• Louie
    By Chris Clarke on 2011 09 07 at 9:56:49 pm | 1 comment | Shorter URL: http://coyot.es/x7he

    I have a few thank-you notes to write in the next day or so, for those of you who kicked in to the “feed the rabbit” fund after this recent post. I am breathing a little easier. I still have tough decisions to make, but I now have more than just a

    … (continues)

  • One day in Searchlight
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 11 04 at 12:44:25 pm | 14 comments | Shorter URL: http://coyot.es/x9Zb

    So I was sitting in Searchlight, Nevada at the Nugget, talking to the bartender, and this guy comes in with a big fat Labrador retriever, walks up to the bar. He says to the bartender, “My dog wants to buy a round for the house.”

    The bartender

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  • Metaphor du jour of the day
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 06 15 at 7:36:02 pm | 5 comments

    I went to all the trouble to write an entire book describing my relationship with my dog Zeke, and now it turns out someone did a much better job capturing all the important parts in a two-minute video.

    … (continues)

  • Speaking of dogs
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 02 19 at 3:37:03 pm | 2 comments

    Embedded in this remarkable story, part of a documentary in progress by my writers’ group colleague Martin Kent, is a stunning detail — almost a throwaway anecdote — of the true, generous, honorable nature of our companion species, shining out in

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  • How will I know when it’s time?
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 02 16 at 9:53:39 pm | 21 comments

    One of the results of having written about Zeke, on the old blog and in the book, is that on occasion, people come to me as their dogs reach the end of their lives, in search of a sympathetic ear.

    A lot of times they’re just looking to vent with

    … (continues)

  • I wrote a book
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 01 26 at 6:34:22 pm | 1 comment | Shorter URL: http://coyot.es/x6W

    True, it’s old news to some of you that I wrote a book about my adventures with my friend Zeke. There are a lot of new people traipsing through here unexpectedly, though. Not coincidentally, it looks like the huge crowds of new folks — as welcome

    … (continues)

  • That was a good day
    By Chris Clarke on 2010 01 11 at 8:52:47 pm | 2 comments

    Pyramid Lake, May 1996
    Photo by Sharon Leach, taken May 1996

    We slept out on the open desert the night before, after driving from the Bay Area through Reno and up the east shore of Pyramid Lake. We took the road as far as the truck would let us. The four of us walked

    … (continues)

  • Bailey, RIP
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 12 10 at 1:50:28 pm | 7 comments

    I’m sad today: Kathy Flake has lost her familiar.

    When Bailey developed cancer, I finally accepted that our walks would be numbered, our explorations circumscribed by her illness. But I didn’t expect to lose her so soon.

    We took her in for

    … (continues)

  • Slow down.
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 07 08 at 12:31:10 am | 10 comments

    A shriek from outside, a sickening noise almost inaudible, and then another I couldn’t identify. Tires on a curb? And then angry shouts, a deep, bellowing male voice, a woman crying hysterically.

    I’d been dressing for a run. I went outside.

    An

    … (continues)

  • Not unlike a few recent dreams
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 06 14 at 2:28:11 pm | 2 comments

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  • Five years ago this week
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 03 25 at 10:23:09 pm | 3 comments

    An excerpt from Walking with Zeke:

    March 23, 2004
    We’ve named the rabbit Thistle. Or he named himself: that was the one name he responded to at all. Smart bunny: the second-runner-up name was “Stu.”

    Thistle was running around in the back yard

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  • My virtual doggy
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 03 18 at 7:15:33 pm | 2 comments

    Those of you who have a Kindle, or who have downloaded the Kindle app to your iPhone or iPod, may be interested to know that my book Walking with Zeke is now available in Kindle format at what is, quite honestly, a painfully low price: $3.99. That

    … (continues)

  • By A Nail
    By Chris Clarke on 2009 01 05 at 6:25:51 pm | 9 comments

    Canis latrans, running, by Carl Dennis Buell
    A running coyote, painting by Carl Dennis Buell

    The ancestor of all dogs climbed trees like a cat.

    Or so the experts hypothesize. The raccoon-sized, foxy omnivore Prohesperocyon is as likely a candidate for the ancestor of all dogs, wolves and

    … (continues)

  • Taos 2
    By Chris Clarke on 2008 11 10 at 6:23:15 pm | 2 comments

    The rough wood deck feels good against my thighs, sun-warmed in afternoon. A yellow leaf from a cottonwood lands on my knee. I let it stay. My old workboots look good against the duff. There’s motion across the toe of the left one: an elongated

    … (continues)

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