All for the cause

I know I have said we had a lot of dogs before...I didn't mean it. I thought I did..but I was wrong. ;-) We are watching the Alfano dogs this week..FloJo, Sara and Tristan. I have pictures of them in past blogs. I am also watching Wolf..the Alfano's were watching him last week and his owners are coming home on Sunday. So we have him for a few days. He is a sweet 8 year old boy.

Then today we had a haul of 15 dogs!!!! 10 of them had homes..which is just awesome. With the recent closure of tracks in Florida, the situation has gotten dire. Tracks like SOKC (Dana's) and JCKC (Cali's) take the brunt of these closures..those that don't make it to these 'off-tracks' meet an uncertain fate. And those that do make it too these tracks..have the same uncertain fate. Once they are at these tracks, their racing days are numbered. We call them 'end of the line' tracks. Adoption groups around the country help ease the burden and take dogs that have no where else to go. So today, we pushed the limit and came out great! Here are some of the dogs walking in to the bath house very early this morning
Everyone getting their bath..they were full of fleas, dirt and nastiness..
Here are some waiting for their turn with the soap!I think this was Where's my Spice..but she was a CUTIE

Then we brought home our foster, Southern Lovin...what are you supposed to call this one? We named her Belle. I will get better pictures of her this week..but after batheing for 3 hours and getting up at 6AM..I am tired!
We also brought home Apollo for a few hours. His new foster mom picked him up this afternoon. He was a big lover! Such a sweet handsome boy!So if you have been doing the math while reading this..you realize we had 10 dogs for a while this afternoon. A familiar shot is below..but the only people are Jason and I! From bottom left is Shiloh, Dana, Sara, Jo, Apollo, Belle, Cali. Dante is on the recliner. Tristan is not pictured..so they aren't all in there!!!

We also went to a Wine festival today to benefit the Richmond SPCA and took Cali and Sara. They are great Ambasa-dogs for the greyhounds. We talked to egads of people and everyone just thought they were beautiful! They are definitely worth every bit of effort!!!! Now..time for a nap!

We will miss you Dani!!!!!

So you have probably heard me mention through the years, that I am part of a 'girls night' every week. A bunch of us get together and take turns cooking. We loosely refer to it as "wcjlc" which stands for 'white chick joy luck club' basically b/c we aren't Asian but we felt the idea should still fit. ;-) But I digress...One of our girls has decided to take a job in Madison, Wisconsin. Why...we aren't fully sure but we are hoping she will find all the happiness possible and will be appreciated as she should in her new endeavors. She has started a blog so hopefully we can keep up with her through her new life's chapter. But we will miss you, Dani!!! We went out for a 'good-bye' dinner last week. Here are Laura, Stephanie, Dani, me, Jenni and Amanda (down front) after a nice meal at Curry House. Good luck!!!!!

On the dog front, I was supposed to help with a huge dog haul today but the weather here and in Florida is just too daggone hot. So the haul was postponed until next week. I hopefully will get some cool pictures..there are 12 dogs coming up at this point and we are hoping to get more! How great to save so many at once especially since 2 tracks have recently closed in Florida leaving many dogs with unknown futures.

So no fosters this week..but we still have Macy boarding. She is a very cute fawn girl who is quite easy.

Cali is doing great. She is such a love bug that if a lap isn't available she squirms in to any nitch she can find that has body heat. Dana and Macy were laying comfortable on their beds until Miss Cali came flopping down. No one seemed to mind.

And I couldn't resist this photo..Dante LOVES sunbeams....and he is fat. So pictures like this are funny in so many ways.

Two Year anniversary trip

Before getting in to my weekend, I wanted to say good-bye to Clayton..you can see pictures on Gyeong and Shannon's blog. We helped bring him up from Florida last October and you can see pictures of him at my house last weekend in my last blog entry. We will miss him.

We are now down to one boarder, Macy. I don't have any pictures of her as of yet b/c we were pretty busy on Saturday. Since Jason was on call on our actual anniversary day, we decided to celebrate it this past weekend. We drove the two hours to Stone Mountain Winery in Dyke, Virginia. It was 2 miles up the Blue Ridge Mountains along a gravel pig path but the treacherous drive was worth the viewThe wine was pretty good but we decided to hang there and eat lunch on the deck. The weather was a perfect 80 F


Then we drove further north to Luray Caverns, which was quite amazing! I took a ton of pictures and actually weeded them down for the blog! It was amazing to see what water can do...

And even more amazing..was that the stalactites and stalagmites were still growing!

I love this picture..b/c it is very deceiving. These are stalactites in the ceiling of the cave being reflected by a 'mirror' of water. There are no formations on the floor..

And there was a 'wishing well' that has raised over 630,000 dollars for charity

And let's be honest..what would a trip be without pictures of Jason making weird faces in odd locations? He didn't have a drink to point too!

And just to prove I was actually there..

Then we drove another few hours west to Prince Michel Winery in Leon, Virginia. This is a huge winery with great wine. We had another snack on their porch to enjoy a glass of their wine and then drove home. Amanda spent some quality time with the 8 dogs at my house that day.

We had a lot of fun and the weather was fantastic!

Dogs, Dogs and more dogs!

It was a dog weekend. We had our offical adoption of Cali on Friday night. And it wouldn't be an 'event' at our house without dinner and alcohol! Nerice brought her dogs over and we were able to get a moo-cow dog picture of Maggie, Dana and Ally.

Luckily we got all the dog stuff out of the way early. In true fashion, Brian and Gil had a moment...

Then Gil had to prove himself to Jenny as well. Notice Cali..never moves. She is getting a rubbing and could care less about all the commotion going on around her.
We are keeping Maggie and Booyah for the Ridlon's as well as Lulu for JAne and Matt. So we have a houseful. Here is maggie enjoying the sun for moment today. She is doing really well and having a good time.
And Booyah..such a sweetie. He is a sweetie and very handsome.

And Lulu..now as a disclaimer this picture was taking a few months ago. She hasn't changed physically but after following her around today with the camera..I realized her fear of all things with a lens is quite deep rooted. I realized I was traumatizing her just by trying to take her picture..maybe she spoke to an aborigine and feels it is taking her soul. She is pretty scared of everything..shaking through all Meet and Greets and crumbling when anything makes a loud noise in my house. But she is sweet but I am working on getting her a backbone.

Yesterday we had a Meet and Greet at the local Petsmart. We had a record number of dogs I believe! I brought 5, Kristen brought 8 and Amanda and Kenney brought their 2. You can see pictures of the event on Amanda's blog. You won't see Jason at the MG..he had too many Irish Car bombs on Friday night and was green on the couch! But afterwad, we all came back to my house. So put all those dogs...in my house.Starting from Cali (down in front) and working around clockwise is Cali, Maggie, Clayton, Blue, Dana, Stella, Dante (he is peeking) Jasmine, Stanley, Luke, Jaime and Sandy. We are missing in this picture Ana, Lulu, Parker, Shiloh and Booyah. They are in the living room. It was a lot of fun though. Can you imagine having this many dauchsunds or terriers? We would be bald!
And for a final picture..here is Cali, Booyah and Shiloh striking a pose today in the sun. The weather has cooled off quite a bit so it isn't impossible to be outside.

Roo Roo's boo boo and the California girl

So..it is hot. It is 107F outside right now and that pretty much makes everything and everyone miserable. Just thought I would mention that in the beginning. ;-)
Dana Roo Roo has a boo boo. Basically....the scenario from my perspective went "Dana..come inside" as I walked in the back door. A loud crash boom bash occurred at the steps on the deck. I turn around with fear in time to see legs and tail in the air. I run outside to see if she is ok and she rebounds,runs up the stairs and wiggles and roos at me. Cool. From her perspective.."mommy calling..gotta go inside..go inside..up the stairs..one stair...two..OOOHH butterfly" crash! "I'm ok!"
A while later..I notice she isn't ok. She has done a doozy to her leg..not really sure why she didn't give me a hint that she was hurt. So after some serious at home vet work..she is healing nicely albeit with a pink leg!

Cali is doing really well. I always asked foster mom how they knew 'the right one'. As fosters we sort of get that option to 'test drive' them as well as to see a variety of personalities. Many would not have been a match but some would have been. Timing has always been an issue or just not having 'that' feeling. Now I realize what everyone was talking about. We love all greyhounds...but like all pets some are made for you. Here is a photo string of why Cali is perfect for us...
Not really sure what she was doing here...but it was cute.

Jason watching TV in the recliner.

Jason playing his Xbox 360Jason relaxing on the couch after a big meal

Shiloh and Cali on the couch. Shiloh has never had a gh on the couch..she doesn't understand the meaning of 'danger zone'. I am assuming she will figure it out one day!!!

I think she likes it here. All fosters are put through the 'snuggle' test...she passed with flying colors and never looked back!

And for all you men out there..here is a lesson..

Just because

Because I was an arse

;-)

Pass the dip

I think by now everyone is aware that we were always on the lookout for the next greyhound. I have waivered between a big boy and a little female. Jason has wanted a gh that will lay in his lap and snuggle with him like Stella does with Gyeong. We had decided about a year ago that we wouldn't actively look but through fostering..it would one day come. Our requirements were small, loving, loads of personality, willing to lay in laps and I prefered the dark brindles...getting the idea?

When Beth arrived..it was obvious something was different about her. We couldn't keep her out of our laps and she truely wants to be there. She is stubborn and has a lot of attitude but isn't overbearing. After 15+ fosters..we had never come across one quite like her. And all my friends, without prompting, gushed over how well she fit and how much she adored us. So when we were told she was getting adopted tomorrow...we couldn't let her go.

So meet the newest member of the Stumpf family.. Cali.

She is named Cali b/c tomorrow is our 2 year wedding anniversary and we got married in Napa Valley, California. And since she is technically an anniversary present, we decided to name her after the fine state in which we were wed. She has already gotten used to us not dragging her off the couch.

And is right at home in a lap...she will put herself there if you don't put her there yourself.
We are watching Ana and Blue for Amanda and Kenney so they were romping with the tennis ball this afternoon. She is incredibly fast and VERY spunky for a four year old.
She is very pretty and weighs less than 55 lbs. We are very excited to have finally found the right one...we are still fostering. No worries on that one..she has way too much energy for Dana and Shiloh alone.
I knew I would fail one day (we definitely told everyone we knew we would)..it was just a matter of the right one coming around.

Damn Lay's potato chips.....