Ready For The Fourth

The RV park is decorated for the fourth of July.  The flags are out on all the posts like they were for Memorial Day.  They have not put the banners out around the Club House or fences yet though.  We hope they do because it makes it look quite festive. It's my first 4th of July being adopted!

The lady that helped Mama with the awning when we first moved here left yesterday.  Mama was sad when she saw they had left. We didn't get to say good-bye. We have our blinds closed in the mornings if the sun is out because it gets too hot in here.  We don't hear anything that is going on outside, so they left without us knowing.  We went over and checked out their site. They have a lot of shade, but their site costs more and Dad doesn't want to move. We should be leaving here in a few weeks anyway.  We don't know where we are going yet. 

There is a subdivision that backs to our RV park. There is a guy who plays music very loud 24/7 and every light on his house seem to be on.  Mama noticed it the first day we were here.  She thought maybe he was dead and no one knew it. She asked the park manager about it and she said that the police have been called several times and there is nothing that they can do about it.  We don't know when he sleeps.  We don't hear it from our motor home, but if we walk down the road into the other RV section, we hear it. He plays pretty good music, but it has to be so annoying to all his neighbors.   Last Thursday and Friday, he had parties. It was really loud. People were laughing, singing, etc.  Saturday, he added a band to his party. I think that upset the neighbors because there was silence for a few hours. I just cannot imagine having to live next to him.  I bet he has a huge party tomorrow night.

The view from our window. It's a Crape Myrtle.  

Me watching the firemen that are down the street from us. 

Mama fixed pitas with pepperoni last night.  It was basically a pita with pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. It is baked for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. She said it was pretty good. Tonight, she is fixing pitas with chicken fajita strips.

Dad is off tomorrow!  I am going to the vet for my distemper vaccine.  Mama thought it was due at the end of the month, but I am set to expire on the 7th.  We will show the vet my corn, but Mama said unless they are greyhound savvy, they probably won't know much.  Dad wants her to take the  printouts on how to remove corns, but she will not ask them to do it if they don't seem to have any knowledge on it. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Excited That Dad Is Off Tomorrow

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 31 - (Continued) - Our Debit Card Number Was Stolen

We had excitement yesterday afternoon.  Mama logged into their checking account and saw four unauthorized charges.  They were in New York!  They were for Pathmark and CVS.  Mama immediately remembered a strange phone call that Dad received on Saturday.  It was an automatic call and he didn't listen to the whole thing.  He just said "our prescriptions are pending".  Well, for one thing, Dad doesn't order prescriptions and the second strange thing is that his phone number is newer and no one would have it.  Mama thought it was very odd, but then decided the message was probably for the person who had the number before him. Dad gets messages for him all the time. After seeing the charges, Mama immediately checked their online prescription service and nothing was pending.  She then called them and they said they have nothing to do with those companies.  She then called her bank.  They checked the account and said that they had just put a hold on it.  I guess they figured that something odd was going on since we had made charges in Texas and New York at the same time.  They told Mama that they were deactivating her debit card so no one could use it again.  Dad has a debit card and they said his will still work. We hope so because we will need to get cash from time to time. They said they would fax her a form to sign.  She spoke with the park manager who said it was fine to have them fax it here.  So, they faxed it here and then the park manager was nice enough to fax it back to the bank.  The bank said that they have to let the transactions go through and then they will put the money back in our account. The transactions are not due to go through until June 2nd.  We hope it goes as smoothly as they say it will.  Mama went ahead and transferred money from savings into checking because she has some bills that are being paid out this week and she would be bouncing them thanks to the crooks.  The crooks spent $364 of our money.  Mama thought and thought about how that phone call and the debit card theft were related and she figured it out.  They went to the phone store to renew Dad's pay as you go phone two weeks ago.  The machine said it no longer took credit cards, so they had to use Mama's debit card. That is the only time that Dad's phone number and Mama's debit card have been used together.  We don't know if the crooks have actually received whatever they bought with our money yet since the transactions are pending.  Luckily, Mama checks her bank account daily just to be sure everything is okay.  She has been using her debit card a lot because it is also a Visa card. She uses in restaurants as well as at the store.  She will get a new one whenever we return home. It just seems to be a lot of trouble to have one sent here.  The bank person was very nice and made the process very simple.  It's a smaller bank with just four locations.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

On a happier note, Mama thought the dinner last night was really, really good.  It was also a very easy meal to make.  Dad really liked it too, so it is definitely on our repeat list.  It is called Easy Ham And Au Gratins.
 Ingredients:
1½ c frozen potatoes, O’Brien, Ore Ida®
1 c cubed ham
1 c cut green beans, drained
10 oz can cream of potato soup
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c sour cream
Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Mix potatoes, ham, green beans, potato soup and cheese and cook on low in crock pot for 5 to 6 hours. Stir in sour cream before serving and cook until hot.

What could be easier than that?  Not much.  There are no photos.  It was good, but it didn't look "pretty" in photos.  LOL

Our weather has turned steamy this week.  It is very humid and we are actually having a rain shower right now. That was not predicted.  We have had one rain shower in the past five weeks.  We miss rain.  It has been cooling off quickly at night.  Our evening walks are usually quite pleasant.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Still Needs A Cowboy Hat

Day 27, Another Bad Hair Day

We are having another windy day and due to the wind and the high humidity this morning, our forecast is for a bad hair day. Mama walked to the laundry room and when she came back, you should have seen her hair!  She kind of looked like the cartoon that they use on the news when they show the "Hair Day Meter".

We are having a very lazy day today, so there is not much to report.

I rearranged my bed today.  

Scout is starting to like Mama and Dad's bed too much. She wants to sleep there all the time now.

I got Mama up at 2 a.m.  She was not happy with me.  She thought I was just bored, but I wasn't.  I think she felt bad after she saw I really needed to go.

Last night, Mama fixed a pork roast in the crock pot aka slow cooker.  She heated up Bob Evans Mashed Potatoes (pre-packaged) and corn.  It was a pretty good dinner.   Tonight, she is fixing chicken pot pie from her Emeals menu.

Tomorrow, she needs to go grocery shopping.  She does not like shopping here because the cashiers seem to move in slow motion.  It takes so long to get through the line.  She is going to go early in the morning in hopes that there are less people there.   After she gets back from grocery shopping, she hopes to stop at a vacuum store that she called today. They said they have the part that we need for our SpotBot.  She wants to clean the carpet, but we left an important part at home.  Then, the folks are going to do some sightseeing.  I guess Scout and I will just stay home and watch the world from our windows.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Knows How To Fluff A Bed

Day 26, Wind Advisory - Bad Hair Day

We have a wind advisory for today. It should be interesting to see how much Goldie sways today.  The good thing is that we are not traveling in Goldie.  It is not fun traveling in a RV when the wind is strong.  The news has a hair meter and today is a "Bad Hair Day". They said that hats wouldn't help because they will just fly off your head.

We thought the park was filling up with holiday campers yesterday, but two of the campers next to us pulled out this morning.  I bet we will have new campers pulling in today or tomorrow.  It's always interesting meeting our new neighbors.

Last night, we went out for our evening walk and we met the people who live across the lake. They have a very nice motor home.  The lady bent down to pet me and spilled wine all over me.  The good thing is that it was white wine.  Can you imagine if I would have been stained with red wine?  She was a nice lady. She was wearing some sort a furry long thing in her hair or on her clothes and I grabbed it.  She didn't get mad, but she kept waving it in front of me while she petted Scout.  It was hard to resist.  She really liked Scout, of course.  Everyone thinks that Scout is the sweetest thing.  If they lived with her, they would see that she can be bossy.

Scout is feeling better now. Mama thought I had what Scout had, but I think it might have been from taking all the medicine for my leg.  I'm better today.  Scout didn't want to go to sleep last night.  Mama had to take her on two long walks after 10 p.m.  Mama was not happy about that, but we both slept all night, so that was good. 

What am I looking at?

It's a black cat in the woods.  Not a very good photo, but it moved fast when it saw the camera.

No pictures of last night's dinner.  It was good, but probably did not look appetizing.  Mama put stew meat in the crock pot and covered it with onion soup mix and cream of mushroom soup and let it cook for about 6 hours.  She then boiled noodles and added those to the beef.  They also had garlic bread.  They were supposed to have green beans, but Mama forgot they were in the microwave until she was in bed last night.  Tonight, they are having a pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn and garlic bread.  Mama said the Emeals menu for next week looks really good.  She really likes food too much.  Scout takes after her, I think.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Was Bathed In Wine

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

A Plane Crashed By Our House

Yesterday, Mama was on the phone and she said "Joey, there is a plane flying low in the field across from our house."  After she got off the phone, she said she was going to see if he landed in the field.  Just as she was getting her camera, we heard a boom and our power went out.  She looked out the window and said "Oh, no!  The plane has crashed in the road!"  She went out to the front porch and took a few photos.  She didn't want to get closer.  There were people gathered around quickly and they had cell phones, so she knew the police had been called.

He clipped the power lines and then it fell to the ground. The pilot was able to walk home which is amazing.  Apparently, he lives by the goats and horses that we visit.  They towed the plane to his yard.  It was his first flight with the plane. We heard one report that he built the plane himself.  He said he was just trying to get home, but couldn't get enough height.  He really didn't make it very far.  He must have flown over our backyard since the neighbor said he flew over her house.

Two news channels wanted Mama to go on camera, but she refused.  She said she didn't see it happen and since the pilot survived, it was pretty much a non-story.  One of the photographers thought I was a cool dog and he rubbed my ears.  Mama almost told him the story of my life, but she decided against it.  She can be pretty chatty at times. 

It definitely made our last day without Daddy rather exciting. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you about the bee.  A bee got in our house and I tried to catch it. Mama said "NO, JOEY, DON'T!"   She killed it, but it took her quite a while.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Had A Very Strange Day

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

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