Following Atticus by Tom Ryan

Part Of The Synopsis From Back Cover:

After a close friend died of cancer, middle-aged, overweight, acrophobic newspaperman Tom Ryan decided to pay tribute to her in a most unorthodox manner.  Ryan and his friend, Atticus M. Finch, would attempt to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire's four-thousand-foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity.  It was an adventure of a lifetime, leading them across hundreds of miles and deep into an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland.  At the heart of the amazing journey was the extraordinary relationship they shared, one that blurred the line between man and dog.

I'm the kind of guy who still cries when I watch Old Yeller.  For that matter, Nestor, The Long Eared Christmas Donkey has me in tears every time I watch it.  I even cried when they went deer hunting on Silver Spoons.  Let's just say I'm a sucker for animals.  So stick a cute dog on a cover, and I'm going to agree to anything you say, just so I can read the book.

Because of the adorable Atticus M. Finch on the cover, it was almost a sure bet that I was going to enjoy the book.  What wasn't a given, was whether or not I was going to enjoy the voice used to tell the story.  As much as I love dogs, I tend to not enjoy books written by journalists that feature their own lives as the subject material. I understand that you have to have a bit of an ego to write a book about yourself, but for some reason, journalists seem to revel in their own self importance.  In the case of one book I reviewed earlier this year, the journalist in question was so self involved, I actually lost respect for him after reading the book.  So when I finally found the time to crack the book open and dive in, it was with a bit of trepidation.

At the very beginning, I was almost convinced that I wasn't going to be pleasantly surprised.  When the author talks about his paper and the roll he played in town, I was reading some of the same words as I did in the book I read earlier this year.  It was a little too self congratulatory for my taste.  So I hunkered down to delve into the world of Tom Ryan, hoping that I would get something out of what I was reading.

As I kept on reading though, I started to enjoy the time I was spending with Tom as he meandered his way across town.  The man I quickly judged, just a quickly started to surprise me.  As Tom started to talk more about himself, my brain started to change what I read as ego, into pride.  Pride for what he had built with his paper, and pride and gratitude for the story he was about to relate to his reader.  He opened himself up in ways that few of us would be willing to do.

It's when, first Max then Atticus come into his life, that Tom truly comes across on the page as a humble man who feels blessed to have had these two wonderful dogs in his life.  To my fellow dog lovers out there, you know what a wonderful blessing it is to have a canine friend share your life, both the triumphs and the setbacks.  What Tom shares with his readers as he recounts the time spent with Atticus up in the mountains isn't a travelogue or a manifesto on the joys of mountain hiking.  What I found in the pages of Following Atticus, was a story of two friends who come together and help each other heal in ways that neither could have expected in the beginning.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review the book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sammy the Seal

Well it's my last day of vacation and I'm probably going stir crazy by now.  I'm probably wishing I had gone back to work today instead of extending my vacation to 6 days.  Now I could be completely wrong about that, but I doubt it.  After looking at the weather forecast I'm thinking my vacation will have been spent in really hot temperatures, which I don't like.  I abhor the heat and tend to avoid it as much as possible.  So while you are reading this, I'm probably staying in bed and watching a Buffy marathon.  I know it's an odd thing to do on the last day of vacation, but it's so relaxing too.  Who knows though, I may decide I love the heat and go for a run in the 100 plus weather we are supposed to have.  

I must admit that I'm feeling a little sad to be leaving some of my favorite children's book characters behind for a while.  This is the last Wed. of the month and next month I'm turning it over to some fabulous guest bloggers.  Once again I had to put some names in a hat and let fate decide who was going to be the last character featured this month.  Needless to say, I wouldn't have been unhappy with any of them, but I did get a little excited when I drew out the name of Sammy the Seal.  I loved him as a kid.  So with no further fuss on my part, I present to you Sammy, the seal who needed to know what was on the other side of those walls.

Sammy has been living a pretty content life within the walls of a zoo.  He gets fed on a regular basis and likes having the kids admire him.  But like most of us who are living the good life, Sammy starts to wonder what else is out there.  So one day our wandering hero decides he wants to see what else life has to offer.  He walks out of the zoo, with the keeper's blessing, and embarks on an adventure I'm sure he never forgets.

At first the world seems to be filled with sights and sounds the likes of which Sammy has never seen.  The fast moving cars, the tall buildings that tower above the streets, and even bathtubs.  You see, Sammy has never seen a bathtub before.  Though the bathtub is a bit smaller than his pool at the zoo, Sammy has to see what it's all about.  Of course the man who was running the bath wasn't all that impressed with the idea of a seal stealing the show.

It's when Sammy ends up at a school that he really starts to realize this trip may have been worth it after all.  I'm still not sure why the teacher would have allowed Sammy to stay in the class, but I think both Sammy and I are happy that she did.  Sammy got to do all kinds of things he's never experienced in the zoo before.  He joined the kids during their singing lesson.  He showed them how well a seal could play volleyball, he was amazing.  He even learned how to read.

Now you may be thinking Sammy had the time of his life that day and that he never wanted to go back to the zoo.  You would be part right.  Sammy, like a lot of us who stray far from home, realized something.  No matter how exciting or amazing new experiences can be, they still don't match up to that sense of being at home.  The world can be an exciting place, but it can't replace that sense of belonging and safety that being at home can instill.  So at the end of the day, a happy Sammy goes back home where he belongs.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Curious George

There is a certain phenomena that I'm sure you are all award of, though you may not have thought about it.  It's one of those rarities of life that make it all worth it.  There are just certain characters that seem to be pop culture icons.  They are characters you are familiar with, even if you have never read a book, watched a movie, seen a TV episode, or looked them up on line.  They are characters that you can have no actual experience with, but you still know who they are.  You will recognize them by sight and may even have a vague sense of their adventures.  They are part of the culture, part of whom we are, even if we don't know them personally.  Some are probably more famous than others, but either way, they are loved and cherished by millions.  Curious George is one such character, a character that is beloved by everyone who knows him and will be loved by all those who have yet to tag along on his adventures.

I can't remember how old I was the first time I read the first Curious George book and met for myself one of the most interesting primates to ever grace a page.  I quickly fell in love with the little guy as The Man with the Yellow Hat brought him out of the jungles of Africa and back to the big city to live in the zoo.  I don't think poor George knew what was going on at first, but his good nature and open curiosity allowed him to settle in, well at first anyway.

It wasn't long though before George was escaping from the zoo and getting into all kinds of trouble.  He gets into a restaurant, eats a pot of spaghetti, and made to do the dishes by the cook.  He was so good at it, the cook brought him to a building and got him a job as a window washer.  Now George being George, it didn't end there.  While washing a window, George saw some men painting a wall.  It looked like so much fun that George snuck in and painted the walls with a jungle theme.  Well you can imagine the painters surprise when they come back and see the trees and leaves all over the walls. They chase George down a fire escape and the poor guy breaks his leg.  When he comes to, he is recovering in a hospital, though things don't go that smoothly there either.  But the day is saved when The Man with the Yellow Hat takes him home to live with him.  Of course our hero has a movie made about his exploits and he gets to watch the movie for the first time with the cook, window washer, painters, and all his other friends.

George has had some other amazing adventures through the years.  He even got a job as a newspaper boy, but turned the newspapers into paper boats.  He joined an animal show as a bicycle riding monkey who played the bugle, and rescued a bear cub in a tree.  He has been pulled through the air by a kite.  He has even flown into space and wrecked a dinosaur exhibit.  He got to do the things I wanted to do as a boy, and I was jealous of him for it.  I learned to love living vicariously through him, and his adventures are still great fun to read when I'm feeling a bit out of sorts.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Huckleberry Hound

I guess it's time to pull the next, and last, name out of the hat.  I do it with just a bit of sadness since it means there will be tons of dogs that will not get their moment in the sun.  I know I could keep those bits of paper until sometime next year, but that's just an awful mess to hold onto for that long.  I'm actually impressed that I managed to do it for a month.  I've had a lot of fun highlighting some of my favorite canine characters over the last month and I think, though it was through chance, that the dogs selected offer a good overview of man's best friend in the fictional world.  With that being said, I would like to introduce Huckleberry Hound.

I think there is strong argument to make over whether Disney or Hanna-Barbera has contributed the most to pop culture.  I'm not even sure I could pick a winner between the two of them, but if my feet were held onto burning coals, I would have to give the edge to Hanna-Barbera.  When you think of iconic cartoon characters, some of which have been featured on the blog in past years, I will guarantee most of them are Hanna-Barbera creations.  One of my favorites, who I don't think gets the love he deserves, is Huckleberry Hound.  The blue dog with a southern drawl who never seems to have a good grasp on any job, has to be one of those classic characters that brings a smile to my face every time I run across one of his cartoons.

Huckleberry, bless his heart, just can't seem to do anything the way he's supposed to.  He's been a police officer, dragon slayer, cowboy, knight, jungle boy, and just about anything else you can think of.  The fact that he survives these "occupations" has to be attributed to a guardian angel hovering around him constantly. As much as he tries, and he does tries, nothing goes the right way.  But like any true hero, he never gives up or becomes discouraged.  He keeps on keeping on, of course it wouldn't be as much fun to watch if he didn't.

I think I'm going to end this now and go watch a few of his cartoons on YouTube.  Nothing moves me quite the way Huckleberry does when he is singing "Oh My Darling, Clementine."

Favorite Fictional Character --- Harry, The Dirty Dog

I'm going to assume from the outset that we all have characters that for whatever reason have stuck with us since we were little kids.  They are characters that we may have only came into contact once or twice, but for whatever reason they never seemed to let go of our imaginations.  For me, most of those character come from the books as I read as a wee small lad.  And I read a lot as a kid.  I think I devoured any book that was put in front of me.  One of my favorite books was a about a white dog with black spots named Harry.  And even though I only read two other books he starred in, Harry has been with me ever since.

Harry was a dog that really liked to stick to his own guns.  He hated baths and would do everything he could to avoid them.  But once he decided to hide the scrub brush and go off on his own, he learned that being clean may be worth it after all.  Now don't get me wrong, Harry had a lot of fun on his adventures that day.  He got to play in the dirt, frolic along the railroad, play with other dogs, and even slide down a coal chute.  I think most dogs or even little boys for that matter, would have a grand old time doing those same things.  Of course by the time he goes home, Harry is no longer the white dog with black spots, he's now a black dog with white spots.  How much dirtier can the poor guy get.  Now because of the difference his family doesn't recognize him, despite all the tricks he does for them.  Then just when everything seems to be lost, he gets the scrub brush out of hiding and gets the family to give him a bath.  I don't know if Harry ever got that dirty again, but if he did, I'm sure he made sure that scrub brush was standing by.

As a kid, how could you not fall in love with that story.  Harry appealed to that part of us who wanted to do the exact opposite of what our parents told us to do.  Of course he almost had to pay a huge price for his freedom, but in the end, family and home won out.  It's the same thing with real life.  We want our freedom, but in the end all we really want is the love and safety of our families and the security of our home.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Pluto

I don't think I can really remember a time as a kid when we didn't have some sort of pet living in the house with us.  Every once in a while it would be a cat, but most of the time we had at least one dog as part of our family.  Above all other choices, dogs just seem to make themselves part of the family faster and easier than any other animal.  They don't have the aloofness that cats seem to ooze out of their pours, unlike hedgehogs they are easier to cuddle with, and are better companions than goldfish.  Our featured dog for this week is one of those dogs.  He is his owners family.  I just can't imagine Mickey Mouse without Pluto.

When I was a kid, I wanted a dog just like Pluto.  I thought Mickey Mouse had to be the luckiest guy in the world to have Pluto in his life.  The relationship was fun to watch and I never tired of seeing them together.   Pluto, at times, seemed to be an extension of Mickey.  They were joined at the hip and their adventures were of the kind I wanted to have.

I wanted to go cut a Christmas tree, bring it home, and then have two little chipmunks take up residence in my home.  Now I may have felt bad for Pluto and the abuse he had to take from Chip and Dale, but I couldn't help but laugh every time I watched it.  Now poor Pluto ended up tearing up the Christmas tree and destroying most of the other Christmas decorations in the process, but he was not going to let the two little creatures get away with it.  In true owner behavior, Mickey got angry at first, but quickly found the humor in his pets behavior.

Pluto wasn't the perfect pet by any stretch of the imagination, but what animal could be.  I think it's perfectly natural for him to get jealous every time Mickey wants to bring a new pet into the home.  I believe most of us would do the same thing in his place.  Dogs, including Pluto, tend to let their curiosity get into trouble.  They don't want to mess up, but they can't help but investigate something new.  It's part of the charm that all dogs have surrounding them.

One of these day I'm going to have a dog just like Pluto, that childhood desire has not gone away.  I just have to remember to inspect my Christmas trees before I bring them home.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Scooby-Doo

There is just something about dogs that make me happy.  They are way better than cats (and no I won't apologize for that statement.)  Dogs can be your best friend, counselor, bodyguard, running buddy, wing man, and plate cleaner.  The learn your moods and know exactly what you need, sometimes before you do.  I think that's why I've always been drawn to dogs in fiction, especially when they are almost human in behavior.  They are the dogs that fill your imagination as a kid, and what kid didn't love Scooby-Doo.

Now in the above paragraph I mentioned one of the benefits of having a dog is that you have a built in bodyguard, well if it's Scooby, you can forget that part.  This great dane is not your average dog filled with courage and guts.  If you need him to do more that bark a few times, you better have a box of Scooby-Snacks on hand in order to bribe the help out of him.  Of course the fact that he hangs out with a human, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, that is about as cowardly as him doesn't help matters.

Come to think of it, I never understood why Fred, Daphne, and Velma ever brought the other two along with them.  I get solving mysteries came be dangerous, and that there is probably safety in numbers, but are two cowards going to make all that much difference.  Of course, it should be pointed out that is was normally Scooby who ended up catching the bad guy, even if it was normally by accident.  I will also have to admit that if were them, I would have felt safer with a dog by my side as well.  Even a dog who hides, eats way too much junk food, and seems to be on mind altering substances more often than not is better than no dog.

Then they had to bring Scrappy into the mix and Scooby was forced to make a few changes.  He had to get a little tougher and braver, how could he be upstaged by the little whippersnapper that was Scrappy.  The toughness of Scrappy forced Scooby to step it up a bit and he did for the most part.  He still had his moments, but he was a braver guy for the most part.  We won't even go into how he changed when Flim Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul took him, Shaggy, and Daphne on a real ghost hunt.  But I will say that despite everything, Scooby remained a dynamic character that never failed to entertain.

Interesting Links and Useful Information

It's been a while since I've shared some of the stuff that has struck my interest or has me adding to my wish list.  So I thought I would take a few minutes and let you in on some of them.

I've been rather lax in my NPR listening, but I try to catch The Diane Rehm Show as often as I can.  For whatever reason we have a bunch of people at work who like to discuss religion and their feelings on it.  For the most part the discussion stays civil, but I think all of us are rather set in our beliefs, though I also think most of us are willing to listen.  Interestingly, in the last few weeks I have heard discussions over two new books that talk about religion and the way it is changing in our society.  Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics by explores the idea of how people have changed away from "traditional" Christianity and how that is hurting the country.  The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age by Martha Nussbaum explores religious persecution and the fear it instills in everyone.  They are both fascinating discussions with the authors, and I know I really want to read both books now.

Two "newer" social media sites have been sucking my times lately, though one more than the other.  If anyone is on Pinterest or GetGlue, please feel free to follow me on those two sites as well.

And while I'm mentioning other websites to waste time, I have to mention Pogo.com.  Now I know it's not new, nor is it a new find for me, but I've found myself going back more often lately to play my favorite games.  Whether it's Monopoly, Boggle Bash, Scrabble, dominoes, or hearts, I'm loving the game play on there again.

A few weeks ago I was complaining to a friend of mine that I don't see many butterflies anymore.  I remember being a kid in MN and seeing tons of them all the time.  Well needless to say, a few days ago a ton of them showed up out of the blue in my neighborhood.  Now I've never been very good about identifying them, so I looked up this website, Butterflies and Moths of North America, and got to work.  I sort of suck at this by the way, and I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.  First of all, they are very hard to take pictures of when the winds are blowing, and this is Kansas so winds are always blowing.  I did manage to get three decent pics though.  It's a new camera so the pictures aren't the best.

And last, but not least I would like to share a song that I've been listening to a lot lately.  When Anne Rice wrote her novel, Violin, there was a soundtrack put out as well.  Leila Josefowicz was the violinist chosen to perform on the album, and my favorite song on it was "Moon Over Bourbon Street," which was composed by her and Sting.  I recently started listening to it again.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Benji

I'm actually a little surprised right now that I haven't thought of this month's theme before now.  I love dogs, they are my favorite animal, and off the top of my head I can probably think of 20-25 fictional dog characters that I adore.  I think that's the reason I've stayed away from this theme for so long.  How can I possibly narrow the list down to my 5 favorites.  So what I'm going to do is right down as many as I can......that ended up being 30 dogs, put the names in a hat, and draw one every week.  So let's see who is up first.....Benji!

I'm going to admit right up front that I haven't watched a Benji movie since I was a kid.  But as a kid, I think I watched three of them at least 10 times each.  I'm such a Benji nerd that I can still pretty much tell you the plot points of all three films.  I would sit on the floor, unmoving, in front of the television every time one of the movies came on TV.  I didn't want to be bugged by my mom or little brother.  All I wanted was to watch my hero save the day once again.

Benji is one of those dogs that does the right thing no matter the danger it puts him in.  He has helped rescue kidnapped kids, run from secret agents in Athens, and save cougar cubs in the wilds of Oregon.  He is fearless and one of those characters that I admired as a kid.  He was willing to do whatever it took to protect those who could not protect themselves.  But most of all, Benji was smart enough to recognize what needed to be done.  Courage is a great think in a hero, but it's the intelligence to recognize the situation, understand the possible consequences, and still go through with the mission that sets true heroes apart from the rest of us.  And that is what Benji is to me, a hero.  He's a hero that I'm really thinking my son needs to be introduced to.

If anyone is so inclined, I found the full length movie of Benji: The Hunted on YouTube.  

Favorite Fictional Character --- Pepe Le Pew

I'm must admit to feeling a little sad at this point in time.  The month is about over as in my trip down memory lane with some of my favorite Looney Toons characters.  I almost broke down and featured Bugs Bunny this week, but there are so many characters in the pantheon that I stuck to my guns and went with another character that doesn't get as much respect as Bugs, Daffy, and Porky.  I considered Speedy Gonzales, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Marvin the Martian, Sylvester &Tweety, and even The Tasmanian Devil (a character that always seemed to get on my nerves.)  Instead of those deserving characters, some more than others, I decided to go with one of my favorite skunks.  I'm in love with those adorable little faces, and I do have more than one favorite skunk character.  So with no further ado let me present Pepe Le Pew, the skunk with nothing but love on the brain.

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of the French skunk named Pepe Le Pew, is his quest to find love in all the wrong places.  He has fallen in "love" with with a female black cat, a male cat, a female dog, a wild cat, and even Sylvester.  Now in poor Pepe's defense, they all disguised themselves as a skunk in order to trick somebody else.  It should also be pointed out that in most of those cases, once the truth comes out, Pepe doesn't care.  He's still in "love" and isn't going to take no for an answer.  He's an equal opportunity lover, though a bit on the needy side.

Now most of his affections are for Penelope Pussycat, the poor black cat who always manages to have a white stripe painted down her back.  I could never figure out how the poor creature could always find mishaps around white paint.  If I were her, I would have avoided the color white at all costs.  For the most part Penelope wanted nothing to do with Pepe.  She would run and run while he chased after her like a miniature stalker.  It wasn't until later that Penelope and Pepe showed their true colors.

After a bit of time, once Penelope started to return his feelings and became a bit more aggressive, Pepe started to flounder a bit.  He may want love, but he wants to be on the doing the pursuing.  He doesn't like being chased nor does he actually want the love given back.  Once Penelope starts to return the feelings, Pepe wants nothing to do with it.  It's an interesting dynamic to see the roles reversed.

Either way, pursuer or pursued, Pepe is one of those characters that will never go away.  He is a part of pop culture and he deserves to have the spotlight on him no matter what he does.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Sniffles

This weeks choice was a little harder for me to decide upon.  I wanted to do a mouse this week and the Looney Toons have two of them that I adore with all my heart and soul.  I didn't want to do two of them this month, so I flipped a quarter and the cuter of the two won.  So with no further ado I present you with one of the cutest characters to ever grace my television screen, Sniffles.

Now I know that Sniffles never became a huge star in the Merrie Melodies/Looney Toons pantheon, but he is one of my favorites of all time.  There was just something so refreshingly naive about him that I took to him like a cat with a saucer of milk.  I think if you were to use one word to describe our young hero it would be adorable.  Cute, sweet, precious, precocious, innocent, and huggable would also be appropriate words to use.

I have seen quite a few of his cartoons, though I'm pretty sure not all of them, but I think my favorites would be the ones he hung out with the bookworm.  Their adventures, whether with characters from books or trying to steal an owl egg, were some of my favorites.  They were two friends that I wanted to hang out with myself as a kid.  I wanted to get lost in a world where anything could happen and adventures where just around the corner.  Now I know his naive way of thinking got Sniffles into trouble more often than not, but he always managed to find a way out of his current predicament.

Now I know some of you might be thinking that Sniffles is a bit annoying, and I can understand where you may be coming from with that.  Towards the end of his cartoon run, they turned him into a regular old chatterbox who couldn't shut up to save his life.  He talked at such a rapid rate, for so long that even the most kind hearted fan could have been a little miffed with him.  I, however, do not have a fickle heart when it comes to Sniffles.  I actually found his chattering made him, it at all possible, even more endearing.  Though I know that alien in the Space Jams movie did not think so when he squished the poor little guy.  I would take Sniffles, even with his later motor mouth, over the crass and crude cartoons that grace TV today.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Foghorn Leghorn

I'll admit it right now, I have a weakness for cartoons.  Now I'm talking about the crappy ones that our children are watching nowadays.  I mean  really, have you seen this crap our kids are watching.  The animation is horrible, looks like a 4 year old with a computer did it.  The story lines and characters are mediocre at best and most of them are pointless.  What I love are the cartoons I grew up with, whether they were made in the 80s or before, the older cartoons where done by those who obviously loved what they were doing.  The animation was brilliant and well done, no sloppiness to them, and the characters entranced you.,  This month I'm going to be revisiting some of my favorite cartoon characters, the character that I could never imagine my life without them in it.  Even better I'm going to narrow it down to some of my favorite Looney Tunes gems.  You won't see Bugs, Daffy, or Porky mentioned during the month.  As much as I love those three, I want to focus on some others that don't get all the attention.  Starting us off is my favorite rooster, Foghorn Leghorn.

Now I know what you may be thinking, why would anyone like the obnoxious, loud Foghorn Leghorn.  It's because of that behavior that made him a favorite since the first time I laid eyes on him.  He seems to go through life with one goal in mind, to have fun.  He doesn't really care, at least at first glance, what others may think of him and his behavior.  He just wants to live life and enjoy it.

I guess some of you would even be able to call him a bully, at least as far as The Barnyard Dog is concerned.  I will have to admit that more often than not, Foghorn was the instigator in their little squabbles.  But he wasn't totally to blame, I can remember many times that Barnyard Dog was ready to pick a fight of his own.  Now because Foghorn was the source of their troubles, his tricks normally backfired on him.  More often than not, he was the loser of the two.  I can still see Foghorn losing his feathers, pretty much every time the two mixed things up.

Beyond his dysfunctional relationship with Barnyard Dog, my favorite interaction for Foghorn is with Henery Hawk, the young chicken hawk.  Despite Henery always trying to eat him, Foghorn seems to take a more paternal, if slight amused, interest in the boy.  It's one of the most fascinating relationships in all the Looney Tunes universe to watch, can't get enough of it.

Foghorn never seemed to move beyond the barnyard though.  He is one of those characters that seems to have his own little universe that none of the other major characters seemed to crossover into.  But his barnyard antics are more than enough for my enjoyment.  I love how he tried to woo Miss Prissy, though normally for the wrong reasons.  Because of that he also took a paternal interest in Egghead, Jr., Miss Prissy's young son.  Where his relationship with Henery was born out of amusement, his relationship with Egghead was, at first, born out of self interest.  I do think, and I can be way off base on this, that he ended up caring for the young chicken on his own merits.

Foghorn, Barnyard Dob, Henery Hawk, Miss Prissy, and Egghead, Jr. are the types of characters that I wish were still be creating now.  I have gotten Aidan to watch old episodes of Looney Tunes and he seems to enjoy them.  How much of his enjoyment is real and how much is humoring me, I'm not really sure.  Hopefully I will be able to teach him what true cartoons are, even if it's one character at a time.

Favorite Ficitonal Character --- Tangerine Bear

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Christmas.  I'm pretty sure I have, but just in case, I'll say it again.  Christmas is my favorite part of the year for so many reasons that I will fill up a few blog posts just naming them.  One of my favorite aspects though are all of the great characters that have been created to tell the story of Christmas.  That's why every December I highlight some of my favorite Christmas characters, characters that make the holiday season that much better.

From the get go, Tangerine Bear has a life that isn't what it was supposed to be.  The poor guys smile got sewed upside down, so when he was placed on the department stores shelves during the Christmas season, nobody bought him to take him home.  He was left all alone of the shelf, even after Christmas had come and gone.  To add insult to injury, he was thrown in a bin and taken to secondhand store, to languish away. 

Once there Tangerine makes a few friends with other toys that are waiting for homes as well.  They are friends that he quickly grows to love.  He even grows to care about the store's owner, Mr. Winkle, who really cares about the treasures in his store and would like nothing more to find them a good home.  Because of that Mr. Winkle puts Tangerine in the window  That's actually how Tangerine got his color and his name, the sun faded him to a peculiar color of tangerine, once his friends noticed that, the name kinda stuck.

As the new Christmas season comes to pass, one customer decides he wants to buy Tangerine.  He seems like a good man, so Tangerine gets really excited that he may actually get a home for Christmas.  Mr. Winkle though refuses to sell the guy the bear.  The customer just wanted Tangerine as a collectors item, it seems teddy bears with upside down smiles, may be worth some money.  Mr. Winkle decides that Tangerine deserves a real home, not to sit in a display case all by himself.

At first Tangerine doesn't know what to think, he just lost his chance for a home.  But events quickly come to pass that makes Tangerine rethink the whole concept of home.  Maybe he has been home this whole time.  He is surrounded by friends who love and support him.  What more do you need to be home.

What I love about this story is the whole idea of creating your own home.  Surrounding yourself with friends and starting your own family.  That home is the place you feel comfortable, loved, and protected.  It's not about the building, it's about those that you surround yourself with.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Kissyfur

I'm of two minds on this weeks FFC post.  First of all, I've really enjoyed this month's theme and all the bear characters I've been able to highlight.  Characters that I love and am so grateful for the opportunity to revisit them.  I'm also a little sad because will this not only be the last post of the month, it will be the last post I write for the next two months.  During July and August there will be 9 different guest bloggers letting us in on some of their favorite fictional characters.  So with no further ado, I'll present you to Kissyfur, the cutest darn bear cub to ever grace Paddlecab County.

Kissyfur, who's  pictured with Beehonie, was a bear cub who started off life with tragedy.  At a young age, Kissyfur's mother passed away leaving him ans his father, Gus, all alone.  They were a circus family and after her death, neither one of them felt like performing anymore.  When their circus train is derailed into a swamp, they use the opportunity, and escape into Paddlecab County.

Kissyfur and his dad settle down and start a new life.  Kissyfur goes to school with other kids who live in the swamp.  He quickly becomes friends with Beehonie, an adorable little beaver named Toot, a fussy pig named Duane, and Stucky the porcupine.  Unfortunately Kissyfur's life isn't without a bully, a pudgy little warthog named Lennie loves to call him sissy face.  Lennie's dad isn't much better, he tries to make Gus' life harder as well.  Gus has started a paddle boat taxi service for residents of the swamp, and Lennie's dad doesn't want it to succeed.  

The best part of this cartoon, other than Kissyfur himself, were the alligators who were always trying to eat them.  Floyd and Jolene, thankfully aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, and they are always bungling their attempts to get a hold of Kissyfur.  They were hilarious spoilers for the young hero and I never got tired of him and his dad outsmarting them.

What I loved about Kissyfur and this show, and not something I really appreciated until years later, was what it taught me about life.  No matter what tragedies happen in your life, you still have a life to lead.  The pain and loss will always be with you, but you have to move on and start a new life.  It's not always the best life you could have had, but you can still be happy and live a full life.

Cub Scouts & Skink Bites

Today is the last day of my vacation and knowing myself as well as I do, I will be complaining about going to work tomorrow and bored to tears with not having gone to work for 5 whole days.  I love time off.  Actually I need time off, but right around the 5th day, I start going a little wonky.  I'll probably be cleaning up a storm today, doing laundry, and getting back into work mode.  On my last day off the computer, Heather of Age 30+ ...A Lifetime of Books has graciously agreed to tell us all about her week last week.  After reading her post, I wish I was 8 years old again.  Heather is one of the nicest bloggers I have met and one that has always made me feel welcome.  She has a terrific blog and even though, as she will point out, we don't read all the same type of books, I'm always adding to my wish list after reading her reviews.  Besides, anyone that loves The Wheel of Time series as much as she does is purely fantastic.

When Ryan asked me to contribute a summer-themed guest post I immediately said yes.  See, I love Ryan’s blog. We don’t read ALL the same kinds of books but there is some overlap in our reading tastes and I enjoy reading his posts.  Plus our sons are about the same age, so that’s something else we have in common.   The problem is that I didn’t know exactly what to write about – “summer-themed” is a rather broad topic.  After much thought I decided to share with you what I’ve been doing during this past week, because it has been rather interesting!

Kiddo is going into the 4^th grade this year and he is a Webelos (level 1) in Cub Scouts.  For the first time since he joined Scouts our vacation schedule allowed him to attend Cub Scout Camp.  I decided to volunteer for the entire week because I’d get a huge discount on Kiddo’s registration fee.  I wasn’t particularly excited about spending 9 hours each day for 5 days in the 90 degree heat with 300 elementary aged boys, but hey, you do what you’ve gotta do, right? Turns out, this has been a FANTASTIC week for me!

Monday: All 300 boys made their way to my station during one of 8 sessions to create a themed flag for their Den.  I loved seeing how creative each group was.  Some kept up our dinosaur theme by choosing names such as “Killer Raptors” and “Mighty Megalodons” while others chose names like “The Gummies” and the “Killer Teddy Bears.” One obnoxious 7-year-old wrote “sex” on his flag not once but twice, but other than that the boys were all pretty good.

Tuesday: I helped a wildlife rescue group teach the boys about reptiles.  The highlight of my day was holding the critters: an 8’ long red-tailed boa constrictor, a 2’ long corn snake, a very smelly savannah monitor, and a rather large monkey-tailed skink (he’s the one eating from the spoon).  Apparently I smelled a lot like the salad I had for lunch because that lovely skink bit me!  It didn’t really hurt, and it only bled in one spot – I’m kind of proud of my wound.  I texted my husband to let him know about the bite but apparently auto-correct doesn’t like “skink” and changed it to “skunk.” My husband frantically called me to see if I had to go to the hospital to get a rabies shot for my “skunk” bite.  Too funny!

 Wednesday & Thursday: I assisted a deaf woman in teaching all the boys basic sign language.  The first day her daughter translated since we were doing some complicated signs but the second day I was on my own (and I don’t know sign language).  I learned my ABCs in finger-spelling and also learned about 50 signs.  By the end of the second day I was able to have brief but understandable conversations with this woman. It was so much fun!

Friday: That’s tomorrow, and I have no idea what I’m doing.  Maybe I’ll be cooking, maybe I’ll be cleaning, maybe I’ll be manning the store.  It doesn’t matter what they assign me to do; I’ll do it with a smile and I’ll sure learn something new.  I really wasn’t looking forward to this week but I went in with the best attitude I could muster and I am having a blast.  Hot temperatures, high humidity, and the ever-present chance of severe thunderstorms do have me melting a bit (as you can see in the photos) but they haven’t dampened my mood.  It’s hard work and I’m exhausted at the end of the day, but this is a GREAT way to start summer. I just hope Kiddo is having as much fun at Cub Scout Camp as I am!

Favorite Fictional Character --- Yogi Bear

"Look at the bears! Look at the bears! Look at the bears!"  I feel like the annoying kids driving through Jellystone Park right about now.  Until this month I never knew I loved this many bears or how popular bear characters are in our culture.  Well our next guest is none other than the self described "smarter than the average bear," Yogi Bear.

I really can't recall a time in my life when I didn't know who Yogi Bear was.  I'm sure when my only concerns where eating, pooping, sleeping, and burping, I wasn't paying that much attention.  Once I was old enough to watch TV though, I fell in love with the pic-a-nic basket stealing bear.  How can you not love a character who has only two concerns in life?  That was a rhetorical question so don't feel the need to answer it.

When Yogi wasn't trying to discover the goodies humans brought into the park, he was trying to get out of it. I've never seen someone try to do something so hard and fail so many times at it.  Well, maybe Wile E. Coyote, but that was another post entirely.  What is so great about Yogi though is he doesn't get mad or give up.  He is bound and determined to get out of the park and stay out.  You have to admire someone with that much dedication and drive.  Just imagine what he could have accomplished if he would have set that mind to science.  Maybe he could have been the first bear to walk on the moon.  He may even have been able to cure cancer.  Alas, we will never know since the last time I checked, Yogi was still trying to get out of the park.

Yogi has even become a part of our Christmas traditions.  Every year on Christmas Eve, Boomerang airs "Yogi's First Christmas."  We hunker down on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn and watch it.  Poor Yogi is trying to get some rest but he is dragged into Christmas merrymaking and mystery anyway.  One of these days I will find it on DVD so I won't have to rely on Boomerang.  It's really one of the last Christmas specials that I want but don't own.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Smokey Bear

One of the greatest public service mascots of all time has to be our next guest.  I can't remember a time when I didn't know about him.  Though his message of "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires"  has changed to "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires", Smokey Bear is still there helping us protect our national forests.

Growing up in Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington State, I was always around large areas of forest.  Even now, living in prairie Kansas, I miss everything about it.  I miss that smell and sense of calm that only a forest can bring you.  I miss seeing deer and bear in my backyard.  I don't think there is much I don't miss about them.  One of the things I miss the most though is Smokey Bear.  I know he is still around and even has new commercials, but here in Kansas, there isn't a lot of need for them.  My son barely knows who he is.  For someone who grew up with the commercials, school visists, books, comic books, toys, and even cartoons, I think that's a shame.

Born in 1944, Smokey Bear, with his ranger's hat and shovel quickly got on the job.  He wanted everyone to know the dangers of forest fires and what happens to the forest denizens when fires get out of control.  He taught millions of us that it's important to care about what happens to the environment.  The fact that he was one of the residents stuck with me in a way that a human telling me the same message wouldn't have.  Because of Smokey, every time we went camping as a kid, I was the one that would make sure the campfire was completely out.  I would dump buckets of water over it and for good measure, I would shovel dirt on top of water logged ashes.  

I never forgot the lessons learned at the feet of Smokey Bear and I hope that kids everywhere are still learning them. He was the perfect mascot for the United States Forest Service and I hope that he has no plans to retire.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Corduroy Bear

I think so far this month is shaping up to be my favorite theme so far.  I'm able to visit some old characters that I haven't seen in a while, and I'm remembering how much I really did love them.    One of my childhood favorites will be the star of this week's post.

I can't tell you how many times I've read the story of a a young stuffed bear who is missing a button on his green corduroy overalls.  Corduroy spent his time in a very large department store, sitting on a shelf just waiting for a little girl or boy to take him home.  He wanted to play, love, and be loved in return.  Nobody ever seems to want him though, no matter how adorable he was.  It could have been that missing button though, at least that's what Corduroy decided.  

When Lisa first saw Corduroy forlornly sitting on that shelf, she wanted to take him home immediately.  Her mother wanted none of it.  She had already spent too much money and the toy was missing a button, who wants a bear missing a button?  Naturally, this broke Corduroy's heart, so when the store closed, he started his journey.  He went all over the place looking for that darn button, he finally found it on a mattress.  He had to pull and pull even harder, but he finally got it.  Thankfully, he got it before the security guard found him and took him back to his shelf.  When Lisa came back the next day, with her own money, she took him home and sewed that button on.

I think what I loved about Corduroy was home much he wanted to be home.  It's that one thing that drives, I think, all of us.  We want a place, no matter how big or small, to feel like we belong there.  That we are safe and loved there.  Home is that one constant that we all strive for and need to feel good.  Corduroy epitomizes that desire for me in a way that most characters don't.  The face that he is so damned adorable doesn't hurt either.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Paddington Bear

A rather brief conversation on Twitter, which I'm not even able to tell you how it started, gave me the idea for June's Favorite Fictional Characters.  We started talking about fictional bears and which where our favorites, so I figured I would share 5 of mine during this month.

How can you not think of Paddington Bear and smile?  I dare you to try....go ahead think of him and frown....I don't think you can do it.  If you did manage it, you had to have tried really, really hard.  How can you not love a bear who can never gets enough of marmalade.  It makes way more sense than Pooh's obsession with honey, marmalade is just better.  Then there is his adorable wardrobe choice.  No bear looked  more stylish than Paddington in his blue raincoat and red hat.  Such a handsome bear he is.

Paddington, who was born in Peru was sent to London all by himself when he was just a young man, was born Pastuso.  When he was found by the Brown family, sitting on his suitcase in the middle of Paddington station, he told them his name was too hard to say.  They took the young bear in and named him Paddington in honor of where they found him.  Paddington, being the inquisitive bear that he is, quickly found himself getting into situations beyond his control.  Oftentimes he would end up lost, but he sure enjoyed the journey.  

My favorite thing about Paddington though is when he gets annoyed.  Normally he is a very polite young man.  He always uses titles and rarely ever calls anyone by their first name.  When he gets annoyed though he loves to give a nice hard stare, a stare to end all stares.  Paddington has made men fall to their knees and give into whatever it was Paddington wanted to begin with.  I got to love a guy who gets what he wants, and gets it with such attitude.

By the way, Paddington has moved up in the world and has his own facebook page.  So I would beseech everyone who is interested to friend him.  I'm sure he won't mind.