Fur Babies

We all love our fur babies right? I’m a huge animal lover, and we sadly had to put down our beautiful Chocolate Labrador retriever, Jersey, a few years ago when she was 13. I tend to write animals into my stories as much as I can. I did a whole military series on K9 Dogs and the research for that was fun. I actually spent a day with police officer and his German Shepard. It was so interesting to watch the way they interacted and see how the dog went straight to work with a command.

With The Burbs and the Bees set on a farm, it was like Christmas day for me, and I could put as many animals in as I like. The fun part was making up the names for them. I mean, how fun is it to have a rooster named Cluck Norris, or a llama named Barack O’llama. As much as I love animals in my books, it has occurred to me recently, that I’m just too old to take care of a puppy. LOL. My daughter, who has a tiny, tiny apartment, recently got a new puppy. A Bernese Mountain dog. I was like, but your apartment is small and the word MOUNTAIN is right in the name of the dog. My daughter is a medical student, and the day the puppy came home, she had to leave the city for work, and she wasn’t allowed pets where she was staying, so my husband and I were on puppy duty. OMG!! I don’t ever remember being that exhausted. I swear human babies are easier. Mable is cute but she’s a terror, and a chewer. In five seconds flat she destroyed our trim on the patio door, and stairs, she’s like forget about it, ain’t no one got time for stairs. I would open the back door to go out with her, and she would leap off the three steps. I was terrified. Once she hit the ground so hard, her teeth banged with an audible click. I couldn’t take my eyes off this fiercely brave pup for a second, and I was terrified she was going to be banged up and toothless by the time my daughter got home.  Let me tell you when the week was up, I couldn’t wait to hand her over. I mean, I love her and all, but SLEEP!! So Mable’s official name is Mable Ruth Bader Ginsburg Jersey Verge. Now that is quite the handle and quite the name to live up to. Here are a few pictures of sweet Miss Mable.

I’d love to hear all about your fur babies! Cathryn will give away a Llama Mug and a Cathryn Fox Bag of Swag to one person who comments!

__________________________________

THE BURBS AND THE BEES

I just inherited an apple orchard in Nova Scotia.

That’s definitely a sentence I never would have imagined saying in my life.

I’ve only ever been a socialite from New York, but that orchard is my chance to prove to my family, and myself, that I can do more. Be more. I may not exactly know what I want out of life yet, but I’m determined to stick to something—and no, I’m not talking about the bee farmer next door.

Here’s what I know. If I can’t tough out one full month of a rooster waking me at sunrise, a poolhall parrot with a foul mouth, and a llama that swings both ways, not only will I lose my self respect, I’ll lose my trust fund too.

Here’s what I don’t know. Why my neighbor with the bad attitude and a whole lot of sexy seems hell bent on sending me home. Well screw him. Not literally, of course. Except I just stumbled into his apiary, and got a look at the head beekeepers…stinger.