Lost Greyhound - Max

Max is a white with brindle male that is currently lost in Middleburg, VA. He has been lost for a couple of days now. It’s a bit over an hour away from the house, so I decided to trek up there this morning to see if I could catch a sighting of Max. The more people searching, the better the chances. I spent a couple of hours driving around the area and ran into quite a few others doing the same. It’s on the way to Blue Ridge Vet, at least the back way I take, so I was somewhat familiar with the area. This is Virginia horse country, so the properties are quite large and the area is quite rural. It would have been pure luck to catch a sighting of him since so much of the area is heavily wooded. As of this afternoon, haven’t gotten any updates that he has been seen or is safely back home. I hope our guys never get loose, but it’s nice to know that the greyhound community is there to support us if it happens.

VAGA Picnic

Our annual VAGA picnic was held at the Elsbernd’s in Leesburg. They have a 2 acre fenced-in backyard. We had about 75 greys and over 100 people, and there was plenty of space for all the kids (human and canine) to run around and have fun. We were there from about 1-4pm. Our kids got to run around pretty much the entire time. They will be pooped for the next couple of days. We went up with Jason and Trina. We took Stella, Lucas and Angel. They brought Dana and Thunder. Our non-greys (Parker, Murphy, Shiloh and Dante) spent the day at my house. Highlights for the Park family: Kristen was introduced as a new board member and Lucas got the tallest/biggest greyhound award. We always knew he was a big lug. Also, we came back one dog down. A family from Waynesboro came to the picnic to check out Angel and left with her after signing official adoption papers. Their previous grey was a senior when they got him, and they were looking for a younger more active grey. Angel is young, active, and such a sweetie. Who will be our next foster???

Babysitting!

Beginning this weekend, we are watching Murphy as well as Aubry’s kitties. Both for a week or so. That makes our three dogs and three cats plus Angel plus Murphy plus Aubry’s two kitties for a total of ten furballs in the house. They outnumber the humans 5 to 1. We have multiple dog beds downstairs and upstairs. Gets to be a pain dragging beds up and down. Costco’s Kirkland beds are cheap enough that we essentially cover most of the house in dog beds. Our kitties are down in the basement and aren’t too keen on coming up when we have this many dogs in the house. Aubry’s kitties are spending their vacation here in the guest bedroom.

Aubry's Graduation Party!

We held a party at the house Sat night for Aubry’s ‘official’ graduation from the University of Mary Washington. This was our first big cookout of the season. The forecast had called for afternoon thunderstorms all week. Luckily, the rain stayed away. Aubry’s mom came in from Roanoke to help celebrate. Since Aubry is now part of the greyhound ‘cult’, quite a few greys came for the party. There were 15 dogs and 10 were greys (a practice for next week’s annual VAGA picnic). They all got along great, and we had a fun time watching them run around the yard. We had a varied menu including two types of Virginia wine-based sangria, home-made guacamole, bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers, and bulgogi-marinated tri-tip steak as well as the usual fare of swedish meatballs, bratwurst and chicken wings. Something for everyone. The grill got quite a workout. After it got dark, we started a fire in the iron pagoda on the patio enjoying the heat while the night chilled around us. We set off some fireworks, and a couple of them surprised us when they whistled loudly then flew 100 ft or so in the air. Dante the dachshund tried to attack the fireworks as they were going off.

Cinco de Mayo weekend

Friday was Cinco de Mayo. Had a few friends over for a fajita cookout with margaritas. It rained midday and let up just in time for us to grill and eat on the deck before the sun went down. After the rain rolled through, it was a bit chilly, so we started a fire in the iron pagoda chiminea on the patio. Relaxing to just chat while watching the fire sipping on margaritas. On Saturday, we had a carwash fundraiser for the greyhounds at the Culpeper SuperWal-Mart. We had no idea what we were in for since this was our first carwash. We were all pleasantly surprised to make $591 by the end of the day. Since that will be matched by Wal-Mart, it was quite a successful fundraiser. We lost both of our fosters on Saturday. Zeke went up to Leesburg to meet a possible forever home. Angel went down to Richmond with Jason & Trina. We had originally planned on baby-sitting a couple of greys next week for a recent VAGA adopter. But she found people to house-sit for her. So now we are fosterless for a couple of days. Since Jason & Trina still have Thunder (a month now), I will pick up Angel on Monday to put us back at one foster each. On Sunday, we went over to Aubry’s to have lunch in downtown Orange. Then we headed to the Montpelier Wine Festival a few minutes away. This was about the same size as the James River Wine Festival last weekend. A local festival with local vendors. We bought a mix of different wines, a few dry mixes for dips, and a few bottles of sauces. We love being able to support the local growers and producers.

First Bike Ride of the Year

Went on my first bike ride this year. I met my ol’ riding buddy Greg. We’ve been riding together for the past decade or so. When I was in graduate school, we used to go riding several times a week. Over the years, it’s been less and less each year. Guess that’s what happens when you get out of school, get married and settle down, and have family responsibilities. But we try to keep the tradition up and go riding a few times every year. Today we did a two hour ride in Pocahontas State Park. They put in some mountain bike only trails since the last time we were there. I’m still riding my full-rigid (aka no shocks) Bontrager Privateer. At my age, I should be riding a dual-suspension bike :) But it was fun to go for a ride and catch up on things.

James River Wine Festival

On Sunday Kris, Aubry and I went down to Richmond for the James River Wine Festival at the Innsbrook pavilion where we met up with Jason and Trina. I also ran into my old graduate school friend Rob and his fiancee Jen at the event. Most of the wines were so-so, but there were a few good ones. I guess that’s good, so that we didn’t feel the need to buy them all. We mainly ended up buying wines to make sangrias for Aubry’s graduation party. After a couple of hours of sun, we headed back to Trina’s for a cookout. I think this was Jason’s first cookout at the new house, and he did admirably. The food was excellent. Maybe I can convince him to do the grilling for Aubry’s party in a couple of weeks while I sit back and relax :) We left our kids at home, but there were enough dogs go around. Trina still has Thunder, so that makes four for her. And another guest brought his golden retriever, making it five. If we brought our kids, we would have doubled the number to ten.