A Year Ago Today

How we tabled at a zine fest in Austin and came back with a puppy

Nola asleep in the studio

The house had grown quiet for the remaining summer days after June 2023. A family member that I was certain would have been around with us for many more years to come had to go away. We grieved, sometimes quietly, sometimes randomly. It was the middle of September when my wife came up to me and said, “I’m ready for a puppy.”

My wife found Greta browsing the listings of the Humane Society, and she was already 8 months old. She was doing that this time around but none of the pups were calling out to her. “I want a puppy puppy.” my wife told me.

So we put our heads together about what kind of puppy we wanted. Greta was such a great size (35 lbs.), so I didn’t want anything too big. My wife didn’t want a corgi or corgi-mix. We tossed around the ideas of spaniels, beagles, all sorts of doodles. She then showed me a pic of an Australian friend’s pet, aptly, an Australian shepherd. I actually had my eye on the breed for a few years, taking note of when I see them in public. I found them to be very cute dogs. Upon further investigation, a miniature Australian shepherd breed exists. It’s the same type of dog, same colors, just in a smaller size.

So where do you find puppies online? The same place you can find anything else, Craigslist! Every time I tell this story people are baffled that Craigslist is still a thing. I asure you it is, and they have puppies. My wife tasked me with going online, finding candidates, and talking with the strangers. There were a few hits but nobody really had any female puppies (cuz we wanted a female) in the Houston area.

I decided to widen the net. As a matter of fact, we were about to head over to Austin in a few weeks to table at a zine fest, let’s check over there. And sure enough, we had a hit!

EXCLUSIVE! From my sketchbook

My wife said she had a dream about a puppy with a black face and peanut butter eyebrows, so when I showed her what I found she practically melted. The people that posted the ad were not breeders, just a family with two mini Aussies that had puppies. And they had one tri-color female left. “That’s her. That’s the one.” my wife said. I replied to the owners that we’ll take her. Soon after we went to the store to buy puppy stuff.

We made it out to Austin, and it was a Sunday, the day of the zine fest. We were just so nervous and excited all day. Sure I ran the table, made sales and talked to folks, but really the only thing we could think of was that we were getting a puppy at the end of the day. The owners were a bit further north in Killeen but they had no qualms about driving down to the event space.

The time came at the last few hours of the show. We were both outside waiting when a youngish man walking with a calm puppy in his arm came up to us. And that’s where we met Nola for the first time. Nola Malarkey, my wife had her name already picked out. Tears flooded my wife’s eyes as she held her new puppy. We were both so happy and excited for this new chapter in our lives. With a few hours of the show left my wife hung out with Nola in the car while I wrapped up the event.

We had a harness, leash, a few toys and even her bed in the back seat, so Nola Malarkey was all set for the ride home. We let her explore her new home, and all of sudden our little family is complete again.