Elbow and Butts

Wed was the 4th of July. Independence Day for ol’ America. Do expats still celebrate the 4th? Got a mish-mosh of pictures this week.

It’s been a bit since Parker got a bath. He was starting to smell like Cheetos. Not sure how that is different from how greyhound feet smell like Fritos, but everyone seems to like that. So Parker got a bath. He sure does shed a lot after a bath. He gets a poofy fuzziness about him. Here he is drying out in the sun.

Here is another shot of a hummingbird coming to one of our feeders. Now that they know we have put the feeders back out, there appear to be at least two groups feeding. The girls are always dive-bombing each other. Can’t they just get along?


A colorful butterfly graced us with his presence. Sharing the flowers with the hummingbirds.

Noah loves laying on the greyhound-embroidered fleece blanket on the back of the couch. It’s his new favorite spot in the house.

He is nice enough to share the couch with others. Stella says she ain’t giving up her couch for nobody.

He also doesn’t mind sharing the back of the couch either.

Stella got a little bump on her elbow. It was hard, red and the size of a pea. We are still a bit touchy about the health of the kids right now. Don’t think we could handle something bad happening to one of our other kids. So we took her to the vet. The vet said it didn’t look like anything bad. So we said, take it off and biopsy it for good measure. So here is a pic of Stella with a bandage on her elbow. She just got back from the vet and is still a bit loopy. It took her most of the day to sleep it off.

Now for the butt. Boston butt that is. Aka Pork shoulder. Lots of connective tissue so needs a slow ‘n low approach. These are 7.5 lb and 8 lb. The smaller was in the Egg for 18h45m and the larger for 19h15m. Talk about self control. I did not lift the lid once during the cooking. The beauty of the egg is that I never had to replace the lump charcoal. Just made sure the temp stayed in the 225-250F range till internal temp reach 200F.

Kris and I pulled the pork with a couple of forks. Each butt was enough to fill a half-size steam pan. Probably ended up with 10 lbs of pulled pork. Put some on a cheap white bun (to not detract from the flavor of the pork) and top that with some cole slaw and a vinegar-based sauce. As good as I’ve had at any barbecue place. Didn’t get any pics of the sandwiches. Was too busy eating ☺ This was North Carolina-style BBQ and is what I grew up with. I will try a beef brisket next. Katy, you’re from Texas. Real BBQ is beef right? Hehehe.

Noah says, “Dang, that is some good pork BBQ”!!!

A Boy and His Toys!

We have gone from a houseful back down to just our kids. I have to admit, the house does feel a bit empty. Three of them left us on Saturday. Murhpy’s daddy returned from his fishing trip, so the little fence jumper is back home. Leeder got adopted and now has a new brother. His new brother is also a bounce back and got adopted on the same day. Leeder says he was just settling in here. I assured him that he was going to his forever home now.

Topsail also went home on Saturday. His mommy and daddy got back from the beach and were ecstatic to see him. They were met at the door with wagging tails. Jaime actually tried to leave with them. She really misses having a brother. We are in the works for bringing up a brother for her. Anyhoo, Topsail is a boy who loves toys!.. Peekaboo.

Can I have this hedgehog? It’s still got some crunch to it.

I only left a few teeth marks on it. It was talking smack. I had to give it what for!

Hey Mister, can I have this one too? I think it was giving me the stinkeye.

I give up. I went out of my way to remove every toy out of both toy baskets. And you just put them all back. Jeez!

Noah watches over the entire crew wondering when they are all going to leave. Saturday was his lucky day.

Parker and Stella decide to share the same pillow on the couch. Just opposite sides.

A slightly wider angle. Parts is Parts. Left to Right is Parker’s head, Stella’s feet, Jaime’s body and Kris’ elbow.

A close-up of Parker behind the couch. Just so darn cute!

Overcompensation

So how does Kris deal with our loss of Lucas. Surrounding herself with more greyhounds. So far we’ve had Mitzi, Josie, Sabrina, Topsail, Maggie, and Leeder. Some foster, some babysitting. And don’t forget Murphy.

Mitzi stayed the night before going to her forever home.

Josie was a bounce back. She’s a bouncy happy girl. Her new brother Milo will be happy to have a sister to play with.

The hummingbirds have even decided to join the critical mass of animals at the house.

Another bounce back is Leeder. He is still with us. He is skinnier and has less hair now than when he got off the track. We’ll have fun fattening him up. He’s a sleek black boy and probably the most well adjusted foster we’ve ever had. Not the needy boy that Kris is looking for.

Here he is following his new best friend Murphy (Kris’ dad’s dog). Murphy’s a little terrierist who is the antithesis of the lazy greyhound. Leeder is following him around in the hopes that Murphy will teach him how to jump the fence.

Here is Stella sleeping in the grass. Enjoying the unseasonably nice weather.

Awe come on daddy! Can’t a girl sleep in peace?

Sabrina’s family went on vacation, so she got to spend the week with us. She is an only dog, so this is like doggie camp for her.

Trina and Jason came up with their kids (Shiloh, Dana, Dante). Amanda and Kenney came up with their two greys, Ana and Blue. This helped add to the number of greyhounds. In this shot, Topsail is the brindle next to Jason. He will be with us a week while his mommy and daddy are on vacation.

We forgot we had a box of fireworks. Not quite the 4th of July yet, but after a few drinks, it’s close enough. Jason shot off some of the more projectile ones. The girls had more fun with the sparklers.

This is the morning after shot. Starting clockwise from Jamie on the couch, it is Leeder, Dana, Dante, Topsail, Murphy and Parker passing each other, Maggie getting nose scritches (babysitting for the weekend), Shiloh snuggling with her mommy, and Stella in the center of it all.

Even though we’ve tried to keep ourselves busy to help keep our minds off of Lucas, Jaime says she is still sad that her brother is gone.

Goodbye Lucas!

As most readers of this blog already know, my Lucas passed away last Fri. June 20th is his birthday. He would have been 5 years old. It’s taken a few days to wrap my mind around the idea that he is no longer with us. Right now, I just want to get to the point where thinking about him or looking at pictures of him doesn’t throw me into a fit of tears. Still hard for me to believe he’s really gone. Not having grown up with any animals, this is like a sucker punch to my heart.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that Lucas is big goofball. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but the sweetest. He was a notorious momma’s boy. He was usually stuck to his momma’s hip. He had three beloved stuffies. He moved from his big green turtle, to the giant hedgehog, and his last favorite was the giant warthog. Not much of a retriever, but he loved to run around the yard with his stuffies.

There was just something about his big blocky head and thick neck. Just right for giving nose rubs and neck hugs. Not very aerodynamic. That’s probably why he never made it past his maiden races. That just meant that we got to have him for a bit longer.

We had so many names for him. Here are just a few: Luke, Big Luke, Lucas, Knucklehead, Chucklehead, Lukie Pookie, Pookie, Lucasaurus, Lulu, Big Dink, Dinkasaurus, Pony, My Little Pony, Big Goon, Goofball, Luca Brasi (think ‘The Godfather’) and a few I’m probably forgetting.

He showed us why we will always have to have a big goofy boy in our family. Such a lovebug. We will miss you Lucas.



And here is one last Roo!

Baby Turtles & Doggie Burgers

At first I thought it was a leaf in the road. It didn’t move when the wind blew. I stopped the car and went to take a look. Baby turtles. I saw two more in the driveway. I managed to not run over any of them. They were making the 100 ft trek to the pond across the street. I have come across the mommy turtle before. I tried to prod her across the street with a 1 inch thick branch. She hissed, swung around, and snapped the branch in half. These guys were not nearly as ornery. They had just managed to dig themselves out of the dirt and just wanted to get a bath in the pond.
Why are you blocking my way to the water? I can see the pond from here.

So how big am I? I already feel bigger than when I dug myself out this morning.

This is a brother/sister (how can you tell?) who had managed to already make it down the driveway and down to the road.

I took the three that I could find and put them on a lily pad. I figured I would save them the few hours it would take them to make it themselves.

Hey, where did everyone go? Wait for me!

We made a Costco trip for stuff to grill on the Big Green Egg. Since we usually pile up on stuff there, we usually take the 4Runner, but it was in the shop, so we took the sedan. When we came back and started putting stuff away, the kids must have thought we were making room for them. Jaime and Stella jumped into the sling in the back, and wanted to know where they were going?

Hey, is there room for me in there? Don’t leave me behind!

I made some burgers on the BGE. Two for us, and four for the kids. Lucas got the double-size doggie burger because he’s a big boy.

While waiting for the burgers to finish cooking, Jaime decided to relax on the couch and do her impression of a giraffe with ETS.

Parker waited for his burger by sleeping on the floor in full roach position.

Richmond Carwash

We had another VAGA carwash on Saturday. This time in Richmond. It was quite the bright sunny day for a carwash. No pics this time. Too busy washing cars. We managed to bring in some decent donations. Luckily these people did not watch the weather report. By Sunday morning, the front edge of Tropical Storm Barry was bombarding us with heavy rains.
After the carwash, we retreated back to Trina’s for dinner and drinks and playing with the doggies. Dinner was yummy as the local Greek Festival was going on. They were renovating the church, so it was only drive-thru this year. Which was fine by me since I was pooped out from washing cars.
Since it was hot, we were swapping dogs out every hour or so using Trina’s house as home-base as it was only a few minutes away. Not surprisingly, by the time we were done, some of them had decided to leave us some ‘surprises’ on the carpet. While the spots were being cleaned, we had everybody outside. All the activity is inside, so why would the kids want to be outside? Oh please let us in. We promise to be good.


No really mister, please let us in.


Jaime likes to lay ‘in the way’. What do I mean by that? Here she is laying in front of the sliding door to the deck. Nobody can get by without stepping over her.


The kids did their usual romping around the back yard. Here is a shot of Booyah running around with his prize catch.


His sister Maggie was focused on the rubber balls flying through the yard. We would throw the ball, and she looked like a wide receiver waiting for a pass from the quarterback.


The next few shots show some of Stella’s various dog bed / couch partners. Dana had already claimed the bed out on the deck. Did this stop Stella from circling around then plopping her rump right down on the same bed?


Stella and Maggie are both alpha dogs in their respective households. But on neutral turf, they respect the other’s right to sit on the couch.


Jaime loves to be touching another dog when she lays down. Especially Stella. When presented with Stella’s rump, she just couldn’t give up the opportunity.


When we made it back home, the kids decided they needed a nap from all the weekend activity. They were even nice enough to leave two cushions for us.