Posts by Hank

CSI: Westport

The three young men pictured below, all brothers, were victims of severe face-lickings over the Thanksgiving weekend. Kemba the Toller, an animal of interest, has been brought in for questioning. Please send any information that might be helpful to the Comments section of this blog. Thank you…

One Of the Stupidest Things I’ve Ever Done (And That’s Saying Something)

This might be better than the $27.99 elk antler. Heather the Trainer had told me about “Puppy Social,” a drop-in, pay-as-you-go ($10 for the 45-minute session) supervised play group at Paws ‘N Effect in Hamden. I pride myself on knowing CT geography from my days of following the boys all over the…

Kemba’s First Trip To Vermont

Wow — four weeks Kemba had been living in Westport as of last Saturday, and I hadn’t yet taken him on a single major road trip! (Not counting his original epic drive from Nova Scotia down to CT, that is.) Had to do something about that, so last weekend Beagle Man and the Missus loaded Kemba int…

Still Licking

My L.A. friend Ilene — we grew up together in Teaneck, NJ — calls me “Wanderlust Dude.” She’s amazed that every year, within 48 hours after returning from my cross-country road trip, I’ve driven to Montauk, or Vermont, or someplace else that takes a car to get to — after having spent the previous…

Sa-Jack, Meet Ric-Kemba

I’ve been thinking about Sa-Jack, my roommate back in my fraternity days, because later this week is my birthday — and two days later, his. Sa-Jack, these days, looks like Jon Stewart, and like Jon Stewart, he’s a pretty funny guy. Always was. One of his best routines, back in the day, was his…

The Amazing, Miraculous “New Puppy” Weight-Loss Diet!

This is incredible! I’ve lost 4.6 pounds — I swear! — since bringing Kemba home with me last Saturday! That’s even more impressive than the results of my inaugural LA/XC Diet™ back in 2011, when I dropped 5 pounds (because I often skipped meals to make my 500 miles a day), but that was over a fo…

LA/XC-4: First Peek

* * * COUNTDOWN: 169 DAYS TO LA/XC-4 * * * Jk about starting the countdown already. I mean, I won’t even have a dog yet for another two weeks. But as I’ve learned from LA/XC-1, -2, and -3, it’s never too early to begin planning. And part of the prep, of course, means getting Kemba geared up fo…

The Last Lonesome Hike

On our way up to Vermont Thursday night (Yes, Beagle Man fans — MTK season is over; VT season has begun 🙂 ), I told Carol that since Friday was supposed to be a gorgeous, sunny fall day, and I’d heard foliage was the best in years, I was going to hike up Bromley Mountain. “And,” I added, “next t…

What Do Kemba Walker, Stella Herman, Ricky the Beagle, and Kemba the Toller Have In Common?

Five days after returning from my Halifax pick-the-puppy tour, I got this comment on my blog from Meg, a close friend of Carol’s since high school: Hank: I’m on a ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia and talking to a couple with a toller……

Where Would YOU Go To Get a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever?

About six weeks ago, after a painstaking breed search that was well-chronicled (maybe a little too well-chronicled?) in this blog, I finally determined that Future Dog was going to be a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Next? The hunt for the right breeder. I looked into one kennel in New Jers…