I Woof You: My Favorite Books About (Literal) Puppy Love

It's Tuesday -- time for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. In honor of Valentine's Day, this week's topic is a Valentine's freebie. Freebie... oh no, the dreaded freebie! I tossed around some ideas (favorite couples, worst couples, etc.) but I don't read a ton of romance-y stuff and in the end I decided to go with a type of love near and dear to my heart: dog love.

I've always been a dog person, even though we just have a cat right now. We lost our sweet boxer dog Conan to canine lymphoma just about two years ago now. He was our furry baby and our best friend. He made our little family seem so much fuller, and we loved him so very, very much, from his cold, wet nose to his nub of a tail.

After Conan passed away, I couldn't bring myself to read any books about dogs. But last year I finally picked up a couple, and I managed to get through them without getting too emotional. I still haven't been able to bring myself to read "A Dog's Purpose," though. I get the impression that it's a tear-jerker at the best of times!

Below are some of my favorite books about dogs, which explore and exemplify the bond, the friendship and the love we have with our cherished canine counterparts.

"Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him" by Luis Carlos Montalvan: This is a wonderful book about the power of service dogs, told by a former Marine captain who was crippled by PTSD before Tuesday came into his life. (review)
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"The Daily Coyote: A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming" by Shreve Stockton: The memoir about a soul-searching woman and an orphaned coyote is good, but the beautiful photos of Charlie the coyote make the book amazing.

"Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog & the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero" by Michael Hingson: Like "Until Tuesday," this book is about the special bond between service dog and owner. Hingson was a blind man trapped in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and this book tells how he and Rosalie made it out alive. (review)
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"The Dogs of Christmas" by W. Bruce Cameron: This is a sweet, fun Christmas romance that involves puppes! (Bonus points for being set in my home state of Colorado. And for having the most adorable cover!) (review)

"The Dog Master: A Novel of the First Dog" by W. Bruce Cameron: Cameron's novel, set 30,000 years ago, theorizes how wolves might have come to be domesticated. (review)
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"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein: One of my favorite books -- beautiful, sad and funny -- told from the perspective of a very special dog named Enzo.

"Dog On It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery" by Spencer Quinn: The first in a mystery series told by dog Chet and his private-investigator human Bernie. (review)
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"Dog Songs: Poems" by Mary Oliver: Poignant and fun poems about our furry friends. I actually read this book out loud to Conan. (review)

"Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog" by John Grogan: The quintessential dog memoir.
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"The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption" by Jim Gorant: The details of Michael Vick's dog-fighting ring will make you sick, but the stories of the rescued dogs who found new life will bring joy to your heart. (review)

Coffee Table Books:

"Find Momo: Coast to Coast" by Andrew Knapp: I love Momo! After coming across the Momo books at work (there are two), I started following the author's Instagram page (here), which is full of awesome pictures of Momo. The books are fun for dog-lovers of all ages, since they're kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" with an adorable dog and beautiful/quirky/interesting locales.

"The Dogist: Photographic Encounters With 1000 Dogs" by Elias Weiss Friedman: Another book I happened across at work. The portraits will have you chuckling and "aww-ing."

 On My To-Read List:

"A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron
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"Surviving Henry: Adventures in Loving a Canine Catastrophe" by Erin Taylor Young

"From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava" by Jay Kopelman
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"No Better Friend: One Man, One Dog, And Their Extraordinary Story of Courage and Survival in WWII" by Robert Weintraub

Seahorse Tattoo!

I spent yesterday morning at the tattoo shop, getting this lovely watercolor seahorse inked on my right wrist! I have one other tattoo, a star outline on my foot that I got when I was 18, and I've long been considering another tattoo -- but this one had to be meaningful. I'd also been thinking lately that I wanted it to have something to do with Conan, our beloved furry baby who passed away about two years ago from lymphoma. I don't think I will ever stop missing him.

And the seahorse is meaningful -- it reminds me of this awesome day at the dog beach on the Air Force base where we lived in Hawaii. The tide was going out and we found this poor beautiful seahorse trapped way too close to the shore. So after photographing him and introducing him to our sweet Conan, we put him back out where he belonged. I love this picture of Conan making friends with the seahorse, and the tattoo is in part a tribute to him. He's the first thing I think of whenever I see a seahorse.

Here's a close-up of the seahorse. Isn't he gorgeous?


The seahorse also brings to mind a really happy period in my life. It was 2012, our last year in Hawaii. Jarrod had gotten home from a 6-month deployment to Afghanistan a couple weeks before and we'd just come back from a 10-day relaxation trip to Kauai, my mom was out for a visit (she took the picture above, on the same day as the seahorse rescue), I had some really good friends and a job I loved, we were busy doing all kinds of fun things (shark cage tour, parasailing, swimming with dolphins, going to the beach all the time) that we needed to cross off our Hawaii to-do list before we moved. Life ebbs and flows, and it'll be nice to have a little reminder on my wrist of one of the great times.


I took this picture to show the placement of the tattoo, but it strikes me that from a distance it kinda looks like the Dark Mark! (Leave it to me to find a Harry Potter reference -- ha!) I initially wanted it to be closer to my wrist, but I'm not sure I could've withstood the pain. This tattoo hurt approximately 1 trillion times more than my star and the lower on my arm the tattoo artist was working the more painful it was. So Dark Mark Seahorse it is! ;)

P.S. If you're curious, I went to John Lloyd at Truth & Triumph in Dayton.

2014: My Year in Pictures...

It's hard to believe 2014 has come and gone! It's bittersweet -- it wasn't a bad year overall, but we lost our sweet boxer boy Conan to cancer in March and no matter what other awesome adventures we had that'll be what we remember most about 2014. And it means we only have one year left here in Ohio before our next military move, which is exciting and sad at the same time. I have high hopes for the year ahead and I wish you a wonderful 2015 too! Tomorrow I'll share what's on the agenda for the next 12 months.

Here's a look back at 2014:

 

January: Polar vortex. Brr! On the coldest day, I was bundled up under a blanket by the fireplace in a few layers of clothes along with a hat, scarf and mittens! Our furnace wouldn't get over 64 degrees, but I was grateful it didn't die like some people's!

February: The Broncos humiliate themselves in the Super Bowl. :(

 

March 2: Goodbye, Conan. I still miss you every single day.

March: A soggy, cold weekend in Philadelphia. (More pictures here.)

May: A fantastic trip to Smoky Mountain National Park! (More pictures here.)

 

May: The Indy 500!

June: Jarrod does the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience I bought him as a gift. Not surprisingly, he had the fastest lap time of the day. I was a proud wife! :)

June: A weekend getaway to Hocking Hills in southern Ohio to celebrate our six-year anniversary. Here we are on our hike to Rock House.

July: We meet up with Mom in Indiana to visit relatives! I was thrilled to show Jarrod around northern Indiana Amish country where my parents grew up and where I spent so many summers as a kid visiting my grandmas.

July: The NASCAR truck race at Eldora Speedway in western Ohio.

August: The Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago with Jarrod and my brother, Andy. A fabulous three days of concert craziness, plus deep-dish pizza, the art museum, the Hancock Building and an architecture tour. (Tons more pictures from our awesome trip here and here.)

August: My best friend Katie visits and we go to the Mansfield Reformatory where "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed. (More pictures here.) (As my feet are crammed into slippers and I'm snuggled under a heated throw, I can't help but stare enviously at our flip-flopped feet!)

August: Red hair, with help from Katie.

October: Mom and Dad visit and get to experience the mouthwatering fare at Schmidt's Sausage Haus in Columbus.

October: Back to the Smoky Mountains for a long weekend to celebrate my 29th birthday! Horseback riding in the mountains the day of. Best birthday yet!

 

 

Halloween: I wear my Hermione costume to work at the library. Approximately 50% of patrons (and some co-workers!!!!) think I'm wearing a graduation gown and my costume is "graduate." WTF, people?!

November: Thanksgiving with Grandma in Indiana and my first time having fried turkey, expertly prepared by my Southern-boy husband. Nom nom nom!

December: Best. Christmas. Tree. Ever. This baby is 9 1/2 feet of pure splendor. We haven't been able to bring ourselves to dismantle it yet.

December: The not-so-ugly ugly sweater. (I thought it was pretty tacky... nobody else did! Sigh. Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything right!)

And those are some of the highlights of my year! What memories will you hold onto from 2014?

Furry Friday: Goodbye, Sweet Conan

Two Fridays ago we took Conan to the vet because he was struggling to breathe, hoping against hope that we'd be bringing him back home with us that night. But our vet wanted to hospitalize him and run some tests, and on Saturday we got the dreaded news that Conan's lymphoma -- which he had bravely battled for 20 months -- had spread to his lungs.

On Sunday, March 2, we drove back down to the vet hospital in Cincinnati to visit Conan and were devastated to see how much his condition had deteriorated in less than 48 hours. He was in an oxygen chamber to help him breathe, and it was obvious that just opening the doors to stick our heads in caused his breathing to be so much more labored. He was weak and tired and sick -- though still as happy as ever to see his mommy and daddy.

We cried -- and cried some more -- as we kissed and stroked and hugged Conan, and then did possibly the hardest, saddest thing I've ever done. We decided it was time to say goodbye to our baby. We were there through the end, and then we took Conan to be cremated two days later and were there for all of that too. Jarrod felt we owed it to Conan to see him through, and it seemed like the right thing to do for the dog who was so, so much more than a dog to us.


Conan came to live with us when he was 11 months old, right after Jarrod and I graduated college and moved to Florida for his first assignment with the Air Force. We didn't even have living room furniture yet when Conan joined the family! He was the ring bearer at our wedding, he licked our tears when Jarrod's parents died, he accompanied us on adventures big and small -- from cross-country moves to a quick trip to grab ice cream on a hot summer night -- and he won the heart of everyone he met. He was such a sweet, happy-go-lucky boy, and I can't even begin to count the number of smiles Conan brought to people's faces -- especially ours.

Conan had a wonderful, happy, fun life with Jarrod and me and I'm positive he knew how cherished he was, but that doesn't really make losing him any easier. We'll undoubtedly invite another boxer to share in our lives, but Conan will always be our first and best boy. Miss you, Conan.

 

Furry Friday

Conan decided to help me fold laundry. I gave him the all-important job of guarding the (snuggly warm, fresh-from-the-dryer) socks to make sure none ran away.

Furry Friday: Surviving Subzero Temperatures

As you undoubtedly heard or experienced yourself, it was ridiculously and agonizingly cold from the Midwest to the east coast this week. Monday was the worst for us; it was in the negative digits all day with a "feels like" temperature in the -30s! The biting, gusty wind was the worst part -- it cut right through every layer of clothing. We had to take Conan to the vet for his chemotherapy Monday at noon and there was hardly a soul out braving the slippery roads and frosty weather. We had lunch at the always-busy PF Chang's while Conan was getting his treatment and there were fewer than 10 other diners!

Even with the fireplace and a space heater running, our furnace struggled to attain 65 degrees and couldn't make it a degree more. We actually resorted to sipping some of the moonshine we bought on our Tennessee trip to warm up our insides! On Monday night I was bundled up in two pairs of socks, slippers, sweatpants, a thermal shirt and sweatshirt, a scarf and fingerless mittens -- in the house! Our upstairs is actually colder than the downstairs, and when we finally make the chilly trek to bed I mounded four extra blankets on top of us, animals included. Monday was the coldest day I've ever experienced -- and I hope it stays that way!

Yup, that says it felt like -32 degrees at 4 in the afternoon.

This is how Conan spent the day -- bundled up under several blankets with just his face poking out. Lily curled up by the fireplace.

I thought I'd include these pictures too. They're from the weekend, before our arctic blast, but they're just so cute. For Christmas I made my grandma a Colts no-sew fleece blanket. Conan insisted on "helping" -- i.e. settling down right in my way on top of the blanket and then pretending to be a sack of potatoes when I asked him to move. So I decided to make him his own new blankie (new because he already has a few dog-themed blankets, but they're not handmade by Mommy) and both Conan and Lily just love it.

 

Rarely will Lily snuggle this close to Conan, but I guess the appeal of a cozy new blanket is warrants some sacrifice!