Hank the Cowdog :: This Week in Words

Every week Barbara hosts This Week in Words over at Stray Thoughts. This is a meme which allows people to share quotes from things that they've read. I keep thinking it's a neat meme but it would be a bit overkill for me because I save my quotes for my reviews. However, this week I'm doing something a little different.

I'm listening to an audio book. Oh you think that's shocking do you!?!? What if I told you I was listening to an audio book while I was running?!

You don't believe me, do you?

I barely believe myself.

For one thing, the only reason I'm listening to an audio book is because I only have a tape recorder (the "old fashioned" sort) to listen to while running. The only book I have on tape is Hank the Cowdog. I already said I wanted to re-read Hank the Cowdog this fall. This way I can run and listen to a book at the same time. Hank is funny which helps me when I'm running because running is distinctly not funny at all. I find the ability to laugh while running helpful. If I could laugh outloud, that is. Mostly I'm just heaving in as much air as possible to make sure I don't accidentally faint and fall off the treadmill. But it's something.

So anyway, I'm listening to Hank on audio and having my mind tickled. I thought I would then go and looked up particular passages to share with you so that you could be equally amused and maybe start to think that you and Hank have a future reading destiny together. If you believe that, then you must only pick up one of his books (or, now, the CD of John R. Erickson's recordings of his books - hilarious) and give him a try. Because Hank really is worth a try. Running? Well, I'm not too sure about that...



Hank, if you are unfamiliar with him, is a cowdog who believes himself to be hot stuff. He takes himself all together too seriously and you groan, you laugh, you cry, you feel bad for him and you generally find yourself snickering at his antics.

"It's me again, Hank the Cowdog. I just got some terrible news. There's been a murder on the ranch.
I know I shouldn't blame myself. I mean, a dog is only a dog. He can't be everywhere at once. When I took this job as head of ranch security, I knew that I was only flesh and blood, four legs, a tail, a couple of ears, a pretty nice kind of nose that the women really go for, two bushels of hair and another half-bushel of Mexican sandburs.
You add that all up and you don't get Superman, just me, good old easy-going Hank who works hard, tries to do his job, and gets very little cooperation from anyone else around here." (Chapter 1, Bloody Murder, page 1.)

After a trip into town with cowhands Slim and Loper, Hank summarizes the feeling of returning to the farm after a day away:

"When we crossed the cattleguard that put us back on the ranch, I felt a change come over me.
In town I had been just another happy-go-lucky dog without a care in the world. But back on the ranch, I felt that same crushing sense of responsibility that's known to people in high places, such as presidents, prime ministers, emperors and such. Being head of ranch security is a great honor but also a dreadful burden." (Chapter 5, Another Bloody Murder, page 29)

I really do prefer to read books instead of listen to them. Looking up the quotes and enjoying the illustrations made me rather long to read ahead of the tape. I won't let myself get ahead though because Hank is the best distraction to the idea of running that I've found thus far! I'm not an audio learner and I tune things out fairly easily. When running though I've discovered this enormous desire to focus on anything - anything! - but running and so my senses are fine tuned to Hank. A fact I'm most certain he would appreciate.

Really, if you haven't yet introduced yourself to Hank, you should make the time. The audio books are fabulous, as far as audio books go as they are all read/performed by the author himself who uses different voices and really brings his unique ranch characters to life. Absolutely entertaining and come with a high recommendation from this corner of the book blog-o-sphere.

More quotes to come soon, I'd imagine, for there is more running to be done.

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And on that note, if you're curious about why I'm running, it's because my friend "made" me by starting to work out C25K herself. She started in on the glories of running and got me all inspired. She talked about how she felt like her spirit was soaring when she ran and how accomplished she felt after doing it. Then another friend started the C25K and she said, and I quote (because we are quoting things for This Week in Words, after all, "I feel alive when I run." Well, I don't know what they are talking about. I'm on week two and I can truthfully say I hate every single second of running. I have no passion for it at all. Found this C25K version for the treadmill and I do that while listening to Hank, as mentioned. While I have noticed a distinctly positive physical change as a result of running, I would rather find a magic pill that I could take that would put me at post baby weight instantly and would require absolutely no self-sacrifice or discipline in achieving said goal. Alas, I meet with my humanity and I discover the need to sweat it out. My spirit does not soar. I do feel alive but only barely. Mostly I feel the keen need to stay alive and maybe finish the run.