I'm Stylin' In My New Hawaiian Collars

 We live in a high rise building and we have employees. They work the front desk, do housekeeping and maintenance.  Recently, they were allowed to pick out new uniforms.  They chose Hawaiian shirts. I decided I wanted to fit in since I have a job too.  I am a mail and package carrier so Mom decided to make me Hawaiian collars.

Mom found the fabric for my collars on ETSY.  She would have preferred to shop in person, but the nearest Joann's Fabrics is about 45 minutes away and she is still not really shopping at many stores.  She looked at their fabric online and couldn't really find anything she liked, plus she would have had to order 2 yards of material and she only needs like a 1/4 of  a yard to make a collar for me.  The ETSY fabric was 18" x 30" and it came in five different styles, so it was a good option.

Mom has a love-hate relationship with making collars. She loves when they are finished but she hates making them.  The last step in the process is usually when she starts cussing.  She has to sew around the hardware and it is a very hard to get the fabric in the position she wants because it is so small and in an awkward position. There just has to be a better way but Mom started making collars in 2006 or 2007 and still hasn't figured it out. 

The collar making process went fairly well this time.  She didn't break any needles and she only had to re-thread the machine a few times.  I don't think I heard her cuss.  It was a success!  I ended up with three new collars.  Mom calls it my "beachwear".

Here I am with the first collar.

I refused to try on the other two, so Mom just put them on top of me.

We put away my red and black collar which Mom calls my "lumberjax" collar aka my winter collar.  Mom says I look so handsome in it, but the warm weather is here so I need to wear something that reflects that.  I am also supporting a turquoise name collar because it looks nicer with the new collar. It is not in the photo though.  Mom is all about trying to color coordinate me. 😛

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Is Sporting A Hawaiian Collar 

I Went To The Vet

 Happy Easter!

We have had a very busy week here.  Dad left the Island twice last week! 😲  On Wednesday, he bought new tires for our van.  He hadn't planned on it but he had one tire that couldn't be repaired and another one had a slice in it.  He ended up getting a good deal on the tires, so he bought four.  On Thursday, he and Mom went to an RV store to pick up the AC unit for the van.  They were gone for three hours!  They rarely leave the Island since Covid began.  I think the last time Mom left the Island was in October.  Actually, the last time they left, I cut my leg.  I got a little wild while they were gone. That is a whole other story.

On Friday, I had to go to the vet for my yearly check-up.  Mom was quite worried.  She works hard on my teeth, but greyhounds are known for their bad teeth.  She said she was a failure because she said I was going to have to have a dental.  She was also concerned with my weight.  It turns out that I have only gained two pounds in the past 14 months.  After I was weighed, the vet assistant needed to take my blood to check to make sure my heart worm preventative is working.  Well, she put a strap on my leg and that scared me.  I did the greyhound scream of death.  I scared her good.  I think she put it in my permanent file that I am dramatic because when the vet came in, he mentioned it.  Anyway, she took my blood and I was fine with that.  I just didn't like the strap she used on my leg.  Mom said she has never seen anyone do that to a dog.  

Waiting my turn at the vet

The vet came in and he checked my teeth.  You know what he did?  He removed the plaque right then and there.  He said it was easy to remove with his nail.  He showed Dad how to do it in the future, so I do not have to get a dental after all.  Mom was very relieved.  The vet said I should lose three pounds. Mom suggested five, but he said to try for three. Mom told him that I like fruits and veggies and he said those are great and they are free foods for me.  I like this man!  My blood tests came back fine, so I shouldn't have to see the vet for another year. 

Sleeping after the vet visit

I was exhausted after my vet visit and didn't even ask to go to the Walmart grocery pick-up. 

Mom is making a ham, sweet potatoes and green beans for our Easter dinner.  I love green beans.  She puts them in the Instant Pot with potatoes and they are delicious.  

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Scared The Vet Assistant

Plants and Flowers

Last February, Dad bought Mom an orchid for her birthday. She has always wanted one.  She really didn't know if she would be able to keep it alive, but it is still alive and now it has bloomed! 

Last year, Mom decided she wanted some house plants We live in a very small place, so we can't have many. She bought two: a philodendron and a snake plant. They have both grown a lot in a year and today, she re-potted the snake plant.  She said it is going to live on the balcony until winter.

Mom is wanting to get a dwarf snake plant.  Shhhh....don't tell Dad.  She might be able to sneak it in since it will be small. 😃

Mom told me when they had a house, she had tulips and daffodils in their yard.  We don't have a yard now, but she said you can force bulbs to bloom if you refrigerate the bulbs long enough before you plant them in containers.  She did that this year, but so far only two have bloomed.  They are pretty, but she is disappointed that only two bloomed.

I think she is going to try to grow some flowers on the balcony again this year.  We have not had good luck with that.  She said she thinks the salt air kills them.  She did plant moss roses last year and they survived the winter.  She replanted it today, but it doesn't looks too happy right now.  We will post photos if it makes it through the week.  

We had a very bad freeze here in Galveston in February and our landscaping around our building looks really bad now.  We don't know how much of it will pull through.  It is pretty sad.  

New neighbors moved into the unit that is two doors down from us.  They have two small dogs and they told us one is nice and one is not nice.  They are only going to be here on weekends and eventually they are going to rent their unit out. There are ten units on our floor and we are the only ones that live here full-time.  We are getting long-term renters in the unit right next to us later this week.  I hope they are nice because they will be here until next year.

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Is Not Impressed With Plants

Frustrating Day

 Mom says she is frustrated.  She has been trying to get someone from the cell phone company to answer some questions about switching plans.  It has proven to be difficult.  She tried to chat, but that didn't work.  She then just switched plans online and found that she lost her credit for autopay. She then called and after wading through multiple questions from a robot, she held for ten minutes.  The representative then set her up again for autopay and said the $20 credit was applied but it is not showing up.  She called back and she was told her new plan does not qualify for the credit.  😩 She is still saving money, but not as much as she had hoped.

The folks are participating in a Citizens Police Academy here starting tomorrow.  Mom did it a few years ago, but Dad didn't.  She missed two classes because Joey was sick one week and then he died the day of her last class, so she is taking it again. This time it is via Zoom. She has had a frustrating time setting Zoom up via their Fire Tablets.  She has a laptop but they both need to be signed in to get credit for the classes, so the Fire Tablets are the way to go. She thinks she has it figured out now.  She will invite Dad to a meeting later to see if is working.

The folks went to the grocery store today.  It was the first time they have gone together since last March.  They have been doing curbside pick-ups but Mom started running in after she became fully vaccinated and just picking up a few things. She usually goes early in the morning.  Dad is not an early morning person, so when they went, it was crowded.  She bought four pounds of apples and she dropped them and they went all over the place when she was checking out.  😂

They then went to Popeye's Chicken for lunch.  Mom normally loves their chicken sandwiches, but something went wrong today.  They loaded it with sauce and it was a tough sandwich.  She only ate half of it.  She didn't even save any for me.  I didn't even get a fry. 😒

Work was supposed to begin today for our new roof but it didn't happen.  We live in a high rise and it was too windy for the crane to take the materials up to the roof.  The materals are now in the parking lot and all the parking cones are being blown around.  High winds are not unusual for us since we live on the coast.

The cheesecake turned out good.  This month's cheesecake is a pecan caramel cheesecake.  The crust is pecan sandies and the pecans on top are toasted.  Mom makes her cheesecakes in the Instant Pot.  

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Is Bummed About The High Winds

Stormy Morning

 I woke up to the sound of thunder this morning.  I am not scared of storms, so it didn't scare me but it was annoying.  I am normally a late sleeper and the thought of walking in the rain makes getting out of bed even harder.  Mom tried to get me out of bed several times and I ignored her.  I knew we wouldn't be walking on the beach due to the weather, so what was the point in getting up?  She started getting aggravated with me at 8:30 a.m. and she said "If you don't get up now, you can't go with us for our Walmart pick-up."  I jumped out of bed.

The Walmart pick-up was uneventful.  We received everything but one thing on our list today.  Mom used to make what she called "wishlists" when she ordered groceries because it was really hit or miss but now it is common to just be missing one or two items which is not bad at all.

I helped Mom make a pecan caramel cheesecake in the Instant Pot today.  I didn't really help, I just watched her from my bed.  It is cooling now and then it will be refrigerated until tomorrow evening. Mom said she is going to make one cheesecake a month this year.  She missed January. 😄

The big news at our condo building is that we are getting ready for our new roof.  We live in a high rise, so they built a chute to send the old roof down to the dumpster.  A crane will come next to bring the supplies up to the roof.  There is always something going on here.  Dad is on the "board" here so he is involved in a lot of the projects. 

Mom was sad last night when she went through the blogs of the people she used to follow.  Almost everyone has quit blogging that she followed.  Three people have died.  She remembers when blogging was popular and she enjoyed "meeting people" that way. We are going to try and blog regularly but there really isn't much going on right now.  It will be more interesting when we start camping.

Jaxson,

The Greyhound Who Likes Sleeping Late