5.01.2011

Love of sunshine

The pups, Mitch and I had a lovely Easter weekend. We went to the VAGA Richmond Meet and Greet on Saturday (pics at end of post). The fur kids are always excited about going somewhere. They love to travel. =)

Booyah says did someone say Meet and Greet?

Don't you just love his big Yoda like ears? :)

After the Meet and Greet we returned home to enjoy the warmth of sunshine. Cueball and Pippi both love the sun.

The best seat in the house for catching rays is by the kitchen sliding glass door. Sometimes we put a dog bed there for the pups. Cueball, Pippi and Misty are the only ones who like to "bake" themselves in the sun.






If he could speak, I think he would say, "this is the life."



Another strange sleeping position for Pippi.



The following are some shots of nature. I took the camera out to play around a bit in the yard while the pups recuperated from their tiring day of meeting and greeting. ;-)














Loblolly Pines are beautiful in the sun.










Mitch and the pups at the Meet and Greet.



Me and the pups at the Meet and Greet.


Lastly, the Easter bunny at grandma's house was very good to the pups. :)



We hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend too!

4.17.2011

Hodgepodge

This post will be a hodgepodge of what we have been up to in the last few weeks. First up is a picture of our new Wine Cork holder. This was a present for Mitch, as he is the cork dork, errh.....collector in the family and Iwas tired of them consuming space in the kitchen drawer. Instead of tossing them out every time I cleaned the drawer, I decided to give them a place on the counter. It was a win win! ;-)
Next, I came home to this last Wednesday evening. As you can see, the couch was a mess with blankets being "rearranged" and white stuffing every where. It is safe to say they had a pretty fun afternoon in the house. Need to install a doggie cam to capture the action. :)

The victim rests below........
And the culprit......

Pippi tends to sleep in some unique positions. She eventually slid all the way off the couch.
Last weekend we hosted an adoption day for VAGA and then attended the Glen Allen MG. Four hounds made the trip up from Orlando to their forever homes. Meet Zephyr. She landed a great forever home in Norfolk. She was very sweet and bonded quickly with Mitch. She is doing well in her new home.
Lastly, we have been spending as much time as we can outside. We try to have dinner out on the deck every evening (weather permitting, of course). The pups don't mind, they just want to be wherever we are.


We have some greyt things planned in the next month.......New Kent Wine Festival, Grapehounds Virginia, VAGA Annual Picnic and a Greyhound play date. Stay tuned. ;-)

4.05.2011

Back to the norm

As mentioned in my last post, Cueball's face boo boo has healed. His fur has not grown in yet, so the area is still quite pink, but the sutures are out and he healed very nicely. We are very thankful no injury was caused to his eye. =) Things here at the Ridlon abode are back to normal, no more leash walking and no more covering multiple pills in peanut butter twice a day. :) The vet was very pleased with how well he healed. It is always a nice thing to hear!!! Cueball says "The chicks dig me." Spring has finally sprung in Virginia. Each year I try to time it right to get a picture of the Bradford Pear tree with all the white blooms and no green. I failed again. Maybe next year I will capture the beauty. The white blooms are not around for long, but they are spectacular for the short time they are! We have two of these trees in our front yard. We planted them in memory of the loss of Mitch's parents in 2001. I am quite fond of these trees for many reasons.
In our back yard by our patio, we put a small flower bed in last year and planted some bushes. They must have been the wrong type for our climate because this past year's winter killed them. :( So we changed them out for these. I love pansies! They are so pretty. They don't mind the cold!
I have been playing around with different settings on my camera trying to get a better feel for and understanding of which settings work best under which circumstances in hopes my photos will keep getting better and better. My attempts are below.


I am in the market for a new lens. I have researched and know exactly what I want just waiting for the right opportunity to snag one off of e-bay at a good price. I love a bargain and try to avoid paying full price when I can. ;-)


Here is Booyah posing by the Bradford Pear tree.
Cueball, Maggie and Booyah enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I think this shot really shows how small of a greyhound Maggie is. She is my little 54lb bundle of happiness! I love the little stinker dearly!!
Miss Misty enjoying a nap on the back of the couch. Hard to believe that she will be 12 this year. She was a birthday gift for Mitch. He picked her out of the litter of kittens at the SPCA in October of '99. I was hoping for an adult cat, but he really wanted a kitten. She is a daddy's girl, 100%.
Booyah being touchy feely with Pippi. He doesn't mind laying or touching another dog but does not like the favor returned. Silly boy doesn't know what he is missing!!


Don't you love how content they look when they sleep? I do!! I never get tired of looking at them while they are sleeping.


And lastly Cueball enjoying his chair and favorite blue blanket, which happens to be my bonus from work for 2009. I thought it was quite lame when I first got it, but as it turns out it was the perfect gift!! I call this his "bank bank" and he knows exactly what that term is. He will not lay down comfortably without a blanket underneath him and will wait for you to either put one down on a dog bed or in his favorite chair. I think that might be the definition of SPOILED!!!
Now that is pure happiness!!

3.20.2011

Double your Meet and Greets, Double your fun

We have been busy with greyhound volunteer work. In the midst of all of the fun we had a hurt hound. A few weeks ago Cueball got a big boo boo under his eye. He and Pippi were playing in our yard and the play got a little rough. Our fault completely, neither pup was muzzled. Live and learn. Although it was a hard lesson. Luckily it was just a flesh wound with no damage to his eye. The sutures have been removed and he has healed up nicely. He now has a "battle scar" that all the ladies will dig. ;-) We attended the Glen Allen MG in early February and helped spread the word about our beloved greys.



Finley tolerates Pippi's "TSA" style body search.

Sunday looking pretty in purple.

The whole gang (8 hounds). It was a great turnout and we met some new greyhound friends. :)

Then in late February we attended our monthly meet and greet in Richmond. Again, we had a great turnout of hounds and humans along with a record breaking donation amount!

Jazmin looking on. Her first meet and greet and she did great!

Booyah and Pippi greet Max.

Sera was one of our donation dogs. She is super friendly and loves people and attention!

In early February we also attended a Roller Derby game. Richmond has a co-ed team. We both had never been to a Roller Derby game. We can now say that we are fans and are addicted! We had so much fun, once we understood the rules, and one of our good friends is on the Broadstreet Brawlers (local team) team, so it made it extra fun! We already have all the home matches marked on our calendar. :)

This guy from the Carytown Crashers team was leading the jam. He was very fast!

A jam in progress.

Below is a quick video of part of one of the jams.



At each home match, they sponsor a charity. The charity can set up a table and sell raffle tickets for gift cards and other prizes. All proceeds earned go to the charity. A way to give back to local charities, love it!! VAGA was invited to be the charity for the March match (Leprechaun Throw down). It was honor to be selected! So Mitch and I set up table at the RollerDome and held a non-dog meet and greet with information about greyhounds, brochures and business cards. Sold raffle tickets and collected donations while watching the March Roller Derby match. It was such a fun event and we raised over $230.00 for VAGA!!! Very cool!


More fun greyhound events coming soon, so stay tuned! Now that spring has officially sprung we will be out and about a lot more. :)