Practicing For Our Christmas Photos

Mama is not sure she will be able to get a good photo of us together for our Christmas photo. She took a few practice shots yesterday and these were the results.

Mama has been debating buying a new Christmas tree.  She donated our old one last year when we moved.  She found one she likes at the store and has been thinking about buying it.  However, she is worried that Joey will mark it.  He's been really good, but we haven't had a tree in our house.  Someone threw an artificial wreath in the field next to our house and Joey loves to "mark" it.  It's really making her wonder if she should chance a tree this year.  Mama is really the only one who cares about a tree and decorations.  I think they are just clutter and I bet Joey will think everything is a toy.

Scout

The Greyhound Who Hopes She Doesn't Have To Wear Antlers For Her Photo

Don't Put Things Off

Remember back in August when they cleared the land next to us and put up electric lines?  Well, a few weeks ago Mama noticed some sunflowers growing in the field.  She loves sunflowers and thought it was really neat to have them growing in the field.

There was one that was really big and had several flowers on it.  Mama kept saying she was going to take a picture of it, but she never did.   Then something really bad happened to it. 

Yep, a tractor ran over it.

The moral of the story is, if you see something you want to take a picture of, don't put it off because a tractor could run over it.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Doesn't Like The Tractor Being Parked Next To His House

Rainy Days Ahead

We woke up this morning to a very rainy day. Our gutters must be clogged because we had to go through a waterfall to get off the porch.  That really woke me up.   It's supposed to rain for the next three days. We may get up to three inches.  I'm not fond of rain, but I really hate it with my leg in a cast/bandage. When it rains, Mama not only puts my boot on me, but a sock and a plastic bag.  Yep, today I had to wear three things.  My boot is supposed to be waterproof, but we noticed after a few days that it wasn't.  Mama called the place she bought it from and the lady said "Oh, does he have a hard cast on?"  "Well, a hard cast wears off the water proofing."  She told Mama to duct tape it and that will help it.  It would have been nice if they would have told us that from the beginning.  It works fine when it's dry out, of course, but when the grass is wet then I have to wear a sock with it and on days like today, we add a plastic bag to it.  The bandage comes off on Thursday, so we just need to get through a few more days, but they will be very wet days.  ::::sigh::::  I hope I don't get the Big D again this week.  That could be really bad. 

We had a fun day yesterday. We went to a state park that I hadn't been to before.  Well, no one could remember for sure if I had been there, but Mama said I hadn't.  Scout and Daddy thought I had.  I couldn't remember.  Daddy says I'm clueless most of the time.  I'm not sure what he means by that.  Anyway, we walked around the campsites and looked at all the lucky people that were camping.  We talked to the host and then we came home and slept.   We watched a football game that was really good until the end but then the Rams lost in overtime. Mama screamed at the TV and then left the room.  We thought we might be on a winning streak, but we were wrong.

There was just a break in the rain, so we rushed outside as fast as we could and did our business. We should be fine until this afternoon  That's a relief!

Joey
The Greyhound Who Plans On Sleeping Away A Rainy Day

Murphy's Law Struck Our House

Hi everyone,

It's me, Joey, telling you how this thing called Murphy's Law struck our house on Friday.  Mama applied for a second job a few weeks ago.  She had to take two classes and do a lot of homework and studying. She has been so stressed about it especially since Daddy kept asking her about it.  It's not a job that will replace her other job.  It's just a second job that is really just a seasonal, part-time job, so why worry right?  Well, she didn't want to fail again after taking a second job over the summer and absolutely hating it.  She worked really hard to get it and then found that it involved a lot of upselling which she hated doing.  She didn't like customers yelling at her because she pushed products on them and she didn't like trying to talk people into buying more things that they probably couldn't afford. She doesn't like when people try to do that to her.  She really hates sales.

She scheduled the second and final class for Friday morning.  She scheduled a time when she knew that Scout and I would be napping and not making any noise.  It's not that we are noisy anyway, but she wanted to be sure because this job requires no background noise AT ALL.  If you get caught with background noise of any kind you are suspended.   Well, Friday morning I woke Mama up at 4 a.m. because I had the "Big D".  Mama thought everything was okay, but took me out at 9 a.m. again to be sure I would be settled down before her class. She should have let me sleep.  I couldn't settle down and I kept running through the kitchen.  My nails were going click, click, click.  I would then come in Mama's office and whine, whine, whine, huff, huff, huff and then run back in the kitchen and click, click, click.  I did this through Mama's entire class and verbal test.  She thought for sure she would get in trouble.  She kept muting her phone.  The instructor kept asking her questions, so there were many chances for her to get caught. She almost just hung up the phone a few times, but she didn't.  Finally, two and half hours later, she was told she passed and could hang up the phone.  She hurried and put my boot on me and we ran outside and I did my business and then I was happy.  We came back in and I promptly slept the rest of the day.  That's the story of how Murphy's Law struck our house.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Doesn't Like Murphy's Law



Camping Season Is Officially Over

The camping season here in Missouri is officially over.  It ends on Halloween.   People can still camp, but the state parks turn off the water.  There are some parks that keep a hose going for people to fill up their tanks, but not all.  Most people fill up their campers with water from home if they are going to camp now.  It is more expensive doing that because it weighs down your camper and if you pay for your water, well, you have to pay to fill up your camper. 

This past weekend, the park was almost full.  We stayed until Monday, so we watched everyone leave on Sunday.  It's really strange to see a park go from being full to empty.  Sunday night, it was just us and a pop-up at the campground.  Mama took pictures of the empty park as we were leaving.  It was sad saying good-bye to the park.

We really should have taken photos of the park when it was full.   The whole place was full of tents and campers.

We followed Daddy home instead of riding in the motor home because Daddy was concerned about the brake that the cars uses when it is towed.  We were only about 40 minutes from home, so it wasn't a big deal to ride in the Jeep.

I've really enjoyed my first three camping trips.  It's so much fun seeing new things, people and strange looking dogs.

We may go camping for Thanksgiving.  We have to wait and see how the weather is before we can say for sure.  Next year, I won't have my cast or bandage, so I will have even more fun than this year.  I can't imagine having more fun, but Mama says I will.  Weeeee!

Joey
The Greyhound Who Likes Camping As Much As His Big Brother Jack did

I'm A Big Boy Now

Apparently turning four makes me a big boy.  Mama said it was time for me to give up my crate.  I loved that crate!  She said that I no longer need it and we need to have it ready if our group, Greyhound Companions, needs it for another grey that is hurt or sick.  She took the extra foam that she had it in the crate and put it in my bed, so I guess that will make my bed more comfortable.  It's going to be strange not sleeping in the crate even though I haven't been zipped in it since I learned how to escape from it.

I visited the vet on Halloween.  I didn't wear my costume.  Daddy thought it would be silly, but some of the staff were dressed up, so I think they would have thought I was cute.  The vet said my leg looks great.  I didn't have any sores under the bandage, so that's really good.  He put a new bandage on me and I will have it taken off on the 10th.  If all goes as planned, I will come home with a naked leg on the 10th.  We did receive some disappointing news.  Mama still hasn't told Scout yet.  The vet doesn't want me running, playing or walking without a leash for four months!  I won't be able to play in the snow.  I'm bummed.  Scout has been trying her best to get me to play with her and I want to so much, but I can't.  The vet is very cautious and Mama said we need to do what he says.  Mama promised to take us to the park and on hikes to make up for the no playing rule.

I had a nice birthday.  Mama put a little peanut butter on our frosty treats.  I like peanut butter now, so that was a nice surprise.

After we had our treats, I opened up my present.

Oh, it's a skunk without a head.

It squeaks and it has something that sounds like crackling in it.  It's pretty cool!   I have to remember that my skunk toy is in the house and if I see something like it outside, I can't grab it.

After we played with my new toy, we each had a bully stick.  It was a good day!

Joey
The Greyhound Who Enjoyed His First Birthday In His Forever Home

It's My Birthday!

It's my first birthday in my forever home!  I'm so excited.  I never celebrated a birthday before.  I am officially four years old!  I know that I am getting a gift after dinner tonight.  I don't have a clue what it is.  I hope it's something that squeaks and not food.  I'm really not a food hound.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Is Now 4!