Babysitting Staycation

Some people go to the beach or some exotic destination for vacation. I stayed home to babysit 10 dogs. During this past couple of weeks, along with our kids, we’ve had Murphy, Sabrina, and the Stumpf kids. Actually, the Stumpf kids are still here through this coming weekend. More on that later. And Murphy is back for another week starting tomorrow.
Feeding time is always fun. This is the main feeding area.The requisite top shot. Starting with Kris on the couch is Murphy, Stanley, Stella, Jaime, Cali, Shiloh, Sabrina, Dana, Dante, and Parker. It rained almost every day for a week, we had sheets on the couch and in front of the back door in a feeble attempt to keep the mud out.Dante truly fits into the fuzzy bed the best. He even has room to spare for a dog bone stuffie.Shiloh: Help, Cali stole my bed!Where are the humans supposed to sleep? Dante on the pillow, then Jaime and Stanley in the middle, then Shiloh, Dana, and Stella at the bottom.Jaime and the ceramic turtle guarding the top of the deck stairs.Jaime is a vicious guard dog. She always smiles at Kris as she comes up the long back stairs to the deck.Dante couldn’t get over the fact that our stuffies still had squeakers that squeaked.Parker gets his bed back, while Dante enjoys a cushier higher position on the couch.The stuffies took a beating and the kids needed some rest before the next round.Dante and Cali are not happy that I disturbed their sleep :)Dana: Hey, where is everybody? Everyone else: Dana, we’re up here. Yoohoo! Turn Around.Stanely, Cali, Stella, and Jaime waiting for Dana.Shiloh was ever vigilant that her mommy might be coming through the door any minute.The reason we’re still watching the Stumpf kids is that Jason and Trina ran into a snag with getting their new house. Trina will update her blog once she settles in. Let’s just say that they were ‘homeless’ for the weekend, so they came up and stayed with us and got to see their kids.Cali stays cool by balancing her daddy’s bourbon and ginger ale.Left Cali alone downstairs for a few minutes. What did I find when I came back down?That same afternoon, I saw this. Round 2. I don’t think I could have posed her in a more incriminating shot. Cali: What? It wasn’t me. I found it like that.Dante: She’s touching me isn’t she?My lens died while I was trying to get a group shot of the kids. I upgraded to an EF-S 18-200mm IS. I practiced on some bugs in the yard. A fly on the patio.A bug on the euonymous plant.A new Wegmans opened up this weekend in Fredericksburg. Since this is our first high-end grocery store, the police were out to direct traffic for all the people coming out for the grand opening. Since we are all foodies, we decided to check it out. We got some fresh brussel sprouts, greens, thick ribeyes, and a fresh cut swordfish steak (cut off the whole fish as requested).A parting shot of Cali taking her shot at Parker’s bed.

A Round For The Hounds

We recently held our annual ‘A Round For The Hounds’ golf tournament at Fawn Lake. It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year. Check out the slideshow at VAGA’s Fast Blast.
The carts are ready for a day of hard work.VAGA volunteers (Adele, Linda, Debbie, and Kris) ready for 18 holes?Jack and Toba pose with a golfer in traditional Scottish golfing attire.Traditional Scottish attire was popular.A shot of Ted with the winning group.Kris and Debbie representing the VAGA Board of Directors thank Mark and Ted for their hard work in setting up the tournament.

Bomber, Nike, and Ella Visit.

A note about the dried squid from the last entry. It is a delicacy in Asia, and can therefore be found in any respectable Oriental Market. Once the kids start, it does smell a bit like they are chewing on wet cow hooves. But I do enjoy a dried squid and beer every now and then.
Abby and Blue came for a few days at the beginning of the week, but I was out of town the entire time. By the time I got back home, we had new visitors. Bomber (Abby’s former brother), and Nike and Ella came to stay for a few days. Bomber and Nike were duking it out for top dog, while Stella laughed at them.
Bomber is a couch dog, and decided the best place on the couch was on Parker’s bed. Gotta get a bigger fuzzy bed for the greys, so Parker can actually use his.The girls were nice enough to share the couch with the new kid.When I tried to get an overhead shot, someone always followed me upstairs. So this is the best I could do. Clockwise from left is Bomber, Stanley, Stella, Jaime, Parker, Nike, and Ella.Bomber had a serious case of ETS while napping.He even had a bit of frontal ETS.Nike and her distinctive ears.Ella imitates her sister Nike by chewing on a toy and flopping her ears.

Jaime's Birthday Week

Today is Jaime's birthday. She turned 7. She's showing a bit of greying in the muzzle.
For her birthday week, she went the vet and got a checkup including senior wellness bloodwork. She also got a dental. She shows off one of her clean teefers.For her actual birthday, we broke out the big treat. Dried squid. The rawhide of the sea.The kids go crazy for it.Since it was her birthday, Jaime got the head and tentacles.Stella, being a princess, was very delicate with her squid.Stanley focuses on enjoying the flavor of his piece.Parker doesn't mess around. He takes his squid very seriously. Or maybe he just wants to show off all his crooked teefers.Squid always makes Jaime sleepy.I stayed home with the girls and Parker this past week. Stanley and Kris went to Mountain Hounds with Trina and Cali. Sounds like they had a great time. They brought back an unexpected guest. FLEAS!!! Even though everyone is Frontline'd, they all got a flea bath for good measure. The last time the greys got a bath was probably 2 years ago.The kids stand in the sun to dry off.The girls wonder why Parker is rolling around getting dirty right after getting a bath.As a treat for being so good for bath time, the kids got some raw wing tips. Yummy.

More Babysitting and Another VAGA Haul

I’m not sure who’s in the shot, but it was a nice day a couple of weeks ago, so everyone decided to catch some rays in the yard.Stella just looked so comfortable in the yard.Nike and Ella learn about Peruvian Pisco from the Thirsty Traveler.VAGA had another haul this past weekend. We had 8 greys for our group, and 10 traveled on to Canada. Two were dropped off in Richmond, and the rest made it up to Fredericksburg, where everyone got a long awaited potty break. One of the foster’s, Maxine is going to meet Hero. She seems to be settling in to the retirement life.Here is a group shot of everyone: VAGA-adopted greys, VAGA-foster greys, and greys going on the Canada. Serious potty break. Pat, on the left, started driving up from Florida the night before, and still had a bit of driving to do.We brought Bunny back home with us. She is being adopted by the son and daughter-in-law of Abby & Blue’s mom and dad. Bunny is a shy 10 year old girl who has only known the farm life. Peaches, now Breeze, also got officially adopted during the new haul. She has a new sister, Candy the Husky mix.During this past week, we had Topsail. I was on the road most of the week and didn’t get a picture of him. Sunny came to us on Saturday. Then Abby, Blue and Breeze left Saturday night. Sunday morning, we got Fern and Dusty. Here are Fern and Sunny pointing their paw at the other one. It wasn’t me! Hard to tell them apart.Dusty is happy-go-lucky boy. Jaime always likes it when we have another black grey in the house.Whew! Hope I didn’t miss anyone.