Reviews for book "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog" by Cliff Yankovich

We are pleased to report that Cliff's book, "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog", has been selling in our store and on our website. (You can buy it online here: Cliff's Book Online.)

We are even happier that we have started to get comments and reviews from readers.

Ruth W. wrote a 100 word review for Schuler Books to use in their stores:

"Otter Was a Beagle-ish Dog is an entertaining collection of musings, from the author's younger days hitchhiking the deserts of Arizona, to an intimate and moving chronicle of the ordeal he underwent fighting throat cancer. Throughout the pages, Cliff's reminiscences of the abiding presence of his beloved dog Otter, and Otter's innate ability to sense what Cliff needs, overlay the book with humor and personal reflection. He writes frankly and humbly, without a shred of self pity. His casual, homey prose makes this book a joy to read." 

Aleah is our favorite diamond supplier. She was kind enough to send some pictures of her reading the book to her son along with some comments:

Cliff has compiled the comments here on his blog:

Comments & Reviews of "Otter Was A Beagle-ish Dog"

Online jewelry design for men - Chimera Showcase

Our great new jewelry design app is NOT just for ladies.

 

Here is a 10kt yellow gold ring designed on our Showcase just for Frank.

 

The ring is set with 16-2.5mm round black onyx.

 

It is a nice, substanstial setting - it weighs 10.39 grams in size 10.75.

 

Onyx in yellow gold is a classic combo for men and this

is a nice, new variation of it.

Click on this link to design your own ring: Chimera Showcase

 

This ring is built like a tank. It is NOT all hollowed out.

The squared off shank (or European shank) can help keep it from spinning.

Yellow gold NOT for you?

Want a different kind of gem or maybe diamonds?

 

NO PROBLEM - this ring is available in sterling silver,

or your choice of 10kt, 14kt, or 18kt white, yellow or rose gold.

Want one in platinum? It is possible.

 

You can even choose from 3 different shape gems in a variety of sizes.

All those options for one ring.

 



Here is a link to Men's Rings

Eric builds a ring for Raelyn

Eric wanted to surprise Raelyn with the perfect engagement ring.

He enlisted the help of her best friend and over the course of a couple of weeks,

we pieced together all the elements for a "just right" ring.

 

We built a nice heavy setting that was a little wider than what we could get from a manufacturer and accented the center diamond with 3 channel set on each side of the lovely center diamond.

 

 

They stopped in the store to say "Hi" yesterday. Being the smart guy I am, I can

tell by the smiles and the ring on her finger Raelyn said "yes".

 

 

Raelyn was nice enough to let me borrow this great shot

of their engagement announcement.

 

Congratulations to Eric and Raelyn.

 

The star of the picture would be Layla, shown below puffing on a Milk Bone stogey.

Rings from Chimera went to Australia and then to Venice with Anthony & Elisa.

This lovely couple is Elisa and Anthony.

They live in Australia and found us on the net.

 

 

They had us make the ring above for Elisa

and the one below for Anthony. Since Elisa had a center diamond

accented by rubies, Anthony put a ruby in the center with some accent diamonds.

 

All the CAD-CAM design steps were handled via email.

(Saved Anthony on gas money driving here from Melbourne!)

Once we had agreement on the design elements, the rings were made.

 

Were they content to get married in Oz?

Not these two - they traveled to Italy

and were married in the Town Hall in Venice.

 

 

 

Here they are on the balcony outside the Mayor's office

in Venice. My goodness, it does not get much more romantic than that, does it?

Diamond earring winner makes a trip to Chimera.

Earlier this year we conducted an online contest in which we gave away a set of diamond earrings - you can see them in the picture below. The contest was centered around our Facebook page and Sandra from West Virginia won the earrings.

 

We notified Sandra and sent her the earrings.

 

What a great surprise we had when she stopped in.

 

Sandra didn't just stop in to see us, she brought a project for Julie to work on.

I snapped a picture as she and Julie were working out the details.

Wild group from East of here!

Colleen and Barb are part of group of wild ladies

who sweep into Lowell every few weeks.

They come from somewhere East of here and sure

are a lot of fun.  We had some pictures of the rest of the

crew, but seem to have lost them when a hard drive crashed a few weeks ago.

Aunt Sandy gets newborn Kynsee her first diamond ring.

This little cutie is Kynsee Lynn. Her Aunt Sandy LOVES jewelry, so she asked Julie to make Kynsee her first ring. Julie took some white gold stock and a 2mm Princess cut diamond (a princess for a princess!) and did just that.

Kynsee's parents, Kevin & Kristi, were nice enough to take some pictures of their little princess and send them along to us. Thanks to Kevin, Kristi, and Sandy for letting us be a part of this major fun.

Kynsee is now officially the youngest person wearing a Chimera diamond ring on the planet!

Matthew, Meaghan, and The Ring.

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, there was a young man

named Matthew with a sweetheart named Meaghan.

Their quest for a beautiful diamond and a just right ring

for Meaghan (happily) brought them to Chimera design.

 Where they found just the kind of diamond Matthew had in

mind and together they designed a perfect ring for Meaghan.

They brought the ring to the beach for its very own photo session!

Here is a close up of the ring taken right before Matthew whisked

it away to put it on Meaghan's finger.

Big thanks to Matthew & Meaghan for sharing these great pictures with us!

Custom sterling bracelet - Julie made it just for Judy!

Judy came in a while ago with some gold jewelry - she wanted Julie to take the diamonds and gemstones out and make her a sterling bracelet. She gave Julie free rein to have fun and make something special. The result above has several different finishes on the bracelet along with some recycled gold (rose, white, and yellow) and even a couple of gemstones mounted directly into pearls.

Judy picked it up this morning and LOVED it. I quickly grabbed my camera and took this shot of the two of them. It sure is fun to make people smile! Thanks Judy for trusting us to make your bracelet.
(On a purely practical note, the value of the gold jewelry she traded in covered more than half the cost of her bracelet. Win-win!)

Adam is happy because Erica is happy - Erica said YES!

Here is another demonstration of the Trickle Around Theory of Happiness (known as TATH). Adam found a great 18kt wedding set here - Erica liked it and she said "Yes." when Adam proposed. Erica is happy which means that Adam is happy which means Chimera Design is happy, too.
Thanks to Erica and Adam for sharing their happiness with us - PLUS this great picture of Erica taken right after she got the ring (way cool hat, Erica).

Jenny models her Keshi pearls with help from Remmington.

Jenny lives in the big city (Chicago) - but she has been visiting Chimera every once in a while ever since her Aunt Deb brought her in here. A couple months ago Jenny stopped in and fell in love with some Keshi pearls - low and behold her aunt was paying attention and brought a big smile to Jenny's face on her recent birthday.

So here is a nice shot of Jenny sporting her Keshis alongside her best buddy Remington (who is not a fan of looking directly at the camera).

Dave and Emily: Your wish is our command.

We take great pride in making jewelry that YOU want.

Recently, Jere and I had some fun with Dave and Emily. They came in looking for something out of the ordinary, but they wanted it based on a ring they had seen. (Dave had a picture on his phone - see it below.)

 Emily liked the basic design structure of the ring - she liked the two stones accenting the center diamond and enjoyed the swooping piece of gold on each side of the ring shank. However, she wanted to personalize the ring with different colors and shapes.

Emily's idea was to incorporate a couple of black diamonds along with some triangle shaped rubies in her white gold ring. Dave wanted a great looking diamond for the center and we found him an ideal cut .57 ct SI2, G color that would jump and sparkle in Emily's ring.

 Everyone was happy with the end result. We made a custom ring with the elements Emily wanted, set with a sparkler for a center stone and stayed within the budget Dave had set aside for the ring. (Not only do we respect your design wishes, but we pay attention to your budget as well. When you tell Cliff a specific dollar amount, he doesn't come back with a projected price over that amount.)

It is noteworthy that the ring we made for Emily and Dave is much more substantial than the ring they showed us in the picture. The shank of our ring (see above) is thick and substantial and will last for decades. The diamonds and rubies are held in with heavier tips and prongs.

We asked Dave how Emily responded to the ring after the week-end he planned on giving it to her this is what he told us: "The weekend was alot of fun and she loved the ring. The ring was so much better than either of us could have imagined. Thanks so much."

It was our pleasure Dave. Thank you very much.

Anne Marie makes Chimera Design a part of her wedding.

Here is Anne Marie surrounded by her bridal party. She had Julie Claire make all of them a pair of earrings to wear on her big day and to remember her by. Here she is surrounded by (L to R) Bridget, Christina, Anne, Molly, Catharine, Nicole, Moira, and Taylor.

 

Here is a close up of Nicole sporting her Chimera ear decoration.

Thanks to Anne Marie and photographer Andrew Maguire for letting us use these pictures.

Two people in love, a ring, and a trip to Mexico.

Once upon a time - actually it was late November 2009. A couple of love birds - let's call them Brian and Erica - came into the store with the goal of creating an engagement ring for Erica. They wisely brought in some old gold and we were also able to incorporate several diamonds they had into the new design. The old gold took care of a good part of the cost of the new ring and we were able to use their diamonds to really light up the ring.

Here is photographic proof that creating a ring at Chimera is FUN! Look at the smiles on Brian and Erica to say nothing of the balding old guy on the right.

Once we had a general idea of what Erica wanted in a ring, we began to exchange a flurry of emails containing design ideas and images with the goal of having the ring complete before they left for Mexico just after Christmas. You can see the final design above, with the finished product in the two pictures below.

Erica's ring has 12 little stones surrounding the 1 ct center. We used two of her diamonds to accent the center and four more were channel set (two on each side of the ring). We also bezel set a small diamond on the front and back side of the ring for a little extra bling. (I call 'em headlights and taillights.) This ring sparkles in every direction.

More smiles from Mexico. Brian timed his proposal to Erica perfectly - it was on New Years Eve right before fireworks lit up the sky (nice touch, Brian). Ahhh, Life is Good: Mexico - fireworks - sunshine - and a sparkler for Erica's hand. It doesn't get much better than that.

Another BIG smile at Chimera Design.

As you can see, Dawn is one happy lady. She and Dave celebrated their anniversary with a customized setting from Gelin-Abaci set with a lovely princess cut diamond. There is a close up of the ring below. We hit a couple bumps in the road and delays on our way to making Dawn smile like this - but everyone was happy with the end result. (And people wonder why Julie and I have so much fun at work!)

Could it be the Mokume that makes her smile?

Take a look at Dan & Stephanie - we like BIG SMILES. I like to think Stephanie is smiling because of the extra coolio Mokume Gane earring and pendant set Julie made for Dan to give her on their wedding day.....but I realize the truth of the matter; she is thrilled to be marrying such a considerate guy.

Matt plans and executes a very romantic proposal.

Guys, Matt recently set the bar pretty high when it comes to providing a surprising and romantic proposal for his fiance Nicole. Matt and Nicole live in Chicago, but Matt's mom persuaded him to shop at our store when he and Nicole were looking for wedding rings last fall (thanks Susan!). They came in together and we went over diamonds and possible ring designs (they both passed the rigorous Chimera Diamond Course with flying colors). We got a good idea of what Nicole liked and her ring size and they went on their way.

Matt was already laying the ground work for his surprise back then. He made a point of letting me know in front of Nicole that the time for a ring was probably in a year. Very open ended.
Once he got back to Chicago, Matt went to work. He started emailing me and we worked up some CAD designs and ordered in a couple of diamonds for him to consider. His mom came in the store and looked over some diamonds while we talked with Matt on the phone. We chose a center stone and began to construct the ring from the CAD design we settled on.

At the same time the ring was being made, Matt made some plans with a friend of Nicole's who lives in San Francisco. He and Nicole were going out there on a vacation, but Matt had a little more in mind. He told her that he wanted to propose to Nicole on a beach and she helped set that up. A few days before they headed to California Matt was in Michigan on business and picked up the ring. Nicole was under the impression that a ring was something that would happen in the future.

Near the end of their vacation Matt and Nicole hiked over a mile and a half to this beach, where Matt dropped to his knee and presented Nicole with the ring he designed for her and asked her to be his bride. She was "completely surprised" according to her email - oh yeah, she said YES.




My hat is off to Matt - there is no way I could have kept the ring and a deluxe proposal on the beach plan a secret. What a great surprise to pull on such a lovely young lady - Way to go, Matt!I heard a rumor that Nicole's friend took some pictures of the actual proposal - but she is currently out of the country on business so we must wait patiently for those pictures.

Here is a picture of Matt and Nicole when they returned to Chicago. You can see some shiny diamonds and gold on her left hand if you take a look!

From computer image to reality in two tone gold.

Alisa had a lab created Tanzanite stone that

was quite large. She wanted a simple, modern

ring design that would really show off the gem.

We worked on several different designs before

really understanding what she was after.

She loved this design with a small band

and her stone set in a bezel.

(Do not know why I set a purple stone

in the computer image - I am getting old!!)

Here is a picture of the finished ring in two tone gold.

We used some accent diamonds from another ring Alisa didn't wear.

Do you have a piece of jewelry designed in your mind?

We would love to help you make it a reality.

An platinum heirloom remade in white gold.

Laura and her parents came in with the ring in

the picture above. It was made of platinum and

set with a lovely Old Mine or European cut diamond

accented by sapphires and diamonds.

As you can see, some of the platinum had worn and

the ring was losing gemstones.

The ring had been made for them by an old family friend who

had since passed away and it had temendous sentimental value -

Laura's mom wanted Laura to have it.

They wanted to know if we could remake the ring in white gold.

Yes we can! The above image is just one of a series of

computer images produced by the CAD program as

we orchestrated the re-build.

Voila! Here is the finished piece in 14kt white gold.

The only difference was that we had to use modern,

diamond cut round sapphires to replace the ones that were left.

(The original sapphires were cut by hand and somewhat irregular

which made matching them impossible.)

We also made the gallery area which hold the sapphires slightly thicker

so that the ring should be a thing of beauty for years and years -

for Laura's daughter to wear when she is old enough.