Ready to hear my secret?

June 30th is a special day. You know why?

Today is my "Gotcha Day". Three years ago today, I moved into my forever home! This photo was taken the day after I moved in. My face was a lot darker back then. Mama has started turning me grey. LOL

I can't believe it has been three years already! I was born and raced in Kansas. I only raced eight times and when I didn't make enough money, I was abandoned. You read that correctly. I was abandoned in a barn along with 24 other greys. Luckily, a man looked inside the barn before he demolished it and found us. Five of us, along with my half-brother, Woody were brought to St. Louis on Easter weekend. Mama and Daddy came into Petco looking for a greyhound in June. Mama really wanted a fawn, but the fawn was not a good match for them. The following week, Mama and Daddy were asked if they wanted to walk me in a parade. They were so impressed with me because I wasn't scared of the bands, fire engines or kids. They decided to adopt me, but asked if they could wait a little while because Daddy was changing jobs. It turns our that Daddy had to go out of town for an unknown amount of time and Mama didn't want to be by herself. The adoption group rushed through my adoption papers and I moved in sooner than expected. Mama said she rushed all over town getting things ready for me.

Mama told me she was so scared waiting for me to arrive. She said my size scared her since she only had lap dogs in the past. After I arrived, I settled right in. I played with toys and chewed on bones. When Daddy arrived home from work, the first thing he said to me was "You look a lot bigger in a house!" We've been a happy family ever since.

Today, Mama took Scout and I for a long walk. The weather is great here after our 11 day heat wave. I'm sure tonight I will get a frosty treat. Daddy is out of town, so I'm kind of sad about that, but Mama is here and she is the one with the food.

Every day is a fun day in my forever home!

Jack,
A greyhound who loves retirement

Another Silly Scout Story

Last night, Scout was outside after dark and she was chasing fire flies. Mama said it was so funny. She thinks that Scout caught one because she seemed to spit something out of her mouth. Okay, I thought that was kind of silly, but here comes the really silly part. Scout is now scared to go outside because of the daytime bugs. Mama has had her out twice today and both times she has run back in the house. The first time, Mama caught her and made her go back out, but Scout refused to do anything. She was very scared, so Mama let her come back in. The second time, Mama didn't make her stay out because she is scared that Scout will not trust her if she keeps making her do things that she is really scared to do. She did all her business this morning on our walk, so we are sure she is fine in that area. She went through this last summer too, but then she was okay. Mama may have to take her out on a leash in the backyard to show her that things are okay. Sisters are so silly.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. I'm not telling why just yet though. LOL

Jack
The greyhound who has a secret

Sometimes a girl.....

.... just wants some alone time in a dark room with her stuffies.

Recently, I couldn't find Scout and started to panic. I started rushing through the house calling her name. Jack was hot on my heels looking for her. She appeared, but I didn't see where she came from. The next day, I couldn't find her again and decided to search for her without calling her name and discovered her in my "exercise room" which has been taken over by stuffies. Today, I found her in the room once again and decided to take her photo. I guess she likes to be by herself some times.

Patty
Mama to Jack and Scout

First, No Camping and Now This

Mama left us home today while she went to the store. Do you know what she did? She forgot to leave the TV on for us!!! I couldn't believe it. She knows I love to lay in bed and watch my shows. I love my soaps and all the court shows. I watch the news in the morning and we always look at the pet of the day on our local TV news. Scout and I have both had our pictures on that show. Anyway, back to today's events. She came home and started putting things away. She looked at me and asked me if they were predicting any storms for the day. (Yes, I watch the radar.) I just looked at the blank TV screen. She then said "OMG Jack, I forgot to leave the TV on for you. I'm so sorry." I planned on really playing up that I was upset, but she seemed really sorry. I missed Guiding Light, so I don't know if Philip told anyone he is dying. Mama read on Facebook that he only has three months to live on the show. Strangely, that's how long the show has. It's going off the air in September. Well, we have to wait until tomorrow now to find out what happened because she didn't turn the TV on for us. I bet Mama doesn't forget to leave it on for me the next time she leaves me. It was scary with the house being so quiet while she was gone.

Mama made us more frosty treats after she got back from the store and she bought us a big bag of dog food. Scout and I did the happy dance over the dog food. We always get excited when she brings in a bag of food for us. I don't know why. We know that this is our forever home, but it sure is nice to see that we have food. LOL

Mama is still trying to make up to me. She moved my bed to the sunbeam, so I'm going to catch a few rays before dinner.

No Camping For Us

We were supposed to go camping this weekend at a local state park. Daddy's Dad and his wife were going to come over for dinner. It would have been a fun time. Well, Mama canceled last night!

Why? She said it is going be too hot. We have been in a heatwave for well over a week now and this Saturday they are predicting it to be 97-100 without the heat index. We have camped in 100 degree weather before, but Mama said we do not have shade or any water to get it at this park. She said our feet would get hot walking on the pavement. She said that we would basically be sitting in the motor home all weekend and it would be boring. She's probably right, but we really wanted to go. We haven't been camping for two weeks. Our next trip is not planned until July 31st! Can you imagine? We are going to go through extreme camping withdrawals.

By the way, that time we camped in 100 degree weather was not fun at all. LOL

Jack and Scout
The Disappointed Greyhounds

My New Pool!

We are still in a heatwave and there is no end in sight. 95-97 all this coming week. Mama surprised me with a new pool. It's not as big as the one I had last year. The one I had last year was a hard plastic one, but it was hard to empty out and eventually cracked. Mama decided to try one like this.

Do you think I will fit?



It's like the biggest water bowl.....yummy!


I do actually fit, but so far I have only sat my butt down for a few seconds. I prefer the dirty river water.

I had a wipe out running in the yard on Saturday night. I took the corner too tight or something and went rolling. I started crying and Mama thought I was really hurt because I was limping, but then she said "Frosty Treat" (click for the recipe) and I forgot about my injury.

Scout,
The Greyhound Who Loves Water

Visitors

Yesterday, we stayed in the house most of the day because the temperature was 96 without the heat index. I think it was 103 with the heat index. Our windows were sweating in the morning. You know it's going to be a muggy day when you wake up to this. No, our seals are not broke in our windows, it's just this muggy here.

We had a lot of visitors yesterday and Mama wonders if it was because it was so hot. Maybe our visitors were looking for food or water?

We viewed our visitors from our air conditioned home. First we saw turkey.


Then this guy crossed our driveway.


We were visited by a cat, but Mama didn't take his photo. He comes by all the time and drinks from our water feature.

Later, we saw this.



Here I am checking out the latest visitor.


Mama spotted these two wild creatures in the backyard.



This is where we spent most of the day. We normally don't lie on the bed together unless it's storming. We didn't stay like this for very long at all.

Today is going to be another hot day and maybe storms tonight. We really do not care much for summer.

Jack,
Your Greyhound Wildlife Reporter

Come on a walk with us!

The time is 6:40 a.m. The temperature is 71, dew point is 68 and the humidity is 94%. We are going for our morning walk and we are taking you with us today.

We live out in the country. We only have one neighbor that lives past us and they have a log cabin. We don't have much traffic on our road.

You never know what we will see on our walks. We sometimes see deer, rabbits, turkey, turtles and snakes.

We live on a gravel road. It used to hurt our feet, but not any more. It's not as hot as pavement, so it's not that bad.

See, I told you we lived out in the country. We own 10 acres, but most of it is woods and we don't do anything with it. We have been trying to sell a five acre lot, but no one wants it due to the economy. A lake is behind our house, but you can't see it in the summer and Scout and I have never actually been to it. Mama is scared to walk us through the woods because of snakes. She and Daddy used to go fishing all the time, but I don't think they have done that since I have been around and that is almost 3 years now.

Oh, this fell out of the tree during the storms.

We have wild flowers along our road.

This is our favorite rock. We think all the wildlife here must like this rock too because it always has new smells. Turn away please as we mark our rock to show everyone that it is ours.
We are headed back home now. Scout gets tired on walks. She prefers to run in the yard.

Oh, here is that storm victim again.
Here's our mailbox and our greyhound banner.
This is our house.
Thanks for joining us on our walk. Sorry that we did not see any wildlife today. They must all still be in bed. Be sure and check for ticks. Ticks are really bad here right now. We didn't really get in the tall grasses today, so you should be okay but sometimes they still hitch a ride on us and Mama.

Jack,
The Greyhound Tour Guide

200th Post!

Wow, 200 posts! If Mama would have told me sooner, we would have planned something really special for you.

Let's see, I can show you a cute photo of me.

You may think I look funny, but I love my jammies. They keep me warm and keep me from waking up Mama to cover me up.

Daddy is out of town this week. I have been protecting Mama and Scout. We had storms yesterday and early this morning. The storms woke us up at 2:30 a.m. and Mama said "Jack we need to get your storm buster t-shirt on." So, I ran to Mama and she put the t-shirt on me and we were protected from the evil storms. More storms are coming this morning, so I am dressed and ready for them. The t-shirt makes me feel secure, I think.

We now have our backyard back. Daddy took down the orange fencing that was put up to keep us away from the new grass. Scout is running like a crazy girl. She did eight laps last night. Mama just yells "be careful, be careful". Does she think that really helps?

Jack,
The Storm Buster

I'm a "Storm Buster" now!

We have had a lot of storms here this week. Mama has been putting the "Storm Buster T-shirt" as she now calls it on me. It seems to be working! I still get nervous, but I am not nearly as bad as I used to be. Mama says I am doing so good. It's nice not being so scared when that thunder shakes the house.

This weekend, we think that Daddy is going to take down the orange fence that has been up blocking Scout and I from most of our yard. Daddy planted grass seed way back in April. He put new dirt down to try and level out the yard, but a mole has caused problems. We are not sure if all the hard work and time we have had to wait to get our yard back was worth it due to that mole.

Mama said she may buy Scout a new pool this weekend. Scout loves to jump in water. It doesn't matter if it is a pool, creek, lake, river or mud puddle. She loves water. I do not appreciate getting wet.

Daddy will be gone all next week, so I will be the man of the house again. It's a lot of responsibility, but I can do it especially with my storm buster t-shirt.

Jack,
The Storm Buster

I think I can fly!

Oh, Baby! That's right, there are no feet touching the ground!



Jack,
The Flying Greyhound

Scout's Fun Run

Scout caused everyone to laugh when she raced because she didn't know what to do when she came out of the box. The laughter turned to cheers when Scoutie started running though.

Going to the box.

Coming out of the box.

"What do I do now?"

"Where are you going, kid?"


"You're supposed to go that way."



"Oh, it's okay."

"Ready, Set, Go!!!"

"That's it! You've got it now!"

"Look at her go!"

I love the reaction of the lady in the background. She is clapping and smiling. We have several more photos showing Scout's run, but I didn't want to bore anyone. I thought these were so cute showing the story of her fun run.

Thanks for looking,
Jack and Scout's Proud Mama

Jack's photos will be published tomorrow.

We are tired!

We are home! We arrived home around 4 p.m. yesterday. It was an 8 hour trip, but it wasn't as bad as Mama expected it to be. We stopped three times, so that made it nice.

This is what we have done most of today. We did stay in the office with Mama. We didn't want her to get lonely.



We had storms this morning, so Mama tried something that she learned at the greyhound event. A vet spoke to the group and gave all sorts of tips. His assistant has a dog that is scared of storms like me and she puts a t-shirt on him during storms. She makes it tight around the stomach and then ties it with a rubber band. Guess what? I didn't get scared during the storm this morning! We have more storms coming tonight, so Mama said she will try it again and hopefully it continues to work for me.


Scout gave me a strange look, but I don't care. If it keeps me from getting so scared, it is worth it.

Jack,
The greyhound who is trying to conquer his storm fears

Fun Run Photos

I'm posting some photos of us in the fun run. Here is Scout. She did pretty good after they told her what to do. Mama has some funny photos of her when she came out of the box and didn't know what to do, but here she is running.




Here I am. See the dirt flying as I am coming out of the box?



It was so much fun! Mama and Daddy can't stop talking about it.

Jack,
The retired racer who is remembering the racing life today