House Guest...

Do you know this dog? (FYI: the white things he is laying on are body pillows. 2 of these fit perfectly in the bottom of a crate, and at a cost of $8 a piece, can't beat them!)

I have signed up to foster and this young man is my first go at it. I must say, he has been perfect for more than one reason. The first and most important one for me, I cannot fail because he is already adopted! Failing is something that I feel that is bound to happen should I continue to foster... only time will tell. Anywho, he and Blue have a great relationship and he seems to know that this is Blue's home. If he gets a bit too rambunctious, Blue sets him straight with a few barks and growls and they are good to go.

He is quite the card... I have read about it, but this is the first hound I have witnessed that 'smiles' when he is excited. He wrinkles up his nose, shows all of his teeth, it is as if he is getting read to growl. Roommate saw this and thought he was about to get bitten, I found this hilarious!

He is going to be great for his family! He crates well, he listens, he is receptive to correction, he is just a really good boy! Oh, he is also a great alarm clock at about 6 am each morning (as if I needed another one!)

I wish I would have had the camera ready yesterday, he had his first go round with a stuffy. It is always fun to watch or hear about a hound finding out how fun the stuffed animals are. I say goodbye to him this coming weekend, we will get our fill of him until he is gone.

This is 'Anything I Cando' by the way...

Holes...

I made it home at about 6:30 tonight, I wasn't able to make it home for lunch so Blue is doing his best pee dance. I change rather quickly and get him out the door. I walk down the stairs and hear water streaming down the side of my building. I think to myself, 'that sucks, seems like a huge waste of water, I wonder what happened?' Blue and I zoom through our walk, due in part to the near freezing temperature. We walk for about our usual 30 minutes and we make it back to the apartment, still there is a fountain of water coming off the side of the building, again i wonder why they haven't fixed this yet. There is a RootoRooter van parked outside now however... (yes this ENTIRE time the thought of it being under 20 degrees this morning never came into my mind). Blue and I round the corner and there is a big trash bag by the door with a door hanger stating the maintenance is in the apartment (still, no thought of busted pipes). Blue immediately knows someone is in the apartment and runs into my room. I come in, take my layers off. While I strip the layers, I hear banging coming from the roommates room. I finally make my way in there and there is a gentleman banging on the wall of the shower, exposing the copper pipes. With a very thick Russian accent, he informs me that there is a pipe busted in my wall and that he just fixed my neighbors pipe which also busted (this being the neighbor above me, same outside wall). He walks me outside to show me that there is an obvious problem, all the aforementioned water that was streaming down the side of the apartment as if I did not hear or see this.
We come back inside, he was not able to find the busted pipe, but he fixed the leaky bath tub faucet, Hooray! From this point, he was finally able to see where the water was spewing from and it was about 1 foot right of the hole left of the toilet, thus we move into the vanity area and start the demolition under the sink.
This was the start of the demolition, currently, there is nothing at the back wall under the sink except expose pipe. It seems as though, when they remodeled our circa 1970's apartment complex they decided not to fully insulate the outside wall. Maybe this decision was made due to the fact that this wall also houses the complexes entire electrical system maybe someone thought that this may be a fire hazard... Or maybe someone was lazy and decided that we lived and Georgia and there is no way that we can go from 70 degrees one day to below 20 the next!
Blue spent the entire night in the kitchen, safely under the kitchen table, either standing or laying down. God forbid someone ever break in to this apartment, he would probably jump through a window to get away from the stranger in his house. Tuesday someone is supposed to come over and fix the walls, so this means a day off of work so my dog does not have a heart attack or make multiple messes throughout the apartment by being stressed. I am expecting a package anyways, I need to be here to sign for it. I too will now have a navigation bitch! (term coined by Patti P.)

Basic Math

I remembered something I wanted to put on here as I was walking the dog this morning. In the back of my mind, I have always kind of wanted to become a math teacher. I majored in Mathematics with an insurance minor. I think that I would be pretty effective, but not something I have made myself pursue yet. Yesterday morning, I was at Starbucks. This is my indulgence for the day, even though all I get is black coffee, I still enjoy starting my day with a cup. Well, yesterday morning, I had nothing at all to eat at my place, so I also purchased a fruit cup at Starbucks for more than it should have been, but hey, I was hungry! Total came to $5.67. As the total was coming up, I had a $20 bill out. I realized I had a $1 in my wallet as well, so, I hand her both bills. She took one in each hand and looks at me as if I just came out of a space ship. "So, what did you want back" she asks. At this point, I could have been an ass and said "my change", but decided an explanation of "$15, so I do not have so many $1's". I truly do not think she got it until she entered the amount in her trustee machine that she truly understood what I was attempting to do. Why does this situation make me want to pursue teaching? I would be that math teacher that would not allow you to use your calculator on the tests until the last 10 minutes of class and I would also require work to be shown for full credit.

Randomness...

As I sit here, listening to my dog pass gas on the couch, I decided that I want to share more pictures of my visit to the 'big easy'. Not sure how it got that name, I have heard it referred to as the big sleezy and this seems more fitting... tee hee
Who knew that my dog operated a club on Bourbon St!? I was so surprised...

This is me, 'big pimping' in my robe, collar popped, before we headed to the pool. (I am a huge dork by the way!) The pool at our hotel was on the roof, which, when I looked around the city from the roof top, is not that uncommon in New Orleans. Makes since though, it there is a flood, flood waters would not get into the pool.
I think this is kind of a neat picture, this is on the square in the french quarter, down by the river. In this picture, there is the statue of Andrew Jackson. In the background, St. Ann's catholic church. Now, I am catholic, I am no longer the good catholic altar boy I once was, but still, a practicing catholic. I am a sucker for catholic churches, they are all beautiful and seem to take you to another place while inside of them. The stained glass windows, extravagant altars... you truly cannot match their beauty.

And finally... 2 baby gators on the back of a turtle...

Thanksgiving down da bayou...

Tuesday, I headed south to New Orleans to meet my best friend Brian and his wife Jessica. We were staying at the Le Pavillion on Poydras, it is about 1/4 mile off of Canal St. First night, we headed over to Bourbon St and found a place to eat, on our way we came across a half nekked woman (if you could believe that!) Anywho, wound up at a place that served delicious fried clams. We got some barbeque shrimp as a appetizer, they were delicious seasoning was not too spicy, great taste! Brian, he is not the most adventurous person when it comes to eating, but he will try different foods. Jess and I were shelling the shrimp we had on our plates, once that was done we dipped them in the sauce and enjoyed the shrimp. I looked to Brian to see I this was something that he liked and all he had on his plate was the tail of the shrimp. I looked at him and said, "please tell me that you did not eat the shell and the legs..." To which he responded, "nobody tols me I had to peel it!" As if the legs dangling from the body wasn't clue enough and if you are not too sure about how to eat something new, look at the people you are with and see how they are eating them. Needless to say, he did not enjoy the shrimp. Made Jess and I laugh though. As the night wore on, I found that I was related to our waiter, very far removed, but yeah, we were both from the Guidry family. We left the restaurant and ventured further down Bourbon St. I would say that this was the best time to visit because there were not too many weirdo's out and I really did not fear for my life at any point. We ended the night at about 11. I did have to finish my 'HUGE ASS BEER' first though (the cup says this). That is Brian in the picture with me.

Next day, we didn't do too much. We went on a swamp tour, saw some alligators. The guy who brought us up and down a canal had about 3 teeth in his head and was quite a character. Toward the end of the tour, he brought out a 4 year old alligator, put a shirt on him and let everyone on the boat pass him around and take pictures of him. His mouth was taped as you can see in the picture, but still, I did not hold this little guy. I kind of felt bad for him and knew that this is not something that this guy should be doing, but everyone got a good pic with the gator. That is Jess...

Thanksgiving day, we stayed in the room most of the day and enjoyed pizza that night. As you can tell, this trip was not all about going out and getting crazy on Bourbon St, we really just enjoyed ourselves, ate a lot of good food and relaxed. I took a lot of pictures, but I can not obviously put all of them on this post...

After the trip to New Orleans, I went down to Houma to hang with the family out there. Friday, I was fed some real Thanksgiving food, had turkey, dressing, veggies and the works, it was delicious, but the true delicious meal was to follow the next night. When I was smaller, every time I would go down the bayou, we would get crawfish or get a bushel of blue crab and would would have a boil. They bought a bushel of crab, threw in some corn cobs, red potatoes and hot dogs. About 30 - 45 minutes later, you have some good eatin'! I have no idea how many of you out there think this looks appitizing, but my goodness, this is a beautiful thing here! Now, I am not great at peeling crab, but my mamaw can have the top of one of these crabs full of meat for me in no time. I felt like I was a kid again. The only difference this time is that I was enjoying a beer while eating the crab this time!

I headed home on Sunday at about 8 am CST. I was 20 miles past Mobile AL at about 12:00 when I drove by a coon hound in the median. I drove about another mile or so before I turned around to see if this guy was still in the median or if he tried to cross. Luckily, he hadn't crossed yet and was still there in the median. I pulled off and he came right on over to me. Threw him in the Jeep and headed back to Mobile. All the humane societies were closed for the weekend, the emergency vet I called said that they would not take him and suggested that I keep him... right! So, I headed back towards the way I should be travelling and I got back to the exit where I found the pooch. I drove him into the town there, which was about 1 mile in from the highway and found a place were he would pass by some local folks who might take him in. I just wanted him off the highway. Drove a ways up the road, stopped and cleaned out the back of the jeep, disinfected and what not. I was then back on track to make it home by a reasonable time, yeah right.

Due to traffic, I was in my car a little more than 12 hours before I made it to Kates house to pick up my crazy Blue dog. He was so very happy to see his dad. Come to find out, they had some arts and crafts time while he was at camp and he made me a paw print in clay. I also got a picture of him enjoying his turkey dinner on T-day. Kate is so amazing with the dogs, he gets so spoiled while he is there, I always joke with my mom that one of these days he is not going to want to come home with me. He is too funny when I get him home from camp as well, each time he gets back to the apartment, he runs around like a crazy dog then crashes for the night.

I am done for now... good night!

Dog Washing

We got 9 new dogs at the kennel today. I was on stand-by as a hauler just in case there were more dogs or someone had something come up last minute. I still wanted to be a part of this day in some capacity, so I decided to go and help wash to hounds. As many times as I have helped haul the dogs, I never participated in the washing. I have observed and heard the stories about the tick pulling and the de-fleaing, but never actually had my hands in doing this.

Heather Simon and I partnered up and we grabbed out first victim, errr... uh... spa goer... White and black boy, his name escapes me at the moment. Anyways, we lifted him up into the tub got him situated and ready for the scrub down. This big boy was so easy to wash, we did 2 sessions with the flea and tick shampoo and then did a wash with the shampoo for white coats. I cleaned his ears out, he was in good shape... until... I found the family of ticks living in between his toes. Through the whole wash, we picked them off as we came to them, nothing too crazy... his toes were another story... I think I pulled about 20 ticks of this guy and gave up. We had him in that tub for about 20 -30 minutes and there was no way I could get all of them with him standing. Lifted him out of the tub and passed him over to Ginny. To get him in a position to where we could get all of his hitch hikers off of him, I lifted him off of the ground and placed him in Ginny's lap. He wasn't too sure about this until he had 4 of us all around him, some of us searched while other put ointment on his hot spots. He decided that this was the treatment for him and started to close his eyes while Ginny continued to hold him in her lap, he loved every monute of it. Probably the sweetest thing I have ever seen, I think Eda got some good pitures of this, so keep a look out... Oh, and this boy id definitely not small dog tolerant, there was a Jack Russel mix that he was way to interested in...

We then washed a sweet little brindle girl who slipped in the tub, she wound up on her side and decided that this was the position she would stay in for the remainder of her treatment. She seemed to be very tolerant of everything, not too many ticks and fleas on this girl.

In all, it was an interesting experience for me, very different from the Birmingham thing we did this summer. I did come home and look at all Blue's feet to see if there were any ticks hiding anywhere, not that I expected to find any, but honestly, I think we pulled over 100 ticks off these 9 dogs. They are happy and rested and ready to be loved on by anyone and everyone!

Tummy ache...

I was up all night because Blue had a bit of a tummy ache, this has followed him into this morning. I wonder if his stomach is disagreeing with the tripe he ate yesterday morning or if he has the doggy stomach flu. I now have about 8 new spots to clean throughout the apartment, either in my bedroom on in the living room. This morning, his rear end was a faucet. While the whole thing was going on last night, I was in that state of being awake and being conscious. Well, my conscious knew he was sick and that I needed to get up and do something about it, but the sleepy side of me decided to use the sounds effects and turn the whole situation into a House episode. So, while Blue was getting sick all over the apartment, I was snug in my bed, diagnosing him with each and every hack and splat. I finally came to a realized that my pup needed some attention and evidently one of those times he was not able to make it out of bed in time, sheets are in the washer!

Blue hates being sick, I hate seeing him sick. It was about this time last year he fancied cat toys and started downing those. I am always reminded of this anytime he becomes sick, but now know when to be worried about something that may be a blockage (the smell). My short day at work today will probably now be shorter than planned. No food for him for at least a day (this is really both of our decision as I offered him a treat and he looked at me as if I was crazy). I figure he will be fine, I just hope the water works are done from both ends...

How did your Friday start?

Count the dogs...

Last night we had a get together, we had 6 people and 10 greyhounds. I love parties where there are more dogs than humans. To this day, it still amazes me that we can get that many dogs together and never ever have any sort of altercation of any kind. We get a growl every now and then (even from Lucy... explained later) but nothing the dogs can't work out on their own with very watchful parents.




This is Blue, Haylee, Lindsay and Pax in the kitchen. Kim had a bag of croutons that the dogs thought may be for them, of course they weren't. Pax is the other handsome blue boy. We have mixed Blue and him up at a point or 2...



At nap time, everyone got all snuggled up on the couch and we had dogs on dogs, laying all over the couch, see if you cant count the number of dogs in the picture. Also, notice that there is not a human shown sitting anywhere on the couch... We know our place! Actually, at this point we were all playing Wii...

Starting at the top left of the couch, we have the beauty queen Bella, Haylee has head head in the crook of her sisters back leg, Lindsay has her head on Haylee's butt, Blue is laying on Lindsay's butt, Rosie and Blue are butt to butt. Lastly, Remi is on the floor with the leopard blanket over her.

As I mentioned, we were playing Wii after we had finished dinner and had some wine, I should have taken some photos of the humans playing Wii, actually video would have been a bit more fun. I would have had to edit the bad words out of the video though... Patti :)






For the last 2 photos, I have the sisters. Haylee being the constant. From what Kim and Guy tell us, Haylee has to be constantly touching one of her sister while sleeping or laying down, actually, Haylee can be seen laying on any greyhound in her pen, I think Heather has a picture on her blog showing Haylee and Seka laying together. Anyways, I had to put both of these in because I wasn't sure which I liked more.
















Not pictured in any of these photos, but present at the party were Bella #2, Lucy(fer), and Sugar. We sure do love our dogs, don't we?!

The thing about Lucy not growling, Ms. Patti swears up and down that her dog does not growl, however, she growled at me twice this night and Chris once, granted I was trying to grab her from going out the door, Chris was just on the couch with her. This is a dog who barks at nothing, no wait, she sees ghosts! haha Nothing but love for you Patti! :)

The good the bad the happy the sad...

Let us go in order shall we, I know it has been a LOOOONG time since I posted something, but I have not really had time to sit down and put thoughts on computer screen...
The good:
I am here and alive! :) The dog is good and healthy, kinda... (see 'The Bad') I have developed a wonderful group of friends, the price of gas is going down, the nation was obviously ready for 'change' and the writer of Family Guy was just given a $100 million from FOX... have I mentioned I love this show?
The Bad:
Well, as some of you know, Blue and I went down to the lure coursing event about 2 weeks ago. Blue took 2nd in the singles run, he tied with Seka. Great outing for both dogs, seeing as how it was Blue's first entry and Seka's second (I believe). Well, the second day we ran both dogs to certify them in opens. Blue yelped around the first turn. As the lure continued around the course, Blue was not running at full speed, but still giving chase. I knew he was hurt, but I just kinda stood there, dumbfounded... Thankfully someone yelled to shut down the lure (I may have yelled, who knows). Ran out to him hoping for a torn pad or some small injury that wouldn't take too long to heal. Checked all the pads out and nothing. Getting him to walk was a chore and that is when I dreaded it was something like a muscle. As we walked on, his left shoulder started to swell. I am told it is his monkey muscle that was strained/torn. He has been more couch ridden than normal, but he is enjoying the cold compresses and massages. I find it hard to keep him from romping around the apartment in the morning as he usually does and he obviously has more energy now that he is not getting his 2 mile walks. Muscle is still pretty spongy, but I am calling the vet tomorrow, not sure how long it should take for this sort of injury to heal completely...
The happy:
Brought 3 beautiful hounds back in my Jeep from Perry, chariots brought back 7 in all. I had Candy Cane, Bonny and Jean Grey. I affectionately called my Jeep the stripper hauler because, well come on, how much more stripper sounding names can you get? ha-ha I tell you what, if Jean Grey (Gayla) is there too long, I may strongly consider snatching her up. Never has a hound made me laugh so hard. When someone new would walk up to the run, she would give out this roo that made her sound like either a blood hound or a beagle, it was hilarious. My Blue is pretty vocal, but he gets on my nerves sometimes, this kind of vocal was just stinking funny and cute!
The Sad:
Again, something else some of you know, I lost my grandfather the Thursday before Blue ran. We first found that he had lung cancer about 2 - 3 months ago. When they biopsied the lump, his lung collapsed and was in the hospital for a short time. At the beginning of October, then weekend of the 5K, he came down with pneumonia and went back into the hospital. I traveled down there not knowing how bad things were going to be. They drained the lung and he was allowed to go home. From the time he knew about the cancer, he did not want to go through the treatment. He had watched relatives and friends suffer through the treatments and did not want to be subjected to this. He went very peacefully the morning he passed. Mamaw (cajun for grandma) went to wake him that morning to give him his meds. He opened his eyes for a short time, then closed them again. She left him for a while. Once hopice got there to bathe him, he had passed. At the visitation, everyone wore white t-shirts and jeans, papaw's (cajun for grandpa) favorite outfit.
This sums up my October and some of November...

Craiglist post

Dog friend of mine shared this with me, made me smile...

I have three dogs, one is 130+ lbs, he's a komondor, loves to play, will
Pick up the brush when/if I drop it and give it back to me. He has a ghost
We call Boo.. He likes to carry Boo around. Great with kids, protective over
His family.
A female weimaraner that is 60+, very pretty, shiny coat, blue in color. Can
Be protective, but is generally outgoing. Can put a treat on her nose then
Usually catch it. Sometimes the big dog grabs it before she gets it though.
A 5lb yorkie, he's 10 years old, and cranky. Pees in the house if he's
Upset, and will occasionally leave other "gifts" for you. Things that upset
Him are, not sleeping in, rain, other dogs, other cats, not giving him
Enough attention, anything new in the house, when I'm upset, when I leave
And don't take him, and a few other things. But he does dance for a treat
And catch mice and will do agility courses.

My dogs are all neutered/spayed and current on their vaccinations. They get
Fed holistic food, it seems expensive but is really only $1/day for all
Them. That's less than a bottle of soda.

My dogs are not up for adoption.
-I have moved 6 times in my life, including college and a divorce, they
Always come with. We've lived here for 4 years, and if we move, they'll go
With.

-I have two kids, I still have my dogs. They were here before the kids, and
I took the time to teach them to be gentle to kids, even tiny babies.

-My little dog doesn't like kids that much, he likes them when they're
Sleeping. So I trained my kids to leave him alone.

-I don't have a job, haven't for the last three years, my job has been being
A mother. I still have my dogs. I just don't buy other things I don't need.

-I have a 130 lb dog who needs to be groomed... I brush him twice a week, it
Takes less than 5 minutes a day. I don't feel bad for people who say they
"don't have the time" to groom a shih tzu. It doesn't take that long.

-My dogs shed, but so do I, so I think we're even.

-I've had dogs my whole life, and have never "suddenly" acquired a strange
Allergic reaction to them, nor know anyone who has, and I know a lot of
People with dogs.

-My dogs do not destroy my house, because I don't let them. I have two
Breeds that are commonly referred to as strong willed and destructive. I
Simply have rules and make the dogs listen. They do not eat until I tell
Them they can. This makes me the pack leader. I do not share my couch or bed
With the big dogs, I will not fight over where I get to sit.

-I do not have to lock my dogs out of the kitchen when we eat. I simply
Taught them they're not allowed. A flyswatter being smacked on the table has
A lot of power in a dogs eyes, used with the word "out" it's amazing.

-I have two cats, and a leather living room set. The cats are not declawed.
I simply give them other things to scratch that are acceptable. They enjoy
Them.

-I have three dogs and two cats. Sometimes they get fed up with each other.
I still have them all. I just remind them this is my house, and separate
Them from each other for an hour then everything is okay.

-I have an old dog, and I got a new dog. I did not get rid of the old dog
Because he didn't like the new dog.

-An end note to all the dogs who have spent the best 3-10 years of their
Lives in the only home they've known to be replaced by a child, other pet,
Move, new job, etc. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine your heartache of being
Disowned by your parent who loved you for years.

Bev

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of
some influence, try orderin' a dog around.

Zoomies...

I am going to talk about letting blue off his leash to run in a somewhat enclosed area, thought I would put that out there right now, so don't get mad at me!

Met my new neighbor Rachel and her dog Hank. Hank was found in a dumpster, no bigger than the palm of your hand. Hank was very close to death, but he was nursed back to health and is now quite the little guy! Hank is a mutt, definitely has some beagle and some chow in him, not sure what else... Size wise, he is about the size of a beagle. Anyways, we were out one morning, Hank is very good off the leash and he was jumping at Blue and running away, well Blue went after him and came to the end of the leash. He turned to me and looked back at Hank running away. I thought, you know, Blue can barely stand it when I leave the room, I know he isn't going to run away. So I let him off the leash and the games began. Blue did a damn fine job of coursing Hank. Now, Hank is used to playing with big dogs but not ones who can turn on a dime like he can. Blue was always on his heels and Hank could not get away. It was quite a sight and I knew Blue was having a good time, Hank really wasn't too sure what to think... Needless to say, I think I am going to use these times to get Blue ready for some real coursing on the field this fall.

Now a little story about how this dog forgets nothing! I walk Blue on the same field where we let them run, one morning, about a week ago, Blue came across a chicken bone. He picked it up in his mouth, I yelled at him and he dropped it immediately. Tonight, I let him off the leash and he headed away from me, got a bit further than I would like so I followed him. The entire time, his head was about an inch from the ground. I said to Rachel, "There was a chicken bone over there about a week ago, he is going to find it." She said, "Yeah right..." It wasn't a minute later and he had the bone in his mouth, he looked straight at me after he got it. I jogged towards him, he dropped it and I tossed it into the bushes. The dog never ceases to amaze me!

Ok, now you can yell at me for having him off leash... :)

Gasoline...

So, I take Blue out for a walk today and see that I am a little below a quarter of a tank and know that I am driving to Dahlonega and probably Calhoun, so we are off on our venture for gas. There are about 4 stations within a .5 mile radius of my place, they have all been out for about 2 weeks. Make it all the way to 285, traveling south on Roswell Rd, nothing. Jump on 285 west get off on Riverside Dr. There is a Shell station at this exit and I hope for the best. Evidently, shortly before I arrived, a gas tanker dumped its load there and the lines started, I became a part of it. Well, low fuel light comes on after sitting in line for about 5 minutes, I turn the engine off and sit there for about 25 minutes. I finally get to my gas pump, probably 45 minutes into this ordeal. $50 limit, this gets me about 3/4 of a tank of gas unfortunately, but hey, better than running out of gas! Days like this when I hate having my gas guzzling Jeep...
I had a nice conversation with a guy from New York, saw Blue and spoke about the Afgan Hound his buddy had growing up, the guy next to me had a French Mastiff (rather large fellow who I thought was going to strangle the gas station attendant, he wanted $60 in gas and the guy jokingly questioned his ability to read... I thought it was funny). In all, from the beginning of our wak to when we finally got home to eat, 2.5 hours. I bought a bananna at the gas station for a snack for Blue and I, I broke off a piece of this, put it in front of his face and he gave me this, are you kidding me look. Blue does not like banannas I guess...
Ran in the Corporate Challenge yesterday, 5K through what I guess is a little bit of downtown ATL. The starting line was there by the Olympic rings, ran north of that past GSU and made a block. I think I did pretty good, the times have not yet been posted, but I think I made it in under 30 minutes. As I was running away from the starting line, knowing that is also the finish line, most of the run was down hill. I wasn't a mile into the race and I was thinking about the run UP the hill, that is always the killer! Needless to say, I think I will be good and ready for the hound 5K, I am excited for it!
Well, I am going to finish up this episode of Family Guy, it is the one where Brian violates Sea Breeze, Mr Pewterschmidt's prize winning greyhound... good stuff I tell you, good stuff

Joke

Ran across this this morning, had to share...

Bathtub Test

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director how do you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

'Well,' said the Director, 'we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.'

'Oh, I understand,' said the visitor. 'A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup.'

'No.' said the Director, 'A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?'

Updates...

I am due for a post updating the conditions with my family and friends down south. Start with my best friend in Houston. They are doing just fine, still without power but they are fine. It sounds like it was quite the experience for them. They had a couple of near accidents with branches breaking and falling into a window, but each branch that fell hit the house. The entire neighborhood was pretty fortunate with regard to structural damage. They are, however, missing a piece of fence. The neighbor across the street no longer has a fence, well it is there, but not serving the purpose of a fence... He and his wife are still without power, we were actually playing some trivia via text messaging there for awhile just to let you know how bored he was. So, yeah, no damage.

Now, down the bayou, it is a very different story. This is a picture of my grand mothers home in Houma, LA. No, she does not live in a house boat. Keep in mind, her house is 6 feet in the air just to give you an idea of how much water is there. Across the bayou, is my uncles house, he can't see any of his toilets... Needless to say, his house is not 6 feet in the air. Off to the right, out of picture, there is a camp that is about 14 feet in the air, kind of wish this was part of the picture to put more perspective to this, but I am sure you all get the picture. She did not stay in her home to wait out the storm, she went into town and is with another one of my uncles. So, everyone is fine, but lots of clean-up to do!

Blue is doing well, I think I may have found some food to mix in with Evo Innova to give us some good stool! I swear, I have tried so many foods over the past year, I have about 6 different bags of food I have not finished still in my closet. So, the magical food is Hund-N-Flocken Solid Gold. He has been on this for about a week now and we are seeing very healthy stools, I guess the only down side of the food is that there is quite a bit of stool. I am just glad is has some consistency. It is lamb based and made in the US, but I could have sworn the guy at the store said it was a German company. They have other foods with different ingredients, but we are going to try this one out for a while. They have something called Wolf King the main ingredient is Bison. Anyways here's hoping, he stays healthy and damn good looking! haha

Anyone out there running in the corporate run on September 25th? I am using this as a warm up for the greyhound run. I think this run will be more hilly than the greyhound run, so should be a good warm-up for me. I am done now, eveyone have a good week!

Ohhh Ike...

So, there is a 250 mile diameter hurricane ready to bear down on Houston. As some of you know, i was there not too long ago helping my best friend move into his new home in Sugar Land. Sugar Land is South West of Houston. In a phone call to him, he told me that he has viewed 9 predicted routes of where this storm is headed and there was only 1 that did not include it going his way. Part of our phone call:
Me: "hey man, you guys leaving the city?"
Brian: "nope"
Me: "you going to board up your windows?"
Brian: "nope"
Me: "you guys have enough supplies?"
Brian: "we have some tuna, big jar of peanut butter, loaf a bread some other things and a bunch of water. we are going to fill up the bath tubs with water, we filled a bunch of tupperware with water to make ice, we will be fine."
Something you have to understand about my best friend, we are very similar. Very laid back, pretty much an open book and not one to really plan ahead for things. His wife is very much his opposite and she is about in tears from this whole thing. Brian's rationale, this house has been here since 1982, I am sure it will be here after this storm. I didn't have the heart to tell him that my great grandmothers home in Houma, LA was just ripped in 3 pieces by Gustav and it has been there since the 1800's.

Anyways, the family in Houma was given the optional order of evacuation with this hurricane, mandatory for Gustav, nothing major happened and it took them a week to get back to their homes. So, pretty sure they are not leaving this time and I am sure this is the storm that will bring the water. I will be sure to pray for them crazy coonasses! ha-ha.

I wasn't paying attention this morning on the morning walk with Blue (I hate mornings! I love my bed...), well, he found a cat in the bushes where he was about to pee. Never have I seen a cat so scared for his life, Blue gave him a little nudge with his snout and he was off! Blue started to give chase, but decided against it cominced to his morning routine of watering every bush he comes across (had this been a rabbit, Blue would have torn my arm off and it would have been breakfast). It would have been like that time, when we were out west and Blue caught that jackalope... the antlers didn't digest well...

Walk your dog...

I use this picture for more than one reason. 1. It is probably my favorite picture of Blue. It is the first picture taken of him and it was the picture that was posted on the site when I adopted his silly butt. 2. Notice how the leash it taut and the collar is up near his neck, he is doing a fine statue impression. Blue has been mocking this pose on each one of our walks in the afternoon. We start going and suddenly there is dead weight on the other end of the collar. I was hoping, so badly, that this was a little phase he was going through because of the staples (which are out by the way, hopefully the hair will cover the scar), but sadly, he continues to be a pain in the butt while walking. I tried the praising while walking thing today, seemed to work a little better than other things I have been doing this week...

In all honesty, it has been a bit aggrivating the last couple of days. I think the mistake I made was giving into him when he was all stapled up and cut our walks short. Now he tries this always. As I mentioned it is getting better, just need to get him back into the mindset that I am the boss, not him...

The getting ready for running isnt really going to swell, trip to Houston really ruined that one. Call me crazy, but I am not really up for running in 90+ degree weather with 90+ degree humidty. I will get back to it tomorrow, maybe...

Let's paint a picture...

<--- not Blue - from ihasahotdog.com

I will start of with talk about what happened to my boy Blue this weekend. So, we had the ice cream social on Saturday and had a wonderful time! So, some guy saw the plethora of greyhounds and thought to himself, 'I am going to bring my dog over there and say hi.' He came out of the Red Bandanna a few stores down. So, Blue and a few of the other hounds said hello and they were done with it, I was done making sure the encounter went well, but still lent an eye that way. There was a smushed ice cream cone between the other dog and Blue, well the other dog (being a little white mutt, some pit/bull dog/boxer mix) decided it was his and let Blue know it. He went after Blue, Blue gave a growl and a snap back, but I was jerking him towards me as this occurred. I thought everything was fine, but noticed that there was a little gash in Blue's neck about the size of a nickel. Patti P. gave me some provisions to get him all doctored up for the night and Monday it was off to the vet for staples. He is now Franken-dog with 3 staples in his neck.

OK, so here is the picture I want to paint for you. The above is just me griping...

Blue and i go on 2 mile walks every day, so I didn't think having 3 staples in his neck would change his want to go on our walk, I would find out the contrary about a mile into our walk. So, we are going well and he is getting his trot on and we are at our usual pace. We get about a mile from the Jeep and it is time to turn around, well Blue wants to continue walking away from the Jeep, well this is not going to happen because we have reached the end of the trail. We did some circles, but nothing. I could not do what I usually do, just because he has the staples in his neck and do not want to rip the stitches. So, what do I do? I pick-up my 75 pound greyhound and start walking back to the Jeep, this is on Azalea Dr, a pretty busy street at 6:30 pm on a Monday, so you can imagine the looks I am getting. We do this for a little while, I set him down he walks a little, stops, and then looks up at me... repeat lifting of dog... he has never done this and after reading about the drugs he was on, I think I may have my answer. Eventually, some joggers came and this usually makes him walk. I carried him about a quarter of the way back, nice little workout for me. I was very upset with him, but I forgave him due to his being all stitched up.

How much do I love him? :)

Training has begun...

I started getting into the running thing again today to get ready for the 5k. I did 2 miles and by my calculations, the is 2/3's of the way to the 5K! Funny thing about running away from your car, you have to run back to it... I did knock out the first mile, no problem. I would like to think I did it in less than about 10 minutes. On the way back to the Jeep, I did the run a minute walk a minute thing, slow and steady wins the race (or something like that). I was a bit hungry before I ran, but the 2 dozen bugs I ate while running filled me right up!

I celebrated my run with cold pizza and beer... probably set myself back with that one huh? :)

I guess walking Blue about 10 miles a week has kept me in somewhat good shape to where I can still run when I want to and not stop by the side of the road and heave my guts out after a quarter of a mile. I will try to keep up with updates with how I am doing, if I make it though this whole ordeal without quitting or hurting myself, I would say it will be amazing! I am not accident prone, but I am prone to being lazy...

Six things...

So, I have been tagged to do a meme from Ms. Patti. If you would like to know what meme means, go there. Like Heather one might say I am a virgin to this. It has been a while since I have update this, found this to be a good time to go ahead and write something... Here goes nothing, I really have no secrets...

1. I will avoid crowds of people at all costs

Now, I enjoy parties and things of that nature, but put me in a line of people to wait on something, say waiting to get on a roller coaster or just in the middle of a big crowd leaving an event, I cant stand it. Something about some strange person touching me, I do not like it. In the party situation, you can usually find me enjoying conversation with 1 or a few people. I am not the life of the party, I just truly enjoy the people/persons I am speaking with and enjoy them, just them, no one else exists. If I am not haveing a conversation with someone, you can usually find me in a corner somewhere, observing...

2. I have a man crush

I am secure with myself and who I am, and I must say that Albert Pujols is the most amazing man that has ever walked this planet and played the game of baseball. Albert plays for the St. Louis Cardinals, started in the outfield and took over first base when the andro-roid freak known as Mark McGuire stopped playing ball. He is the only player that has hit 30 or more home runs in his first 7 seasons and will more than likely make this 8 seasons at the close of this season, he is at 24 as I write this. 'The Pujols' has slowed his production over the last few seasons HR wise due to a continued ailing elbow that needs surgery, but continues to state that he is fine. He continues to hit for AVG, currently hitting over .340 this season and won the batting title in 2003 (I think, pretty sure though). Anyways, 'The Pujols' is a machine, he is by far the best all around baseball player in the game today and anyone who brings up A-Rod in comparison to him can take a flying leap!

3. I have no filter

This gets me in trouble sometimes, but I really could careless. I say what I think, it usually does not go through a filter. This is why my best friend Brian and I get along so well. At work, there are times when I say things and I pretty much say you are dumb, without saying it, it is hanging there, but yeah, I do keep it semi-professional at work. I guess this is why I have earned the title as a-hole amongst some people (ex-girlfriends mostly... hey, this might be why I am single).

4. Nakedness is great!!!

I have no problem with being naked, I know some people leave this for the shower and sometimes in the sack, but honestly, if I lived alone, there would be no clothes involved. I wish I had a home with a pool. I would go skinny dipping more often but I would not like to be thrown in jail for jumping the fence and skinny dipping in the community/apartment pool (I am over my rebellious stage, kinda...).

5. I have had experiences with ghost's

I know this sounds some what queer, but honestly, they do exist. I work with a girl who has had experiences as well, we should probably write a book!

Every place I have lived in, with exception of the current apartment, I have have some sort of interaction with something not living. Sort of hard to explain, but yeah, it happens. I could go into stories and get into some detail that may give you chills down you spine, but yeah, this will be left for other conversation in person if you care to hear. (Micheal Phelps just won 8 gold medals)

6. I have no vices

I am addicted to nothing. There are some that will say that I could not live without Starbucks coffee, but I truly go there to talk to the cute brunette that I will probably never ask on a date because I am afraid of being shot down. We will not talk about that, but the coffee. I drink the coffee just because it is truly a good start to the day, it relaxes me and gets me ready for my day. Could I get through my day without it, yes, but it makes it so much more enjoyable with that cup of Joe. By the way, I do not drink the fru-fru, sugar laced, syrupy garbage that is available at this establishment. (Oh, I do not like chocolate)

I guess I am a little obsessed with trying new things that have an effect on my body. I was a vegetarian for about a month, felt no different than I did when I ate meat (I really do not eat meat much anyways).

So, that is a little bit about me, I really have nothing to hide however. I have no skeletons...

I am not going to tag anyone on this, pretty much everyone I know doing this Blog thing has already filled this out.

Any questions? :)

Blue is great, he is here sitting by me and approves this blog...

Play date...

So, Blue and Get Em got together today for some zoomies, Venus showed up later to join in the fun. We got the usual questions, what kind of dog is that? why does his chest look that way? (little kid, he wasn't sure why the ribs were visable) We had a good day! We were out there for a little over an hour. Toni mentioned she always brings Get Em over to the pond to cool off. Blue had already laid on the collapseable water bowl to make a puddle for himself to lay in, I thought he would like to go and cool off in the pond. After a breif meeting with a few children on the way to the pond (Blue was not too much involved in the meeting), we made it over ot the water. Blue and Get Em walked around for a little while and then this happened:

I knew he was probably getting a bit warm, but didn't think he was going to immerse himself into the swampy goodness of the pond we walked to. He laid down for about a minute, got up and walked a bit futher. He found a sink hole a little bit further up from where he laid down, this scared him a bit and I pulled him out of this before he got too deep.

Needless to say, the ride home was lovely! Nothing better than having a wet, sandy, swampy dog in the back of the Jeep, but damn he is still good lookin'! haha I am glad we met this morning because the afternoon got a bit sticky and gross. The rain brought some nasty humidty.

Get Em and Blue in the pond shortly after Blue laying down and before finding the sink hole...

Alpharetta meet

I got to meet Don and Carolyn this Sunday, and their dogs Obidiah (sp?) and I am not 100% sure of the other one, I am terrible with names! Anyways, this was, people wise, one of the best locations I have been too. Those of you who know Blue know that he is not the most out going boy, but those who were interested and stuck around long enough were able to get a good petting. We spoke with 2 ladies and her daughter, daughter was, I would guess 10ish. From what I got from her mother, she was attcked by a dog early in her childhood and was not sure about dogs. Blue has never been a big fan of children, but he was ok with the advances of this little girl. At one point she was surrounded by all 3 hounds and had the biggest smile on her face. She went and got some treats and fed them to whoever would take them and Blue was, of course, ever so polite in taking the treat. I explained to the little girl he sould sit, which he attempted, but sitting on linoleum is not the easiest task. So, I told him 'down' which usually means he will go all the way down, but he gave them a bow and this probably got more of a reation from onlookers than the laying down would have (is my boy starting to play to a crowd?) In all, they probably hung around for 10 - 15 minutes and took some literature from us.

Had another lady almost in tears because Blue looked like a hound she used to have. I guess the point of this rant is that Alpharetta seemed like a really good store to get a bunch of dogs together. We all know, the more dogs, the more attention we all get. There seemed to be a bigger population of young families as well, seems to me like a good side of town to focus on for M&G's. Just a thought...

Here is a music video to put you to sleep or a good mood or you may not even like it... Her name is Hayley Westenra and I found her by accident, she is amazing! I cant figure out how to get this in my blog, so here is a link... http://youtube.com/watch?v=YBtIS6O6prY

Traffic...

Dear lady in the black BMW 330ci,

Georgia 400 is no place to catch up on reading your crappy romance novel, honestly you are a threat to everyone on this 4 lane state highway. I understand you want to see where Fabio will be whisking you off to once you turn to the next page, but honestly, can't this fantasy of yours wait until you make it to your home and you plant your behind on your nice comfy couch? I have nothing against you reading this garbage, mom read them all the time. As a child I would crawl into her lap and read aloud how glorious Juan the gardner's hair was blowing in the wind, wasn't soon after this came out of my mouth that mom was kicking me out of her lap. Annoying mom was fun, annoying the 20 cars stopped behind you with room for 20 more in front of you because you are so involved in the 'whisking', not fun, nor safe for anyone. So please, do us all a favor, do your reading at home. Traffic is not the place to be reading, besides, I was so taken aback by what I was seeing, I damn near slammed into the back of the 4runner in front of me. hehe

Dog

Blue got stung on the bum while we were out on our walk. I thought he was going to eat the bee and take a chunk out of his bum once it stung him. Never seen him move that fast. Didn't swell or anything, didn't even realy leave a mark. We are cursed as far as walks go, my fault though, I like taking the path less travelled...

He is so handsome!

Snakes

Not sure what it is about my walks with the dog lately, but we sure do like finding snakes. We come across a few Eastern garter's, I let Blue chase them, they are harmless. Today, we came across this fellow, he is a king snake. Took me by surprise, he was all of 2.5 feet, but once I saw that it was a harmless snake, I let Blue get curious and sniff as the snake slithered away. About a month or so ago, we came across a Copperhead, which may be the one of the most venomous snakes GA has to offer, also one of its most uncommon. That being said, why wouldn't we come across this little guy, right?! He was about a foot long at best. I was walking with Blue off the leash (yes I had my hound off the leash) and I noticed an odd looking stick, well, we got a little closer and the 'stick' moved. I stopped and leaned forward a bit and noticed the triangular shaped head. This told me that I was looking at a poisonous snake. Well, I remembered I had my dog with me as he trotted past me. I yelled his name and was pretty frantic about it. Blue heard it in my voice, stopped immediately and bolted straight back to me. He never saw the snake thank goodness, all he would have needed to do is be curious about this guy too.

Pretty snake right?!

My Blue dog

This has become my favorite photo of Blue, ran 43 mph this day out a John's farm. This was his 4th birthday as well, wish he could have won, but came in second in the greyhound group.

I am going to try to get used to this blogging thing. Not sure how interesting this will be to read, but we will see I suppose.

That is it for starters, more to come...