Let’s celebrate fathers. A father is so very important in the lives of his children – even if his children have four legs! A good father guides, encourages, supports and loves his kids unconditionally. That’s why in honor of Father’s Day, we want you to know Harold Sanders is that kind of dad. He’s also the most famous father here in Shady Pines Story Town.

Harold and his wife, Edna, never had children of their own. But the day Boomerang, an Australian Shepherd dog, and Halley’s Comet, a silver streak of a cat came into their lives, everything changed. When they adopted the two strays, Harold and Edna officially became parents.They had no idea the challenges they would face as the Sanders became a family of four.

Boomer and Halley weren’t all that excited about becoming an instant brother and sister act. Boomerang had grown up out west on a ranch where his herding instincts made him a natural for rounding up cattle. It was when he left the U.B. Good Ranch in a pickup truck with his favorite ranch hand that everything changed. Clint had stopped for gas. Boomer heard a squirrel in the nearby bushes and took off. He wound up lost in Shady Pines.

Meanwhile, Halley was living the good life with a family up north in a beautiful neighborhood. The little girl of the family spoiled her with gifts and all the tuna she could eat. The silver kitty was used to going on trips with the family. But the vacation down South turned everything around for Halley’s Comet.

The family left her in the car for just a minute to go inside a restaurant to get lunch. They left the windows down a bit so their favorite feline would have enough air. That’s when Halley heard the birds chirping. Instinct took over and the silver streak was out the window and gone. You guessed it. She found herself lost in Shady Pines.

We’ll pause here because the whole story of how Boomer and Halley were lost, then found, is the title of the second book in their honor. A local author, Mary Jane McKittrick, decided to write about the adventures and misadventures of this blended family of animals and humans. Lo and behold, the books started winning awards and that’s how Harold and his family became famous. In fact, the Sanders put little ‘ole Shady Pines on the map! Visitors are always coming to our small Southern town asking to meet them.You can get your own copy along with the other two books in the series by going HERE

If you can believe it, the books for 4-8 year olds won the Mom’s Choice Gold Award for excellence and the Pinnacle Award for Independent Book publishers.

You know the best part? Even though the Sanders’ family gets so much attention, It never goes to their heads. They’re not stuck up at all. Oh, sure, Halley can be a little snooty at times, but she was like that from the beginning. And Boomer always puts her in her place.

Edna is so creative and fun. Harold is the steady one who sets such a good example. He is a decent, hard-working man who looks you right in the eye when he talks. He believes in doing a good job, loves to laugh, and doesn’t have to raise his voice to get attention. Harold walks with quiet confidence and leads by example.

It’s funny but Boomer and Halley seem to want to please him. They feel really badly when they disappoint him. Don’t get me wrong. they’re kids after all, so they can get into trouble. That look he gives them when they’ve done something wrong is enough to snap them back into good behavior.

Folks around Shady Pines admire the man who owns the town’s Nuts ‘N Bolts hardware store with its old-fashioned soda fountain slap dab in the middle of the store. That’s where locals enjoy listening to Harold spin a story. Harold Sanders is like a lot of our neighbors who love to tell stories filled with positive themes. Seems all they want to do is inspire young children to grow up and be good people. That’s why we’re known as Shady Pines Story Town where  kindness and caring is a way of life. People here don’t just talk about being good to one another, they actually try to live that way. Just another reason to celebrate the contributions of Harold Sanders and all the fathers making a difference in the lives of their children!

If you’d like to help your kids make their own Father’s Day gifts we found a site that could help GO HERE