Vacation in Mobile

We left to go visit our friends in Mobile.

We stayed on the 10th floor of the Holiday Inn in downtown.

This was our view.

Look at that construction. Just past that is the bay.
More construction. It was a lovely view, made me wanna wear a hard hat while we slept.There was also a very cool battle ship museum.

I could only get pics while we were driving down the road so this is a little off center :(

We went to the Original Oyster house where they had huge stuffed sharks everywhere.

There was a lovely view of the water from our table. Unfortunately, this was the closest we got to the water cause the weather was horrible the next day when we were supposed to go kayaking.

I love going to restaurants where they literally have fresh food.

The next morning we were up early and decided to go to the hotel's restaurant down stairs for breakfast.

No continental breakfast for us. Holiday Inn's gross excuse for a breakfast came along with bad service, burnt french toast, undercooked waffles, and a pricey bill. But the OJ was good.

So we skipped out on the bill and they put my Hunny Bunny in jail.

Ok, not really. They had a really cool police museum, and with Hunny Bunny doing what he does for a living, of course we had to go.

Of course....boys are going to be boys.

After we enjoyed our time around Mobile we went and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at an indoor shooting range.

These are some happy boys with their loud toys.

Very proud Hunny Bunny.
In addition to being a great shot, he also received a Officer's award at the department last night for catching a robber in an awesome chase.

Oh, yes, armed, dangerous, and all mine.

I don't think he stopped smiling the entire time we were at the shooting range. He really enjoys shooting.

I had and opportunity to shoot my first gun.

I think I did ok for my very first time.

Maybe next time we will have the opportunity to enjoy the water and bring the puppers with us.

Yes, I know, an entire post with nothing mentioned about my fur babies. They spent the weekend being cared for by their Aunt TT whom they love dearly. When we got home, they didn't even seem to notice we had been gone for two whole nights, if that tells you how much fun they had with her puppy sitting.

Gypsey

A few weeks ago I started hearing yelping while the dogs were outside. I could not prove who it was because I never saw anyone do it and everyone would always come in happy as can be. Well a few days passed and I tried to spy on then through the window but could never find the dog that was hurting. It only took time before I found out it was Gypsey. She finally got to the point of screaming and limping she was hurting so badly. I started her on an anti-inflammatory for a few days and things seemed a bit better. A week passed and she started screaming and limping again. I was quite distraught at this point. My job often makes me think the worst. The fact that the pain meds weren't working anymore had me fearful of bone cancer. Having already lost one grey to cancer, I have dreaded even the thought of it in one of my pups now.

I took her to the clinic and did x-rays and didn't find much. That should be a good thing...right? I was even more upset, because how do you fix something that you don't know what it is. Well my fave Doctor, Dr. W, palpated her and found out we were having problems with our neck. Gypsey was started on steroids for a few weeks to see if that helped.

The first week was great. The steroids provided enough pain control she was comfortable again and we weren't having any side effects from the steroids. Unfortunately after the week passed we started having the same problems we were having with the anti-inflammatory, she was screaming and limping again.

I called Dr. W upset and she recommended Tramadol for added pain control. I did and we made it thought another week. Unfortunately, sometime during all this the side effects of the steriod caught up with us. Gypsey started peeing in the floor every 45 min and drinking the water bowl dry every time she found water in it. This point was a pain to get through, especially because we had house guest during this time and a giant pool of greyhound pee in the kitchen is not something you want your guest to have to clean up while you are away :( But this guest was the best and a trooper. Thanks Patrick.

Gypsey stopped eating during this time as well, just to add to the fun of it all. I would rejoice on the days she would eat at least a couple of cups of food, but some days she wouldn't even do that much for me. My little batty, crazy, old lady was starting to look like a bag of bones.

I've not posted anything about her because I've not been sure if there would ever be anything happy to post about her again. I was feeling like the end was near for this almost 13 year old grey. Until a few days ago. She ate a bite or two of her breakfast and all of her dinner. Then she started eating her food and checking to see if anyone else had anything left. Then she started to be annoying again, picking at you to pet her and rubbing that cold wet nose on you if you didn't. I've kept my excitement down because these are all little things that could change at the drop of a hat. But the reason I am finally posting about her progress you ask? I caught her digging my apple tree up. LOL I hate the apple tree anyway, but this entire time she's been sick she hasn't dug a single hole in the back yard. I don't know what she eats in the dirt, but she digs and eats something because I catch her doing it all the time.

So happiness, I think we will be ok for a while longer with Miss Gypsey.

Mardi Greys

This past Saturday we had a lovely time at New Orleans Bar and Grill. They were kind enough to allow us to bring our greys out to meet the public on their patio and raise some much needed green for our adoption groups. The entire get together was a wonderful success thanks to Vicki. I believe that between the silent auction and the 10%+ the restaurant donated from their sales that evening we made about $500!

I did get pictures....but a certain greyhound (Dan) was a big distraction...oh and the wonderful food I was trying to eat while attached to said greyhound was an even bigger distraction. So not many pictures from me for the event and the few that I did get were not very good at all. What matters is that Vicki throws a greyt shin-dig and Dan and I got to have a lovely evening together.

Dan met a lot of new greyhounds...

This was the only pic I could find where he was meeting the dog from a humanly acceptable way.

This is Olive. She is one of our buddies from Bham Greys. She was sweet enough to wear a donation jacket.

(I made the jacket!!! I has some skillz, though they are limited.)

This is Vicki, she put this entire fun raiser together. We all spent our time trying to untie leashes from tangled dogs/humans.

We had a few "honorary" greys.
Donation collector #1.

Donation Collector #2

This is how we park our greys while we tried to enjoy dinner. Don't worry, their owners were all sitting just out of the shot.

Sweet old girls, Mandy and Ester.

Bo is so photogenic.

Bo's sister Aztec would disagree and tell you she is prettier.

Lol, this would be how I ate my dinner as well. Grey crumb catcher.

This is a shot of part of our little get together on the patio.

Mardi Greys

Yep, I'm still neglecting my blog. I should have a fun update Saturday. The boys and I will be going to Mardi Greys at The New Orleans Bar and Grill. If anyone is in the Birmingham area and would like to attend our local greyhound adoption groups would really enjoy it. Thanks Vicki for putting this together. We are super excited to be going. This is the link to the invite.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=126578036229&index=1

New and shiny life

I really have been neglecting my blog. Sorry Bloggy.

In the past few months I've made some big life changing leaps in my life. I'm hoping all for the best, but I guess only time will tell. I need to really get back into agility with Dan, but all in good time. For now I'm enjoying this lovely pre-fall weather by getting out and jogging again. 18 lbs lost and about 12 more to go. I've tried to include the puppers in my morning and afternoon jaunts. Set has no interest and I end up towing him on the leash which is no fun for either of us. Dan is, as always, happy to go and do, but after last weeks pulled muscle in his hammys he is taking some needed time off.

They were a motley duo last week. Set was limping on his shoulder and Dan on his hind end. You would have thought I'd beaten them, we were just walking!
I'll get back to fun pic of the pups soon enough. But until then, I'll be enjoying some great company of long, loved friends, living it up in my new and shiny life, and concentrating on loosing this last little bit of weight that has crept up on me over the last couple of years. I'm enjoying life away from the computer for a while. It is quite lovely, you should stop reading this right now and just go outside for a bit. You'll like it...really.

Sunday morning

Sunday morning I hoped out of bed just in time to pack the boys up to head to the romp so they could play with their buddies and I could get some much needed happy time with friends after a really bad week. We drove all of ten minutes from the house when I got a call from the clinic saying they needed one of the boys for a blood transfusion. So we turned the little Yaris around and headed back to town. The boys were quite confused, they understand when it is Sunday and we are going to a romp. The fact that we were going the wrong way was very evident to them.

We got to the clinic and the boys checked the place out as usual.

Set was happy because he knew it wasn't his turn to get pocked with needles, he went last time.
What he had forgotten about was the canned food treat they always get at the end of donating. Set did get a little sad about missing out on that.

Dr. S had the pleasure of dealing with me and my over- protective ways. She did a wonderful job; one stick, no trouble, and finished in a hurry. She truly is a Rock Star in my book.

Dan is such a good boy. Here he is on his pallet while Dr. S is getting ready to stab him with a really big needle in the jugular.

30 min later and he got to enjoy his morning snack and all was forgiven for such a sucky start to what was supposed to be a great morning.

Since Dan couldn't go run after donating, I decided we should still get out and enjoy the weather. We went to a local park for a nice long walk through the bike trails.

I couldn't resist the stereotypical dog and fire hydrant pic. If you are wondering what the big orange thing around Dan's neck is, it is his 'band-aid' from where he gave blood.

The weather was cool and crisp and the trails are so nice and secluded.

The boys love going down these trails because there is almost always a squirrel or a rabbit near by that will jump out at any moment.

The trail opens up into a large field of kudzu. It is so pretty.

It is a little scary how much the kudzu takes over. There aren't many trees in this area that don't have it hanging from the branches.

The bike trails also have a bunch of old land marks that are fun to speculate what they were once used for.

When we came out on the other end it was still a beautiful day. I'm so glad I have my boys to make me happy. They are the best company a girl could ask for.

On Vay-cay

I'm really having a 'tuff' week right now.

There is sand everywhere.

There are these little fishes that keep biting my toes and we can't catch them.
I can only skate in a circle.

All of my friends look better in pics then I do.

I din't get to meat Harry, so these just gave me a pic instead.

Did I mention the sand?

My towel doesn't match my top.

And it is just so hot here we've got to sit under the water fall to keep cool.

These planes keep flying by with promises of food (torture).

Did I mention how cute my friends are?

And the sea gulls look weird...oh wait that is a pigeon! I guess they gots to go to da beach too.

There Scuttle is.

Sorry, enjoying the lovely beaches of Panama City right now. I guess I'll come back and play with the blog in a week or so. But for now, please be envious of these lovely photos.