Terhune Books and some answers…

 

My Favorite Terhune books;

Oh my,.,,, each of them are gems.  I have come to love the sections of many books where he would write about the collies in his life in just a everyday form instead of story form.  But, here are books I think stand out above the others;

If I have to choose a favorite it would be;

The book of Sunnybank which is republished now as  Sunnybank, Home of Lad.  This is about Sunnybank and many of the collies who lived there.  Also, it covers horses, the house, the “little” people such as Jack the Frog!!  This is probably my favorite!  If you want to learn about Sunnybank and the animals, house and Collies this is the one!

The Lad Books are amongst the best;

Lad, a dog-This is where it all began and it is a classic.

The Further Adventures of Lad or republished as Dog Stories Every Child Should Know (Note-I am not sure which title it is published under now. I have a recent copy with the original title so do check it out!)

Lad Of Sunnybank- Another classic about Lad!

The funniest of them all and another favorite is;

Gray Dawn- This Blue Merle was a character!  He created havoc and mischief everywhere he went.  However, it wasnt because he was a bad dog… he just had the most unbelievable bad luck followed by the most unbelievable good luck combined with his fun loving, curious and innocent ways led him into some of the funniest situations you will ever read about!  I probably laughed out loud at this book more than any other except perhaps a joke book. While Lad is a heroic good vs. evil book, Gray Dawn is just plain fun and I hate to admit it, but a few of these antics my collies, who are descended from him, have done.  You will laugh as Terhune describes Dawn dunking him in the Lake…… but beware.  At the end of the book Gray Dawn, like all good collies passes into the afterlife and I know I sat there with tears running down my cheeks as my heart broke.  But, Dawn was the epitomy of a collie, gleefully going through life and making the most of each moment!

Here is one more book I would recommend;

The Master by Litvag-

This book is about Terhune and unlike most bios today it is not all good or all bad either making him into a saint or a demon.  It is a very balanced book about him showing his wonderfully kind nature with animals and his disdain for many humans.  You will laugh at his younger antics… wince at his battles with people, admire his fighting for animal rights, feel sad at his relationship with his daughter, see him helping people in dire needs yet see him lose his temper sometimes rightfully, sometimes just because people rubbed him he wrong way.  I liked seeing him like this for APT was only a mere human like all of us.  I found myself that I could relate to a lot of how he saw things and could see why he and I loved collies.  However, some of his ways left me scratching my head.  This is a very good book and if you want to learn more about Terhune it is a must.  Between chapters the author relates a winter trip to Sunnybank before it all was torn down….

Picture of the two Hallies- It is a wonderful picture isnt it?  She is so much like her grandmother it is scary!

The comments about Ginger were very welcomed by Ginger.  She now has even a more swelled head and lets me know lots of other people love her… LOL

The train!  It has been a long tradition here of collies hearing the train and lining up getting ready to take on that behemoth!  Trevor used to relish it and especially after he was old and had a stroke.  He would bark and run best he could and stand out there big and strong!  When it rolled away he would grin and come strutting back to me so proud as I gave him high praise to heaven for chasing away that train!  I am still working on getting better pictures….  It does indeed go by everyday.  But we are out in country so it may run 2-4 times a day. Mostly 2 times.   Seeing the collies grab their toys and line up for battling the train is a delight.  Seeing them bark and run around and some of them jumping at each other barking their heads off is funny.  Yes, some of the engineers do look for them and wave and laugh… others not so much.  Ginger is swearing she will take the train down….
Terhune was a big traveler.  He did so in the winter months and when younger.  He wrote a lot of books and on top of that he wrote prolifically for magazines, radio shows and newspapers.  He spent 8 hours a day, 5 days a week writing.  it was his job he said and he was going to work 40 hours a week at it.  When one sees a list of everything known he wrote for all publications it is amazing!   It is early for a Christmas list but some do like to start early. 🙂

Yes, Skylight is a true blue merle just like Gray Dawn.  He meant no mischief by it all, but just wanted his loves! LOL…..  I’ve never seen him do anything naughty on purpose… like Dawn he sort of just stumbles into situations as he goes through life grinning and enjoying himself.

Okay, let me wrap this up by saying that as I wrote this on the 26th I sort of felt a bit blue.  You see, it has now been two months since my Trevor was called by the greatest Master of them all into the Great Beyond.   I sort of missed him all day…..

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Two years you have been gone…….   It doesnt seem like it…. I sure miss you Trevor.  Someday my dear Trevor we will meet like this again, but it will be in the fields of heaven….. Thank you Trevor….. for everything for without you my life wouldve never came back together….  🙂