Staycation, Celebration, and Books on Sale

By: Patty L. Fletcher

Website

When I was young, I would roll my eyes and laugh behind my hands when the older folks in my life spoke of time appearing to fly by at an alarming rate. Back then when school was out and the lazy hazy days of summer stretched before me full of sleepovers, swimming pools, and late-night hunts for fireflies I couldn’t imagine what they were going on about.

Now, as I sit here on the last day of my staycation in my kitchen that remains yet to have been scrubbed, which was something I’d meant to do while taking some time off from my work I find myself amazed at how quickly the time has gone.

“Where did it go?” I asked the air when I sat up and put my feet on the floor at just after 6 this early morning.

“How did so much time slip away?” I wondered as I lumbered up out of my sleeping nest and made my way into the bathroom for my morning’s routine of washing face, and brushing teeth and hair.

Later when I stood in the front yard feeling the warmth of the sun on my face, and the mists of the fog swirling round I wanted time to slow down so I could enjoy every second in the form of a minute instead.

But, alas, time is no shorter now than it ever was, yet somehow…

What have I don on my Staycation? I’ve read copious amounts of books. I’ve visited with family in celebration of the 4^TH of July, taken long walks barefoot in the summer’s eve with my Bubba dog and I’ve loved every moment.

No, I’ve not gotten all I’d intended to do done, but I’ve enjoyed myself mightily, I feel much rested and I’m ready to once again roll up my sleeves and get back to the business of promoting all my totally talented Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing clients.

There are great things afoot for the rest of this summer and I hope all of you will join me in enjoyment of it all.

Today, to kick off all the greatness to come I’d like to let you know that my books, Campbell’s Rambles: How a Seeing Eye Dog Retrieved My Life and Bubba Tails From the Puppy Nursery At The Seeing Eye are on sale.

I hope if you’ve not read them, you’ll take this opportunity to pick them up and if you have and you liked them maybe you’ll grab them for a friend.

For now, I’m off to see what wonderous things await me on this last day of staycating and so I wish you a happy day.

Until next time this is Patty and her sweet Bubba Dog saying…

May harmony find you and blessid be.

Book Extract from Bubba Tails

One stormy night a few weeks later King Campbell and his mother had just gone to bed, and just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he heard again the tinkling of dog tags off in the distance. They had an urgent sound to them.

“Something is wrong.” He thought.

So, after making certain his mother was fast asleep, checking the house, King Campbell stretched himself comfortably and once again let himself fade away. As he appeared in the nursery he noticed that there was much confusion and he could smell fear.

“What’s the matter?” He said to one of the mother dogs standing nearest him when he appeared in the room.

“Oh! King Campbell! We have an awful problem!” She howled.

“Why, whatever is wrong?” He said with some alarm.

“Oh! That little pup that snuggled with you last time, you were here! She heard that soon it would be her time to leave her mother and go with her first family and she’s hidden herself someplace and we have looked and looked, but we cannot find her!”

Now, it had been storming when he had left his human mother, and it was storming there as well.

“Well, now, she’s such a wee thing. She can’t have gotten far. We will split up and search the grounds.”

Soon, King Campbell, had all the pups gathered together, along with their mothers, and he gave each of them an assigned place to look. He remembered many things about the nursery and the land around it, and he was ever sure they would find her without much trouble at all. He made sure to keep the wee pup’s mother close to him so she would not be too afraid, and off they went into the storm.

The lightning flashed! The thunder crashed! And how the wind did blow! The rain was falling hard, yet all the dogs and pups looked and looked. Sniffing here, sniffing there. They looked inside and outside too. They sniffed under bushes, and around trees. They looked under furniture in the nursery, and even in toy boxes, closets, and drawers. A bunch of little Labrador pups even tried to look in the food bins, and when they did not find her they decided to stop for a quick snack.

King Campbell chased them out saying, “No! No! She is not in there! You leave! It! Stop that!”

Pretty soon though, they had looked everywhere they could think of and still there was no sign of her. It was getting later and later, the storm was worse than ever, yet still, they had not found her. As King Campbell stood with his head down, trying to think what to do, an idea suddenly came to him. He raised his head and barked very loudly!

“Woolf! Woolf! Woolf!”  The room fell still and he said, “Listen! Listen! Everyone! I have an idea! It’s magik, and it just might work! At home when my human mother is missing special people in her life and wishes to draw them to her in some way, she sings a special song. I am going to sing it, and when you think you have the words join me! Now, come on! All gather round! Let us make a circle. All grasp paws! That’s right, come on! All together now! And remember, when you have the words sing.” He began to sing.

“Listen to the bird’s sing.

Listen to the chimes ring.

Listen to King Campbell’s bell ringing.

Listen to the rain fall.

Listen to my heart call.

Listen to King Campbell’s bell ringing.”

Soon all the mothers and pups were singing, but the wee pup’s mother was still crying and had not yet begun to sing. King Campbell turned to her. “You must sing! You must! You must sing and you must believe! Now sing!”

Book Extract from Campbell’s Rambles

Finally the pilot made the announcement we’d all been dreading. Our flight had been canceled, and we were going back to the terminal. Eventually the flight attendant was there beside me, and Campbell and I were getting ready to leave the plane.

I began to get Campbell ready to move. I put his harness back on and got him into position—which, by the way, is no easy task when you have a tall Lab that weighs 67 pounds, and there is also very little room to move. I got him situated, and then I learned that we would not be using the jetway to exit the plane, because of other planes using it. They were bringing a large set of stairs. The stairs were put in place, and when it was time for Campbell and me to leave, I didn’t think there would be any problem.

Boy, was I wrong! It turned out that these stairs were very high, and the platform at the top was grated and see–through.

Now, let’s stop here, because I need to let you know that Campbell has been trained to avoid such things whenever possible. So when he saw what he was expected to cross to get to the stairs, he sat himself down in the doorway of the plane and said in his best doggie body language, “NO WAY! Ain’t nothin’ good gonna come from this!” I coaxed him and talked to him, but he would not budge.

One of the security guards suggested that I allow them to carry him off the plane. I refused. I told them that we might encounter this again someplace, and that I had to talk him down. I was also very worried about the possibility that Campbell might flip out from fear and jump from the guard’s arms. A fall like that could hurt him badly enough to remove him from service before he ever began. That was something I absolutely could not risk.

Now remember that I myself had a healthy fear of heights, and it turns out that these stairs were possibly as much as 25 feet off the ground. Neither Campbell nor I was very happy about our situation, but I tossed my fear of heights aside and turned myself around, so that my back was to the stairs. I asked the security staff to spot me and let me know when I’d almost reached the first step. The wind was blowing hard and the stairs were shaking. Campbell was shivering and I was terrified, but I couldn’t show any of my own fear to him. I knew that it was very important for me to handle this situation exactly right, because what I did at that time would affect us as a team for the rest of our lives together.

I began to back up, squatting down and talking softly to Campbell. He was crouched down and did not want to move. He was making a soft whimpering noise. I began to pull him and continued talking very calmly and softly to him. He was as scared as I was…

Be sure to get your copies before the sale is gone.