Hiking With Alligators

Yesterday, Dad surprised us by taking us to a state park that is about an hour from our resort.  I was very excited that we were actually leaving our gated community.

"Oh boy!  This is going to be fun!"

Texas charges a fee of $7 per adult.  Greyhounds are free.

We decided to do an easy 1/2 mile walk around the lake.

Scout didn't want to go.  Was she scared of the alligators, venomous snakes or thinking there might be stairs?

She is asking Dad to take her back to the car.

Mama took charge of Scout and off we went.  Yes, I'm wearing my boot.  My foot still hurts from time to time.

Lots of birds.

More birds.  Mama really needs a new camera, but Santa is not bringing her one.

"Come on, Mama!"

Birds

Scout puts her foot where other animals have put theirs.

Dad said it was like the Animal Walk of Fame.  BOL!

 

Turtles

Turtle

Okay, enough turtles!

ALLIGATOR!

A view of the lake.

 We saw all the creatures while just walking about the lake. It was pretty amazing.

An old Oak Tree

 We went Geocashing, but we gave up and Dad found it without us.  He said it was pretty far back in the woods.  Mama said he was nuts to go that far back with the snakes, alligators and ticks.  We decided that Scout is not a geocashing dog and I am probably not either. 

We had a fun time and we were very tired when we got home.

We were supposed to bake cookies with Mama today, but it is almost 80 degrees.  We are already running our air conditioning, so we will wait to use our oven for a day when it is colder like tomorrow afternoon.  We are supposed to get bad storms tomorrow morning and then it will turn cooler.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Walked Among The Alligators

Cookie Baking Day

 Okay, maybe it is not a true cookie baking day, but Mama did make a batch of peanut butter cookies.  Okay, maybe it wasn't a batch.  It was a dozen and they are the refrigerated ones.  She just put them in the oven.  It still created a nice smell in our RV.  Honestly, this is as close as we get to baking cookies these days. We don't even have a mixer.  It takes cookies two to three times as long as they are supposed to take to bake in our oven and we can only fit six on our cookie sheet, so it takes an hour to make a dozen.  BOL!  She said we will bake another dozen on Christmas Eve. 

Mama had the car yesterday, so she went shopping. She didn't really buy anything exciting.  She ate at Five Guys and wasn't impressed. She had a cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $10. She had eaten at one in St. Louis and thought it was better.  She picked Dad up from work and they ate at Panda Express for dinner.  She was very impressed with the food.  She was so excited that she forgot to take pictures. Panda Express is a chain restaurant.  You choose your side item and then you can either have two or three entrees.  She chose fried rice as her side and Mushroom Chicken and Shanghai Angus Steak as her entrees.  She loved it all.  Dad had eaten at one in Kansas City and said he thought it was great. Mama definitely wants to go back.

Dad brought home a gift from work.  He told Mama to open it before they went grocery shopping so that they knew what snacks not to buy.

What could it be?  Cookies?

Yum!

Oh, I almost forgot.  Mama removed my corn yesterday.  She has tried many different things. She tried duct tape, creams, but what finally got rid of it?  She dug it out like Genji's Corner suggested.  It was really hard to see until recently when the growth of it took off.  She was getting ready to order the corn remover tool when someone on Greytalk said they used a cuticle pusher.  She bought one yesterday and now my corn is gone.  Mama was nervous, but I was a very good boy.  We know it will come back, but now we are more confident on removing them, so hopefully it won't take us so long the next time.  I am "bootless Joe" for now.  BOL!

Happy Saturday!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Corn-less And Boot-Less Today

It's Windy!

It is so windy here today.  The motor home is rocking.  Our walk this morning was interesting.  We saw one awning that was ripped in half.  A child's playground slide slid into the street after we passed by.  We saw two Christmas trees that had fallen over. Our Christmas garden flag was about ready to take flight, but we caught it in time and took it inside.  We didn't make it through the whole resort this morning. It was just too hard to walk. The wind gusts are up to 60 mph.  It's a good thing we are big dogs. Can you imagine if we were small?  We would be tossed around.  We are back in the motor home staying warm with our heater. Mama is wishing she would have bought that Starbuck's hot chocolate mix that she saw a few weeks ago.  It is hot chocolate with salted caramel.  She said it is a little pricey, but I bet she buys it tomorrow. 

Mama has been trying to get pictures of the wild parrots that we see from time to time.  She finally got a few shots. Normally, there are several together, but this one was by himself.   She wishes she had a better camera.  Santa, are you listening?   She tried to adjust the color to show how green he was.

Saturday, we were talking to the lady who gave Mama that Subway sandwich when we first moved in.  She mentioned seeing these birds and hoped to get pictures, too.  We asked if they liked living by the lake.  The lady said "Oh, yes!"  The husband said "My daughter told us it was the same price. Same price, yeah right!  It is $118 more a month!  She arranged to have us move and she is paying for it, but it's not worth it."  Mama had thought about moving to have a lake view, but when she heard the price, she said we would stay put.  The couple is really nice.  They are from New Mexico and will be going further south once they are finished with doctor visits.

Here we are walking yesterday.  We have our Christmas collars on.

A sad reminder of the CT killings - the Texas flag is lowered.

The dog that lays on the dash.

He barks at us.

Mama fixed lasagna Emeals style the other night.  She liked it and had leftovers for lunch yesterday.  It had wide noodles instead of lasagna noodles.

Lasagna

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad His Sister Is Big Boned Because She Is Helping Weigh Down The Motor Home During The High Winds.  BOL!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Santa, we didn't see you this year, so we are posting this photo of us from last year so you don't forget us.  We heard you were visiting the resort this weekend, but they don't allow us in their buildings or around the lake, so you probably won't see us.  If you get to walk around the resort, we are the ones with the snowflake lights and the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. That is all we can say because it is Wordless Wednesday.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Hope Santa Doesn't Leave His Presents At His Old Address

Making New Friends Everyday

We take at least three walks around the entire resort each day.  We seem to meet someone new each day.  Yesterday, we met a lady and her child.  They are from Salt Lake City.  We have a man who sits outside his camper quite a bit and Scout thinks he is there just for her.  Today, we met a man who is here for medical treatment.  He was really nice to us.  There are always new dogs that we encounter.  The small dogs try to get at us.  Mama says I am being good because I am not whining as much when I see them.  There are a few that push my buttons though and I get excited and hop around when they come at me.  The larger dogs seem to be more laid back like us when we walk. There are at least three German Shepherds that are here.  There are a few terriers and they are all feisty.

The Weimaraner who sits on the dash.  He is barking at the neighbor.  He is standing on the dash in this photo.  I would get in trouble for that.

It has been a busy day here.  Mama did laundry this morning.  She was gone longer than normal because she was talking to her friend who works there.  She came home and put the clothes away and then she dumped the tanks.  She still needs to clean, but that takes less than 15 minutes. 

I chilled in the sunbeam yesterday.  Yes, I am naked.  Mama took my collar off of me for a few minutes and gave me a good neck rub.

Last night, our Emeals meal was Beef Stroganoff.  Dad asked her how she made it because he said it was really good. 

Beef Stroganoff.  It is not supposed to be all mixed together, but Dad came home late and we didn't want the noodles to still be warm.

Tonight's meal is lasagna.  I bet is going to make a big mess in the kitchen.

Mama's latest review is on Maggie Rita's Modern Mexican.

Have a nice day everyone, I need to take a nap before my afternoon patrol of the resort.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Just Naturally Makes People Smile