Yoda's Book Recommendations and the Saturday Hop

I mentioned in my last post about all of the books mom read on vacation. Mom loves to read but is usually so busy she doesn't have time. Since she has a long drive to work, she listens to books instead of reading them. I like when she reads because she shares them with me.

There were two books I liked the most that we read on vacation and they were both by one of my favorite authors Dean Koontz. My friend Teeny likes Dean too because he did a review of The Darkest Evening of the Year. Dean Koontz has dog characters in a lot of his books. Often they are major characters like in the book Teeny reviewed. Some of my other favorites are Watchers, Breathless, Brother Odd (this had a GHOST dog), Fear Nothing, Seize the Night and Ticktock.

Mom and I read Relentless by Dean Koontz. Dad read it too. Relentless was a fast paced book about a writer terrorized by a book critic. Trust me, the critic does not stop at writing to express his dissatisfaction of the lead character's writing. The man and his wife have a six year old who is a genius with a specialty in physics. They have a dog named Lassie. If you think the original Lassie was smart and saved Timmy, wait until you see what this Lassie can do! You will really love the story about how the family rescued Lassie (or was it the other way around)?

Dean Koontz's books are often suspenseful and there is also usually some kind of evil in the book. But what is so wonderful about his work is that his characters that are often put through some really bad stuff never lose hope and live life with humor and love.

The other book I am recommending is also by Dean Koontz. It is called A Big Little Life and is non-fiction. This book is about Dean and Gerda Koontz and their amazing Golden Retriever Trixie. Trixie was trained as an assistance dog by Canine Companions for Independence. After her training she was an assistance dog for six months until a congenital problem with her elbow joint was found and she had to have surgery. After elbow surgery, Trixie had to retire as an assistance dog and she was adopted by Dean and Gerda Koontz. Trixie was the first dog they had ever had in their family and Dean writes with such love as he tells the story about their beloved Trixie. The book also gives you a glimpse of what Dean is like and why he writes with just humor and hope.

Dean wrote a lot of the books with dogs before he adopted Trixie. It is obvious he has some special connection to dogs. But nothing will prepare you for this story. You have to know from the outset that Trixie is OTRB so be prepared for tears but this book is really amazing and well worth the tears. Dean makes it very clear that Trixie changed their lives and made him a better writer. Dean and Gerda have another Golden now named Anna who is related to Trixie. Trixie died at the age of 12 and had lived with Dean and Gerda for nine years. This quote from Trixie's bio on her web page will give you an idea:

Trixie was an angel on earth, shorn of her wings and given fur as a disguise, with mysterious eyes, with the heart of a lion and the temperament of a lamb. She changed us as people, made us better by her example, brought piercing beauty and so much humor into our lives, and left a terrible void when she went to God.

Trixie has authored some books herself. In fact on September 16 her latest children's book, Trixie and Jinx, was released.You can find out all about Trixie by clicking here.

Be sure and check out his Facebook page as well as Trixie's!

And now, for the Saturday blog hop, after my absence of two weeks!

My Family

One of my good pals on Twitter asked to see some of my family pictures. Since I have a lot of new readers thanks to the Saturday Blog Hop, I thought it was a good time to do a post on the family and how we all got together.

Here I am when they first adopted me. Mom and dad found me because my dog mother lived next door to mom's boss and a neighbor dog visited my dog mom and there were surprise seven puppies. Mom's boss plied mom and dad with adult beverages and next things they knew they have promised to adopt me. Most of the litter were girl dogs and most were all black. Dog mom was a German Shepherd and everyone thinks my no account dog dad was a Black Lab. They asked for a male dog that had more of the Shepherd markings and that was me.

When I first came home, they made a pen for me in their apartment since they had not puppy proofed the house. Good thing since when I was little I had a taste for electrical cords. It was bigger than a kennel. Dad was so happy I learned how to be "house trained" really fast. It helped that dad stays home during the day so doing a regular schedule was easy.


Here I am posing with dad on the bed. You can see my "Bad to the Bone" harness I wore until I outgrew it. I also outgrew the pen. They took it down when I wiggled my way over it. The darn thing still challenges me because mom and dad use one of the pieces to block off the bathroom where the cat litter box is. If I were a bad boy, I could defeat that gate but I am a good boy.

This picture is one of my favorite puppy pictures and helps explain how I got my name. I did some really cute things with my ears when I was a pup. I was about three months old here. Actually dad really wanted to name me Chewbacca. Mom said calling a puppy Chewie was just asking for problems. I do make some funny noises that sound a lot like Chewbacca.


Here I am all grown up in my wonderful back yard with my very own pond. Okay, so I have to share it with the rest of the neighbors but I make sure I bark at people that boat by so they know where my territory is.

And here I am doing my favorite thing - swimming and stick chasing.

Here is a picture of my mom. She does all my typing. Dad helps with some of my DJing and helps take pictures, but mom is the social media/computer queen of the house. Mom's other name is Nancy and she has a real neat job with Virginia State Parks so dad and I get to go visit them with her sometimes.

Here is a pretty good picture of my dad. His other name is David. He plays the guitar and loves video games. Mom calls him a "house husband." This means he stays home all day with us animals which is great. He also helps look after mom's mom who lives down stairs.

Here I am giving dad a giant Yoda Smooch.

As you have all heard, there are four kitties in my family too. The matriarch of the family is Majel. Mom and dad adopted her and her sister from the Peninsula SPCA shelter right after they got married in 1992. She will be 18 years old in September. Sadly her sister Isis died of kidney complications in 2003. I picked this picture so you can see that she has a calico colored tail. As I explained in an earlier post, Majel is named after Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Isis was named after the Egyptian goddess.

Here is Majel with one of my other kitty sibs Cleo.

Speaking of Cleo, here she is. Cleo is short for Cleopatra. Mom and Dad adopted her and her real brother Caesar from a Pet Smart shelter adoption in 2003. If you recognize the year, you're right. Mom and dad wanted to get a new kitty to love in memory of Isis. They went to three Pet Smarts and at the third one found two little kitties that were brother and sister. The card said their mom had been hit by a car. Mom and dad only wanted one new kitty but the two kittens were all by themselves at the Pet Smart and they could not leave one of them alone. So they kept the family together. Cleo is the only cat that sort of plays with me. She has the cutest face.

I had to give you an idea of how big Caesar is. I think you could put the other three kitties together and be the right size. And yes, that means mom called the two kitties Caesar and Cleopatra. By the way, dad does most of the animal naming.

Mom always wants to order the kitties a cat tree but dad stacks furniture and other stuff for them to have high places. This bench is three feet off the floor and a popular perch for all the cats. Here are the two Caesar and Cleo.

And here they are cuddled together in dad's recliner.

And the last member of the kitty family is Sabrina who was adopted a couple of months after mom and dad adopted Caesar and Cleo. They were living outside Richmond back then and dad worked at a Dog Day Care place called All Dog PlaySkool. He stayed overnight with the boarded dogs. Anyway one of the women at work found a feral kitty and got all her shots and spayed her but couldn't keep her. Dad left five messages for mom at work but she was in meetings. The last message was, "Oh well, your fault I couldn't talk to you, we have a new cat." Sabrina is the smallest cat but there is still feral in her even though she was still a young cat when we adopted her so sometimes she acts a little.

Sabrina's favorite spot was always on top of the TV and the DVR and DVD like this picture shows. Sadly mom and dad ruined that by buying a flat panel TV.

This next picture is mom's mom Anne. I guess she is my grandma. She is 85 years old. She loves downstairs.

There are two dogs that live downstairs with Grandma. One is my brother Goliath (the yellow dog). He is about 13. Goliath has really bad arthritis which is why he doesn't live upstairs with us. The black dog is grandma's dog Roscoe. Roscoe was actually grandma's husband's dog. Grandpa does in October 2003. It was the following January that mom and dad moved back to Yorktown to help take care of grandma.

Well that's pretty much my family. Actually the house we live in is very large and there is another upstairs apartment on the other side of the house. Mom's niece Sarah is staying there now with her small pit bull Honey. I don't get to play with her much but since she is young like me we have lots of fun when we do. I'm a little too frisky for the other two old dogs. We don't have any pictures of Sarah and Honey to share but we will get some some.

That's just about it - my family and how we all got together.

And now, to make this post even longer - BOL - here is the blog hop!

Fashion Saturday and Blog Hop

Just taking a quick break from this month's #pawpawty to join the blog hop. I hope I will see you all at the pawty. This month we have a fashion scene. I wonder how many times someone will play "I'm Too Sexy for My Shirt?"

Dad took me for some stick chasing and swimming before the pawty started so I am sipping on a White Russian and settling in for a great time!

This is one of my modeling pics that got me on the cover of GQ

And now, let's go to the hop!

Back from a Park Visit in Time for Blog Hop!

Hard to believe it's another weekend and blog hop! Where do the weeks go?

This is Bear Creek Lake that the park is named after

Well, I do know where mine went this time. On Wednesday mom, dad and I packed up a rental car and headed 3 hours west to Bear Creek Lake State Park. Most of my pals probably know by now that mom works for Virginia State Parks. Mom had to go there to work but dad and I got to hang out and have a good time. We felt a little sorry for mom, but not too much.

This is the Bear Creek Hall where mom had to spend the whole trip working.
It is great for meetings and special events.

The new cabins they have built in the last five years at mom's parks are really great for me because they have a porch that goes around on two whole sides. Mom can lay down a rocking chair to block the stairs on both ends and I can play on the porch while they sit out on the deck and enjoy their pursuits. Mom likes to read a book and dad played his guitar. It was really hot while we were there but dad and I still went hiking around the park. We had a good time. Even though mom was working, she seems more relaxed.

This is a 2 bedroom cabin like the one we stayed in and you can see how the porch is.

Here I am admiring the view as dad enjoys an adult beverage on the porch.

Mom was there helping train mostly college aged young people who will be supervising kids 14-17 who will be living and working in her state parks for three weeks this summer. The program is called the Youth Conservation Corps. The first session of this program begins next week, and with a week in between, mom will be pretty busy traveling around visiting those programs the next seven weeks. I think she gets done with that just in time for Bark World Expo!

Get the link for the hop list by clicking the picture above

Trees Are Good

Odwalla is giving $200,000 to plant trees in state parks around the country and since my mom works for Virginia State Parks, she asked that I help her get some votes. Virginia is behind three other states now but we can catch up to California. I know you probably live in other states and if you want to vote for those states it's okay, but we would love for you to vote for Virginia. You can vote once for every email address you have (you may have to clear your history/cookies out to do that though). Vote by clicking here.

Thanks for helping vote to get more trees planted! And, now for the Blog Hop!

Birthday Weekend Blog Hop

Well most of my friends on Twitter and Facebook know that Friday, May 28th, was my birthday and I was 2 in human years or 24 in doggie years.

We are celebrating all weekend, and it's a long one cause of the Memorial Day holiday Monday because it is also Mom's birthday today. She is not telling everyone how old she is but I don't think 54 is really that old. Oops. I may have given that away. Shhhhh. Don't tell any one.

Mom asked that I share a video that the people at America's State Parks did in honor of Memorial Day. Many people and their pets will be spending time this weekend in state parks across the country so it's a good video to watch.

Of course since it's Saturday it's also Blog Hop day and thankfully a LONNNNG weekend to read all the bloggies - the new and old.

Another Saturday Another Hop

Happy Blog Hop Saturday efurryone! Mom has been very busy this week - well, what's new? We are relaxing and checking out all the new bloggies. And wow is the list long this week.


This next week is exciting. Since mom works in the park business, Memorial Day weekend being next weekend is a big thing. Her parks are busy most of the year but Memorial Day is kind of the official start of the summer season. There are two cool other things happening at work this week for her too but they are a secret until the official press releases come out next week. I will tweet and put them on Facebook right away!

And, then there's Friday my 2nd birthday and Saturday mom's xxxxx birthday. She made me put those xx's there!

So for the start of the summer season, here is a special song:

Happy almost Summertime!