Hey, It’s Warm, Boots? Naw We’re Tough

Warm...well considering (28 degrees) how the weather goes in MN this time of year, a lot of times it is the most exciting thing going on. When it gets around this temp snow is never far away and stands to reason it has found its way into the forecast for the next few days. Quite a bit of it melted in the last couple of weeks with our warm spells and all. On the other hand the water that has formed from the melting snow is now a crunchy ice pack and makes for a poor running environment for my greyhounds who often feel the need for speed. Needless to say they have suffered some minor nicks when making the rounds. Two of my hounds have real issues with boots, another one is a total spaz when you put boots on him. I have several pair of expensive boots in their closet that I'd love to put on them when they go outside during times when the terrain is rough for paws. I gave it up when we were outside one day and one of them threw one boot, had the others loosened...and was just generally not happy with the situation. Still I was determined these guys were wearing their nice boots! I bent over to put this one hound's (okay...it was Blew!) boots on right and just as I was getting the last one on he decided to bolt. My glasses went one way, I flew another...I think it would be safe to say 'I had my bell rung' big time. When I found my glasses, I noted that now Blew was running around with two boots on right, one missing and the other ‘tread’ side up. Renner only had one boot on. Blew was standing on a patch of ice doing his best 'Bambi' impression (if you have seen that movie, where Bambi first stands on ice). Renner was running around on three legs because he still had a boot attacking one foot! Yeah....gave up on the boots after that. Now, days when the terrain is ultra rough just becomes a 'no run' day.

‘Blew and Renner Share A Little Sunshine’

R

Quiet Day

 

So far it has been really quiet here. Sundays usually start out that way. It has turned cold again, 3 degrees right now. But the sun is out and that is something we have been missing, so it is good that it finally blessed us with it's light yesterday.  A lot of the snow cover has gone due to the warmer than normal temps earlier in the week. Very nice, but gray the entire time. Seems we just can't get both things to happen at once, sun and warmth. Eventually it will come...here in MN that is called Summer!

Spring?  Oh that must be the couple of weeks that happen about mid-May, passes right by us pretty quickly and on occasion even with a slight dusting of snow. We have the same problem with Fall, which is my favorite season, but is here only 2 or 3 weeks then gives way to winter all too quickly many times.  Actually if you live in Minnesota then you know the saying 'we have two seasons - Winter and Road Construction'. It is a lovely place.

Fall Hike, Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, MN

Long Night

 

But we were having a good time. My kids brought over Rockband 2 for the PS3 and we played it....until 2am this morning. Who'da thunk it? I do believe Scooter even joined it a couple of times (my singing). ;) Pretty bad. I do believe the animals were thinking, 'looonnnggg night, will it ever end'?

 

“I Just Can’t Take Any More!”

Precipitation

The dogs went out this morning, still dark outside and found it was pouring rain. The water was standing on top of what was still left of the snow, which is now a sheet of ice. I had sanded it (have more than once in the last few weeks) and even still there was an awful lot of slipping and sliding out there. I was concerned especially for Blew, the old man, because he has a weak rear end going on, and I thought he'd be doing the splits out there. But he didn't go out far, and did pretty well. Scooter it didn't really bother in the slightest (he's the youngster here at about 5 years old). Renner was not amused and walked slowly, I think he slid around more than the rest. He is the middle man at about 7. But the warmer temps are nice. It is 42 right now. This is going to freeze most likely in the next few days and wow, won't that be good fun. For now we are going to just enjoy the warmth though.

……A Little Rain Must Fall

Feeling on the sad side today. A new friend of mine lost one of her greyhounds about 5 or 6 weeks ago, was a lovely greygirl named for royalty, and rightfully so.  She also had been having problems with their older greyboy, and after so much effort to help him, he suffered pulmonary embolism and passed away last night. She is now pet-less and I could just feel the anguish in her words. She and her OH seem such lovely people and mentioned how terribly quiet the house was without him. (what heartbreak!) Having gone through losing my pets so many times, instead of hardening, I seem to feel other's pain ever more severely when they lose their animals. We had a very bad year a couple of years ago where we had many, many elder and special needs greyhounds and for a while we were losing them one a month or so. It hurt so much, so often, for a while I became a bit numb from all of the tears and anxiety. It is so very hard to lose a pet, but something I have not yet experienced is becoming pet-less through loss. I have always gone and brought in another. My Mom has asked me several times why I keep doing it. I mean....setting myself up to continually go through heartbreak after heartbreak. As I get older I keep thinking, ok I just can't keep taking this. And then I do it again. I am addicted to these beautiful animals, and I love having them around me. The love and memories they impart upon me must be worth all of the pain I feel when I lose them. I really can think of no other excuse. They make me feel good...a Greyhound high.

***My heart goes out to you Jay and your OH. God Bless. God Speed Pirate. :(

Minnesota Weather Report: By Scooter

The weather today is bug everyone to go out every 20 minutes good! The white cold stuff is frozen to the ground in some spots, and nice and soggy in others. It is hold your pee to stand and sniff into the wind wonderful. Unfortunately there are no bright spots to lay in, inside the house and little wet sprinkles hit my back when I sniff outside, but that's okay because my feet aren't getting nearly as cold as they were. They are however wet...and I get some grief at for bringing in mud, but it is allll worth it to not have to hear 'Hurry Hurry' being yelled at me all the time. I don't know if this will last but while it is here I am going out as much as I can no matter who it annoys. ;)

A Little Dipper

Monty, doer of all strangeness within our walls, Bestower of many things for me to conversate about, would like me to convey his annoyance with me for laughing at him when he drinks water from a bowl. A lover of water, he really enjoys getting a drink in many different ways. Actually a lot of his ways could fit into the ‘Slob’ category but sometimes they are actually very dainty looking. However, I’m pretty sure he would take offense as being labeled as dainty as well, so I will skip the labels and cut to the chase. He just can’t drink like a normal cat, (if there is such a thing). He often sits beside the water bowl dipping his paw in to scoop up a little water and then licks it off his paw ‘…ahhh pure heaven’. He will sit and do this for half an hour at a time. There are times when he has to go to the dish and slap the surface of the water many times, occasionally with both paws… ‘submit oh fluid of life, submit I say….!’ Once he has beaten it into submission he can then masterfully lap it up. Though the most annoying (and often occurs when he is most annoyed at me) is the ‘Move The Entire Bowl’ method. ‘Move The Entire Bowl’ really didn’t take him that long to master. He simply plops himself down by the bowl and proceeds to push the bowl around in quick small jerks so the water spills over the sides in waves. When he feels a large enough puddle has been created, he drinks. He has emptied large bowls this way, because obviously the ‘best’ water is at the bottom.

Once when my OH was working close by, a good 3 times in about a 30 minute span, the bowl was emptied by Monty and again filled by either my OH or myself (the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing). When I saw it, I just thought, ‘oh Monty’s done now’ wiped up the water and refilled the bowl. Many wet towels later my OH caught on and put the bowl up on the counter putting an end to it. A necessary step to break the cycle. It was for Monty’s own good. He was suffering from a very severe bowl moving funk, it just wouldn’t release him. Either that or he was getting back at me for getting him a food shaped so he couldn’t bite the ends off of to leave all over the house.

A Seasonal Preoccupation

I don’t know why so many Minnesotans are totally preoccupied with the weather, but a lot of them seem to be this time of year. When warmer winds prevail you hear a lot less about weather coming out of our mouths. But in the days during winter and prior to spring ‘springing’ there is nothing more we like talking about than wind chills, snow, ice and what we are going to do for a vacation to break up the winter. So to stay true to form I am going to talk about what we are going to do this winter to get away from the cold. We are packing up the hounds and taking our RV down to Florida to visit my parents, which will include a stop at a  campground at Disney World. We did the same thing last year, sans the Disney World stop, in the middle of an vicious snow and ice storm and let me tell you the trip down would top the ‘Tower of Terror’ ride at Disney World (which no one has been able to get me on yet, but I learn from others experiences pretty well). On the way down, I would have questioned our sanity, but really was too stressed to do so at the time. However, after having ‘made it’ through the last trip down I do have the time to question it now. Why in the world would we turn around and do the same thing again if it didn’t go too swimmingly last time?

The only excuse I can come up with that it gets so cold here, it actually freeze some of the ‘reasoning cells’ of the brain. The cells don’t thaw until the temp. stays consistently above 32 degrees Fahrenheit for at least a week. We will stay in Florida for about that long and start to regain our sanity right about the time we need to drive back. It is on the drive back that the cells begin to refreeze due to the lower temps we start to encounter on the trip north, and by the time we get back we are telling people how great it all was, because we really just don’t remember the drive until the summer months when we really aren’t that into talking about the weather or winter vacations. By the time the subject comes up again we are well into the winter once more and the cells freeze once again, just a vicious cycle that keeps a lot of us in an unconscious repetitive pattern. Not a pretty excuse but it is all I’ve got at –14.  However, it is supposed to reach nearly 34 ABOVE zero today and if the weather holds long enough, it is possible this winters trip could be canceled.

My Cat Is A Slob

Monty has some unusual habits. None of my other cats has done some of the things he does. They can be a little irritating sometimes, depending on my mood, but I also find them humorous. I am pretty picky about keeping the house clean. I consider it really important when you have as many pets as we always seem to have. Blew, one of my greyhounds, has a *very* touchy stomach and just can not eat anything out of the ordinary or it sets off some terrible gas and runny stools. So I always make sure there is nothing on the floor that he will eat, else we both pay the price. (yep getting back to Monty now) Anyway, Monty is always challenging me in the clean floor department due to the  fact that he likes to walk around while he eats. He eats very loudly, and I don't he even has it in him to just stand over his dish and eat. He also doesn't eat the 'ends' of his food, only the middles, so that leaves all of the 'ends' all over the floor as he strolls around chomping. I have an island in my kitchen and when Monty is finished I take my DustBuster vac and whip all around there getting  up all the 'ends' of Monty's food. By 'ends' I mean his food is little x's and he eats the centers of the x's and leaves the rest all over the place. He is very old, though healthy, and needs to eat several times a day so it is ongoing though out the day. Blew, on the other hand, knows that Monty does this and will go out there looking for Monty's 'ends' and if I don't get to them all before Blew finds them it is 24 hours in a gas mask for me!

Short Films I Have Made: Camping With Retired Racing Greyhounds

Short Films I Have Made: Kee And The Cookie

Short Films I Have Made: Retired Racing Greyhound Adoption.

S-s-s-soooo C-c-cold Ag-g-gain!

Yep, right now the thermometer says -14. We are house bound once again. The hounds are not amused. You just have to love weather where the pee is nearly frozen before it has had a chance to trickle down the hill. I mean really, there has to be some comedy in that somehow. Sometimes I swear they look at me like it is all my fault, 'Why do you make it so cold out here Mom?'. My only answer is 'hurry, hurry!' Poor guys...have you ever tried to 'hurry' your business? And how has that worked out for you? ;)

Also, just a quick update on Scooter. Another good day for him. Seems perfectly normal, no more disorientation. I know when ever something like this goes on it takes me quite a while to unwind about it. I keep looking for something, thinking any minute the problem will return. I sure do hope we have figured it all out correctly, but I am guessing only time will tell. Fingers and toes all crossed!