Dear Animal and Pet Lovers,

I've always been fascinated with the names people give their pets and animals. When I worked at a veterinary diagnostic laboratory, the patients were all animals. The names came from all kinds of businesses: veterinary clinics, hospitals, veterinarians, groomers, rescue groups, shelters, zoos, breeders, competition circles, and pet and animal owners across the country.

Collecting the names became a break from the daily routine at work. Co-workers wrote unique names on small bits of paper and left them on my desk. Each day, I took them home and placed them in a shoebox. Then one day I had three full boxes, so I decided to organize the names alphabetically on my computer.

What started as hundreds of names kept growing. Now, this book includes over four thousand original, creative, and fun names. Here’s a sample of some of my favorites:

· Ali Baa Baa, special 4-H lamb.

· Davy Crockett, pet raccoon.

· Dolly Llama, backpacking llama.

· Giblet, a turkey.

· Halfcocked, bantam Cochin rooster.

· Moby Duck, 4-H Pekin duck.

· Ninja, box turtle.

· Ted Lasso, a team roping head/heel horse.

· Vincent Van Dog, a boxer with half an ear missing.

When four endangered Mexican gray wolves are found dead near the Continental Divide Trail in New Mexico, investigators uncover more than they bargained for - and become the targets in a deadly ambush.

U.S.F.S. law enforcement officer Sam Rios returns to his Arizona ranch to recover, only to learn of his father’s sudden death and unsettling changes at home. As Sam grapples with family loss, mysterious ranch activity, and a friend in danger, he must understand his father’s final words to protect what matters most.

Set against the backdrop of rugged wilderness and the close-knit town of Rimtop, Arizona, this suspenseful story blends mystery, family legacy, romance, and the healing power of home.

Climbed Delodo Tree. Had a bad feeling, so dry and hot. Storm last night brought plenty of lightning, little rain. Spotted smoke to the south, blowing northeast and picking up … Caught hobbled mare and saddled up. Rode to Little Nelson Lake Tree, saw smoke again. Looks like a big fire … May need extra folks on this fire.

* from the journal of a U.S. Forest Service fire spotter

There were no fire lookout towers in the Arizona of the early 1900s. Instead, early firefighters found tall ponderosa pines near mountain tops or other strategic viewpoints. They fitted the trees with handmade steel spikes—known as lags—that they used as footholds to climb the trees.

These fire-spotting pioneers rode horseback along forest trails to reach these “lagged” trees, then climbed to the tops and sat like birds for hours. If a spotter sighted smoke, he’d climb down and ride to the nearest town or telegraph office to notify volunteers.

Many of the lookout trees had map boards installed up top, to help the spotters pinpoint a fire’s exact location.

One of these helpful giants was the “Overgaard Tree”—which would’ve been large even back when it was lagged in the 1920s on the edge of the Mogollon Rim. It finally succumbed to the Rodeo-Chedisky Fire in 2002.

It wasn’t until the1930s that the Civilian Conservation Corps began building modern fire towers. These more sophisticated lookout perches were often located near old lagged trees.

Christine Haese and her husband Paul have searched local forests for twenty years for any remaining historic trees. Over the years, people have found several lagged lookouts still standing—many with their original map boards in place.

Until they fall to fire or old age, these statuesque trees are still accessible to hikers, photographers, and natural history enthusiasts—living monuments with stories to tell in their gnarled, scarred bark.