Santa Needs His Hearing Checked

I asked Santa for a guinea pig.  He gave me a pig.  They are not the same thing, Santa.  I think I already have a pig like this.  I need to check my toy box.  Disappointing!

We haven't been around much.  Mom has been sick with a cold, allergies or sinus issues.  She is not quite sure.  Her biggest problem the last few days has been low energy.  She finally started feeling better yesterday and took Buddy out for a ride. Yes, she went out on Christmas Eve. She said the traffic wasn't bad at all.  I thought we had turned the corner on illness, but now Dad is sick.  I am really getting tired of all this coughing, sneezing and blowing noses.  It really interrupts my day.

We had a change in weather last Saturday.  We dropped over 50 degrees in just a few hours.  It was crazy!  We had wind chills in the single digits.  Mom said it was worse in Missouri and elsewhere.  I wore my coat and boot.  Mom wore a hoodie under her coat along with gloves and a scarf.  Going outside took a while to get dressed, so I made sure that it was time well spent.  We walked like it was a nice day.  Nice and slow.  BOL!   This weekend, it is nice and warm - 70's. The AC is running today.

Mom got a really bad haircut almost two weeks ago at Great Clips.  She asked to just have her hair trimmed and shaped up. Well, the girl either was inexperienced or decided to be creative. She cut off 2" on one side giving Mom a shag.  Remember Carol Brady?  Yeah, that was Mom's cut on one side.  She didn't even measure when cutting.  It was whack, whack, whack.  The first cut did the most damage. Another stylist had to come in and try and fix it. The bad stylist kept shooting daggers at Mom while her hair was being "fixed".  At the end, Mom lost 3" and was told it was all that could be done until it grows.  Mom is still pretty upset about it.  She is trying to decide if she needs to cut off more of her length to make it look right or just keep wearing hoodies.  She complained about the haircut and is supposed to get a coupon for a free haircut.  She hasn't received it yet.  It probably is not coming. She isn't planning on ever going back there, but Dad said he would use the coupon.

Want to hear another complaint?  Mom ordered a candy thermometer from Amazon.  It was supposed to get here last Friday.  The tracking said it was out for delivery.  Then, it said there was a delay.  Friday night, Amazon called and put Mom on a conference call with the supervisor of the driver.  He said the package had been lost in the vehicle, but was now found.  He asked if she needed it delivered Friday night.  It was close to 8 p.m., so Mom asked if they could deliver it on Saturday. The supervisor said that yes, they would deliver it on Saturday.  Mom said that was fine.  Well, they didn't deliver it on Saturday.  They scheduled it for Monday!  Grrrr!  Mom needed it for Sunday.  She called and explained the conversation of the night before that they recorded, but the best they could do was Monday.  Mom cancelled it and ordered it through Prime Now and had it within two hours.  Why couldn't they have done that?

Okay, for some fun stuff.  This is how we decorated this year.

Our flag is two-sided.

Mom decorated our windows this year.

You can still see our neighbors' appliances.

Those people are a reflection of our TV. 

Snowman changes colors.

Our greyhound ornaments.

Tree we bought in Lancaster County.

We also put a bow and "Merry Christmas" on our front door, but we haven't been able to get a good picture of it.

Mom will probably put all our decorations back in the shoe box tomorrow.  BOL!

The folks have reservation at Mom's favorite steak place here, but I am not sure they are going since Dad is sick.  We may just have nachos.

Friday night's sunset.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Still Wants a Guinea Pig

I Saw Santa!

It is another chilly day here.  The sun was supposed to come out, but it has been MIA all week.

Today was pretty exciting.  Mom said I was going to Petsmart to see Santa.  We had to get the oil changed in the Jeep first.  Let me tell you, getting the oil changed is boring!  Yes, there were lots of people and there was another dog there, but I wanted to get to Petsmart.  Finally, we were on our way.

When we arrived at Petsmart, it was just like you see on the commercials.  There were dogs all over heading inside. I was so excited!  I love going to Petsmart. I thought the line would be really long to see Santa, but there were only a few dogs ahead of me.  One dog surprised me by coming up from behind and he sniffed my stuff.  Mom said I jumped two feet off the ground. I doubt that was true, but my feet did leave the ground.  His nose was cold.

Santa didn't ask if I was good. He didn't ask what I wanted.  I think it was one of those "Don't ask, don't tell" things.  I was okay with that.

This is the official picture from Petsmart.

 The pictures are free and they didn't mind Mom taking her own photos.  She put her camera on continuous mode and shot about 30. The following are her favorites.

After we took the pictures, I did a little shopping.  I told Mom I wanted a guinea pig for Christmas.  She said that was probably not going to happen.  I then said a bully stick.  I heard the folks discussing it, but it doesn't sound good either.  They think I will cut my tongue again.  I didn't see any toys that I wanted.  Petsmart is just too exciting to pick out a toy.

We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for lunch. Yum!

I am now settling in for a long nap.  It has been a good day!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Saw Santa

I Was Promised A Warm Winter

The folks told me that we would have a warm winter.  They were wrong.  They said on the news that it hasn't been this cold in two years.  Today, it didn't get above 35 and with the wind, it was in the 20's. I had to wear a coat!  Mom asked a guy that works here if they shut the water off when it gets below freezing.  He said they don't.  They just put a sign up saying to keep your faucets running.  Tonight, it will get down to 24, so we will see what happens. We have a new heated hose, so hopefully it works for us. Mom has been trying to conserve our propane, so we have just been using our fireplace and our furnace on the electric mode.  We have kept all the shades down to keep the heat inside.  Mom stresses a lot about using our propane because getting it re-filled involves driving the rig to a place to have it filled.  We know that much of the country is much colder than us and we shouldn't be complaining and we are happy that we haven't seen ice or snow yet.  We just don't like the cold.  It takes a long time just to get ready to go outside.  Gloves, coats, hats, etc. 

I knew I should have gone to Florida with Grandma.

Santa will be at Petsmart this weekend.  Mom said we might go.  She made me a new collar so that I look extra handsome when I see the big guy.  I really don't care about seeing him.  I just like going to Petsmart.  

My new snowman collar.

You know that Mom loves her air fryer.  Well, she was frustrated with the size, so she bought a bigger one.  She used her work money to buy it, so it was free in her mind.    This one is a GoWise 5.8.  Her other one is a Paula Deen 3.5.  Paula Deen just came out with a bigger one but it is sold out supposedly until spring.  There were a couple of factors that influenced Mom to buy the GoWise.  It has buttons and not dials.  Mom said that is easier for her.  She could also buy it through Amazon and use her work money on it. She hasn't fixed any meals in it unless you count lunch, but so far she is happy with it. It arrived on Monday. She will fix wings next week and that will be a good test.  She used to have to do wings in batches and she thinks she will be able to do them all at once with the new fryer.  She may try to make Red Lobster biscuits in it tonight to go with our Chicken Marsala that has been cooking all day in our slow cooker.

Old and new

The new one is quite a bit bigger.  It is more powerful too.

Mom and I have been hunting squirrels every day except today. They were not out today.  I searched and searched and couldn't find them.  Mom said they are probably in bed. :::rolls eyes:::

Joey,

The Greyhound Who Is Glad That Nice Weather Is Returning This Weekend

I Went Squirrel Hunting

We moved to our new campground on Sunday.  It wasn't without some drama though.  We were ready to go and then one of our slide toppers decided not to roll up properly.  Dad tried it several times.  He then looked up information on the Internet.  Then, the tools and ladder came out.  Mom didn't think he would be able to fix it.  It was really cold as the wind was really gusty.  Dad unscrewed a few screws and then came inside and pushed the slide button.  A big BANG occurred which made Mom scream.  Dad went back outside and looked at the slide topper and declared it fixed.  He thinks the screws needed to be loosened so that it could fix itself.

We finally got on the road.  I rode with Mom.  It was a long drive due to construction.  It took us about an hour and a half.  We finally arrived at the campground.  Mom was disappointed to learn that we didn't get the site that she was told was ours.  We ended up in a site next to a very messy neighbor.

The last time we were here, corporate was here and the managers were nervous.  I guess some changes have been made. There used to be blue tarps on many of the campers.  They must have said no blue tarps because now they have gray ones.  Some of the messy neighbors that were here are gone, but new ones have moved in.  There is a wait list to get in and Dad said they could easily clean out the messy people and fill the place up with new people.  They could enforce the rules, but they just don't do it.  Mom gets so aggravated when rules are not enforced.  However, she is violating the rules herself.  She put our lawn chairs, garden flag and wind chime out on our site.  Those items are against the rules.  She is not worried since most people have those things plus junk and no one seems to care. We haven't complained because we don't want to make enemies.  Management definitely knows they are messy and allows it.

Breaking the rules.

Why do we stay?  Well, the location is great.  Dad's drive is much better. The campground has a really nice dog park for me and there are SQUIRRELS!

Mom took me squirrel hunting today.

This guy was a lot of fun.

A couple people cheered me on while I was hunting.  I followed this guy around for quite a while.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Loves Squirrels

Hawk Vs. Jeep

It is pretty quiet around this place.  There is a lady and her dog that Mom and I walk with some mornings.  She thinks it is strange that I pee a lot.  I think it is stranger that her dog eats poop. BOL!

We have seen a number of people walking their dogs who don't stop long enough for their dogs to do their business.  The dogs have to do it on the run.  The people don't stop to clean up after their dogs either.  There is a trail of their poo across our site.  Grrrr!

Just me being handsome.

...and silly.

The folks went to Win Star World Casino for Thanksgiving.  They have a buffet that Mom wanted to check out.  Last year, they ate at a steak place on Thanksgiving, but had the turkey dinner.  Mom said she would not make that mistake again.  It definitely didn't feel like Thanksgiving. There were no "seconds".  Mom said she wasn't even going to eat turkey this year.  However, this place was so packed that she got stuck in the turkey line.  She ended up eating Thanksgiving food and it was good.  She also had Mexican and Chinese.  She couldn't decide if she wanted pumpkin pie or pecan pie and discovered they had her favorite dessert, Tres Leches (three milk cake).  She had that and it was delicious.

The folks decided to play the penny slots.  Mom put a dollar in and she won the first two spins.  Dad told her to bet it all and she ended up winning $18.  She said that was enough and she cashed in her winnings.  No, she is not a gambler.  BOL!

The casino.

On the way home, the folks had quite the surprise.  A hawk crashed into their windshield.  The speed limit was 75, but they were probably doing 65.  Mom saw the hawk coming at them and she closed her eyes.  She then heard "BAM".  She opened her eyes to see that the windshield was broke.

It really was hard getting a good picture of the windshield.  This was Mom's side.  Dad's side also had a crack going across it.  They checked online and were able to get an appointment at Safelite to have the windshield replaced on Friday.

All fixed

On the way home from Safelite, they stopped for lunch at Razzoo's Cajun Cafe.  It has been a while since we have posted any food porn, so here you go:

Fried pickles - excellent

Cheeseburger, fries and hush puppies - very good.  Mom wanted alligator, but they didn't have it.

Catfish, rice and beans

Mom and I are just hanging out today while Dad is at work.  We are moving to a new campground tomorrow!!!  We are not looking forward to the drive or getting parked there as it is hard to get into the campground, but once we are there, we will be happy.  Mom has a plan to help Dad get into the campground.  Dad needs to be in the far lane so that he can swing the rig wide to get into the campground. Mom is going to stay in the other lane with the Jeep and block the traffic.  I haven't decided who I am going to ride with yet.

This is the entrance to our current campground.  Have you ever seen such a wide street for a campground?  It is because there is a RV dealership here.

Cacti here.

We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Didn't Get Any Thanksgiving Goodies This Year