"A pat on the head and a kick in the pants"

The year 2006 really started off with a bang for me as far as writing the manuscript of "The Knapps Lived Here" around 8 or 9 chapters were completed in Jan & Feb. I say started because a bunch of events have sort of sidetracked me along with a healthy dose of procrastination too.

My first excuse if you will was starting a new medical treatment in January for a very serious illness I have been dealing with for a very long time. But that really doesn't hold up well as an excuse because I still was writing like a fool, if only because the meds were waking me up at 4:30 AM and I got a lot done by 9 or 10.

By March although my doctors were happy with the lab results they were getting, I was not because of the side effects. It was too high a price I was paying and we both knew I couldn't continue it over the long haul so we decided to try Plan B. About that time a very old friend who I had not seen in 40 + years found me because of this website and the next thing you know we are planning a get together. That story is chronicled on the web glob under "My Old Yellow Car" "My Old Yellow Car Part Two" which deals with the reunion visit here in Nashville should have been posted well over a month ago and I have yet to write it ...so there you can see what I'm talking about.....backsliding

Plan B medical tretment also screwed me up pretty good, so there was a few more weeks shot as it had to be dropped. I can happily say I'm now a week into Plan C with a totaly different medication and the major side effect only seems to be dizzyness and VIVID DREAMS nightly in Living Color!. The dream part is enjoyable. Also factor in a week of going to New York for my sons college graduation another major enjoyment and a week to recover from all the walking we did around NYC....

But if anything is going to jump start me back into writing the manuscript, which I am determined to finish this year, it might well be what turned up in my mailbox yesterday. A new book in which I am quoted in several places for some of the research I have put into this website! It truly was a pat on the head and a kick in the pants, Thank You Rose

The book is geared to the Chow breeder and fancier and is not a history of all The Knapps or of Mastic but there are two chapters, that deal with Claire Knapp and her legendary Clairedale Kennel. There are also some of Claire's own words about the dog show life that I found quite interesting. And there are even some of my own observations in here! I first met Rose Estes a few years ago when we both were bidding on some very rare early photos from the dog show world that had Miss Claire Knapp and her dogs in them. Rose was the succesful bidder and has shared them with me. What I didn't know until the book arrived though, was that there are personal notations on each photo from Jeanne Waller who was a friend of Claire's and owned several Clairedale Chows. Nothing like having eyewitness' testimony .....it's a historaians delight ! That's Claire (arrow) watching the judging in 1922. This was when she was living in the Knapp Mansion in Mastic Beach although it was still four years away from having Beach attached to it's name.

If you are a dog person or interested in the book which I understand is a limited edition ....You can contact Rose Estes here

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