Thursday, April 30, 2015

INTERVIEW WITH SARGE THE DOXIE: A SURPRISE IS COMING!

INTERVIEW WITH SARGE THE DOXIE:  A SURPRISE IS COMING!

Here's my interview of Sarge, the precocious dachshund author of THE DACHSHUND ESCAPADES books. We promised our readers that we would bring him back to answer some of their questions, so we are pleased to have him as our guest once again.

MDH: I hear that you have recently visited several dachshund rescue societies in various parts of the country. Would you like to share a little about those with our readers?

SARGE THE DOXIE: First of all, thank you for having me back. I never miss an opportunity to promote my books! My main thrust in visiting the dachshund rescue societies was to commend the staff for work well done. My doxie buddies, I've found, don't have much interest in books--seems they mostly seek treats--so I focused on putting paw prints on copies of my book for the staff. They are special people, and it is wonderful how they help my fellow wiener dogs find a new lease on life in loving "fur" ever homes.

MDH: Well, then . . . what did you find to be the most fascinating detail about these rescue societies?

SARGE THE DOXIE: As a dog myself, the most fascinating detail for ME in the societies was the dedication of the workers. Dachshunds of all colors, coats, ages, personalities, and health are accepted and loved. It is wonderful to see humans being so accepting of them. If humans want to adopt a dachshund, they should check out the rescue societies first.

MDH: Thank you for giving us insight on that. Now, let's get to our first reader question. This one comes from a dachshund owner named Patrick in Toledo, Ohio, who asks: "You have said in the past that Papa Duke was your favorite human character in your books. Is he still your favorite now in your latest book, A DACHSHUND'S TRIBUTE?  You also recently disclosed that he passed away before your books and you never really knew him personally.


Wednesday, April 29, 2015

WHAT DOXIES THINK OF HUMANS





The photo could easily be for hot weather as well:  "Bring your pets inside when it's HOT and leave the stupid people outside."

In any case, I don't doubt for a minute that doxie really do think that!

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em, even if they look down on us!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

SUPER DAWG!


The grandkids are at it again:  here's granddawg Shadow dressed up as Super Dawg:


Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em!

Monday, April 27, 2015

WANNA GO BYE BYE?

Here's a video of my doxie Duke when we were going to visit our daughter and son-in-law about an hour away.  The voice is that of my husband Clark.  Duke was in shock that he was actually getting to "go bye bye," so he looked stunned for a moment, allowing the news to sink in!



Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

I CHANGED MY MIND: I AM DACHSHUND COVER REVEAL



The other day I revealed the cover for I AM DACHSHUND.  However, as you can see the cover above, I'VE CHANGED MY MIND on the main photo for it, and added a couple of dog paw prints.

I'm allowed to do that, right?  This cover version is better, more colorful, and I like it.  Hope you do!

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

COVER REVEAL, I AM DACHSHUND!


Here it is, friends:


The book, second edition, will be released in a couple of weeks, barring any unforeseen circumstances.  

Any guesses about who those other three "animules" are on the cover?  

Sunday, April 12, 2015

VISITING THE TARHEEL STATE


We were away all last week to visit friends and family in North Carolina, if anyone happened to be wondering why I didn't post all week.  Oh, we had such a wonderful time!

Duke stayed with our daughter Holly and family, which he always enjoys:



Clark and I both have brothers who live in the Raleigh area, so we spent some time with them and their wives.  Oh, it was great to catch up on old times!  We hadn't traveled back home to NC since we moved here in July 2013, mainly because of my painful knees.  As with our trip out west, my new knees did fine on this trip as well.  

Beach, Ft. Fisher
We also visited a dear friend in Wilmington, whom we have known since our girls were small.  It is a beautiful time of year, just missing the annual Azalea Festival by being early--we were there on Wednesday last week, and the festival started on Friday.




We toured Wrightsville, Kure, and Carolina beaches, and drove as far as the road covered, all the way to Ft. Fisher.  Beaches weren't crowded, the weather was nice (but with thunderstorms), but flowers were blooming everywhere.

Carolina Beach
We visited with my uncle and aunt, too; he's the last sibling of my mother's family of ten.  I saw cousins I hadn't seen in decades!  We enjoyed a meal, a time of fellowship, and we enjoyed childhood memories.  My aunt told me that my great grandfather Jim Barbee is buried at Liberty Hill Primitive Baptist Church in Albemarle (which I didn't know), and he was one of 12 siblings.  He had married three times after each wife's passing, and fathered a total of 19 children, one of whom was my grandmother, Bertha Barbee Lambert.

My aunt showed me a "History of Stanly County" book, with old photos of all sorts of things.  And right there in the middle of the book was a school class picture in Albemarle, 1906 - there was my grandfather Walter Lambert was in middle school!  Wow.  He died when I was ten.

My uncle showed me his prized possession, saying I had probably never seen it, but he'd had it since he was nine years old:  a 1923 Gibson guitar.  He'd had it refinished in the 1960s, and it was beautiful.
Uncle Herman with 1923 Gibson
All in all, we had a marvelous time down memory lane.  We all thought of our loved ones gone before, and as we drove past my parents' home in Sanford, I got a lump in my throat thinking of all
Mom & Dad's former home
the good memories of that place.  I'm so thankful we're all Christians and will see each other again on the other side!

Friday, April 3, 2015

EASTER'S PROMISE


Bunnies and Easter baskets aside, the holiday of Easter is the cornerstone of our Christian faith; for without the Resurrection, Christianity would be just an assortment of empty promises.

We often see and hear much about His crucifixion, but not as much about His resurrection.  I've often wondered why.  Since the crucifixion can be proved as a historical fact, an equal degree of evidence is available as proof for His resurrection.


However, faith does not merely come as a result of irrefutable evidence on its side--it comes because an individual arrives at God's saving grace, or salvation, or a profession of faith THROUGH FAITH--whatever you wish to call it.  One repents of sin, asks forgiveness for it, and then must accept that Jesus is his/her Savior.  This redemptive faith changes one's eternal destiny forever:



Jesus Christ died on that cross to take on mankind's sin, as His death was the penalty of sin.  In other words, He took my place on that cross, just as He took the place of every person who has ever accepted His redemption and believed it.  God made the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and I am so thankful that He did.  As He predicted, Jesus arose the third day, conquering death--thereby conquering it for His children as well.  When we leave this life behind, we will live eternally with Him in heaven.



My eternal life is not a result of anything I did to gain God's favor; one's good works do not secure a passage to heaven.  If that were the case, why then would Jesus have had to die on that cross?  By falling back on works, mankind negates His glorious and selfless sacrifice, and works are a dead-end road for eternal life.  That is the crux of the matter:  man wants to have his works count, and he wants those works to give him eternal life.  Once we accept Christ on faith, then our works reflect our love for Him.  They don't gain us passage to heaven--Christ did that for us--but our works reflect our desire to please Christ and follow His example:



God's gift of eternal life is a FREE gift--one need only to accept it.  May this Easter be the best you have ever experienced, especially if you accept Jesus Christ's redemptive death and resurrection into your heart.




Thursday, April 2, 2015

DACHSHUND PHILOSOPHY ON LIFE



That pretty much sums up how our fur babies think, doesn't it??

Dachshunds . . .  you gotta love 'em!