Greyhounds Rule Here!

There are now four greyhounds here!  Miss Woe brought home a foster sister, Marie, last week. The first time I saw Marie, I really embarrassed Mama.  It was before 7 a.m. (quiet hours here) and I let out a howl and couldn't wait to get to her.  HUBBA HUBBA!

Marie is a white and brindle greyhound.  She has a brindle patch over her eye just like me and her ears are like mine too.  She has a brindle patch on her back and her butt.  She is eight.  (An older woman.) She just had her last litter of pups and she is ready to find a forever home.

I have seen her almost every day since she arrived.  I no longer race to get to her or howl, but we always exchange pleasantries. She likes to kiss me.  We share a love of squirrel watching. Scout is not as taken with her as I am.  I think Scout is a little jealous of this cougar.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Kissed A Girl  Cougar And Liked It

Day 34, We Are Staying In Houston For A While

The bank has credited all of our money back to our account.  All the pending transactions are gone, so it appears that everything is okay now. We will see tonight if Dad's debit card still works as they are going grocery shopping.  If it doesn't work, Mama will have to figure out how to get cash, but she will cross that bridge if she needs to do so.

We found out last night that we will be in Houston until July 20th.  We get to experience a real Houston summer.  It is going to be hot.  We are happy about it though because we will be able to save money since we won't be spending it on gasoline.  We also found out that Dad's trip to Washington DC has been postponed for 45-60 days.  Mama is somewhat happy about that.  She was not worried about staying here without Dad, but she was not thrilled about taking him to the airport and picking him up.  She was kind of looking forward to having a car for a few days though.  She could take Dad to work, but it seems silly to be on the road for four hours just to have the car to go shopping.  Hopefully, the next place we stay will be closer to Dad's work and we will have a car from time to time.  We have looked to see if there is anything closer here and there just isn't.

We did not have storms here yesterday.  In fact, it didn't rain at all.  It got kind of scary looking for a little while, but nothing happened.  There was a tornado warning for the next county, but not here.  When there are tornado warnings or severe storms at home, the TV stations break in and sometimes they stay on for hours reporting on it.  Yesterday, Mama was surprised that they broke in for maybe a minute and said there was a tornado warning and to take cover. That was it. LOL  It is so different at home.

It's very dry here.  The ground is all cracked. We do have grass, but we wanted you to see the cracked ground.

Our weather was so nice this morning.  Mama and I took three long walks because we wanted to take in the cool weather while it was here.  Mama is learning to live in the moment like I do.

Here I am on the dog walk this morning.  It's really long.  You can't even see the end in this photo. I walk the full length of it at least twice a day, but sometimes more.  It is shady in the morning.

Last night, Mama fixed Ham and Cheese Special. 
(3 T olive oil, 1 T garlic powder, 2 t Italian sng)
13 oz tube pizza dough
1 c shredded fiesta blend cheese
½ to 1 c cubed ham
(Butter, Ranch dressing)
Whisk together olive oil, garlic and Italian seasoning. Roll out pizza dough and brush with seasoned olive oil. Top with cheese and ham. Tightly roll up the dough to form a log. Slice into desired size pieces and brush with melted butter. Bake at 375° until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with Ranch dressing for dipping

Mama's didn't turn out like it was supposed to.  She either put too much on the dough or pulled the dough too thin.  She ended up leaving it in a log and baking it that way.  It was not going to do well being cut in pieces.  It tasted good.  I know because I tried a few bites.

Tonight we are having marinated chicken.  Yum!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Having Fun In Texas

Day 25, It's Beginning To Look Like Memorial Day

Our campground is decorated for Memorial Day.  We have flags at each of our driveways.  There are flags near the Texas star and we have red, white and blue ribbons at the entrance.  It looks really pretty.  Mama even decorated us.  We are wearing our flag collars.

I'm watching the flags because it's windy today.

You probably can't see the flags, but there is one on each post throughout the whole campground.

I'm supposed to be looking at the camera, but I refused.

Scout looked at the camera, but she was not happy about it.

See, she is really not happy about it.

"Fine, I will look, but I'm not going to look cute!"

The entrance all decorated.

There is a fire department located near us and we enjoy watching the firemen.

Scout seems to be doing better. She didn't get up in the middle of the night.  I, however, did wake everyone up at 3 a.m. because I was bored.  I didn't take a long walk last night to rest my foot and I guess I wasn't tired.  Dad said that I will be taking a long walk before bed tonight.  My foot is doing fine this morning.

Last night, Mama fixed Beef & Cheese Enchiladas and Refried Beans for dinner.  The enchiladas were made by cooking 1/2 pound of ground beef and 1/2 cup of onion and then draining.  Add in 1/2 cup of sour cream and a 1/2 can of corn.  Divide the mixture onto each flour tortilla.  Mama added mozzarella cheese to the filling because she didn't have a lot of cheddar cheese and she thought it needed more cheese. Then, add a few drops of enchilada sauce and roll up the tortilla and place it in baking pan.  Repeat and then add 1 cup cheddar cheese to top and add remaining can of enchilada sauce.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  The photo may not look that attractive because Mama used non-stick foil to make the clean up easy.  She added more sour cream to the top after it baked. She would have added black olives to it, if she had them.

She added salt and pepper and mozzarella cheese to the refried beans and heated those in the microwave.  Mama said it was a really good dinner.

Tonight, we are having a crock-pot meal.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes Walks Before The Sun Comes Up

Oprah Went Camping!

Did you hear that Oprah went camping in Yosemite? It was her first time camping. Mama and I watched the show and laughed and laughed.

She camped in a pop-up with her best friend, Gayle. Oprah hit a rock with the camper. She said it damaged the bathroom, but she didn't go into detail about it. The next morning she had trouble opening the bathroom door, so maybe that's what she meant about it damaging the bathroom.

Oprah should have called me. Doesn't she know that I'm a camping expert?

I definitely could have given her some camping tips.

They didn't show her at the dump station, so we don't know if she dumped. Maybe she doesn't know that she needs to dump. She gave the pop-up away to a couple she met at the park. I hope for their sake that she dumped or that is going to be a stinky camper.

Jack
The Greyhound Who Is A Camping Expert

Our Last Camping Trip?

We camped this past weekend at Hawn State Park. The weather could not have been any better. It was in the upper 70's. This is November! It should be in the 50's. We made our reservations five months ago, so we really lucked out.

Hawn State Park is wonderful. Mama said next year, we should start doing a rating system on the parks we visit. We loved this one because there are so many places to walk. Mama and Daddy liked it for it's beauty. It's full of pine trees and has a creek to play it. I didn't play in it, but Scout did.



On Sunday, we were surprised when some friends showed up from our greyhound group. Blu and Roy were there with their folks. Scout and Blu know each other because they carpooled together all the way from Tulsa to St. Louis. I know Roy from before I was adopted. His Mama does a lot of meet and greets and he joins her from time to time. We walked around with Roy and Blu. Roy, Blu and Scout got in the creek, but I didn't. I don't like water. Mama got me to try it once and I fell in a hole. I thought I was going to die, so no more water for me.

This was the view from our camper. Isn't it pretty? Deer like to play on the rocks.

Here is the sandy area that Scout didn't want to leave. She really wants to have a sand pit at home. I hope we get one. It will be fun to run and play in.


Mama said this could be our last trip of the season. However, if the weather is nice for Thanksgiving weekend, we will camp. Can you imagine camping on Thanksgiving? It will be a first for us.

Jack,
The Camping Greyhound

Here he is....

...my biological Daddy!

Mama and Daddy went to the Greyhound Hall of Fame yesterday and met him. Mama said she can see where I got my good looks. She said Talented Mr. Ripley is very sweet. He lives at the Greyhound Hall of Fame. Mama saw his award for being in the hall of fame.

Scout's Grandfather is there, too, but not him, just his award.

Our Great Grandfather's award is also there.

There are greyhounds camping next to us. Do you want to know how many? 15! That's right, there are 7 in one motor home and 8 in another. Yikes! They have set up a long pen between the two motor homes so they can just come in and out and they run from one end of the pen to the other. Scout and I were surprised to see other greyhounds even though Mama kept telling us we would.

Mama and Daddy took a trolley tour of Abilene last night. The trolley came right to the campground and picked them up. They said it was interesting. Scout and I just waited here wondering if they were going to take us to Sonic for the free root beer floats. They didn't. They came home and took us for a long walk though.

Today, Mama and Daddy will leave us again for a while. They will do some shopping at the greyhound event and then they get to go to a greyhound farm. Mama is excited about that. Tonight, they will go back to the Greyhound Hall of Fame because it is opening tonight just for the greyhound event and offering a discount on shopping.

Tomorrow is even a busier day and we may go with them for some of the seminars. Tomorrow night is the fun run!

Jack,
A Greyhound who likes traveling

Memorial Day

We are back home. We came a little earlier than planned because it's supposed to rain most of the day. The weather man said no rain until Sunday night. This is what we woke up to Saturday morning. I really don't know why we believe the weatherman. He lies all the time. He will even say that it happened just like he predicted.



The people next to us were in tents and they came out soaked. They had a dog with them and he came out soaked, too. It didn't look like fun and they left early Saturday morning.

The park had a lot of standing water and a lot of the kids were mud wrestling in it. Scout said it looked fun to her. I liked watching the kids play in the water, but I didn't want to get near it. Scout did get in the river twice. She just wants lie in the river.

We had lots of celebrations this weekend. Friday was Aunt Pam's birthday. We had cake and ice cream. Sunday was Mama and Daddy's wedding anniversary. They have been married 23 years. Yikes! That's a long time. They went out for a steak dinner last night and brought me and Scout back a little of it. It was really good.

Here is a photo of me and Grandpa. He didn't give me any treats this weekend. I don't know why. I was very good.

Everyone in the family but Grandma, Grandpa and us left yesterday. They were scared of the rain. It got muddy, but it wasn't bad. We left early today since rain was predicted for most of the day.

We are only home for a few days and then we are headed out for vacation.

Mama is headed to the laundromat. Our washing machine and our refrigerator both died last week. She has not been happy about it.

Have a nice day!

Jack,
The Camping Greyhound

Memorial Weekend

We are busy getting ready for our family camping trip. When I say family, I mean F-A-M-I-L-Y. There will be 16 of us. Grandma & Grandpa, aunts, uncles and 7 skin cousins. We get a lot of attention from the cousins. The only problem is that they have trouble telling us apart. Mama says there is an easy way to tell Scout and I apart. No, it's not the way you think. You would think they would figure out the way you are thinking, but they haven't and we really don't want them checking underneath us all weekend and talking about it. It would get out of hand and the youngest cousins are not quiet. They like to yell. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be for us?

The way you can tell us apart is that Scout has a white tip on her tail. I'm starting to get a gray tip, but it's not as noticeable as Scout.

Grandpa always gives special treats while camping. I'm licking my lips just thinking about it.


I probably will not be able to update you while we are camping. There is very limited cell phone service there. The teenage cousins say that if you lay in the middle of one of the roads, you get a connection. We haven't tried that and we don't plan to. The teenage cousins go through a texting withdrawal when we camp. LOL

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Another Camping Trip

We are busy getting ready for our next trip. We head out tomorrow for Springfield, MO. We are staying in a private campground. We normally stay in state parks, but KOA is having a stay a night get one free this weekend. The campground has an off leash play area for dogs. Mama said we will have to see if it is okay for us. We don't want to be in there with ankle bitters. The campground is close to Bass Pro Shop, so after Scout and I get tired from visiting a civil war battlefield, Mama and Daddy will go shopping. It should be a fun weekend, but a short one. We normally go for four days, but this weekend is only three days. After this trip, we will be home for two weekends and then we go away for Memorial weekend and then the next week we head to Kansas to meet my "real" Daddy and other greyhounds. This camping stuff is tiring!

Jack,
The Camping Greyhound

We've Been Camping!

We just got home from camping. We went to the Lake of the Ozarks. Our campsite had a view of the lake. Scout jumped into the lake, of course. She loves the water. I avoid the water as much as possible.

We visited Ha Ha Tonka. Grandma called it Willy Wonka. Ha Ha Tonka is a castle that burned down. It's a fun place to explore. We went there last year, too. There are lots of trails and we were able to walk all around the castle. We met a couple interested in adopting greyhounds, so Mama "planted some seeds" as she calls it.

Grandma and Grandpa's RV started smoking when they plugged it in at the campsite. The campsite electric was wired wrong. It burned up their converter, microwave and TV. Mama is going to write more about all of that on her blog Greys & Things, but it may not be until tomorrow because she is tired.

Jack,
The Greyhound

Matching Collars?!

You are not going to believe what Mama did! She made Scout and I matching collars. No, it's not cute! I am a boy. I do not want to match my sister! My skin cousins have enough trouble telling us apart and with matching collars...oh, I don't even want to think about it.


Scout doesn't think it's an issue, but she's a girl. Girls are strange.


Mama said she wants us to wear them on Memorial Day while we are camping. People are going to laugh at me, I just know it.

A New Frame

On our last camping trip, Mama bought this frame. She doesn't like to have her picture taken, so the middle photo is from before Scout was adopted. Ah, those were the days. It was just me in the house. I didn't have to share bones, toys, treats or food. I think I liked being an only hound, but Scout can be fun at times. She's such a silly girl. Do you know what she did last night? She was laying on the floor and I walked by and she rolled over and asked me to rub her belly. Who does she think I am? I don't rub anyone's belly.

Jack,
The Smart One

Reporting To You From The Road

We are on our way to do some trout fishing. The sky is blue right now. We are expecting nice temperatures until tomorrow night and then rain is supposed to come in bringing with it cooler temperatures.

Here I am as we are traveling down the highway.



We stopped at a rest area. Jack and I did some sniffing and exploring.



I will update when I can. Mams said we may not have Internet at the campsite. She will have withdrawals again.

Scout,
The Cute One

Almost Camping Season

Mama and Daddy said we are going camping sometime this month! It will probably be closer to the end of the month. We will not need reservations because it's not the true camping season. We can basically just pack up and go when we get a nice weekend.

Scout and I are dreaming of the day that we are on the open road again.


We love checking out the campground and making new friends. It's been a long winter here at Two Greyhound Town.

Here's a photo of us with Daddy when we were camping last year. We can't wait to go again!

Roughing It - Jack Style

This is Jack "roughing it" while camping this weekend.

Notice the pillow under his butt. LOL

Home Again!

We're home from camping!

Scout and I had fun, but it was cold. It was only like 42 degrees, windy and cloudy. We stayed inside the camper most of the time, but Mama and Daddy did take us for some nice long walks. We enjoyed playing in the leaves that were every where.

We got to watch Animal Planet which we love, but can't do at home because we get too excited and try to attack the TV. We can watch it in our motor home because the TV is off the ground.

Can you tell Scout is smiling in her photo? She is watching Pet Star with Mario Lopez. She thinks he is hot and that's why she is smiling. Look at her... her eyes are all dreamy-like. LOL

Something bad happened tonight. I cut my leg a few days ago, but Mama just noticed it this morning. Well, tonight I was licking it and I got it bleeding. It made such a mess all over the bed. Mama is still washing all the bedding. She told me not to go into detail, but she thought I might need to go to the vet because it was such a mess. She is watching me like a hawk now and won't let me touch my wound. She can be such a nag at times.

Your friend,
Jack

On The Road Again

It's us . . . Jack and Scout. We are so excited because we are headed out camping this weekend. If you see us traveling down I-44 . . . honk. On second thought, you probably shouldn't do that, you might give Daddy a heart attack. Talk to you when we get back. Happy Trails!

We just returned from a weekend camping trip at Meramec State Park. It's a park that we normally camp at a few times each season, but the park had flooding problems this year. We were not able to get everyone together until this past weekend.

http://www.mostateparks.com/meramec.htm

Many of the campers had their campsites decorated for Halloween. We were really surprised by how many decorated and to the extent that they went to with their decorations. We also decorated our sites and even had a few kids who came by for candy.

The pups really had a nice time. They had their skin cousins to pet them and they, of course, walked around the campground getting lots of attention.

We had four sites and were basically in a square. We used the middle as our central area. Since it was on a cool side at night, we had a hot chocolate area that everyone enjoyed.

We used a roaster for the first time camping and made chili the first night. The next night, we used to make baked potatoes. It worked out really well.

Grandpa planned out scavenger hunts for the kids and that kept them busy for a few hours on Saturday. We rode our bikes searching for clues. It was a lot of fun and good for the kids to learn to read instructions and pay attention to details. I recommend this activity for kids.

This was probably our last "family" camping trip of the year, but Jeff and I and the pups will go out a few more times.

Broke Out The Jammies Last Night

Jack loves to wear his jammies. He gets cold very easily and if he doesn't wear his jammies he wakes me up several times at night to cover him up. Last night, we broke out the jammies.


Jack even wears his jammies when we are camping. You should hear the laughter from the other campers. Jack doesn't care. He just prances around the campground showing off.


Scout does not wear jammies. Scout does not like wearing anything. I've tried hats and scarfs on her and it's like I deflate her when I do so. She is such a tomboy.

Jack thought he was attacked by a chiluahua!

Last week at this time we were enjoying our vacation at Table Rock Lake. It is near Branson, MO.

Whenever we camp, my husband and I are on full alert of the dogs in the campground. It seems like there is always one owner who does not think they have to follow the rules which is to keep your dog under control at all times. We seem to run into this problem with people who have small dogs. Sorry, but that's been our experience. I guess small dogs owners do not think their dogs can do any harm and they seem to think it is funny for their small dogs to chase our big dogs. It's just not a smart thing. Think about it, small dog vs. a big dog's mouth. Our dogs are very docile, but I definitely wouldn't take a chance if I had a small dog. Back to my story... we were walking Jack and Scout and this chiluahua who had been tormenting our dogs all weekend started barking at us. It's owner laughed and told him to "Get them!" She was joking, I think, but the dog got loose. I yelled "IT'S LOOSE!" We immediately went into defense mode with our dogs. You may wonder what damage a little dog can do to a greyhound. It can do a lot of damage. Greyhounds skin is very thin and easily torn. A little bite can lead to stitches. My husband grabbed unto Jack's collar and then he grabbed his back end because Jack was on two legs and trying to back out of his collar because this small dog that looked like a rat to him was at his feet. When my husband grabbed Jack's behind, Jack thought he had been bite by the dog. I guess he thought the dog jumped on his butt. He started screaming as if to say "I'VE BEEN HIT, I'VE BEEN HIT!" The owner of the dog didn't even come and get the dog until my husband brought it to her. Grrrr! My husband told Jack that he screamed like a little girl. Poor Jack, he really thought that he was a goner. We stayed away from that area of the campground after that and Jack seemed to regain his confidence.