Photo Challenge - The hounds answer back

Ramona participates in a weekly photo challenge and posts pictures of her kids and the theme of the photo challenge on her site. I love seeing these shots of Katie-Beth and Carl!! The themes vary and some of them have been very interesting and pretty neat. I have been wanting to participate with shots of the hounds, but the themes I had seen thus far, I did not feel I could capture with the hounds. Last weekend, I finally saw one in which I thought even the four legged kids could participate. I am late on posting because I had to finish Cueball's coat first, I wanted it to make the "fashion show".

But first I must give a greyt big thanks to Amanda, who showed me how to sew a hounds coat, Trina, who hosted a sewing party earlier this year, which enabled me to get good practice in sewing coats, and both helped me pick out the fabric for Booyah and Maggie at Joann's fabric. Thanks a bunch Gals!!! =)

So here are the oh so enthusiastic hounds (ha) showing off their warm wear.

First up is Maggie. She is wearing a coat I made for her. It is a very cute giraffe pattern.
She decides she has had enough after about 2 minutes and heads for her nice new plushy dog bed. She is the queen you know.
She is so enthused!

Next up is Gracie, she is wearing one of Maggie's coats. I can't take credit for making this one though. We bought this in April when we went to GIG. I think it looks precious on Gracie though.

She thinks she is going somewhere. As she has been wearing this coat every day that it has been cold when we go out to walk and go potty. Excuse the basket of clothes in the background..it is laundry day. =)
Next is Cueball showing off his Psychedelic coat, made by his mommy, with a nice stretch.
Being a fashion model is exhausting work.
Next is Booyah in his camouflage frogs made by his mommy. I can barely get the camera ready before Booyah is ready to lay down.
Booyah is so cute in Green.
And lastly, Gracie shows off Booyah's flame coat that we got him at GIG.

Lazy Roo-ers

Getting off the couch is sooo overated!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the morning and early afternoon with the hounds, just relaxing and enjoying the incredible weather we had (close to 80 degrees). Cueball takes a well deserved nap on the couch.
Later, outside, Attack of the hounds! =) They love giving kisses!!!
Then we went over to Ernie and Deb's for their Annual Thanksgiving feast. Here is Mitch and Ernie cutting up while carving the bird.
The meal was delicious, as always!!! Then we enjoyed some time outside by the fire. Very nice!
Left to right....Debbie, John, Ernie and Mitch doing shooters at Ernie's bar.
And here is the whole gang for the group shot.
Mitch and Ernie preparing the bird for leftovers.
We have so much to be thankful for, but amongst all, we are very thankful for good friends!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Gracie

We are fostering Gracie, a Galgo from Scooby in Spain, until she goes to her forever home. Before Scooby she was in Sevilla Spain. I picked her up after work on Tuesday. She flew from Spain to Atlanta on Sunday with Woody Jack, another Galgo and Oliver a puppy. She even has a passport, which I thought was rather neat!! Volunteers drove down to Atlanta and brought these dogs back to VA on Tuesday. Considering all the traveling she has done in the last couple of days, she is doing very well!! She is super sweet and a very pretty little black female. She is smaller than my Maggie Moo! She already knew how to go up and down stairs, which makes our job easier. She is a very easy foster. The picture above is from earlier today. We had incredibly nice weather today in VA, so we enjoyed some quality time outside!!

Just look at her sweet face, isn't she a beauty?

It did not take her long to figure out dog beds. This is a new one we just got from Costco last weekend. We put memory foam in it, in hopes that it stays nice, soft and fluffy for a while. Costco has the best dog beds for a really great price! We caved and got a membership to Costco just to buy dog beds. Yes, we are silly.
I love this next shot. Just look at that snout.
She is very pretty. She has some weight to gain and some scares on her, but she made it out and will be going to a wonderful forever home soon. She is on the third leg of her journey, next stop......forever home!!
As for Mitch and I.......we are so thankful to be able to share in this experience!!!!

Celebrating Booyah

We can't believe it will be one year tomorrow that we have had our big, beautiful, goofy oaf of a boy Booyah. Anyone who has met Booyah knows how sweet and special he is! He is a mommy's boy and we both love him very much! I can remember talking with Debbie about how special of a boy Booyah was and how we could foster him to see how it would work. She of course told me Booyah's story. For those of you who don't know, Booyah waited at Joan's kennel for about 7 months. No one could look past his birth defect, (one eye is sunken in a little and is a little smaller than the other, he is blind in this eye, but you can barely notice it) and see what a great dog he is. Joan and all the other volunteers at GPA-GO kennel really loved Booyah, took good care of him and he remains in their hearts. And, we are in contact with Joann and send them pictures of Booyah.

I can remember going over to Trina and Jason's to pick him up. We were going to foster him with the option to adopt and were originally not going to take him home with us that day. Once we met him, we just could not leave without him!! He really helped Maggie with her separation anxiety and she really helped Booyah learn the ropes. Booyah is very much a follower. It took him months to really get the concept of toys. It took him weeks to get the concept of going up and down stairs. Because of Booyah, I now understand how special, sweet and dumb (and I mean that in the nicest way) the boys really are!! We will always have a male greyhound as part of our family!

Special thanks and gratitude to all the people who helped bring Booyah into our lives!!! We can't express how grateful we are to be lucky enough to have Booyah as part of our family.

So here's to you Booyah! Happy gotcha day!!!!!!!!! We love you very much!!! =)

We are in the mood for X-mas!

Yeah!!! It is Christmas time!!

Tonight we opened up a bottle of Merlot (BTW, Boggle Merlot is very good....very smooth) and watched the cartoon How the Grinch stole Christmas (Poor Max) and then we watched the Wizard of OZ movie. Who doesn't like Dr. Suess?

And, I can't wait to start shopping for the kids....yeah!! Love shopping for them! Love to see their excited little faces when they get treats and toys. So happy!!!!

It is a family tradition to sit in front of the tube and watch these and others every year. We also always watch the movie Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story. One of our favorite movies is It's a Wonderful Life! I love black and white movies, there is just something about them.

In fact this morning on AMC at 6:00 a.m., they were showing the black and white movie of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet...so I watched it this morning.

Okay....I know you are thinking it........Yes, I am geek!!! We will be putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorating the house the following week.

Oh and the most exciting news of all.....................OUR KIDS ROO!!! YEAH!!! We did not think they did, but tonight we were trying to get Cha Cha to Roo and unexpectedly all four started to Roo! It was incredible. We just sat there looking at eachother in Awe, we couldn't believe it. We tried to get them to do it again, because we wanted video of them, but they wouldn't do it. I am going to keep trying. Man....it was like a chorus. Absolutely Amazing!!!

Cha Cha

We have been watching Cha Cha (FKA RV Charity) for about a week now and she is staying with us for another week while her mom is in Israel. She is 2 1/2 and still very much a puppy. She wears my guys out. She was bouncing around the living room playing with toys and Maggie had a priceless expression on her face, of course I did not have my camera ready. But if she could have spoke, I know she would have said "ah.....kids. lay down.....I am trying to sleep."

She is an only dog, so she is having lots of fun at Ridlon Doggie Camp. She is a snuggle bunny. And, boy does she love blankets. She loves to snuggle under them. She is a very sweet girl! She is used to sleeping in her mom's bed so it has been a little bit of an adjustment for her sleeping on her dog bed on the floor. Her mom thought she was a shy little girl, but after she saw how her behavior changed while around our 3, she realized that Cha Cha is just lonely and needs a friend. Hopefully they will adopt another greyhound soon!! She is doing good, but she misses her mom! And I am sure her mom misses her too!
In other news....Cueball learns that he can roach on the couch too! After falling off the couch a couple of times, he did land on dog beds, he finally got it.
And Cha Cha shows us that 3 hounds do fit on our ugly blue couch. Now I guess Mitch won't let me buy a new couch for Christmas. Bummer!!
Unfortunately, no room for Booyah.
But, he does not seem to mind the doggie bed on the floor.
And as for our sweet KC, when Cha Cha came, KC had this sure fearful look on her face, she looked at me as to say "is she staying permanently too?". I have tried to reassure her that Cha Cha will be going home soon, but as for now.....she is not speaking to me.

Sand beneath their paws

We took the kids to Colonial Parkway and went down to the beach. I wanted to see how they would do with the water before we take them to Dewey next year. It was a beautiful day, but boy was it windy! Below is a shot of beautiful Route 60. Some trees are turning, but mostly they are still green. Route 60 is a wonderful drive, no traffic! The sky was very blue. All in all, it was just a beautiful day to be out and about.We made it to the beach in less than an hour. We had the whole beach to our selves. Very nice!
Cueball and Maggie enjoyed being close to the water. Booyah is still a little unsure. He was a little nervous, but did well for his first time. Okay, you may be wondering why everyone is muzzled. With such tight quarters traveling in the Taurus, we always muzzle so no one gets hurt. We just decided to keep the muzzles on. Yes, we were being lazy.
Maggie has her eyes on something, possibly a bird or other small animal. She really enjoyed the sand. The boys were more interested with what was in the water.
This is a shot of Maggie and Booyah when we first got to the beach. She was a little unsure in the beginning, but she soon found her confidence and enjoyed being near the water.
In fact, she enjoyed being in the water. Booyah on the other hand, wanted no part of it. He is not a water lover. He does not even like the dog pools at home. Maggie gets right in and lays down, Booyah walks in them and drinks out of them. I don't think he understands the concept of water outside of quenching his thirst.
Cueball and Mitch take a brisk jog along the shoreline.
Cueball did get in the water briefly, but I was not quick enough with the camera. So here he is checking out the water with Mitch.

I can't express how wonderful it was to share the experience of being at the beach with the greys, knowing that they had never experienced that before made it very special. And, I realized how lucky and blessed we really are to have them! I am so glad they got the chance to feel the sand beneath their paws, feel the cool brisk breeze on their fur, smell the salty air and enjoy the water. Seeing their expressions of happiness on their little faces, was the best part of the whole trip!! They bring such a tremendous amount of joy to our lives. =)

Okay, before the tears really start to flow......


Lastly, here are the kids on the way back home. They were very tired, and so were we! Nap time!!
We had a wonderful time today!! We plan to go back soon. We hope we get a nice weekend in November again so that we can go back with the kids. If you have never been to Colonial Parkway, it is worth the trip, espicially this time of year, when you get the whole beach to yourself!!

Now it is time for a relaxing evening. I am watching the movie 1408 and enjoying a nice glass of wine while Mitch is downtown at a party for a coworker who is leaving Qimonda and moving to Warrenton, VA. The kids, of course, are napping! =)

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Just a quick happy birthday to my mom! Mitch and I hope you are having a wonderful birthday!!! We look forward to taking you out to dinner. We love you very much!!!

Let the Trash Talking begin.....

It is going to be a very heated Sunday around the Ridlon household. With the most talked about game in the NFL being played on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. and with Mitch rooting for his Patriots, while I am rooting for my Colts, there is bound to be some trash talk being yelled from the stairwell. That's right, stairwell. See Mitch and I never watch the Patriots v. Colts in the same room, it is that heated and that competitive!!!! I watch the game upstairs and Mitch watches it downstairs. I know...I know, pretty sad, but we are both very EXTREME fans of our respective teams and there is a lot of heckling and yelling going on, so it is best that we not watch the game together. It can get pretty ugly!!!

The "experts" seem to think the Patriots have this game hands down. But don't count the Colts out....remember they beat the Patriots last year and then went on to win the Superbowl.

FOXSports.com
Week 9 NFL expert picks

Experts:

Jay Glazer, Senior NFL Writer
John Czarnecki, Senior NFL Writer
Adam Schein, NFL contributor
Peter Schrager, NFL contributor
Jason Klabacha, NFL Editor

Picks:
Patriots
Patriots
Patriots
Colts
Patriots

What do they know? At least one "expert" has some brains!! GO COLTS!!!!!!!

Sorry Mitch, but since I write most of the entries in this blog...you've got no say in this entry.