Jenny Turns Lucky 13

A couple of weeks ago, Jenny celebrated her 13th birthday. It was like most other days for her, except for a more lavish dinner.

Pre-dinner, she rested up for the big meal. Love her cute Frontal ETS.
I decided to smoke a chicken And grill steaks this time. Turf and Turf. The kids were more than happy to chow down on the combo. Actually, I'm not sure that any of them really chewed.
Post-meal, Jenny had to sleep it off next to the fireplace. 
She's a Sweet Ol' Lady.

Farewell Parker, Hello Beatrice

Not the best way to return to the blogosphere after a little hiatus.

It is odd to follow up a Sweet 16 post with sad news. We let Parker go the other weekend. Right after his birthday, his kidneys started to fail. We were able to have his kidneys flushed once, and that gave us an extra 6 weeks or so. We appreciated every extra day we had with him. 

Kris had gotten him when he was just 8 weeks old. And he lived a long and healthy life. We couldn’t ask for more. It is weird not having a non-greyhound around. 

Parker was such a good boy.  He could curl up into a little ball when he wanted to.

He was our original guard dog. Always looking for something to bark at.

He had an underbite and bowed legs, and that made him all the cuter.

He loved playing in the snow, and it made for such contrasty pictures against his black coat.

Whenever we went on road trips, the greys were relegated to the back, but Parker always got to sit up in front in the passenger seat lap, and had a great view.

He did everything with us. We never left him out of greyhound events. Whether is was just our guys, like this trip to Asheville. He was always the most energetic out of the bunch. Sadly, only Stanley is still with us from this picture.

Or Christmas parades.

Or St. Patrick's Day parades.

And always a gracious host, and willing to share his house with others. 

Stand tall Parker.

Hope you're catching some rays.

And playing Bitey Face with Jaime.

Say Hi to Stella, for us. 

Run Free, sweet little Parker Dog.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I'd like to introduce the newest member of the family. Miss Beatrice. I'm glad she was able to overlap, and meet Parker.  She retired before she was two years old. From a track injury that required amputation of a front leg.

It didn't take her long to figure out the bed was a great place for hoarding toys.

And in the spirit of Parker, she likes to lay on the deck and watch for things to bark at. Luckily, there are only three houses past our's, so not much traffic.

She likes to lay with her one front leg like this.

As a youngster, she has loads of energy, so we took her on walks to wear her out. Jenny could keep up on the walks. But Bea recovered by the time she got back home. 

She did not try her doggie paddle skills at the river.

When she is still being busy after everyone else has settled down for a nap, putting her in my lap seems to calm her down. Hence her nickname, Busy Bea. 

As you can see, she fits right in at our house.

Bar Mitzvah and Sweet 16

We recently celebrated both of the boys birthdays. Stanley turned 13, and Parker turned 16.
As usual, this meant that everyone got a steak dinner.
Stanley loves him some steak.
Parker is a big fan too.
We had a big party for the boys. All together, there were 20 pups running round. You can see a few here, with legs and heads poking out here and there.
Jenny and Cody doing their interpretive art of Yin & Yang.
Their Auntie Lynne crocheted a Yarmulke for Stan for his Bar Mitzvah.
And she also crocheted a toy, which everyone was interested in sniffing. Parker is happy to pose with his birthday present. 

Summer Walk

A couple of weekends ago, it was unseasonably nice. So we took the kids for a walk in a local park.
It wasn't a very long walk, maybe 30 min or so. But we were all pooped afterwards.
But watch out for ticks. I actually picked this guy off me from my own yard. 

More Black Dogs

After the last crew of black dogs left, our next set of boarders were also all black dogs.
Trust and Tacoma are littermates. They had just been off the track just a few weeks when they came to stay with us. The sisters were very cute and very smart.
Trust: Hint, hint. Please take me on your run. I'm still in shape from the track.
No, seriously. You're not leaving without me.
Tacoma: Yes, yes, I see the rabbit. Now where's my kibble dinner?
Maybe Trust just likes to hold things in her paws.
Mia: I don't hear anything. I'm pretty sure my hearing is better than yours, with these bat ears.
Trust. Yes, I trust her to drink from my glass when I'm not looking. Naughty but cute.

Black Dogs

We had two sets of two boarders overlap this weekend. Ana & Blue and Abby & Blue. Yes, both boys are named Blue. They are also all black dogs. Along with Parker, Jenny, and Kelli, that made seven of our eight dogs, Black ones. Stanley was the odd man out.
Here they are to greet Ana & Blue's mom, dad, and human sister when they came to pick them up.

Squirrel Saturday

Kelli: Daddy, look. There's squirrels at the bird feeder. There's one on the railing, and one actually on the feeder. 
Thanks, Kelli. You're a great sighthound. And very lazy.
We put butterflies on the sliding door, as birds seemed to crash into it. And the stained glass of Stella and Lucas guard the other half.

Wordless Wednesday - Kevin Consoles British

Painting Doggies

We recently went to a fundraiser for James River Greyhounds. I like to take pictures. Drawing does not come naturally to me. 
People were enjoying painting as well as socializing.
All different color of dogs.
Jason painted Cali, his Tripaw.
Kristen and I did Jenny and Stanley. See the resemblance? :)

Wordless Wednesday - Black Dogs Sunning