Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Coffee with a canine: Jennifer Brown & Ursula and Aragorn

The current featured trio at Coffee with a Canine: Jennifer Brown & Ursula and Aragorn.

Jennifer Brown is a humor writer for The Kansas City Star and the author of the young adult novel, Hate List. Her "two best fur friends" are Ursula the Basset Hound, and Aragorn the Boxer. "When I'm feeling lazy," Brown writes, "I just call them The Baxters (Basset + Boxer = Baxter!)."

The story of how the three of them were united:
Our beloved basset hound, Fiona, died unexpectedly two years ago and I was heartbroken. I wanted a new basset right away, but the family was unsure about that -- they were afraid having a basset in the house would make them too sad. But I sweetened the pot a little by offering to get two dogs to replace the one (I'd often thought about getting a fur friend for Fiona over the years), and they went for it!

I saw an ad in the newspaper about bassets for sale, and traveled waaay out to the country to a little farm, where a pair of family bassets had had pups. There were six to choose from. When I picked up Ursula, she licked my nose and I instantly new she was the one!
As for Aragorn... I let my husband take the lead on finding the boxer he wanted. He found one -- a brindle that is almost entirely black. He didn't lick anyone's nose when we met him, but tinkled on our daughter's shoe instead. It was...[read on]
Watch the Hate List video trailer, and learn more about the book and author at Jennifer Brown's website and blog.

Writers Read: Jennifer Brown.

Read: Coffee with a Canine: Jennifer Brown & Ursula and Aragorn.

--Marshal Zeringue