Chase Takes Over WaMu

I woke this morning to the news that Chase has purchased Washington Mutual. I have had my mortgage with Washington Mutual for many years. In fact, this is the second home I have financed with Washington Mutual. It's scary to me when my mortgage is sold. Washington Mutual purchased my first loan many years ago. I'm always worried about new conditions that the new company will have. I have a few credit cards with Chase though and they have been a good company to me. I checked Washington Mutual's website this morning and Chase's name is already on it. They definitely work fast.

This economy is really making me nervous.

My Girl Needs Mudflaps!

Jack is my first greyhound and my first male dog. I’ve tried to be careful with his collar color choices to make sure they are manly enough. My husband, Jeff, was not thrilled when I started crocheting scarves for Jack. I don’t think either of them thought they were manly enough, even though I chose blue as the color. When we decided to adopt a second greyhound there wasn’t a doubt that it would be a girl. I wanted a girl that would wear pink collars, hats and my crocheted scarves. I dreamed of a petite, red fawn with dark eyebrows as the red fawns make my heart flutter. Finally, we were ready to find my little diva. I was surprised that I fell for a red brindle named Scout. Her 74 pounds did not make her petite, but the same size as Jack. I already decided that my girl would be named Katie, so the Scout name had to go. It wasn’t long after Scout’s arrival that I learned that Scout was not a Katie. She didn’t look like a Katie and she responded to the name Scout. So, with a heavy heart, I changed her name back to Scout. I soon learned that Scout was not going to be my diva, my girly girl. I placed a hat on her and it seemed to take all the life out of her. I put a velvet jester collar on her at Christmas and again, she deflated until the collar came off. The girl has “ETS” (Escaped Tongue Syndrome) for gosh sakes! I’m sure you’ve seen it. She lets about a ¼” of her tongue hang out the side of her mouth. It’s just not a diva thing to do, but it definitely makes me laugh. One day Jeff and I were watching her run in the yard. She was running in the mud and having the time of her life. Mud was flying everywhere. Jeff said that she needed mud flaps. It was about that time that she stopped running and rolled in the mud. :::sigh::: She is definitely not the dog of my dreams, but she’s my Scout and I wouldn’t trade her for all the “Katie’s” in the world.

Scout will celebrate her first "Gotcha Day" with us on September 29th.

Camping at Sam A. Baker State Park

This past weekend, my husband and I along with our two greyhounds camped at Sam A. Baker State Park in Missouri. http://www.mostateparks.com/baker.htm

The park is very nice. A paved biking trail that starts at campground 1 and passes campground 2, the visitor's center, the store and ends at the restaurant. It is a very easy ride. I had a deer racing me at one point and I was scared that the deer would cause me to crash into him. It would just be my luck, but the deer stayed out of my way....thank goodness.

The campsites are spacious and campground 1 is full of pine trees. See the Class A motor home in the photo? That's ours. We purchased it this past March. We had a 23' trailer before it and pulled that trailer with our Jeep Liberty. The Jeep prefers being our tow vehicle.

We try to camp about twice a month and have found Missouri state parks to be nicer than private parks.

Jack is in CG Magazine!

Today is an exciting day in my home. The postman delivered the latest issue of CG Magazine and my Jack's photo is in the issue. He is on page 41. Isn't he a handsome guy?

Jack will be five in January. We adopted him in June 2006. Jack is truly a rescued greyhound. He was abandoned and would have certainly died if not discovered in a barn that was about to be torn down.

Jack is such a joy. He is a happy boy who has such a bounce in his step. He makes me laugh every day.