Flat Brutus: Release The Hounds

Flat Brutus arrived just in time for our local Fredericksburg Wine Festival.
He was intrigued by the teepee out front.He made an excellent greeter.But he quickly left when he heard he could get a ride in a Hummer limo. LLFB: Ladies Love Flat Brutus.With so much wine to taste, Brutus said he was ready for a change. Brutus, are you old enough to drink?Brutus thought this was the craziest agility jump he had ever seen.After a day of wine tasting, Brutus decided to relax on the deck with the rest of the crew. Zoey laughed when she figured out it was not the real Brutus, but only a facsimile.After a good night's rest, Brutus had a relaxing morning with the entire crew. Clockwise from bottom left, it is Henry, Zoey, Stella, Stanley, Trina, Flat Brutus, Dora, Dana, Jaime, Dante with Kris, Shiloh, Cali with Jason, and Parker with orange gorilla.Being on the road can definitely add some pounds. Eager to get some exercise, Brutus leads the group heading out for a walk.Eager to earn his keep, Brutus stands guard in the front yard.We had a new foster this week. FOT: Fresh off the Track. Sara is very shy, and didn’t want to leave her crate. Brutus was nice enough to keep her company.As a babysitter, Brutus had an innate ability to lull the hounds into sleep mode. From bottom left it is Abby, Jaime, Parker, Brutus, Dora, Stanley, Stella, Blue, Zoey, and Soozie. Sara was still in her crate.When Brutus left, Sara was lonely again, and snuck out of her crate to get toys that reminded her of her time with Brutus.Flat Brutus is off to new adventures as he travels next to the Bluegrass state.

Sweet Jorja and Flat Brutus

About a month ago, I picked up a puppy while in West Virginia for work. It just so happened that Kris’ coworker was getting a puppy from her sister who lived only about an hour away in Kentucky. She is a border collie / sheltie mix of some sort from the shelter. Meet Jorja.

Who are you? Are you taking me to my new home?
French Fries. I love you mister.
Fries make me sleepy.
Running in her dreams.
The long road trip made her thirsty. It was almost 6 hrs back to the house.
The kids were very interested.
Parker says, hey, someone my size.
Let me give you a tour of the house.
Upon seeing the orange gorilla, she quickly tried to claim it as hers.
Stanley giving Jorja an Eskimo kiss.
She quickly found a more suitable orange toy.
Our kids quickly lost interest, and the muzzles came off.
This bed fits just right.
Stanley is impressed with Jorja’s ability to pull a toy many times her size.
I took some pictures of her when her new family came to pick her up, but it appears I inadvertently deleted them.
On another note, we signed up for Flat Brutus’ World Tour. Find out more at Flat Brutus World Tour.
Next year, ‘Flat Stanley’ may go on tour.

Back From Hiatus

Wow. It’s been a few weeks since my last entry. I could blame it on the loss of power one weekend. Been on the road all week the past several weeks and a full schedule on the weekends. Catching up on the Olympics before the DVR gets full. Love me some Curling. But basically, I’m just Lazy!
A Butcher shop opened up downtown, so we can now get locally grown grass-fed beef. And the kids love fresh marrow bones.Stella somehow ended up with two bones.Must have been Jaime’s. She got tired of gnawing, and decided to rest her jaw on a soft pillow.Hard to believe there is still snow on the ground here. Stella says NO MORE!!!Yahtzee says NO MORE!!! The ice was scraping up their legs. Yahtzee was adopted a couple of weeks ago, and is now happily living with her new family.We tried to make the best of it by sliding down our driveway in the plastic pool we use for the kids. It didn’t work very well.At least it was pretty to look at.Until we lost power for the weekend. We got out the lantern (for light and heat), covered up all the kids, popped open a bottle of wine, and got lots of reading done.We took them for a walk in the Winter Wonderland. Looks like a search and rescue team.They stayed still just long enough for a family portrait.Is that why we lost power? I guess we’ll walk the other way.Freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw makes for pretty icicles.This past weekend, we went to the Pet Expo in Richmond to get more fleecy beds since they kept stealing Parker’s. Stella looks left out.For those of you who love to drink wine and are within driving distance to Virginia, please check out Grapehound Wine Tour Virginia. We had a great time last year at the Grapehound Wine Tour at the Finger Lakes in New York. When you register, $5 of the $20 registration will go to your sponsoring greyhound group of choice. See you there.

Stella ... Fun Police

Unlike the last 20 incher, this snow storm was 8 inches of light fluffy snow. The kids were ready to play.
Stella imitates a baby bird in the hopes that she will be fed a stuffie.Parker eyes Stanley’s stuffie.Stella, being Stella, has cornered Yahtzee. Kicking snow in her face.Maybe I spoke to soon. Maybe she just wanted to practice synchronized snow spinning.Nope, I was right.Back to square one.Stella may have kept Yahtzee there all day, except something was rustling through the trees.They were very fast. Much faster than I am manually focusing through trees. Three deer were casually trotting through the neighbor’s yard.Meanwhile, oblivious to the deer, Jaime is having fun swinging a stuffie around.Yahtzee, Stella, and Stanley, and Parker told the deer to keep walking unless they were looking for trouble.Parker, having no chance of catching the deer, settled for saving his duckie from the snowy depths of the yard.Three on One. Hardly seems fair. But Stella ain’t scared.Yahtzee whispers in Stanley’s ear that she’s already been there, done that.Stanley can’t believe that Yahtzee took off, and Parker is already turning his back.Parker watches as poor Stanley is on his own.Run. Stanley. Run. Parker thanks Stanley for taking one for the team.