We Survived Snowapalooza

Bunny here at the keyboard writing about our crazy weather the past few days.

Most of our friends in the States know that we had one wicked blizzard blow through our area Monday night, all day Tuesday and yesterday morning.  We ended up with twenty inches of snow.  Mom has been off school for three days and Dad's work even sent everyone home early on Tuesday.  That's very unusual. 

By Wednesday morning, some of us had a pretty serious case of Cabin Fever.  We decided to go out for a walk to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.  Plus, we'd almost forgotten what the sun looked like up in the sky. 

I am glad that I had my coat and boots.  Those snowdrifts were deep.  I wish I'd been able to go without a leash, because I wanted to run the whole walk around town and through the park.  Morgan kept climbing up the snowbanks.  Dad told her not to, but Mom said to let her and maybe it would wear her out a little.  It didn't. 

Still, it felt so good to get out and stretch our legs.  It gave us a chance to get caught up on our Idita-Walk challenge, too.  I hear that it's going to be extremely cold today and tomorrow, so we'll probably be itching to hike this weekend.  I  hope we see our owl come back so we know he's okay.  He likes to sit under the awning when it's extra cold, but we didn't see him during the blizzard.

How do the rest of you pass the time when the weather is too brutal to go outside?   Thank goodness Gertie the Groundhog told Willard Scott that we'll have an early Spring!  I'm ready for Winter to be over!

A Matter Of Perspective

Two weeks ago, our lives seemed pretty uncomplicated, with the same mundane things that everyone else has to worry about.  Then a little lump reared its ugly head on Blueberry's head.  Now that we have the surgery behind us, its given me time to think a bit about the lessons that have come our way.

There are times when having four dogs is a bit of a juggling act.  We try to make sure that all four of them get their share of love and attention, and whatever else they need.  For Morgan, that's extra exercise so she doesn't climb the walls in the house.  Bunny needs a bit of space from Morgan, her personal body guard.  Lilac needs extra patience and understanding.  Then there's Blueberry, the typical middle child. 

She really doesn't ask for anything.  Blueberry wants to go with us when we take Morgan and Bunny out, even when that involves car rides, which she's not so crazy about.  All she really wants is not to be left out.  Sometimes we're able to make that happen, and sometimes not.  If we're going hiking on a trail that we know is pretty difficult, or the weather is warmer or cooler than optimal, we leave her at home. 

However, going through a scare with an illness changes your perspective on things.  Suddenly, life became all about Blueberry and her lump.  I've known a lot of Greyhound people who have dealt with cancer in their dogs, or mysterious lumps.  We've dealt with fatty lumps on Treat, Hawk and Lilac as a part of the aging process.  Treat died after a brief battle with a spinal tumor, but there was nothing we could do with that one.  Making decisions for Blueberry while we were still reeling from the possibilities was a much more harrowing experience that seemed to take over our lives for that brief span of time.

Now that we're through the surgery part and she's on the mend, I find myself wondering what we can do that makes Blueberry feel special.  She views riding in the car as a necessary evil to get to fun stuff, but she really doesn't enjoy it.  Going for walks is really not her thing, either.  We've had many battles over the walking issue with her.  She likes practicing obedience, when it interferes with someone else's time, especially, but she doesn't like to do it for very long.  She's in an inbetween phase where some things are a little too much for her to handle, but she's still young enough to want to go and do things.

So, we're making room for her to have a spot on the couch, we let her join in on the training games, and we take her along whenever we can.  If she demands her own blog, I'm in trouble, though.  One is about all I can keep up with there.  We're looking to Blueberry to see where she'll lead us.  I'm sure we'll find something that we never expected.  Blue has a quirky sense of humor that often keeps us on our toes and it's one of the things I love the most about her. 

You might remember that a little while ago, we were asked to use Blueberry's picture for the cover of Lacey Blue And Friends, a new book that's coming out.  We're pleased to announce that it is now going on sale.  You can find more information about it on Lacey's website.  If you'd like to order a copy, you can visit Lacey and Bill on their blog.  We have heard that it will also be available in a few other forms, as well.  They were nice enough to let us have a copy to give away here on the blog, too, so keep your eyes peeled for our giveaway, sometime after Thanksgiving.  Bill Hart, the author of the book, has also extended a very generous offer to us.  He told me initially when we were talking about the book that he planned to offer it to rescue groups to use to help raise money if they were interested.  Now he has offered to donate $2 from the sale of the book to Blueberry from now until the end of the year.  If you order the book through his website and use this coupon code, WCEJR5E4 he'll donate the money to Blueberry.  So, if you have some dog lovers on your Christmas list who like to read, we've found your gift for you. 

We were also asked by Barbara who writes If I Didn't Have A Sense Of Humor if she could start a donation fund for Blueberry's vet bills.  You can visit her blog to learn more about it.  Several people have asked about it and Barbara asked us if she could help us by doing this, so we were grateful to accept the offer.  You never know when something will strike you out of the blue, as we have learned.  The good part of that, though, is learning about the good in people and seeing the best in them when you might not be at your best.  To say that we have been grateful for all of the support we've recieved as we've learned of Blueberry's illness seems very small, but we really are appreciative of all the kind comments we've recieved on the blog, Facebook and Greyhound forums that we visit.  Our perspective is changing every day!

A Fashion Quandry

Well, we have had a bit of indecisiveness here at our house.  Since we got Bunny's new coat, we've been wanting to order one for Blueberry as well.  The problem is, we can't decide which color to order for her.  We were originally thinking pink, but then we started to wonder if it would be a pain trying to figure out which coat went to which dog. 

Blueberry has always been a big girl, taller than a lot of male greyhounds we meet.  Sometimes that leads to cases of mistaken identity where people think she's a male, in spite of the fact that we put girly collars on her.  So, we'd like something a bit feminine, but we can't decide on which color it should be. 

To that end, we've added a poll to the blog this week to see what color everyone else thinks would look good on Blueberry.  I'm not sure that it will dictate what color we get, but it will help us with our decision!   Magenta is not an option for the coats we're ordering, or we'd have chosen that.

Wordless Wednesday 3/10 -- The Thundering Herd, Greyhound Style

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It's finally happened here at our house.  The deluge of the summer and fall seems to have ended and a cold snap has suddenly invaded.  Today we had snow flurries dancing in the air and it felt like winter was upon us.  Of course, this means that the greyhounds now need to be bundled up to go outside to the turn out pen. 

When I bring out the coats, three wiggling, tail-wagging greyhounds line up and we spend a few minutes wrestling them into their outerwear.  There are times when we run them out quickly without coats, but usually we put them on.  We face a dilemma that's not uncommon to greyhound owners, and probably other short-coated breeds of dogs as well.  If we bundle them up, they will sniff around out in the dog pen forever, but never take care of business.  If we don't bundle them up, they stand out there hunched up, refusing to move and waiting for us to come out and bring them back into the house.  As usual with greyhounds, there's no winning!

Today is the first day we've cracked out the greyhound coats.  True to form, the girls went outside and looked pathetic even while they were all bundled up.  It hasn't been a gradual transition to cold weather.  The cold came on overnight.  The girls seem to believe that we ordered up this cold weather as some kind of cruel greyhound joke.  Yet, it's they who seem to get the last laugh. 

This evening, I took the three of them out, left them in privacy to do what they needed to do, then went back out.  A few minutes after I took off the coats, Lilac wanted to go back outside.

Me:  You were just out there!

Lilac:  I didn't have to go then.  I have to go now.

Me:  It's still going to be cold.

Lilac:  Let's go outside and see if your theory is correct. 

Me:  You'd better take care of business this time!  (At this point, I put her coat back on and mine as well.)

Lilac:  At least you're trainable.

A short time later, we were back in the house.  Bunny looked at me.  She wagged her tail and danced around.

Me:  Bunny, we were just out!

Bunny:  Lilac got to go twice!

Me:  Because she didn't go the first time!

Bunny:  I think I forgot to do something, too.

Me:  You didn't forget!  You were busy working on that hole to China again!

Bunny:  It's the only way I'm going to get there.  I couldn't get a passport.

Me:  I'm shutting you off the internet!  (I dutifully put her coat back on, along with my own, and we go back out.)

Lilac:  Since you're going back out, I need to go again.

Me:  You were just out -- TWICE!

Lilac:  I feel the urge.  You're already going out there!

Me:  How can you feel the urge again?

Lilac:  I'm old, I get confused easily! 

Me:  (grumbling)  Fine!  Blueberry, you might as well join us, too!

Blueberry:  I wanted to go out by myself!  It gets too crowded out there! 

Me:  It's now or never!

Blueberry sighed and got off the couch.  We all went back outisde.  I stood out there shivering, watching to make sure that something really happened this time.  After all is settled, we go back inside.  Blueberry began to rub against the back of the couch in an attempt to get her coat off.  After removing Bunny and Lilac's coats I tracked Blue down and wrestled her out of hers.  Finally, I sat down and curled up under a blanket.  Blueberry curled up at the other end of the couch.  Bunny, who had been a frozen little statue outside developed a case of the indoor zoomies and began to run all over the living room.  Inevitably, she jumped up on the couch between Blueberry and me.  She was leaning against me, but still wiggling like mad.  Next, some static shocked her and she let out the greyhound scream of death.  It's truly something that will frighten the beejeezus out of you.  She leapt off the couch and turned to look at Blueberry accusingly.  I tried to coax her back up on the couch with me, but then Blueberry stood up and moved over to curl up against me.  Bunny looked at her, then went off to curl up on the comfy dog bed, while occasionally casting the hairy eyeball at Blueberry.  Apparently, I needed cold weather to become a hot commodity!