Meet & Greet 10/13

We have been sleeping late the past few days. When we were in Illinois and Indiana we had to get up at 4 a.m. because Dad had to ride the train. Yesterday, we woke up at 6 a.m. with Mama screaming "IT'S TRASH DAY!  WE CAN'T BE LATE!" She had a lot of trash to put out since we are becoming minimalist. There are just some things that Goodwill doesn't want.  What?  We can't even remember what she put out there, but she had six bags full of trash. She was a little nervous when the trash man came and he sat there for a while. We think he was making sure that we were on his list of stops again. Another company stopped first, but then they realized we weren't on their list.  Anyway, our trash guy took all our trash and Mama was happy.

Mama then took some things to the consignment store.  She is trying to sell her crystal and Dad's beer steins.  They were surprised that our glassware was indeed real crystal.  She has an appointment to take in other items next week.  They prefer appointments and since we are out of their "district", she can bring in 25 items at a time.  Mama doesn't think she will get much for her items, but it is easier than trying to sell them on Ebay.  She really hates just donating those items. We don't think minimalist have crystal and beer steins. LOL 

After Mama got home, she surprised us by taking us to the park.  She wanted us to practice on our ramp.  I do fine with the ramp, but Scout is not so sure about it. We walked around the park and had a lot of fun sniffing.

Today, we woke up at 7 a.m.   Mama informed us that we were going to a meet and greet. We got to see our friends from  Greyhound Companions of Missouri.  Mama was a little nervous because Dad said "You are going to take both of them?"  She hadn't really thought it would be a problem since she walked us all over while we traveled.   We did fine except for my whining while we drove there. I was too tired to whine on the way home. I whine when I am excited, so deal with it!

Want to see some exciting photos from the meet and greet?  Are you sure you are ready?

Scout with her tongue stuck to the floor.

Me

Scout

 Mama should have taken photos of the other dogs. She is bad. 

After we got home, we took a nap.  Meet and greets are exhausting!

Me relaxing by my door.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Exhausted From Meeting And Greeting

Off The Road For A Week

We have been home for a week now.  We have accomplished a lot.  Dad completed several tasks before he left on Monday.  Since Monday, Mama has painted two bedrooms, made four trips to Goodwill, applied for her passport, got a haircut, looked for landscaping plants and did a few other things.  She has been busy!   She still has a lot to do.  She needs to paint the trim that Dad bought to put up when he gets home.  There is still more purging to do here.  She has some items that she wants to take to a consignment store.

Yesterday, she painted the other bedroom.  This is her sewing/junk room.  The painting of this room went very smoothly.  She completed it in four hours.  We did have one incident when she opened the windows in that room.  Ants were living in the window and she didn't notice them until she opened the windows.  The window sills were covered with hundreds of ants.  I thought it was pretty cool.  She sprayed them and wouldn't let me near them.

The before photo.  It really was a pretty purple.

During the painting.

Completed!  It is the same color as the other bedroom.

I have been enjoying the deck.  I have only seen one bunny though.  What happened to all the others? I came close to catching a squirrel, but he got a way.  At night, I like to lay in front of the front door and look out.  I haven't seen anything interesting, but you never know what might pass by.

Watching over my kingdom.

Normally, I sleep in the living room at night, but since Dad has been away, I have been sleeping in the bedroom with Mama and Scout. Scout and I each have our own beds in the bedroom.  It is crowded in there, but I think Mama likes me being nearby at night.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Enjoys Watching Over His Kingdom

Our Attempt At A Wordless Wednesday

On Our Own

Dad left yesterday at 2:45 a.m. for the airport.  He didn't even wake us up to say goodbye.  Mama took him to the airport and was back around 4:30 a.m.  She fixed breakfast after she got home and then went to bed for two hours.  She then fixed a big batch of chili. She froze most of it to eat later.  After that, she started painting the bedroom.  She has been wanting to paint that room since we moved here. 

This is the before.  It is dark purple with gold.

Red paint from a previous time was on the ceiling.  The picture shows the color of the purple better than the other one.

 Mama has never painted before.  She has watched Dad many times.  Dad never uses tape to prevent paint from getting where it shouldn't. Mama put tape around the door, but that ended up not working so well.  She is going to have to paint over some purple that the tape covered up. She didn't use tape on the ceiling and she did just fine.  The roller did hit the ceiling a few times, so she will have to cover that up, but it's not a big deal because she was able to cover up the red paint without any issues.  Dad said hitting the ceiling was a rookie mistake. 

Mama says her technique would not be approved of by Dad, but she got the job done and she thinks it looks just fine.  It took her about five hours and Dad said that was really good considering she did it all on her own and had to move furniture, etc.

How many coats of paint do you think it took?  It only took one thanks to the paint that has primer in it.

This is the room now.  It is a sand color.

The room looks much bigger now.  Mama is very happy with the look of it. She wanted it to be a little darker, but she is not painting it again.  LOL   We have one more purple room that needs to be painted.  Mama is not going to do it today because she is sore and tired from yesterday. She has other things that she can do today.

Dad arrived in Jamaica without any issues.  His cell phone doesn't work there, so last night he called us from an office phone.  We are not sure he will be allowed to do that on a daily basis.  He knows the general manager there, so it may not be an issue.  We think he is going to enjoy his stay there more than St. Thomas.

We were asked what Dad does for a living. He works for a major hotel chain.  He fills in for managers when their position are empty.  That is why we don't have much notice as to where we are going or for how long because the position could be filled quickly or it might take months.

Guess what?  I have been running in the yard!  In case you don't know my story, I had a leg injury and had not been allowed to run before our HUGE adventure began.  I had two surgeries in the nine months that I lived here.  Well, I guess I did run once before we left, but now I am legal.  Scout and I ran and ran on Sunday.  Last night, I was running and stopped to dig a hole.  Mama says we have a mole in the yard and that's why the ground collapsed and now we have a deep hole.  The yard is now closed to us until she fills it with dirt.  She says we could put our leg in the hole and get hurt.  It never ends.   I started digging another hole and Mama said "Joey, are you digging another hole?"  I quickly laid on the hole so that she couldn't see it.  I'll finish it later.  BOL

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes To Run And Dig Holes

Adjusting To A Home Without Wheels

It is harder than you think adjusting to being at home.  Mama keeps trying to flush the toilet with her foot. (The RV toilet has a foot pedal to flush.)  Mama opens the cabinets and says "We have so much stuff!"  She has started the purging though.  She has three bags of clothes ready to go to Goodwill.  There is a lot more sorting to do.  Mama is enjoying having a large shower.  She loves having a washer and dryer again. She has spent the past two days just doing laundry. 

Dad has been busy getting things in order for us. He had new tires put on the Jeep. It rides really smooth now and it is much quieter.  Our old tires had these bumps on them that made it very loud and rough.  Dad fixed the motion sensor light that is in the backyard so that Mama can now turn it on with a light switch instead of us having to turn it on by going in the yard. It sometimes wouldn't turn on and Mama would have to duck under a deck board and go down our ramp to make it come on.  She didn't like doing that.  It now comes on by just using the light switch.  Mama is happy.

The folks bought paint for the bedrooms.  Mama is going to paint them next week.  The people who lived here before painted two of the bedrooms a very dark purple.  The master bedroom is dark purple with gold. The new color is desert something.  It is a cream/light brown.  Mama is also going to paint trim and doors and Dad will put that up when he gets back next month.  The house will look nice when the painting and the trim are complete. 

Mama applied for a new debit card today.  Her debt number was stolen in Texas in May and she couldn't get a new one until we came home.  She also went grocery shopping today, so I think we are pretty set for our first week without Dad.

I am sad that we are no longer on the road. I look at the RV and whine.  I do like having extra room to run in the house.  Our bully sticks arrived yesterday, so I have been busying chewing.  Scout and I both got baths today because Mama said we were dirty from the beach.  We didn't leave a ring in the bathtub, so I think she was wrong. Dad agreed with us.  We are super soft now though.

Our drive coming home from Indiana was an easy one.  Here are the photos that Mama was too tired to upload for me the other day.

Goldie at the dump station at Indiana Dunes

Bye campground....it was fun!

Ready for takeoff.

A last look at Lake Michigan.  See the blue in the middle?  That is the lake.

Entering Illinois from Indiana

St. Louis, here we come!

Scout was tired on the trip home.

The Gateway Arch - it is always a welcome site when returning from a trip.

Scout is happy to be so close to home.

Back at home - watching the cable man install our cable box.

Scout watching the cable man.

Okay, the cable man is kind of boring.

The cable man is very boring.

Dad leaves for the airport at 3 a.m. on Monday.  He will be gone for a month, but then he will be home for about 2.5 weeks.  We will really miss him, of course, but I think Mama will keep us occupied with all her painting and purging.  We will update you next week on the painting. Mama is ready to get rid of the purple.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Dreaming Of His Next Adventure