect.

So, I hopped onto CreateSpace and approved it, and here we are!  I'm so excited!

You can purchase you very own copy of "Holly's Story" by me, Bessie Mac, from the CreateSpace store right now!  It isn't showing up on Amazon.com yet, but I'll post a link when it is.

The Kindle version will be coming soon for all of you eBook fans.  I'll keep you posted.

Spoochie

A link was posted multiple times on my Facebook wall today to a story about a dog who was taken up by a tornado during the storms that devastated parts of Alabama back in April.  His family was close to giving up the search for their beloved pet, but all the while he was crawling his way home with two broken legs. 

I reposted the link on my on Facebook wall, but that’s not enough for this story.  It hit too close to home for me, and brought up memories from my childhood.  

My father was in the Army, and when I was five years old, he was stationed in Germany.  During our stay, I had only one playmate – my beloved dog Spoochie.   I loved her so much.

One day my older sister and her friend went running across the road to get to a large field by our house.  Being five, I immediately ran after them.  Spoochie then followed me, because that’s what dogs do, and sadly she was hit by a car.  I was beyond crushed.  Not only did my pet dog get run over, but my best friend in the whole world.  That’s a lot for anyone to handle – never mind a five year old.

My parents called a German vet who reported that poor Spoochie’s back was broken and that there wasn’t anything that could be done (this was at least a few decades ago).  My mom made her a comfortable place to rest in a box we had, and placed it in her bedroom so she could keep an eye on Spoochie overnight.  I went to bed in my room.

My mother tells me that after everyone was asleep, she heard crying and scratching out in the hall.  She got up out of bed and saw Spoochie dragging herself into my room.  She watched as Spoochie crawled up to my hand that was dangling from the bed and kissed it. Spoochie nuzzled up to my hand and then spent the rest of the night there on the floor beside me.  I didn't know she had even been there until morning.  She passed away sometime during the night.

So, you can see why that story brought the past back to life for me for a little while.  But I don't want to cloud what Mason endured to get back to his family. I'm so glad the vets are going to do all of the work for free -- good for you!

National Dog Bite Prevention Week

In case you hadn't heard, this week (May 15-21) is National Dog Bite Prevention Week.  I didn't realize, until recently, that nearly 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs every year.  I knew it was a problem, but that number surprised me.

There are a lot of great articles and posts about this subject already available (like this one over at Pets Weekly), so I won't try to write my own.  Instead I want to share an experience I had when I first started walking Sally, my boxer/pit bull mix.

Such a happy camper

Sally was a major puller, and would launch into an all out frenzy whenever we came near other humans, dogs, cats, or even as loud trucks passed by.  On one particular day, I noticed a man walking down the sidewalk, and he was coming straight at us.  Knowing that she would get extremely excited, we crossed to the other side of the street.  She's a pretty big dog, and I didn't want the passerby to feel threatened.

All was well, until the well-meaning, and obviously dog-loving gentleman decided to cross the street and walk directly towards us.  Sally flipped out.  Thankfully, I had enough physical strength to keep her back and get her to continue walking, or it's quite possible that man would have been bitten. 

In the past, I wondered how so many people were getting bitten every year when so much has been done to educate them on how to avoid dog bites.  The experience I had opened my eyes to at least one way so many bites are still happening -- they love dogs and just want to come over and pet them.  I understand that, but it's crucial to remember that no matter how much you want to go give that dog some love and attention, you don't know them.  As the Pets Weekly article mentions, you must get the permission of the owner before you approach.  How many dog bites could be prevented from learning this rule of thumb alone? 

What about you?  Have you had any similar experiences while walking your dog?

Win a year supply of dog food!

I've been pretty quiet for a week or so as I work on some (aggravating) typos in the book. I'll be putting up a couple of posts this week about two foster dogs currently in my care.
 
In the meantime, PetsWeekly and BuddyMeals are holding a giveaway from now through May 12.

Every day a winner is chosen to receive 5 free Buddy Meals, and the grand prize will be a year supply of Buddy Meals! That's huge!!

 

Entering is so EASY.  Visit the PetsWeekly website for directions!

We had another visitor this week

Last week I posted about the two black Lab mix puppies who needed a place to stay for a couple of days. Chuck caught the final puppy who was still running loose and asked if I could board him for 24 hours or so. You'll also be happy to know that he already has a home to go to when he's had all of his shots, neutering, chipping, etc.

Since I know so many of you were interested in the story of the previous two pups, I wanted to post an update with some photos of Rocky and Lindsey's brother.

"What are you doing?"

"You cannot overcome the power of my ear!"

"Where am I? In a jungle?"

Such a tall guy.

Such a handsome and sweet guy!  I love the one ear sticking straight up.  I kept thinking he reminded me of someone...

But I was having a hard time putting my finger on it...

Ah, yes!



 

Doesn't that hurt?

When I was going through the pictures on my camera yesterday, I found a couple of gems. I took a moment to reminisce about when Sally, my boxer/pitbull mix, first came to my home. It was a bit of a culture shock because I wasn't used to large dogs. The photos below reminded me of those days and how sometimes I could do nothing but stare at her and think, "What in the world?"

How does one sleep with the corner of a hard piece of wood pressing into their skull?

Apparently quite well.  She slept through the flash of the camera and was snoring quite loudly.

I then turned and snapped this photo of Danny.  He has since forgiven me for bringing such an uncouth beast into his house.

I got my proof in!

If you're on my list of friends on Facebook (if you aren't on my friends list -- send me a request!), then you may have heard me announce that I got the proof for Holly's Story in the mail yesterday. I took a few minutes to snap some photos so that I could share my joy with all of you.

Here's the front cover. I am so thankful that Jennifer at Polestar Graphics went in this direction. It's so clean and fresh -- eye-catching.

Here's the back. When I first saw what Jennifer did with the back cover, I screamed a little scream of joy. The way she connected the front cover to the back cover went well beyond any expectations I had when it came to cover design.

Finally, the inside. It printed beautifully. The font isn't too small or too big.

Within 5 minutes of getting the proof I noticed a typo before I could finish the fiirst two pages.  It's okay, though, typos are easy to fix, and I won't need to order another proof once I fix them.

I'm really looking forward to being able to put up a "Such and such a date is the official release date!" post.

Tell me what you think!