OSWEGO COUNTY – A book by a CNY author has reached the top of the New Release chart in the Animal Care and Pet category on Amazon.com.
“Running Silently,” begun by the late Gary Waterman and finished by his wife, Betsy, of Sandy Creek, tells the delightful story of how a decidedly one-dog family became a six-dog family and found themselves involved in skijoring, a sport they didn’t even know existed.
The book was published by Simply Pets Books and released on Amazon on November 11, 2020. It quickly climbed to No. 1 new Animal Care and Pet Essay release.
“Running Silently” was 18 years in the making. Betsy’s late husband, Gary Waterman, started writing it when he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 1999. Gary knew he would be hospitalized for long periods, so rather than focus on his physical battles, he announced, “I think I will write a book about how a family who was steadfastly a one-dog family came to own six dogs.”
When it became clear Gary was not going to survive his disease long enough to finish his book, he asked his wife of 33 years, Betsy, to finish it for him. Nearly 17 years after his death, Betsy began reading Gary’s funny and poignant words and she knew she needed to finish his story about the dogs he loved so much.
All but one of the couple’s skijoring dogs lived long lives and each had a unique story to tell. The book tells how Bayley, Spirit, Casper, Neeka, Ichabod, and Sierra came to be part of the Waterman household and how Betsy and Gary stumbled into skijoring, a sport that combines cross-county skiing with sled dog racing, with dogs pulling a skier instead of a sled.
Betsy says Gary would be smiling at the publication of what became their book – and the fact that their granddaughter, Lauren Feil of San Antonio, TX, drew the cover image of Betsy on skis being pulled by Casper and Ichabod.
“Running Silently” is available from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/173419322.
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