The New Recliners Have Arrived!

 Mom has been stalking the delivery of our two recliners for the past week.  They both shipped from North Carolina on the same day but when they made a stop over in Georgia, only one went on to Texas.  A few days later the second chair left Georgia and made its way to Texas. Mom was a little nervous but she was happy when they both ended up at the Houston facility.

Mom had planned on donating our old chairs to a thrift store here that also does pick up of items.  Unfortuntely, they were not able to pick up the old chairs this week.  She checked around but all the places that pick up items for a fee were too expensive.  She did not want to pay $375 for the pick up of the chairs, so she went to Plan C which was for her and Dad to take the chairs to Goodwill.

Yesterday, Dad decided that they should go ahead and try to get the chairs out of the unit since rain was predicted for today.  He was concerned that they might have trouble getting the chairs out in one piece.  Recliners easily come apart but ours had slip covers over them and Dad had them tied on good and he really didn't want to have to remove the covers and take the chairs apart.  In the end, the folks were able to get the chairs out our door without too much trouble.  They then put the first chair on the back of the van and took it to Goodwill. They made two trips to Goodwill and the twin chairs confused the workers but it all worked out and was much easier than Mom expected.

The recliner being strapped down by Dad.  My bed is at the top of the recliner  It is being used to keep the recliner from scratching the van.

This morning, Mom washed our rugs. We have Ruggables which are nice because they can be washed in a regular washing machine. She then used a steam mop to clean our floors.  She was really busy and sweaty.  

Our chairs arrived around 10 a.m.  Mom really likes the color of the chairs.  They are a little stiff right now, but she said they will be better in a few days.  She is working on breaking hers in right now. She is tired from moving chairs and cleaning.

Our new Ashley Recliners and our freshly laundried Ruggables rug.

Mom is very happy with how easy it was to get the new chairs from Amazon.  She chose a delivery time when she placed her order and it never changed.  It was a good experience.

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Is Tired After All The Activity With Chairs

Today Is A Special Day

Seven years ago today, a very special greyhound was born.  Any guesses who?

IT WAS ME!!!!  Was there any doubt?  BOL!

Since it is my day, I am going to show you pictures of me. I am a hound that is full of personality as I think you will see from my photos.

I am cool.

Adventurous.  Heading out on our HUGE adventure.

Pitiful - after my surgery.

Silly

Coy

Brave - my corn is being removed in front of a crowd. :::GULP:::

Nervous - looking for bears in Montana

Demanding - Scout taught me this.  BOL!

Determined - just look at the tongue action.

Funny - I have a great sense of humor.

Entertainer - working the crowd in Abilene, KS

Dapper - Yep, I look darn good in a top hat!

Who wouldn't love me?  BOL!

Mom did have a talk with me and told me I was now an adult and I have to behave better on walks.  You see, I don't like turning around.  I walk great on going, but I don't like coming back.  I drag as much as I can.  It really aggravates Mom.  People in the neighborhood have noticed and have commented and laughed.  Mom doesn't think it is funny.  :::shrugs shoulders:::

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Seven Today!

More Fun On Dad's "Vacation"

Monday morning found us taking a long walk with the folks.  We finally made it to the park. That had been our goal for a while.

This is the foot bridge that we cross. Beckett, the greyhound, lives across the bridge.

Beckett is adjusting well.  He is white with fawn spots.  His feet are sore because his new Mom walks three miles a day and he is not used to pavement.  His Mom has greatly reduced their walks until his feet get used to walking on pavement.  He is from Florida and probably walked on sand a lot since he came directly from a kennel.

Mom thinks the tree is pretty.

Dad likes to brag that he can out walk all of us, but guess who fell asleep as soon as he sat down?  Yep, Dad did.  BOL!

Monday afternoon, we had a visitor.  The mechanic came by to flush our radiator.  He was really nice.  Dad said he definitely could have done it himself, but the manual was quite confusing and it was good to have someone who knew what he was doing work on it.  He may come back to fix another problem for us.  His rates are really low.

We sat outside after the mechanic left and watched the folks work on the awning.  Dad found some wires were loose.  He didn't think it was the problem, but it was!  It is now fixed and Mom says she is not using it again.  BOL!

See Dad's shadow?  He was on the roof caulking.

People enjoying their day on the water.

The folks ate dinner at a place called Olive Tree.  It gets really good reviews, so Mom wanted to try it.

The meal starts out with a salad.  It had a creamy dressing on it.  Mom said it was good!

Bread sticks were also served and they were nicely seasoned.

Dad ordered calamari.

Seafood Pasta

Chicken Carbonara - the chicken is underneath the pasta.

Mom loved this place!  She went on and on about.  We told her to shut up and give us some of her leftovers.  She gave us some chicken and it was SO GOOD!  I wanted to eat my plate just to get every last taste of it.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Enjoying The Cool Weather

Smuckers

The campground really comes to life on the weekends.  During the week, we have full-timers who pull in for a night or two. They are quiet.  The weekends bring families with kids and dogs. The full-timers have dogs, but they seem quieter for some reason.  This weekend has to be the most dogs we have seen.  There is one family with six small dogs....six yappy dogs.  There are several people with poodles.  The worse is a family with two beagles. Their bark is more of a scream.  It sounds like someone is trying to kill them. It's really bad at 6 a.m. when they bark at us.  This morning, they saw us and started their screaming.  I started whining and then we heard coyotes barking.  Mama was scared we would start rooing.  That would not be good at 6 a.m.  Mama is always happy when the park clears out during the week and we can walk around without having dogs bark at us at every corner.

Yesterday, Scout and I were in the dog park and Scout decided to run.  Well, I decided it looked like fun.  Mama was trying to get us to stop, but she couldn't yell at us because it was 6 a.m.   It was so much fun.  We haven't had a run since we left home.  Mama is scared we will get hurt, but we have to be dogs, don't you think?  Later, we took a walk and we were so good according to Mama.  We just walked along without pulling or having to be pulled. Maybe the run did us good. We walked past this one trailer and a guy yelled "THERE IS A LADY WALKING TWO GREYHOUNDS, COME QUICK!"  LOL

The folks visited the Smuckers store and museum today. Smuckers makes jams, jellies and ice cream toppings. They own several companies such as Hungry Jack, Pillsbury, Crisco, Dunkin Donuts, Jif, Flogers, Eagle Brand, Knotts Berry Farm, Martha White and others.  You can see all their brands here.  The folks planned on eating at their cafe. Mama tried to find reviews on it, but nothing came up.  It turns out that it is not much of a cafe. They basically serve pizza.  They really should think of opening up a real cafe there.  They could serve homemade biscuits with all their jams and jellies. They have enough brands that they could make just about anything.  They really are missing out by not doing that according to Mama.

The Smuckers Store and Museum

This is what they made apple butter in when they started out.

A wall of jars.

Chandelier made out of jars.

View of the store.

Cute owl things that are for sale.

More Owl Things

Pillsbury Dough Boy

Leaving Smuckers

Mama said it was fun visiting the store. The musuem wasn't real exciting or big, but it showed the history of Smuckers and that was interesting.  They did buy a few things. Mama saw some ice cream toppings that she just had to have.  One is pecan in syrup. She has not seen that in the store, but she doesn't normally look at ice cream toppings, so it might be quite common.  We need ice cream to try them out. Dad bought some peanut butter.

Since they decided not to eat in the cafe, they had to find another place for lunch. They were in Amish country, so they chose an Amish restaurant.  It was a little pricey, so they chose to just have sandwiches instead of a full meal or the buffet. They were not impressed at all, but it's probably because they ordered hamburgers at an Amish restaurant. It is probably not their speciality. LOL

The Amish restaurant had a gift shop and Mama was tickled because they had greyhound items.

A sign for our RV.

A notepad

I don't know why they think greyhounds look like Scout, but apparently they do.

The folks went out to dinner, but our post is getting long, so we will talk about that tomorrow.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Happy The Heater Is On This Morning Since It Is Chilly

Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows

Mama just returned from the Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows.  She said it was a lot of fun.  She met a lot of dogs, including greyhounds!   It was a huge show.  There was a lot of shopping.  She didn't buy anything though.  Can you believe that?   She planned on buying some things from the GPA of  Houston.  That is the rescue group that we bought my Thera Paw boot from. They were there, but they were not selling anything.  Dad didn't see any of the rescue groups selling things.  They gave away some things.  Mama talked to a lady from GPA about my corn and she recommended a few more things to try.  Yep, it is still there.  It is really not coming to the surface.  I guess that should be discussed in another post sometime.

There were a lot of people that brought their dogs, but Mama said we wouldn't have liked it.  I would have been whining at every dog and trying to mark things.  Scout would have gotten tired and probably just laid in the aisle.  They said a lot of dogs that had accidents.  Some of the show dogs even had accidents in the rings. 

Mama said they went through rows and rows of vendors.  There was a lot of  neat things, but nothing that she wanted.

Granite dog food dishes. Nope, she didn't buy us one.

Exercise equipment - so glad she didn't this for us.

The greyhound group.

A greyhound collecting money and the GPA-Houston's mascot.

More greyhounds!

A Great Dane hoping for a bite of food.

This Cocker Spaniel has cancer.  She has a bucket list.  She has appeared on the news and threw out the first pitch had a baseball game.  She has done a lot of things, but Mama can't remember them all.

The show also had a dancing dog competition.

Dog dancing with his Mom.

There was agility.

Mama said she could have watched the agility all day long.

There was flyball and also a pulling competition.

They walked around and saw the dogs getting ready for the dog show.  Mama said it definitely takes a lot of work.  She didn't take photos because she didn't know if the owners wanted that to happen. If the dogs were not getting their hair fixed, they were kind of hidden.  They probably just wanted to be left alone so that they could rest.

There were only two greyhounds that competed today in the dog show.  The dog show was a lot different than on TV. There were not any announcements.  In fact, Mama couldn't hear a thing.  It is like it was done in silence.  She is not even sure who won between the greyhounds.

The folks thought the brindle was very handsome.
 
They watched some of the other dogs being shown. They noticed that one judge seemed pretty bored and didn't even watch the dogs walk around. It is definitely different than the shows on TV.

This is where the dog show was held.

Astrodome is across from the dog show. There is talk that it will face the wrecking ball.

We got treats from the show!

Lots of free samples of dog food.  Dad said we can eat them as treats.

Open them!

After the show, the folks drove to a restaurant that they wanted to try from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  There was a line to get in and they couldn't find a parking spot, so they gave up. The place closes at 3 p.m. and is not open on Sundays. They will not be eating there on this trip.  Mama was disappointed.

The buffet where they ate.

They ended up eating at China Stat.  Mama said it was good.  The food was not labeled very well, so she didn't know what had seafood in it for sure.  She ate a lot of chicken.  The place was packed at 1.30 p.m.  It was $9.95 a person.

There is still one more restaurant that the folks plan on trying this weekend.  Our time in Houston is almost over.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Preparing For His Gotcha Day On Monday