ONE OF MY NEXT BIG THINGS

Hello fans. My mom has been  busy wearing her pet grooming hat, her writing hat and her marketing hat and, oh yeah, designing her new Mobile Grooming Hat that she has ask me to pose as her publicist.

Judy has been “tagged,” you know, like swatted in cat lingo, by a fellow author, Dr. Laura Hoopes. Dr. Hoopes, on her blog called The Next Big Thing, http://www.lauralmayshoopes.com/next-big-thing-for-laura-hoopes/ she talks about her new book, Breaking Through The Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist. It’s an inspiring read for any woman facing a challenging career, especially one in which women are greatly outnumbered by men. Laura mentions that her book, Spiral Ceiling, is currently the only available book on the life story of an American woman who made it in science while being married and raising children.
Following this interview, Judy has tagged three authors who will tell you about their "Next Big Thing."

What is Judy’s (and my) “Next Big Thing” you ask? It is BIG!! The title – INVISIBLE HEROES. The story of a dog named Masada who grows up to become a service dog for an Iraq veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Where did she get the idea for INVISIBLE HEROES? Several years ago Judy donated to an organization called Puppies Behind Bars. The founder, a woman in New York, raised dogs to be trained by prisoners for veterans with disabilities. Judy told me the idea simmered for a while. Last year Judy contacted the woman asking for an interview and explained her idea for the book.  She and I were going to make New York our next road trip to meet the woman, some of the prisoners and the veterans who had received the dogs. The woman was polite but declined. “I’m writing my own book,” she announced.

We were both busy finishing up our second book, GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST, so there was no time to dwell on the disappointment.

When Judy finished GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST, she grabbed my little cheeks and looked me square in the eyes, and said, “We’ll write our own book.” And so it began.

What is the genre? The book is true fiction which means we are already spending many hours researching PTSD, service dog training, as well as interviewing veterans and their families. The task is daunting but we must get it right. It is too serious of an issue to chance getting the facts wrong. Over eighteen veterans a day are committing suicide because of this invisible disease.

What actors would we choose to play our characters in the movie rendition of this book? Of course I would want to play the service dog, but no matter how many treats I eat for the film I couldn’t put on eighty pounds, so I defer to mine and Judy’s all-time favorite dog movie, K-9 Cop. Jerry Lee, Jim Belushi’s K-9 partner, would absolutely have to play Masada.

The one sentence synopsis of INVISIBLE HEROES? The story of two men whose life experiences have left them searching for a reason to live and a dog who helps them find it.

Self- Published or Traditional Publishing?  Judy self-published her last two books, COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST and GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST.http://www.amazon.com/Coast-Cat-Ghost-Judy-Howard/dp/1461153786/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364138341&sr=1-1&keywords=coast+to+coast+with+a+cat+and+a+ghost  She (and I as co-author) has kept our standing among the top ten percent of Amazon authors since our debut in 2011. Amazon ranks their authors by the amount of sales.

 What other books, written in your genre, would you compare to INVISIBLE HEROES? There are many books about dogs serving in the military but I know of only two that are page turners and inspirational as well as informing the public about PTSD. Carlos Luis Montalvan’s, Until Tuesday moved me in that I will never look at a veteran the same way again. Carlos tells his story eloquently as a veteran with this Invisible Disease. At this moment I am engrossed in the book, Suspect, by Robert Crais. 

Only time constraints prevent me from reading this book from cover to cover in one sitting. It is the story of Maggie, a military dog who nearly dies in Afghanistan after her partner is killed. She is sent home and paired with an LAPD officer suffering his own demons after almost dying in a gun battle as he watched his partner gunned down and die
.

Who or what inspired Judy to write this book? Judy has been asked this question often since INVISIBLE HEROES’s genre is true fiction and different from her last two books. In fact, each book falls in a different genre; COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST is a memoir. GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST is mystery-romance. “I am drawn to write about a subject by something inside me. I can’t explain it. And when I take it on, I become driven.”

What else might pique a reader’s interest if they read, INVISIBLE HEROES?   This book, scheduled to be released December 2013 will tempt all readers who loves dogs, their country, and want to cheer on characters overcoming insurmountable odds to become better than they ever were because of a dog’s devotion.

Here are -----authors who Judy asked me to swat…oops, I mean tag to tell you about their Next Big Thing.

May Sinclair  http://www.maysinclairphd.com/ who just released her new book, In The Between, a fascinating and unique story about reincarnation.

Jim Parrish http://www.jimparrishavitator.net/?page_id=2387 who will be a writer to watch when he releases his book.

Peggy Wheeler editor of the Straitjackets Magazine http://straitjacketsmagazine.com/support4/table.contents.fall.2012.htm would like to tell you about all her projects. Too many to mention here.

LEARNING TO SAY GOOD BYE

I guess everyone has to learn to say good bye at some point in their lives.  Judy and I arrived on Galveston Island by ferry boat. Our first ferry ride!. But the time has come to say goodbye to the Gulf.

I've prowled and stalked the campgrounds from California to Florida but saying farewell to the Gulf in Galveston Texas made me hang my head with sadness. I live in the moment yet I’m aware that leaving the Gulf means Judy and I are heading west. My cat radar tells me we are nearing home, back to responsibilities.

GOOD BYE EVERGLADES

IF I HIDE I DON'T HAVE TO GO HOME

GOOD BYE SPANISH MOSS

 No more stealing through tall grasses and sniffing wild scents that make my hair stand on end. I’ve tested my hunting skills in the bayous and swamps, and though I’ve caught nothing, I was close so many times.

Heading home means saying good bye to my travel routine. Travel days begin in the morning, outside, surveying the campsite one last time while Judy stows away my food and water dishes with the fishes painted on the bottom. When it’s time to roll I take my perch on the dash and watch the scenery pass from the rear view mirror and disappear. After about fifty miles, when the campground is only a memory, I seek out my napping spot where I will occupy the rest of my day until we stop for the night. I have many places but this basket is my favorite at the moment.

When we are settled at the next campsite, the rest of my day is spent hunting, stalking, rolling in the dirt and contemplating nature until sundown. While Judy packs her day with sightseeing, I sleep. When she returns she fills me in with the details of the places she’s visited and the folks she’ met.

Flamingos at Homosassi Preserve in Bushnell, Florida

The remains of  hurricane damaged Oak trees  which may have said good bye but are now everlasting eagles.

Key West, Florida

Did Judy really ride an alligator?


On her return from touring, Judy presents me with a souvenir mouse stuffed with catnip. I have mice which have scurried on the boardwalk of Tombstone Arizona, through the saw grasses of the Everglades in Florida, across the white sands of the Gulf and a special one that Judy told me rode in the Apollo 13.

Traveling is better than any of my catnap dreams. My paws twitch just thinking about traveling. When I gazed out on the waves of the Gulf, the power of the surf churned my insides with a yearning to climb the tallest tree and fly like the gulls across the water. The sand pipers dancing in the sand, poking for food, egrets poising on spindle legs like alabaster statues, and Camerons spreading  their wings like a Buddhist worshipping the sun …these scenes  ground me,.. This journey exposed me to adventures no cat could ever imagine. These escapades are not fantasies dancing in my mind. They are real. I have experienced them to the level that they have stirred my wanderlust and made me yearn for even more. 

How am I going to be satisfied when I return home? Will I be like Tony the tiger at the Tiger Truck Stop on I-10 who paces back and forth? 

But good byes are exits to new roads. I’ll pace, but with expectations. The “Hello Ma’am’s,” the “Howdy’s,” and the Hi y’alls are greetings as Judy and I pass through doors, or ferry across water ways to new adventures. But first we have to say goodbye.

GALVESTON,

GALVESTON,

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'

GATORS,TWEETY BIRD AND EVERGLADES

Did you think I got et by a gator? No way folks. I have been trailing along  behind Judy at the campsites, making sure she leads the way. I have met so many creatures, well, I haven’t met them all but I have smelled their scents.

Like this gator in the Everglades. I don’t want to meet him. He crawled out of the water and laid in the Florida sun to get warm. And there’s water at everywhere - at every campground. Judy educated me. They lay in wait looking like a log, until some innocent little RV dog or cat comes sniffing along filled with curiosity and then they lunge out of the water and can  move thirty miles an hour. I think I can run faster than that  but I don’t want to find out. Judy told me she’s seen enough gators to last her lifetime.

 

 

The birds are big and abundant.

 

A parrot at the alligator farm in St. Augustine, Florida.

 

 

The ones in the cage are Tweetie-Bird and Birdy-Bird. They travel in Tika’s RV. I don’t understand why she’s  not infatuated by them like me.

From the Everglades we made our way down to the Keys. Our campsite in Tavanier was right on the water for only thirty-five dollars a night. All the campers sat out every night to watch the sun set.

 

I was only two blocks from the southernmost point of the continental United States. Where Judy is standing is only ninety miles to Cuba, so I was in the Rv parked two blocks away, 9.2 miles from Cuba. While I napped, Judy took the tour of Key West and snapped this photo of Ernest Hemingway’s house.

Circus life pays better than a writer’s profession. Check out The Ringling Bros Estate in Sarasota, Florida.

And finally Siesta Beach with fine, white, powdered sugar  sand.  We left here and headed inland,inching our way back to California. The hot humid weather is making me shed. I’ll miss the jungle atmosphere.

THIRTY MILES FROM MOBILE, ALABAMA

My blood raced through my veins when I took in the sights at the Slidell Elks campground. It was wild with smells of craw fish and muddy waters.

I ventured close to the banks of the pond until the swamp grass tickled my ears, or was it the mosquitoes? I heard the cranes cry in the distance and the fish jumping in the bayou and maybe even my cougar ancestors screaming over the rustling saw grass.  The Spanish moss teased me as it swung from the limbs of the oak. I believe my roots are here.

I sat by the pond and imagined living the life of the wild creatures of the islands, prowling, parting the grass in search of a morsel for dinner. In my mind I swatted big bugs, leaped up with the fish flying from the ripples of the river and pounced upon the unsuspecting birds tip-toeing among the reeds. And when I finished and my belly full, I stretched out in the warm sunshine and slept.

In deep slumber I heard the dried grass crunch, crunch, crunch. Swish, swish like a tail sliding along behind something big, moving, crawling, creeping, nearer and nearer.  “ALLIGATOR!”

My eyes popped open. Just a dream. Time to move on, leave them behind.   My fantasies stir me until my paws twitch. Sometimes scary,  they fill me with adventurous feelings that make my breath  quicken and  and my tail switch.

 

 

 Tika investigated the area making sure we missed nothing before we moved on. It was time to invent and create new dreams - Alabama dreams.

 

In Alabama the campground was carpeted with oak leaves I loved to chase when they fluttered in the wind. The days were warm with spurts of rain. I watched Judy decorate our home and me for Christmas.

Alabama is great but I worried tonight as I listened to the sky boom and the winds rock our home while Judy fretted in front of the TV.  She played with me but she was not in a playful mood and always kept her eye on the TV screen. She assured me if the storm became too severe we would seek shelter in the brick club house. I was worried because she was, so I played with her to distract her.

 

It is quiet now. No more pounding on the roof.We made it through the storm. Mobile, Alabama did not fare so well.  

 

YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL AND I'LL GO TO TEXAS

I didn’t say that. It’s a quote from Davy Crockett admonishing his constituents of Tennessee when they didn’t reelect him to congress, but I like Texas, too. I asked Judy to dig my hat out of storage, I want to fit in, tip my hat and say, “Hello, Y’all.”

 

Judy hasn’t expounded about all the sites she’s seen, so I will. We cruised into the town of Fort Stockton to visit the fort and discovered “The Sticker Bus.” There were stickers for everything. I wanted one that said, “Dogs drool, cats rule.” Judy said she’s not sticking that on our bumper.

 

While Judy toured the fort, I pondered about what else I might want to say on a sticker. Never did come up with a comment that would stick to a scratching post.

 

 

 Judy discovered that the Buffalo soldiers had been quartered at Fort Stockton before they transferred to Fort Hauchuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona over five hundred and fifty miles away. I thought that was far in a motor home, let alone on horseback!

Here are some other pics she didn’t share with you.

This is a restored drive in theater but not operating in San Antonio.

 

This picture is hard to make out but it’s Houston Space Center’s Mission Control. Remember some of those famous words spoken from there? “Houston, we have a problem here.”

 

 

The Saturn V. Huge! 

How about Alan B Shephard’s words?

“And when I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the moon, I cried.”

 

 

 

This is a restored Southern Pacific Depot in Hondo, TX.

I wish I’d been invited to lunch yesterday at Manny’s Shrimp Boat in Livingston.

 

 Judy raved about the shrimp and hush puppies. I tried not to think of my mom eating puppies, but as long as it’s not kittens…. She raved about the Cajun potato casserole with Pirogue Sauce.

When I consider all the places I’ve traveled and the people I’ve met. I am truly a lucky cat.

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the Escapee Care Center here in the RV Park we are staying in now. It is the only RV Park in the country with an assisted care center run almost entirely by volunteers. There is not another campground with a care facility that caters only to RVers. If Judy becomes ill and has difficulty taking care of me and herself, we can come here and receive the care at no cost while we live in our motorhome.

 

 

 

 

 

So, as I peer out at the Texas sunset, which is nothing like California sunsets, I think about my life and wonder how I got so lucky.  But I know the answer. I’m a cat. We always land on our feet. With an attitude of gratitude, you can too.

Don't forget to check out Judy's books on Amazon and Kindle.

COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GRE602

GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST

http://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Ghost-Series-ebook/dp/B00AI2TOB6/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355799495&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=GOING+HME+WITH+A+CAT+AND+A+GHOST#_

 

 

 

 

 

FROM ARIZONA TO TEXAS

Judy has so much to do sightseeing, driving and all that she assigned the media task to me. If I remember correctly Judy left you in anticipation of visiting, Bisbee, Tombstone and Boothill. If I were to report the days' events from my point of view, it would only be I pondered the universe and its  relationship to me for hours in cat meditation until Judy returned from a full day of sightseeing.

Judy and Vicki arrived at Bisbee early and checked out the town.
 

She marveled at the architecture and visited with shop owners who recommended a great Mexican restaurant called Santiago’s for lunch which had great Chicken Mole.

*

 When she returned home I batted around a catnip toy, the result of her morning shopping. It was a nice bit of recreation to work out the kinks of the day’s heavy meditation.

Judy raved about Tombstone with its friendly residents and shop owners who charmed her with historical stories. Although we’ve toured “the town too tough to die” before, Judy never visited the “World’s Largest Rose Bush Tree,” sent from Scotland and planted in the spring of 1885 by the Macias family. The unbelievable pictures made my paws itch to climb through its myriad of branches.

 The adobe inn encompassing the patio where the Lady Banksia Rose Tree thrives was one of the first structures built in Tombstone. In 1935 the Macias family changed the name of the adobe structure from the Arcade to The Rose Tree Inn and has continually tended the rose bush for four generations. Every author who has visited Tombstone has found his or her way to the inn, not only for the fine accommodations, but to seek out Mrs. Macia’s vast knowledge of the area’s history.

That night we packed up for a day of traveling in the southwestern sunshine. Deming was our next stop at an SKP (Escapee) Park, Rovers Roost in Casa Grande, Arizona. The first night was free if we boondocked so Judy counted on me to keep her warm if the night turned too chilly. Vicki had a friend in the park who took us to dinner and in the morning we headed for Deming, New Mexico.

The Dream Catcher in Deming New Mexico was another SKP campground.

*

Judy related the time she passed through eight years ago on her initial trip to Florida. Recently widowed, she recalled their friendliness with an invitation to the potluck that night. Even though she was not an Escapee member at the time she was touched by their kindness.

Evidently it was just their way, because when she checked in this time, they offered free turkey soup, bread, and carrot cake. She returned to me that night with a contented smile from good food and good folks. She reminded me how traveling always introduced you to the nicest folks. She met a fellow at the dinner whom she met in Yuma in March. He was what we RVers call a snowbird, headed for San Diego to escape Michigan’s winter. The campground hosts talked of the rock hounding and loved the area so much they bought land in Deming. Judy says Rving is a great way to discover where you want to settle down when you retire. As a cat I have been retired all my life, that is why I don’t mind filling in like this for Judy when her schedule is too tight.

*

 

Bidding the friendly folk at the Dream Catcher goodbye we traveled our preferred two hundred miles and then began to search for a place to curl up for the night. After searching for a campground Judy discovered many had gone out of business, like the poor truck stop above, we finally pulled into The Mountain RV Park in Van Horn, Texas. *

 The new owners of the park Sharon, Sue and their timid dog Shila were accommodating and eager to make their new adventure during their retirement years a success.

After another beautiful sunset, morning found Tika and me discussing our route.

Tika informed me that she and Vicki wanted to stop at an SKP park in Pecos which would cause them to veer sixty miles from our planned route. I told her Judy and I decided to stay on schedule and we could meet up in Hondo Texas.

I sat for awhile reviewing our adventures and wondered what was in store next.

Check out our books, COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST and our newest, GOING HOME WITH A CAT AND A GHOST on Amazon. The best gift for the holidays or a birthday http://www.amazon.com/JUDY-HOWARD/e/B005H1KXYU/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0is a book.