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Yar, Baby
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Our Four Friends
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Welcome to Bertski Books and thank you for taking the time to visit. My goal in creating this page is to introduce myself so you will know who you are doing business with. We all know that shopping online is convenient and sometimes the best way to purchase hard to find items. The downside is that it's very easy for transactions to be impersonal. I don't want you to feel that you have just sent your hard earned money to some nameless, faceless entity. There is a real person here who really enjoys what she does.
My name is Roberta and I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and four dogs. I work part-time at a veterinary clinic so that I can have a steady income and health insurance. Yay for health insurance! Those are the nuts and bolts, that's "me" on the surface.
Scratch a little deeper and you will get to know the woman who is madly in love with her husband of twelve years. We were married at an accordion festival in the tiny town of Cotati, California by our favorite punk-polka band, Polkacide. Yay for punk, yay for polka!
Then there is the me who is just crazy about her dogs. We never intended to have four but working at a vet clinic, it's hard to avoid. They are all geriatric, the youngest is a mighty nine years old.
Our oldest, at 12, is Lucky. He's from a reservation in Northern New Mexico. He's got three legs, a tail that never stops wagging and a winning smile. Even though we keep him on the slim side we still call him a Santa Fe Fat Back when pressed to identify him by breed. Next is Esperanza, aka Espie. She's from Baja California hence the moniker, "Baja Beauty". To some she is known as the "Blonde Bombshell". She came to us with a severely broken leg. The doctor set it with a beautiful stainless steel plate that eventually had to be removed. That was years ago. Her worst problem these days are food allergies.
Then there is our one and only purebred, Slip. He's an Italian Greyhound and suffers every affliction known to man dog. He suffers from Progressive Retinal Atrophy, luxated lenses, blephinitis, and glaucoma. If you haven't guessed, he is blind. Completely. He'd put a bat to shame. He also has an auto-immune disorder. If anyone ever asked for my opinion, I'd have to say that mixed breeds rock. That being said, I'd never trade Slip for the world. Last but not least is Baby. As a young dog she bit into an electric blanket which caused a severe burn both inside and outside of her mouth. Although she was brought to the clinic, her owners authorized only the most minimal of care. Several days later she was dumped in the neighborhood park, left to fend for herself.
Money that I make from Ebay goes to their care. It helps with things like prescription dog food, a dental specialist, an eye specialist and their routine care. This is my little family. They are my motivation and inspiration. They have each overcome adversity while keeping their joy intact. They teach me every day how important it is to be yourself, nothing more, nothing less.
If I had a little bookstore in your little neighborhood we could talk about all this and more. I'd love to hear about the pet you had growing up or about your garden and how tenacious those pesky aphids can be. Bertski Books is a quiet and intimate sort of place, at least that's how I'd like to think it would be if I were just down the street from you. I'd like to see you get comfortable in that big overstuffed chair that's been sitting empty.
So here's to man's best friend and small neighborhood bookstores. And before I forget, thank you. Thank you for contributing to the well being of my little family. We appreciate it.
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