Greyhounds and Porsches in one post..

What has the world come too!  :-)  We have been busy and enjoying the lovely weather.  We packed up a picnic and the greyhounds and went to Cooper Vineyards for their annual Memorial Day weekend festival. This is one of my favorite events.  The weather was fantastic this year.

 We started without a tent, but put one up after a bit.  We had the Parks and their kids, all five of ours, Bob and his 2, Mary and her 2 and Dave with Cooper.  So it was quite the greyhound party.
Dave brought a rawhide for Cooper..and somehow it ended up elsewhere.

 Cali couldn't be bothered..

 Dana takes a break and gets some scritches from Bob

 Then Dante ends up in Bob's lap.  Dante has had a rough month.  We thought it was time..but he has rallied as  he seems to always do.  Cushings disease, pancreatic deficiency, masticatory muscle myositis and arthritis..sometimes the levels get off and he goes down hard. But with some diligence and careful manipulations of the various drugs he is on..and he is back to good again. 

 I get one better and the other starts to fail. Shiloh has been doing really well lately. But on Friday she had another bout of pancreatitis.  We are still working with her and trying to get her to eat.  So far, I've only gotten her to eat my breakfast eggs this weekend.  I can stand to live with breakfast.  We did another round of bloodwork on Friday, so we will keep working on it. My old lady..

 

 Mary takes a nap with Shiloh

 A little puppy entertains us..super cute and tiny. 

 We watched my mom's dog, Truffles, for a bit.  He always looks so sad!

 We have Vesta now..she is the queen of Roaching..  She is very cute.

 But sometimes even the cute ones loose focus

Yesterday, Jason and I went to the Shenandoah Region Porsche Club's Richmond Porsche Meet.  We went last year and had a lot of fun.  It is always set at someone's house on the James River.  Just a beautiful house and location.

 Jason lines his car up amongst its "people". He doesn't put it in the competition, but we can still line up.

 And Bob lines his Caymen up as well. Bob does enter his car in the competition and wins every year. This year was no exception!!!

 Porsche booty everywhere

 Even though it was very hot, it was well attended. We had lunch under a huge tree/

 Jason did get to admire the 2013 version of his car..This can be the new dream.  I told him "of course you can have it..as long as the bank OK's it".  Pretty sure they'd laugh him out the door.  It was pretty nice though!!!

 Then we go on a "Rally" through back roads.  This year about 30 cars lined up and drove for about 2 hours.  They even provide a 'scavenger hunt" of questions for passengers. So I have a lot of fun.  leaving the house we cross a very "rickety' looking bridge.  It was super neat.

We turn a lot of heads and have a great ride.  The weather was perfect and the top was down. 

 We all stopped at Bruster's for some ice cream.  This is just one side of the lot..the other side looked the same!  Then we continued on to the final destination (Porsche dealership).  Then we went to a dinner banquet that evening for the competition awards. It was a neat event.

 Vacation next week!  We are going to Maine.  I am very excited.  The Parks will keep our kids since they are all ailing and need specialized care.

Hug them

We often talk about 'phases' in life.  When I graduated college, EVERYONE was getting married.  I had a closet full of bridesmaid dresses.  Then everyone was having babies..seemingly at the same time.  Then suddenly I knew a bunch of people getting a divorce. It is just the age and the phase we happen to be in.  And it seems, I am now in the phase that I've been in greyhound adoption for long enough to start seeing important hounds pass away.  We seem to be in a phase.
So hugs to the families who have lost these hounds over the last few months.  There are more but these specific hounds I had a hand in adopting through fostering or boarded often..and they will be missed.
These are all old photos..
Maggie..one of my first fosters and first home visits..her family will miss her terribly

 Maggie's "Brother" Booyah and Lulu..I fostered them at the same time and had this photo of them laying together.  Petey still misses his greyhound sister.  And Booyah was a special boy.

 Macy..I boarded her a lot and she was a great girl

And Truman..I took this photo while boarding him..he and Henry almost blended.  Another photo of two hounds that will be missed dearly...

I'm ready for this phase to be over.  My "god children" are also having a rough go (check out Gyeong's blog for updates).  And with my senior pack I know only hard days are ahead but seriously..the divorce phase was better than this one...
But I don't want this to be a downer post..so a few photos to prove we are still having fun (we didn't take dogs to GiG so I didn't take photos. I helped Kristen with the VAGA vending booth..so it was a working weekend and we missed Grapehounds b/c Dante wasn't doing well, the Parks were having medical issues and it just didn't seem like the right time).
We boarded Doc and Dinah for a few days and it reminded me of the fun of young dogs!

 Doc is super handsome..

 And let's see..Beau, SHane, Dana, Sooie, Belle, Cali, Dante, Shiloh and Smokey..it's a hounds life!!!

OutRoo

A lot of things have been going on so I am a little late with the newest addition to our house..no, it isn't another greyhound!
Long ago..we were members of another cult.  I detailed it back in 2007..feels like a lifetime ago!  But I was woo'd by shiny objects and fancy upgrades a few years ago and Jason was woo'd by ..well a better option..last year.
We are both 'car people'..and I've always traded around.  But this time I came back to my 'roots'.  Welcome..the new Outback

 For those that are interested..she's a 2013 Subaru Outback 3.6R Limited with Eyesight/Nav.  So far so good. And yes..the dogs have been in it and fit very nicely! They have more room and it is lower..so easier for the old ones.

 Petey even came to visit and got to ride in it.  He approved...and then he went back to the sunshine.

We had our spring picnic last weekend.  The weather was great! Shane got to have his first ice cream. And to say he loved it..was an understatement. At one point, he dove his head in to the container.

 My friend Nancy was holding the bowl while Rocket gave her the "Can I have some?" Look.  Shane ended up  having 4 bowls..we figured why not?

I "stole with permission" this photo from Gyeong's blog (where you can also get more photos from Katy's visit).  Shiloh doesn't like when I give other dogs attention.  Even in her feeble and dreamy state..she made herself known.  But that is why she is so special!  She is definitely my dog and I am her human!  

I am going to Greyhounds in Gettysburg next weekend but I'm not taking any dogs.  Is anyone out in blog land going?  I'd love to meet up if anyone is going.

Who could hate Texas Toast?

Spring has sprung!!!  And before our guest could arrive, we had some fun outside. We were watching Beau and Belle for the weekend and their newest 'adopter sister' Sooie!
Cali just doesn't play well with others...

 But she was content with everyone chasing her. Sooie is bringing up the rear!

 Cali..well..being Cali

 Sooie in action. She is still very young and in 'race form'..

 And then...the proverbial wheels fell off.  We had a visitor arrive.  Many of you know her as Ihatetoast with her last post being about my Henry.  Some of you know her simply as Katy and she visited us once before from Australia.   But now, she has moved back to Texas and she tagged along with her mom on a road trip..to Virginia! so we enjoyed her company for two days but more importantly..we got to finally meet Omo and Fabian!!! I've followed her blog for over 5 years and have waited a long time for this snuggle!

We essentially had a greyhound party to welcome her to the states.  I think the final count was 16 dogs and 6 people.

Some of them enjoyed a romp in the yard.. Fabian says "Who says dogs with 3 legs can't run?"

 Dinah, Cali, Doc, Fabian, Omo and Finley

 Doc does love this toy

Cali gave up and found a more comfortable location

I call this sequence.."different objectives"
Doc loves running with a toy..Does Fab want the toy or Doc?

 Oh no!  Toy down!

Doc puts on the breaks for an emergency U-turn but Fab has no clue the toy is the objective

This is the "crap..abort!" stage.  I almost got completely nailed..after this photo.

 We had a good time..lots of wine, greyhounds and laughs.  Oh yeah..and Petey!  Katy's lap became his new location.  Thanks for visiting Katy!!!