A NEW FEATHER IN MY CAP

 No I haven't killed any birds. Really? 

Seriously, I have another title to add to my resume. I have been trying to convince Judy for along time that I know how to attract the crowds. who could resist this face?

If Judy hasn't told you already ( check out her blog,     ) I am honored to take on the exciting task as her publicist. 

I  want to reassure every one of my qualifications as publicist. I worked as Snoop Dog's publicist for several years and made some big changes for him, the biggest, his new name, Snoop Lion. His new identity inspired the album, Reincarnated,  released in April. 

Snoop Dog, I mean Snoop Lion, can tell you my influence spiked his career to new heights. I am sure Judy will be amazed by the way her platform will soar.

I developed a few habits from hanging out with the rapper. I spent a lot of hours sitting in on rehearsals and sometimes, when we were just jammin’, I was allowed to fill in as a backup. Just thinking of all the good times my tail  twitches to the beat of his songs. My contract ended last year but sometimes, without thinking, I still grab my private parts.

Check out the the clip below from one of our rapping sessions. It was "the cat's meow. " We had so much fun making it.

I’m trying to break that bad rapping habit and keep my paws away from my private parts. It’s not a good move for a literary publicist.

I will be working closely with Judy's agent, Jack B. Sellinit from The Harley Rules Press.I have scheduled our first public appearance  and have asked her agent, Mr. Sellinit to accompany her. They will be attending the Canine Support Team Certification Event at the Promenade in Temecula. Veterans will have completed their two week training course to learn how to master their new companions.  What a great day it will be.

 High Noon on Friday, June 28^th at the Promenade in Temecula.

http://www.caninesupportteams.org/

Perhaps we will find a model for the cover of INVISIBLE HEROES. As head of the Cover Design Department I am still seeking applicants. 

Hope to see you there!

A CAT AND THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE

My luggage is packed. I only have one bag. It holds all my belongings, cherished and those not so.

My brush: I like being brushed when I want to be brushed, not any more than that. I want to be brushed on the belly, my back, or my chest when my mood is mellow and everyone is observing how cute I am. I set the timer for five, ten, or fifteen seconds. If the brushing continues past the silent dinging of my timer, I have to run away. 

The brush is packed in case I am in the mood.

My hats: I have adopted Judy’s fashion style of wearing hats. A hat allows me to stand out in a crowd apart from other cats. My collection includes a Harley skull cap and an imitation calf skin cowboy hat. The timer is set the same length of time for donning the hats as for brushing.

Bandannas: The assortment of these accessories fills an entire pocket in my bag. My scarves represent my love of the holidays, Christmas, Halloween, and Memorial Day to name a few.

Jackets and t-shirts: Beautiful California weather prohibits the necessity for wearing anything but the coat I was born with, but sometimes for a photo shoot or book signing I’m forced to dress for the occasion. I own two Harley jackets, leather and Levi, and a Hearst castle t-shirt that matches Judy’s.

Treats and catnip, toys and more treats: No explanation needed here. Most toys are either feathered or stuffed with catnip.

Collars and leashes:  These are combo sets, one matching the other designed in Harley flames, rhinestones, or leopard patterns, except my favorite, the retractable lead.

The fore mentioned are the part of my wardrobe for public appearances but the retractable leash is for walks and exploration at campgrounds. I don’t go anywhere without it. Last January Judy forgot it under a cypress tree at the Elks club in Slidell, Louisiana. I was devastated when I had to borrow Tika the min pin’s until we made an emergency stop at Petco.

Of course I have my bed and carrier that remain in the motor home. The carrier came in handy when we were under tornado watch in Summerdale, Alabama on Christmas Eve. My food and essentials were packed alongside the carrier for quick evacuation if needed.

Today my things are packed  for our second annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference. I am excited. Here are some pics from last year. What a great place for contemplation an inspiration.

This visit we will be staying at the The Santa Barbara Sunrise RV Park 

I can’t wait to explore the grounds and enjoy Santa Barbara’s beach weather while Judy attends the conference. It is a busy time for her but I will try to keep you updated on all my adventures.  

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#_