Fido and Friend in Five: Joni Sensel and Jazz!

Yes, dear readers, Fido and Friend is back after a bit of a break whilst I was busy with the "Authors for Catherine's Dream Signed Book Auction." Thankfully, it's all pretty much wrapped up, and we raised over $4,000.00!

Joni Sensel is the author of numerous, highly popular middle grade novels Reality Leak (described in Fuse 8 as "Fun and funny"), the gorgeously written historical The Humming of Numbers, and her award-winning fantasy series The FarWalker's Quest, The Timekeeper's Moon, and the latest The Skeleton's Knife. This series follows the quest of forest girl, Ariel, to discover her own mysterious and startling calling.

Joni is also the proud mother of two picture books,
including Bears Barge In and The Garbage Monster.

Like her heroine, Ariel, Joni is a bit of a "FarWalker" too. She's explored the Sahara Desert, New Zealand, France, and the British Isles--places that have inspired her work. In 2008, she set off on her own walking adventure in England and France, where she ended up walking more than 650 miles!

Like me, Joni lives in the west in a house in the woods, and likes to hike with her dog, and has raccoons in her tree and elk in her yard (well, I tend to have moose). Unlike me, Joni also loves to scuba dive and ride her motorcycle, and has mice in her stove vent.

And she has a dog, a wonderful dog named Jazz. Let's meet these two intrepid adventurers in today's Fido and Friend in Five!

1. How did you and Jazz find each other?  I rescued Jazz from a shelter where I'd previously volunteered and where I'd found several other dogs in the past. (The rule is I can only go into the kennel of a dog I'm planning to take home, because otherwise it makes me cry). When we got together in the "get to know you" room, he was more interested in the ball the staff gave him than in me, but he agreed to come home with me anyway. After four years, he still has some issues from his formative

Take me home?

years, but we've come a long way understanding each other.

2. What makes Jazz's tail wag?  Chasing things! Elk preferred, but spawning salmon, squirrels, rabbits, pickup trucks, bicyclists, tennis balls, and sticks will do in a pinch. We try to stay near to the end of that list.

3. What's your all-time favorite dog story?  Boy, I'm dating myself here, but Where the Red Fern Grows.

4. If Jazz could change just one thing about you, what would that be?  He'd give me a gender reassignment, I fear. He likes men more than women.

5. In five words, tell us what Jazz means to you:  Kooky pal who chases laughs.

Kooky friend!

Thanks so much to Joni and Jazz for getting Fido and Friend back
on track! Be sure to visit Joni's website to find out more about her books and her latest adventures!