Announcement

Doing some spring cleaning and assessment, and I have come to the conclusion that the Myke Phoenix emagazine has not been successful enough to continue for the time being. Therefore the release of Myke #4 is postponed indefinitely.

The good news is that lessons learned in developing this project can be applied to my various other projects. And I am too fond of Paul Phillips, Dana Dunsmore, Hi Dawson and their host of evil adversaries to let them sit in limbo forever.

You can speed the day toward their return – or catch up on what you've been missing – by taking a look at Myke #1, Myke #2 and Myke #3 or even Myke Phoenix Quarterly #1, and then sharing your enthusiasm with the world.

As for my other projects, they include the Uncle Warren's Attic podcast, a growing stable of ebooks and a slew of paperbacks that are worth reading.

Thanks for checking out Myke Phoenix over the years, and please know this is just a detour, not the end of the road.

You can do it

The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh

We are all creators

You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are to create, not to compete for what is already created.

You do not have to take anything away from any one.

You do not have to drive sharp bargains.

You do not have to cheat, or to take advantage. You do not need to let any man work for you for less than he earns.

You do not have to covet the property of others, or to look at it with wishful eyes; no man has anything of which you cannot have the like, and that without taking what he has away from him.

You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now.

Wallace D. Wattles

Read more about it here.

'Are you Willow?'

"Are you Willow?"

Red and I had sat one last time with our old golden retriever, Onyah, as her gentle life passed out of that beautiful furry frame the day after Easter 2009. And Red insisted that it would be a long time before she was ready to bring another pet home. I suspected differently, but I nodded and agreed with her.

Sure enough, a little more than two weeks later, she looked over the newspaper at me and said, "Do you think we should get a puppy?"

I made a show of saying no, you wanted to take time to grieve, but we both knew that we would soon be welcoming a new member to the family. As wonderful a companion as Onyah had been, I did not object when Red declared it would be another golden retriever.

After we set a date to visit a breeder, we sat across a table one night throwing possible names back and forth. What would be a suitable name for a golden retriever?

Roberta. Isabella. Mozarella. Ziva. Toni. McGee. Abby. Kaylee. Zoe. River. No, no, no, maybe, no ...

Angel, Buffy, Willow – Willow.

Willow? What a beautiful name for a lovely red-haired puppy girl. Willow it was.

The breeder had only 5-week-old one golden left from the litter that would be ready to go home in mid-May. Before we arrived she brought out the little fluff ball and left her alone in the waiting cage.

When we entered she was sitting in that awkward way that puppies sit and looked up at us with curiosity. The breeder plucked her out of the cage and eased her into my hands.

While Red carried on a conversation with the breeder, I held her to my chest and looked down at the little puppy eyes. I completely lost track of what the two women were saying.

"Are you Willow?"

The only response was to knead my chest and snuggle into me. Something melted inside me.

I became aware that the breeder was offering to show us puppies from a younger litter if we weren't sure about this one. "No," I said perhaps a little too firmly.

Willow joined our family a couple of weeks later on May 16, 2009. I only remember two dates connected with family dogs – Feb. 7, 1959, when my parents surprised us with Lady, and May 16, 2009, when we brought Willow home.

Willow fit her name. But that's a story for another day.

The Best Dog There Is

Signs you love your dog: You drive up at lunchtime and your spirits immediately lift knowing she's waiting inside.

Signs your dog loves you: You fall on your tush in the snow and she runs from the other side of the yard, jumps on you and licks your face.

It seems clear to me now, after all of these blog posts and books, that what I really should have been writing about all along was my puppy.