No more "Bull" S$&# for me

WARNING: Please don't take this the wrong way, I am not trying to brag. I am just really proud of myself, as my hard work has paid off!!

Well, I finally did it. Last Friday, I chipped and bought a new car. It is about time too. I have only been talking about doing this for a year or so now. We had previously said that we needed to wait until September to buy, but our circumstances changed and we were able to buy earlier than we had previously expected.

Everyone told us not to buy in the spring because you don't get the best deal. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the advice from everyone, as this was a huge help in our decision making process. But, we did get a really good deal and a great interest rate, so we both feel like it was the right time for us to buy. It may not be the right time for everyone, but it was definitely without a doubt the right time for us. And, besides, if we would have waited until September, my choices on the vehicle may have been slim, since there were only 5 of the vehicle I wanted left in the US as of March 5th.

I know... I know, I also said that I wanted the Subaru Forester, but the options that I wanted on that vehicle made it out of my price range. So......instead I decided on the 2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5i 5 door premium package. Awe Yeah!!

And, let me tell you this car is SWEET!! I am still learning all of the features that this car has to offer. I am a little bit spoiled now. I did not know how far things had progressed since 2000. Now, I have a CD player, which is a very nice feature to have. By far, one of my favorite features is the miles per gallon calculator. I used to track this in my head for the Taurus. I kind of had to, the fuel gauge did not work any longer, so I needed to know when to get gas. In the couple of years that I was having to do this, I only ran out of gas once....not too shabby!

My other favorite thing about this vehicle is the hounds fit!! Yes, all three hounds and KC (don't forget about KC) fit in the back comfortably!! And, it is a manual trani!! YIPPEE!! The Taurus was traded in and I can honestly say I don't really miss that car. The only thing I really miss is that it was paid for!! We got our monies worth on the Taurus, I guess. The car did have 155,000 miles on it, the interior was in very good condition and exterior was in good-fair condition. I had the Taurus for 6 years, so I was some what attached to it. How could I not be? I did drive it for a long time!!

But, as with most things in life, it was time to move on to bigger (at least as far as room for the dogs is concerned) and better things. This is the first new vehicle that I have ever owned and in all honesty, I had no intention of buying a new vehicle, but we could not beat the deal. It is actually enjoyable driving again. No more squeaky belt, no more replacing rotors every year or so, no more replacing transmissions every couple of years, no more lack of heat....well you get the picture, the Taurus had some issues. But, it had its good qualities too and I hope the car finds a happy new owner!!!

So without further delay.....here are the first pictures of our new ride.Isn't she pretty?


And for those of you who know me well, you know that next February when my plates expire, I will have new vanity plates. I already have a few ideas. You will just have to wait and see what my final decision is.

For those of you who don't know me well, I change my plates quite often. I have had quite a few over the years.



P.S. Mitch has "caught" the "bug".....so stay tuned! =)

Dog Haul/Adoption Day

On Saturday, March 15th, VAGA brought up another haul of dogs (6 total). I met Pat and picked up Mae (FKA Great Mae Young), an eight year old dark brindle female and then came home and did the adoption for the family. They already have a grey, Topper, who they adopted when they lived in Ohio. Topper will be very happy to have a sister!

Boy was she such a sweetie. She wanted to be right beside me, so I was not able to get very good quality pictures. She is a doll though! Her family is very lucky to have such a sweet, good girl!!

Below is Booyah trying to ask Mae out on a date. He really liked Mae a lot!! He was so funny with her, he followed her around everywhere! What a goofy flirt!!!

The other 5 hounds went up to Fredericksburg to their new forever home or foster family.

Here's who else came up on the haul:
Craigie Maythorn
Rck Sunflower
WSR Tigress
Bb's Ashtrey
Chaska Dunes

This coming up weekend we are heading down to VA Beach for our first group walk!! This is going to be a greyt way to spread the word and get attention to the hounds. Seashore State Park is an awesome park and we are looking forward to it! The hounds will be wearing their new spring coats that mommy made for them. Who's spoiled? NOT my kids!!

=)

March Meet and Greet

VAGA had its monthly meet and greet for the Richmond area on Saturday, March 8th. Mitch went and took Booyah with him. I was very ill, so I stayed home with Cueball, who is still recovering from his leg injury, and Maggie, who is a mommy's girl and the queen. Booyah was the donation dog and he raised lots of monies for the hounds. I hear that there was a good turnout of hounds, volunteers and folks stopping by. I don't have any pictures to post this time, but Bethanie and Chris came with Baron and Cal and Bev came with their two Pep and Zelda. There was also another couple who came with their two hounds, but I don't know their names or their hounds names. I hate missing the events, but I was very sick with a fever, runny nose, watery eyes, cough and sore throat. Yes, I had the cooties and did not want to spread them around!! I will definitely be at the next event though! =) We also decided not to go to the St. Patty's day parade. I sewed parade coats for the hounds and everything, but Cueball's foot is still swollen and he started limping again on the 8th so we did not think walking in a parade was a very good idea for him and we just could not take Maggie and Booyah without him, we just did not feel right doing that. Yes, we are silly! But, how easy would it be for you to leave one of your kids home while you took the other two to walk in a parade?

Hmm...now, I don't seem so silly....do I? =)

Darcy, 9 Lucky Greys and Cueball

Darcy

Mitch's youngest sister Darcy had surgery on Friday, February 22nd to remove a cancerous lump in her mouth. OUCH!! They had to go in twice, but they got it all and she is recovering at home. We are very thankful to her surgeon and doctors and we are relieved that she is okay! We love you Darcy!! =)
The picture below is of Darcy and her best bud Julie at our house December '06 celebrating her 40th birthday.
9 Lucky Greys

Then, on Saturday VAGA brought up 9 Greys from Orlando, FL. =)
I got up early and met Pat in Richmond to pick up 2 Greys, brought them back to my house and did their adoptions. M's Episode Two NKA Eve and PM's Heidimay NKA Zola. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls.



Pat continued her journey and made her next stop in Fredericksburg where she dropped off 5 Greys.
TMC's Pleazure
Miles Ahead
Pike's Runaway
Double Play
M's Softtona

She made one last stop for VAGA in Northern VA and dropped off two Greys.
Southern Feather
CKB Amos

So in total 18 Greys got saved!! 9 went to forever homes and 9 get to go to GPA-GO rescue kennel and wait for their forever homes. =) When you save one, you really save two! What an awesome feeling to be a part of this!!

I am being lazy, so if you want more info. on these hounds, please go to the Greyhound Data website and look them up.

Thank you Pat! We appreciate all you do for the hounds!!!! =)
All the dogs went to their forever homes on Saturday. What a great day! VAGA is already working on a haul for March 15th. 2008 is off to a greyt start!! If you are interested in adopting a hound or are ready to add another hound to your family, please visit www.virginiagreyhounds.org and fill out an application.

Cueball

We had a scare during adoption day on Saturday and Mitch had to take Cueball to the vet. Here's what happened. I left the house to go meet the hauler and Mitch stayed home with the pups. The pups were romping in the yard and Cueball slipped. He was limping. Mitch took a look at his leg and thought he may have sprained it. When I got home, we got the newbies settled and then Mitch gave both girls a bath. I took a quick look at his leg and it was swollen and hard. Mitch took a look at it and told me that it had become worse, so he called the vet and took Cueball to see him. The vet does not know what it is, but gave Cueball some Rimadyl for the swelling, told us to ice the area, gave him some antibiotic and said if the swelling did not go down in a week to come back. We are leash walking him until he heals. He went back to the vet on Thursday because the swelling to both of us looked like it was not getting any better. The vet disagreed and said the swelling had gone down and Cueball did not appear to be in as much pain as he was on Saturday. So we are now finishing up the meds and leash walking him for another week or so. The large swelling scared me very much on Saturday. He is still swollen today, but hopefully he will heal soon and be back to romping in the yard. He misses that and is sad that he can't run around the yard with Boo Boo.

Now I am working on sewing hounds coats for the St. Patty's Day parade and for spring. This is my only free weekend in March, so I am taking advantage of the free time. The rest of the month is filled with greyt events. So stay tuned. =)