Lounging, Lazy, Relaxing Saturday Evening

I went to my friend Denise's house on Saturday. She had a little bit of a crisis on her hands, so I went to help. Her dog Buster (10 year old Terrier mix) got sprayed in the eye with pepper spray (we think it was pepper spray) by the post man. She got the after spray in her eye too. She was very worried about Buster, as I would be too, so I went over to help. When I got there, Buster had finally opened his eye back up, which was a good sign. We quickly got him in the tub and while I held him, Denise ran water on his eye to try to flush out the spray. We gave him peanut butter for being a good boy when we were done. He loves Peanut Butter! He was back to his active, full of energy self very QUICKLY. Then we decided to go to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. I took Mitch home some dinner from there, so that I would not have to cook! Meanwhile back at the house, Mitch was hard at work on the patio. Fiftythree 80 lb bags of concrete poured = sore back = progress on patio! We are getting there, or should I say Mitch is getting there. I have not really lifted a finger to help with the patio. What can I say, that is Man's work! Mitch loves projects like these. I can't wait to see the final result!! Soon we will be able to sit on our patio under the gazebo relaxing with family and friends!! =) Hard work does pay off.

But with hard work comes relaxation. Ahh......relaxation!! We did our fair share of this Saturday evening and all day on Sunday. After Mitch took a quick dip in the pool, we sat on the front porch and enjoyed the storm, listened to the rain, and watched the hummingbirds feed. We tried our best to get some good shots of the hummingbirds. They were quite amazing to watch!
Below are a few pictures of the hummingbirds feeding.





Once the storm passed, we let the dogs out so they could join us on the porch. Booyah came right out and took his spot on the love seat.



Sweet Booyah loves to be loved.




Is there enough room up there for me? Don't forget about me.


Ahh....this is more like it! Thanks for letting me have a turn Booyah. =)




Relaxation!


Being Goofy with the Greys.










On Sunday, I was big couch potato most of the day, but did manage to drag myself outside and enjoy the pool for a bit. Mitch played his computer game Company of Heroes and then joined me in the pool.



Anyways, the weekend slipped away from us and before we knew it, Monday was soon approaching. 2 days off is just not enough!! Well in my case anyway. 3 days off in Mitch's case, but he does work 12 hour shifts, which has to be hard. I don't think I could work his wacky schedule.

We leave for Maine in 2 weeks. We are looking forward to our trip, but are going to miss Maggie, Booyah, K.C. and Misty very much! This will be the first time we have been away from our Greys!! =(
I wish we could bring the kids with us, but the cabin we are renting does not allow dogs. We need a vacation though, we have not been on one since our honeymoon in 01. It has been way too long!! Can't wait to enjoy some fresh Maine Lobster and go swimming in Sabego Lake!!! =)

Hound Sitting

Mitch and I had the pleasure of watching Sharon's three greys for two weeks. They are very well behaved and wonderfully sweet greys! We really enjoyed their stay with us!!!! =) It took everyone a day to get settled in, so I slept downstairs the first night with the hounds so that Mitch could get a good nights sleep. Pearl and Dillon got up a few times in the middle of the night and came over to me. They wanted to be loved on, so I abliged and gave them lots of TLC. The first feeding was a little tricky, but I quickly realized that calling their names out and then putting down their bowls seemed to help everyone get the hang of where they would be eating. By the next day they had things figured out. And feeding 6 dogs (yes, 6, don't forget K.C.) became a piece of cake. They adjusted to our routine quickly. Instead of my usual wake up call from Maggie, Pearl took charge of getting me up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. I have not used an alarm clock since we adopted Maggie last September. She always gets me up in time for work!!! No more loud buzzing noise in the morning, instead I have sweet Maggie giving me kisses in the face!



Below are a montage of pictures from the last two weeks. In no particular order.





Meet Wally. Wally is six years old and raced up North. Wally is a very sweet boy, who loves his toys. He does not just play with toys, but he sleeps with them too. He found a toy that had similar coloring as him.






Wally in a deep sleep.






Trying to stay awake, one ear up and one eye opened.




In honor of Friday the 13th, Maggie gives us her best imperssonation of a scary greyhound. I think she did a pretty good job.

Treat time! We began sqwaker training on Dillon, Pearl and Wally. By the end of the two weeks, they were getting the hang of it. This is not a really good picture though. It appears that Wally did not get a treat, which is not the case. Everyone got a treat, of course, but Wally finished his before I could get the camera ready to take a picture.

Meet Pearl. Pearl looks a lot like Dana. She also raced up North. She missed her mommy very much. We gave her lots of love. She is not really interested in toys. She is a very sweet girl!

I was estatic about this next shot. You see, I have no roachers in my pack. I have been wanting to see a hound roach in person. I have seen tons of pictures. Finally, I have a roacher in my house. Pearl shows us that she can roach with the best of them. Just look at her form. =)

This was so good, I had to get an arial view. It amazes me how they can conform their bodies to this position and be so comfortable.

Mitch has been working really hard to finish the gate on the front porch. We love sitting on the front porch talking and drinking wine. We want the greys to be able to come out their with us too, so Mitch had a brillant idea to build a gate on the porch and has been working on it installing it over the last month (along with many other projects to ie: the PATIO!!), it took two days to build, but a month to find time to install. =)

The greys seem to enjoy being able to have the freedom to come out on the porch and sit with us without having to be on a leash.

Hey, can we come done there with you?

In order from top to bottom : Maggie, Wally, Pearl, Booyah and Dillon.

Nothing Butt Hounds!!!

From left to right : Wally, Dillon, Booyah and Maggie.

The next picture is of Booyah's tounge, a little strange for me to want to take this picture, but I could not resist snapping a shot of this. Let me set this up for you. The greys had just come back in from running and playing with squeaky toys outside. Everyone was wiped out, including Booyah, which lead to him panting, which lead to me realizing...geez Booyah you have a really long tounge. No wonder you get ETS so much! =)

Which lead to me not being able to resist taking this shot.

The greys wait for me to get out of my car.

Around back, I am greeted with anxious, happy hounds!

Enjoying freedom on the porch.

From left to right : Pearl, Wally, Maggie and Booyah.

Wally gets ETS.

Meet Dillon, he too raced up north. His race name was Night Skipper, which I think is a pretty cool name. Sharon's kids decided to name him Dillon after the Patriot's player Corey (sp?) Dillon. He is a love bug! He followed us around a lot and wanted to be loved on! He is extremely quite. He doesn't bark or whine. His best buddy is Booyah. They love to run together in the yard. Booyah taught Dillon how to play with the squeaky toys outside and Mitch and I taught Dillon how to play catch.

Pearl taking it easy.

Dillon using his sissy's rump as a head rest.

He does not seem to care that he is dangerously close to the danger zone.

Booyah needed some alone time, so he decided to hang out in the guest bedroom during the day.

Porch shot again. The greys seem to love the porch as much as we do. We will be spending lots of time out there!

3 tail salute. If you look closely, you can see Dillon's tail is up.

Over the past two weeks, I went to the VAGA Richmond Meet and Greet and hosted an adoption at our house. Mitch decided to stay home and spend time with Dillon, Pearl and Wally instead of going to the Meet and Greet. I took Maggie and Booyah with me. We had no way to transport all five, otherwise we would have brought everyone with us. It is challeging with just my two in the Taurus. Hope to have a new car by next year. Fingers crossed. Anyways........A good number of greys and volunteers came to the MG. This year we have had good turn outs at the MG's in Richmond. I hope the Richmond area continues to grow!! We had a nice breeze and it was not as hot as I thought it was going to be. We were able to stand outside for the event. =) Both events were a lot of fun. It is really awesome to see the greys unite with their new family! It brought back a lot of memories of our adoption night. We were so excited and happy to meet our Maggie and bring her home!! We were also very excited and happy when we got to go to Trina's to pick up our Booyah! Volunteering and helping these wonderful creatures has become a real passion for me and Mitch. We enjoy volunteering very much!! We have made some really greyt friends also!

Birthday Boy and Family Trees

Saturday was Booyah's 4th Birthday. We decided to take the kids to Three Dog Bakery and walk around Stony Point. The kids loved it! A couple of people stopped us to admire the Greys. One of the kids who stopped us said "Is that a Greyhound? I did not know their were black ones!"
We quickly informed him that they do come in black and many other colors too. We went shopping at PetSmart afterwards and got the kids some new toys. We came back to the house and had a little family celebration for Booyah's Birthday.

Below is a picture of the cake we got for Boo Boo.






Booyah wearing his Lei and Birthday ribbon.



Maggie in her Lei, waiting on the couch for the party to begin.




Maggie patiently waiting for a treat.




Booyah and Maggie excited about getting their treats.







At first we gave the kids pretty large pieces of the cake, not relazing that it would be a little difficult for them to eat. Booyah tries to pick up the cake, but it slips back into the bowl.




Maggie managed to get hers out of the bowl, but did not make it too far before she dropped it on the carpet.



We cut the cake into smaller pieces and as you can see Booyah and Maggie had no problem eating it.



Maggie really enjoyed her cake. I have not seen her clean her bowl this good since the days of chicken and rice.



K.C. enjoying her piece of cake.
Doesn't she look darling in blue?




Oink Oink. Booyah shows us his impersantion of a pig.

Tounge 1.

Tounge 2.

Tounge 3

I think the kids really enjoyed the cake!

Misty strolls in wondering where her piece of cake is.
Booyah is wondering if Misty is his next treat.

With a full belly, Booyah decides it is time to take it easy for awhile.

Meanwhile Maggie decides to sneak over to Booyah's bowl.

I was just cleaning Booyah's bowl; he always leaves scraps behind for me mom.

Maggie Moo resting after the party.

Part II: Fun with new toys.

The kids had a blast with the new toys we picked up. Below are a couple of shots of the action.

Where's Booyah?

Maggie still has the kangaroo.

Part III: Back inside.

Booyah gets a turn to relax on the couch.

Maggie in Daddy's chair.

Booyah full stretch on the couch.




We had a greyt time! The kids did too. We were all pretty tired after this eventful day.

Happy Birthday Booyah!!!


Family Trees

Booyah's Birthday really got me thinking about family. My family is very small. I am an only child and my mother and father only have one sibling. My Aunt on my mom's side did not have any children and my Aunt from my father's side only had one. They live in San Antonio Texas, so I did not see them much while growing up. Also, my father has some issues, so I am not on the best of terms with that side of my family. Anyways.....

Mitch comes from a larger family. He has 3 sisters and a brother. He lost both of his parents in 2001, but he is close with his sisters and brother.

Booyah is the only pup in his litter. Maggie on the other hand has 4 sisters.

City Savvy BK

Happiness BK

Happy Talk RF

Katie Kisses RF

It appears that all of Maggie's sisters except for one Happy Talk, were all good racers. Last known owner is Arnell Connell. Our next step is to try to get in touch with Connell kennels to see where these girls are. Mitch and I agree that it would be nice if we could rescue at least one of Maggie's sisters. But, with Alpha Maggie, we are not sure that another female in our home would be a good fit. Just thoughts we are having, nothing set in stone yet.