Woof! What a Summer!!

What an amazing summer. The Outer Banks of North Carolina is the most awesome, most dog-friendly place on earth. Totally cool!

My people own a store called Beach Bag Books & Music in the Corolla Light Town Center. We're right across from the Currituck Sound, which is my FAVORITE place to swim. And did you know that there are FISH in the water? Someday Sarah is going to let me chase them over to the Grandy side of the sound...I know I can catch them!

Anyway, like all Newfies, I'm a working dog! But while most of us work at carting or towing lifeboats, I work at the store. It's totally fun. There are lots of people who scratch my head, and there's an ice cream shop AND a cheesesteak restaurant right next door...what dog could ask for more!

But it's October now and I don't know where everyone's gone! Sarah says that you will all be back next summer, but it's boring without you here...do you promise you'll come back?

Sigh...maybe I can convince Ken and Sarah to close the store early and we can go to the beach. The water's warm this time of year you know...and it's 80 degrees and sunny...sure you don't want to come back now? ;)

Smell ya later!

-Finn

Finnegan's Fall Favorites

Who doesn’t like to cuddle up with a great book in the autumn (and of course their dog, cat, or goldfish)! Just pour yourself a mug of warm cider, give a treat to your furry (or scaly) companion and escape into a great story.

(And there's something for EVERYONE in the family!)

Historical Fiction–The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)
Science Fiction–The Traveler (John Twelve Hawks)
Young Adult–Twilight (Stephanie Meyer)
Young Adult–Interstellar Pig (William Sleator)
Classic–All the King’s Men (Robert Pen Warren)
Espionage–Agents of Innocence (David Ignatius)
Music–I’m With the Band (Pamela Des Barres)
Spooky–Faerie Tale (Raymond Feist)
Mystery–The Cherry Cheesecake Murder (Joanna Fluke)
Fantasy–Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman)
Fiction–The Misson Song (John Le Carre)
Fiction–Little Children (Tom Perrotta)
History–Manhunt (James L. Swanson)
True Crime–The Innocent Man (John Grisham)
Pirates–The Pirate Coast (Richard Zachs)
Vampire Fiction–Kiss of Darkness (Heather Graham)
Romance (Historical)–Devil in Winter (Lisa Kleypas)
Romance (Modern)–Blow Me Down (Katie Mcalister)
Suspense–Spy (Ted Bell)
Sports–Moneyball (Michael Lewis)
Memoir–I Feel Bad About My Neck (Nora Ephron)
Grades 3-6–The Lightening Thief (Rick Riordan)
Picture Book–Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)
Early Reader–Blizzard of the Blue Moon (Magic Tree House #36) (Mary Pope Osborne)

Finn's Favorites: The Harry Potter Version

(Note from Sarah: Share your HP favorites in the comments section of this posting!)

No one in this family can talk about anything but Harry Potter these days. You wouldn't believe the things that are being forgotten in the unceasing fantasizing...my special cookies, ordering music, my not-so-special cookies, oil changes, my back-from-the-beach cookies....Yikes!

In order to get control of Sarah and Ken's madness, I interviewed them about their (um...and my) obsession. Here's what I learned:

Characters We Most Resemble:
Me: Fang-the-Great
Sarah: A little Hermione-ish...HA! Actually, the similarities are frightening
Ken: A more than passing resemblance to the Weasleys...Fred and George, of course
Triscuit: Crookshanks...although I think she's more like Mrs. Figg (WOOF!)

Favorite Moment:
Me: Malfoy getting turned into a ferret (Book 4)
Sarah: Dumbledore kicking butt when cornered in his office by Professor Umbridge, Cornelius Fudge, and the Aurors (Book 5)
Ken: When Ron stupidly looks at the tank full of brains at the Department of Mysteries and says, "Accio brain!"
Triscuit: Harry letting the python loose on Dudley and Piers at the zoo (Book 1)

Favorite Quote:
Me: "'I want Fang,' said Malfoy, quickly looking at Fang's long teeth. 'All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward,' said Hagrid." - Book 1
Sarah: "HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME ME? I-WANT-TO-TALK-TO-HARRY-POTTER!" -Ron to Uncle Vernon, Book 3
Ken: "It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies..." -Dumbledore, Book 4
Triscuit: "...As he got undressed a sparkler floated past the tower, still resolutely spelling out hte word POO." -Book 5

Favorite Book (so far!):
Me: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Sarah: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Ken: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Triscuit: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

A Dog's Day

Life is good here on the Outer Banks...

8–9 am: Take a swim in the gorgeous Currituck Sound. My people and I walk on over to the historic Whalehead Club (there TONS of geese, but Sarah won't let me chase them...bummer). We play with a ball for a bit and then swim, swim, swim.


And guess what! In August I FINALLY realized why Sarah and Ken keep throwing my favorite sticks into the water. They want me to bring it BACK to them...ooops. Well, I've got it now. :)

9–9:30 am: Sarah and I walk (trundle actually...I'm a Newfie and don't do anything quickly) to the store to open up. She vaccums, I bark. She dusts, I chase the duster. She puts out the Pirate flag, I try to escape out the front door.

9:30–7 pm: Time to get to work! I say "hi" to everyone that comes in, nap in the back room, help little kids clean up after their snacks...ice-cream and french fries, yum! I'm working on my alphabetizing skills–Ken says I have to earn my keep–but I can't remember what comes after "m". I am good at rearranging the furniture, though. Those little white adirondack chairs in the Kids' section are NEVER in the right place :)

7–10 pm: Supper time! Play time! Beach time! I'm a young dog, so I sleep for most of the day...but I LOVE the evenings. That hot North Carolina weather cools off and kids are everywhere...eating ice cream! (Have I mentioned that I love ice cream?)

11-midnight: Relax with my family. Ken and Sarah always stay up for those Comedy Central guys... Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, do you know them? So we curl up together with the cat until it's time to get up to go swimming again.

Phew! I think it may be time for a nap....

Top 10 Summer Reads!

(Finn’s curled up in the back room for his morning nap, so he asked me to take over this part of his blog. Enjoy! –Sarah)

These are the Top 10 books that are most likely to be full of sand and water-logged from the hot tub!

Read below to see if your “Corolla classic” made the cut. Then add any other favorites and personal reviews in the “comments” section!

Adult
1. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Kim Edwards)
2. Marley and Me (John Grogan)
3. My Sister’s Keeper (Jodi Picoult)
4. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
5. Running With Scissors (Augusten Burroughs)
6. Goodnight Nobody (Jennifer Weiner)
7. Something Borrowed (Emily Giffin)
8. Velocity (Dean Koontz)
9. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
10. Skinny Dip (Carl Hiaasen)

Young Adult
1. Gossip Girl series (Cecily Von Ziegesar)
2. The Clique (Lisi Harrison)
3. Summer Boys (Hailey Abbott)
4. Twilight (Stephanie Meyer)
5. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (James Patterson)
6. Nightmare Academy (Frank Peretti)
7. Small Steps (Louis Sachar)
8. Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
9. Good Omens (Terry Pratchett/ Neil Gaiman)
10. Hoops (Walter Dean Meyer)

Grades 3–6
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)
2. Peter and the Starcatchers (Dave Barry)
3. Inkheart (Cordelia Funke)
4. How to be a Pirate (Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III)
5. The Mystery of Blackbeard the Pirate (Carole Marsh)
6. Pirateology (Dugald Steer)
7. The Lightening Thief (Rick Riordan)
8. The City of Ember (Jeanne Duprau)
9. Stormbreaker (Anthony Horowitz)
10. Thunder from the Sea (Joan Harlow Hiatt)

Early Readers
1. Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon (Lisa Papademetriou)
2. The Magic Treehouse (Mary Pope Osborne)
3. Junie B. Jones (Barbara Park)
4. Nate the Great and the Boring Beach Bag (Marjorie Weinman Sharmat)
5. A to Z Mysteries (Ron Roy)
6. Sky the Blue Fairy (Daisy Meadows)
7. Little Bear (Else Holmelund Minarik)
8. Frog and Toad are Friends (Arnold Lobel)
9. Oliver Pig and the Best Fort Ever (Jean Van Leeuwen)
10. The Dog That Pitched a No-Hitter (Matt Christopher)

Picture
1. Bats at the Beach (Brian Lies)
2. Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs (Giles Andreae)
3. How I Became a Pirate (Melinda Long)
4. Do Pirates Take Baths? (Kathy Tucker)
5. Beach Day! (Patricia Lakin)
6. Punctuation Takes a Vacation (Robin Pulver)
7. T is for Tar Heel (Carol Crane)
8. Arnold the Smiling Horse (Karine Nguyen-Tuong)
9. Curious George Goes to the Beach (Margret Rey)
10. Clifford and the Missing Beach Ball (Norman Bridwell)