Blank Headstones Call For Good Dog Quotes…Obviously

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A few years back I did a blog post soliciting great outdoors quotes for a number of blank granite headstones that had come into my possession. Headstones? Well, yes, it’s a long story.

I was reminded of that blog post last night as I was reading a thoroughly enjoyable book entitled “Mile Marker Zero: The Moveable Feast of Key West.” As the title implies, the book is a fascinating chronicle of the raucous, brilliant, and utterly debauched Seventies-era Key West literary scene.

What does that have to do with dogs? Well, several of the major players in that scene, Jim Harrison, Thomas McGuane, Guy de la Valdene (and even Jimmy Buffett, who at one time, believe it or not, was on the masthead of Sports Afield) have elsewhere written lyrics and hauntingly beautiful words about hunting birds with dogs. In fact, de la Valdene’s latest book, “The Fragrance of Grass” (my review of that book is forthcoming) is taken from a Jim Harrison poem.

But as I was reading last night I came across a great off-the-cuff dog quote from Harrison, in which he tells his interviewer that, if he had only five minutes left to live, he would light up a cigarette and pet his dog. I’ve still got a few blank headstones, and I’m thinking that might make it onto one of them.

Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to once again solicit some dog-related reader quotes. Go dig ’em up, put ’em in the comments section and let’s see what we can come up with.