Orlando Greyhound Trip

I got a last minute call at the end of last week to go to Florida for work. Miami and Orlando. Three board members of VAGA were on vacation this week in Orlando. So I flew to Miami then drove to Orlando. After visiting both sites for work, I met up with the vacationing ladies and we went to visit the GPA rescue kennel, then visited one of the racing kennels (to see LnL Fast Lori & LnL Fast Jake - kids of Debbie’s Ale House), then went to the Sanford Orlando track to see the races. Carolyn had just gotten a new Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS UMS lens, and we tested it out at the track. Hope we got some good shots. Now I’ll be jonesing for a new lens :) It truly is amazing to watch the greys run. We got to see LnL Fast Jake and Coconut Cream (CC) run their hearts out. CC is VAGA’s Racing for Adoption dog. The profits from her racing go to help VAGA.

Stumpf Cookout

We went down to Richmond for an impromptu cookout at Jason & Trina’s. They still have Thunder. And we took our kids. And the Clarkes brought Logan. So that made seven greyhounds and Parker, Shiloh, and Dante. The weather was nice for a cookout. They have a nice flat square backyard, so the kids could do laps while we threw toys from the deck. Jason is becoming quite the grill master and his home-made pesto was great as usual.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. No big cookout this year. On Saturday, we went to Cooper Vineyards for ‘Lucy’s Day’. Lucy is the hound they adopted from the SPCA. So we took the kids along. And since we still had Murphy, that made two SPCA dogs for us. The greys were a big hit. I always forget that for most people, greyhounds are still a rare site. We stayed for a little over an hour until the guys looked like they had had enough of the heat. We stopped off at the Miller Farm on the way back to pick up some fresh local goods. We got some squash, zucchini and some local meats (ground steak and baby back ribs). Gotta have some stuff to grill for the weekend. The ground steak burgers were great. We had the ribs for Memorial Day. They were my first attempt at slow cooking baby backs on the grill, and they were pretty tasty too. I think my next venture will be big ol’ beef ribs. Then I may move on to paella. That may consist of me needing to buy a special paella pan :)

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.

Downtown Fredericksburg Stroll

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. So we took the kids for a stroll in downtown Fredericksburg. We mainly wanted to see how Zeke & Angel would do in unfamiliar social situations. Both kids did fine. A fire engine blared its horn. A few Harleys burbled by and their ears barely perked. Angel even managed to kiss a baby in a stroller. We got stopped quite a few times so people could ask questions and pet the kids. Guess it’s quite a site to see four greyhounds and Parker come strolling down the sidewalk. We even ran into a lady who was in our obedience class a few months back. Of course she recognized Lucas and Stella before us. In the doggie world, guess we are just our kids’ parents.

Zeke & Angel

Here are pictures of our latest fosters we picked up over the weekend. Zeke is the fawn male. Angel is the dark brindle female. They are both fitting in quite nicely into our family. We were originally supposed to pick up Zeke and Heather. Angel was originally planned as part of the Saturday haul to Northern Virginia. There was a mixup when the dog haul truck showed up on Saturday. So now we have Angel. We were going to swap Angel and Heather since Heather was planned for a family in our area. But the family ended up backing out. And since Heather is not cat-safe, and we have three kitties, we’ve decided to leave the girls where they are. So it looks like we might have Zeke & Angel with us for a while. That makes 5 dogs and 3 cats. Quite the frenzy during feeding time.

North Carolina Road Trip

We just returned from our road trip to Winston-Salem to see our friend Susan. The renovations on her house were amazing. If you put a bed in her kitchen, I could live in there. We went for a walk in her neighborhood on Saturday and ran into a couple of Labs behind an invisible fence, but which obviously was not working. They got all worked up and both came running into the street barking at our guys. We’ve had this happen to us before on walks in our own neighborhood, and the dogs have always been friendly. Just out for a sniff before heading back home. These guys were baring teeth, and before we knew it, Lucas had a couple of punctures on his back side. I herded them back into their yard at which point the owners came out and called their dogs in. We called them later to let them know that their dogs had gone past their electric fence. They feigned ignorance, but this has happened to them at least once before that we know of. On Sunday we went to the local dog park. The first picture is of our guys making some new friends. On our way back home on Monday, we stopped by the Project Racing Home greyhound kennel near Greensboro to pick up a couple of greys, Zeke and Angel. The second pic is of some of the greys trying to figure out what kinda funny looking greyhound Parker is. Zeke stood up in the car the entire 4.5hr drive home, with much growling from our guys whenever he stepped on one of them. They settled in pretty quickly, having no problems with the stairs or doggie door. I will post pics of them as soon as I get a few good shots. Also, I have added a link to Trina’s greyhound blog. We have known her for years and now she and her husband Jason recently adopted Dana and have been fully sucked into the greyhound ‘cult’ too.

1500+ mile week

I put on close to 1000 miles this week for work. And gas is near $3 a gallon. We’ll put another 600+ miles this weekend to visit our friend Susan in Lewisville, NC. She has the two English Cocker Spaniels from a previous post. It’s been well over a year since Kristen has been there. I stop by sometimes when I am in the area for work. The renovations are finally done on her house, so we’re going down to check it out. Susan has known Parker since he was a pup, and met Stella not too long after we got her, but she hasn’t met Lucas yet. Lucas loves to flirt with the girls, and both her English Cockers are girls. On the way back, we are going to stop by a rescue kennel near Greensboro and pick up a couple of greys. We will be fostering both of them for a bit. We might have to strap our luggage to the roof rack if we’re going to comfortably fit 4 greys in the back of the 4Runner. Parker always lays on a dog bed on the lap of the person in the passenger seat. That should be a fun drive back.

Fosterless weekend

This will be the first weekend in a while since we haven’t had a foster dog with us. We dropped Thunder off last weekend in Richmond. The house feels empty with only three dogs and three cats :) We have a Meet ‘n Greet in Stafford today. Not sure what the turnout will be since it is Easter weekend. Hopefully the weather will lighten up today. It rained through most of the night, and they are calling for scattered/isolated T-storms today and tomorrow. And it’s supposed to get to 85 today. With all the rain, sounds like hot and muggy to me. Where did Spring go? If the weather holds out this afternoon, I will make fajitas on the grill and Aubry and Kris will make sure we don’t run out of margaritas. A Cinco de Mayo practice run.

Back to Back Meet 'N Greets

We had two Meet ‘N Greets this weekend. Saturday’s was at the PetsMart at Virginia Center Commons in Glen Allen. This was the first one for VAGA this far south. We had quite the turnout as you can see in the picture. This was also our first time with a ‘Donation Dog’. Stella stepped up to the plate and even put on her fancy hat. Stella loves to get dolled up and meet people. We got more donations than at any previous meet ‘n greet. We had quite the turnout of VAGA volunteers. It was nonstop people interested in knowing more about greyhounds. Hopefully we’ll get some applications from this event. We had a few interested people at our Sunday meet ‘n greet at Dog Dayz in downtown Fredericksburg. Things are really speeding along for VAGA in Central Virginia.

Thunder the Foster

Picked up a new foster today, Graces Thunder. He’s not even two years old yet. That means he probably never raced. We’ll only have him for a couple of days before he goes to his new foster family in Richmond. He’s young, adventurous and smart. He gets along with our kids and Casey too. Casey is going to her new foster/forever home tomorrow. They will foster for a week or so, and if everything works out, they will keep her. Thunder figured out the stairs and doggie door quite quickly. He managed to eat 5 cups of food just for dinner. He might be the most ravenous eater we’ve had yet. Like most boys, he marked everything in the yard and tried to do the same inside. A loud ‘NO’ a couple of times, and I think he’s caught on. Since he’s pretty young, I think he’ll be a handful for a while. Hope he ends up in a high energy family.

Greyhounds and grass

We had our first good thunderstorm on Monday. I was prepared with a 50lb bag of grass seed. With such a wet winter and the greys running in the yard, there is a track of missing grass where they do their circuit. When the ground is soft, the chunks of grass go flying when the guys are chasing each other. Never had this problem when it was just Parker. Hopefully some of the grass will take. Since the greys tend to lick themselves clean like cats do, we are told not to put down fertilizer on the lawn that they could ingest. So we shall see if the grass has a chance to grow. I don’t really care if weeds took over the entire yard. I would just like a green covering so the ground isn’t so hard for the kids to run on, and they don’t track in the red clay that wreaks havoc on the carpet. That’s why we have a steam cleaner.

Spring is here!

The weather was just too nice not to sit out on the deck, drink some wine, grill some steaks, and after the sun went down, start a fire in the iron pagoda, switch to drinking Port and talk well into the night. So that’s exactly what my wife, Aubry and I did. We laid some dog beds outside next to the fire so our kids could lay with us. All said and done, we put the fire out at 1:30am and managed to go through 2 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of Port. What a great way to bring in the warm weather.

Another greyhound weekend!

Seems to be a lot of greyhound weekends these days. This weekend we had a meeting of our local volunteers followed by an adoption of four dogs. Today we are taking our foster along with our kids up to Leesburg for a Meet ‘N Greet. A family is interested in meeting Casey. Next week is back to back Meet ‘N Greets on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s is the first one for our group in Richmond. Hopefully there will be a good turnout. And our schedule for the rest of the year looks much like that. Add in a few dog hauls, throw in a car wash and golf tournament to raise money and awareness, the annual VAGA picnic, maybe a trip to Florida in the fall to visit the track and kennels, and this will turn out to be quite the greyhound year for us. Just to make sure, we may throw in a big event like Gettysburg or Dewey beach. Free weekends will consist of seeing how many greys I can fit in my backyard while I grill yummy food for their humans.

Gaggle of Fosters

Another group of girls came up this past weekend. This pic is of Tipper and Isa. We fostered ‘Cm Lil Lady’ & ‘Thrifty Tipper’. Both girls were sweeties. Lady was a bit shy. Not Tipper. She was a little wild child. We referred to as ‘Stella on Crack’. She had the fearless outgoing personality of my Stella with the boisterous energy of a 2 and a half year old that still has a lot of puppy left in her. Two girls, ‘Isa’ and ‘Alice’ were also fostered in town. ‘Ghost’ was fostered in Northern Virginia. The last girl to come up was ‘Fast Ally’, now known as ‘Leah’ since she went to the home here in town where her mom, ‘Ally’ lives. Since neither of my kids went into the breeding program, the best we can hope for is finding siblings. All the new arrivals being fostered in town went to a local Meet ‘N Greet on Sunday. Then we put them in the back of our 4Runner for a trip up to the vet to be vetted (spay, dental, shots...). We also took a previous foster ‘Casey’ to back to the vet.

The Maroma Resort

Just spent the past week with the wife at the Maroma Resort and Spa in the Riviera Maya which is about 30 miles south of Cancun. This was far away from the Spring Breakers. This was a company-sponsored trip, so we only ended up paying for a few gifts to bring back. The weather was sunny and warm all week. We spent most of the time laying on the beds on the beach with a tropical drink in hand. We did manage to find time to go snorkeling and to the spa. I thought spa treatments were overrated, but after a hot stone massage followed the next day by an exfoliation and banana leaf wrap, I am a convert. One day we went to Isla Mujeres for a day trip. On the ride over, we got to see the devastation of Hurricane Wilma. Amazing that entire hotels were demolished. Our patio faced out on the ocean, and the only obstacle to the beach was the bar, so drinks were always handy. The food was fabulous, and the staff was amazingly attentive. We would love go back for another week, but not sure if we could afford it on our own.

New Foster Casey

I got a call while I was in D.C. this morning to pick up a returned dog on the way back home. The family just wasn’t in the right situation now to have a dog. I managed to finish up work, pick up the dog, and still beat the rush hour home. Anyhoo, our new foster for a few days is ‘Casey’. She’s a black grey with white paws and white-tipped tail. My guys took an instant liking to her. She will stay with us through the weekend where she will be in a St. Patick’s Day parade. Then she will move to her next foster home in Richmond to stay with the Stumpf crew.

Getting back in shape

I have been exercising on and off since the beginning of the year. I’m pretty good about it when I am home. Whe I’m on the road, not so much. After spending five hours on the road today commuting up to D.C. and back, I felt I needed to do something besides sit on my butt. I stopped by the Va Runner shoe store and picked up a pair of Asic GT2100’s. They have a bit more cushioning than my last pair of running shoes. I broke them in with a 3 mile jaunt on the treadmill. I can see it now. A 5K, 10K, half-marathon to a full marathon. It could happen. I do need to get back into shape. I promised a friend that we would start riding our bikes starting this spring. We used to ride all the time together back when I was in graduate school. I weighed 136 lbs, ate all I wanted, and couldn’t gain a pound.

Going to Jail!

I am spending the rest of the week in jail. Specifically, the maximum security Corrections Medical Center in Columbus, OH. A new tech needs to be trained on one of my systems. I’ve been there for work before, so now I know the rules of how to get around in there. I no longer try to take my cell phone in :) Since it’s such a hassle to try to leave and get back in, I usually get lunch there. There is a small cafeteria where the inmates cook all the food, then serve the staff. Can’t beat a lunch with dessert and beverage for $1.50. They used to have a greyhound adoption program in the jail, but now they are getting and training dogs from the local shelter. I always love to meet the new dogs when I visit.