HoundBlog

Whippets just wanna have fun
They like to play and they like to run
The plastic bag is great to chase
It shows their speed and it shows their grace

Whippets just wanna have fun
They like to chase anything on the run
That funny tail of the squawking noise
Sounds just like one of their favorite toys

Whippets just wanna have fun
Some are smart and some just act dumb
Most are pretty and all are just great
To own more than one seems to be fate.

Whippets just wanna have fun
Come to our house to meet some
Of the nicest dogs put on this earth
We’ve got plenty– there is no dearth
Of Whippets just havin fun!

I’ve updated the Baharain album with the photos that Eddie has sent over the last few days. You will love the purple bedroom photos and the pictures of his drive from work are interesting as well. I was surprised that there wasn’t more traffic and people as I thought this was a busy island. Guess that all depends on which part of it you’re on.

Ken got home last night around 11:00 pm. There was over an hour delay in getting around Knoxville and traffic narrowed down to 1 lane, and since this was right at rush hour, there was nothing he could do. We waited until this morning to unload the furniture. I really like it. I had forgotten that it is also a bit higher and firmer than our other couch and loveseat, and this makes it easier for me to get up out of it.

Working from home today. Just trying to get caught up from the last 2 weeks of costing reports. Now we have an emergency of a tech who’s gone AWOL. Must be pretty serious as they are cutting everything off which isn’t the norm. The last time something like this happened, two of the techs went to Mexico to buy marijuana (in the company vans!) and were arrested and jailed. There is always something going on 🙂

Janet’s girls passed their CGC’s and Janet caught me up on the great job they actually did to pass! Star had to be a bit of a prima donna and required a pad to lay on for the sit and down part 😛 — she’s not usually like that, and Janet thought it would be Tara who would give her more problems, but Tara (who is her heart dog) was ready, willing and able to do whatever Janet asked of her. I so understand that special bond and so appreciate it! I’m glad Janet has it with Tara.

 Got this from Colin today — am I ever proud of him!

Photography Exhibit by Colin Wright

The photography of Colin Wright will be shown at Stage Left Café and Espresso Bar throughout the month of August. The display will change a couple of times throughout the month, so be sure and stop by often! Come join Colin at Stage Left on Saturday, August 5th, from Noon to 3pm for an artist’s reception celebrating the first public exhibit of his photography. Stage Left is located at 9975 WingHaven Boulevard in O’Fallon MO. Colin is riding with Team Enterprise in the MS150 in September to help support the work of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 15% of all sales from this photography exhibit will be donated as pledges for this ride.

I wish there was a way for us to see this online and to buy some of his photos. I’ve seen some of the ones on his website and they are just fantastic! Don’t forget to donate to his ride for MS.

Well, I guess I need to get back to work — have dallied around enough.

Love to all,

Margaret

Yesterday’s show was a let down from Saturday. We went away covered in red — everyone got 2nd place yesterday (which was still OK, but not what we had hoped for).  Oh well… there will be other shows. We actually aren’t planning any until the end of September when the Southern is in Atlanta, but we’ll see.

Ken’s in Ohio by now and spending some time with Chris, Gina, Wesley and Anika. He’ll get home tonight around 9-10 pm. A long day, but it’s been awhile since we saw them and he likes to keep in contact via more than just the phone. He’s also picking up some new living room furniture that Chris ordered for us through his store. We got a couch and loveseat that have recliner ends to them to help with getting my legs elevated more.

My living room looks rather bare right now as we took out the old stuff except for the loveseat and ottoman. The dogs are all upset because there isn’t enough places for them to all lie down. They are crowding each other on the dog beds…it’s actually kind of funny to see who pairs up with whom. If Tigger hadn’t torn up all the donut beds, they would be fine, but all of them (3) are sporting holes that are erupting with stuffing. I can’t find my sewing kit to sew them up and keep forgetting to buy a new one at the store. I will have to write myself a reminder note as those poor animals need their beds.

Eddie sent more pictures from Bahrain. I don’t have time to update the album right now, but will do that tonight. He sent 5 or 6 of the Purple bedroom and another group of his drive from work. It’s not what I expected, but you’ll see.

Colin is participating in a 150M bike ride for MS. If you can, please click on the link to his blog —> over on the right over there and there is a link to the MS site on his blog where you can donate to sponsor him. He’s pretty close to his goal, but I know we can all get him over the top. It’s a wonderful cause and he’s a good kid. 

Have to run now — I have a class/discussion at 9:00 and need to get my notes together for it.

Love to all,

Margaret

Have been at the dog show the last 2 days — tomorrow is the last day of it.

Friday was rather disappointing. Tigger’s debut brought puppy jinks out of him, with bouncy, hippity hop around the ring. He had a really good time though as he learned that treats were in store and that pleased him mightily. He was 3rd out of 4.

My lovely Oscar performed like a pro. Using beautifully shaped ears (some of you know he has not always done this) the whole time in the ring and quite freely, too he gaited well only to finish 4th.

Butterfly, beautiful Butterfly finished dead last and out of the ribbons.

Adorable Payne also had her debut. She was a little prima donna — lying in my lap before and after her class and only balking at one corner, she showed VERY well. Her breeder and co-owner, Kathy was very pleased by her showing and is encouraged that she will finish well. She also garnered a 3rd out of 4.

Today was a bit different results. Payne was not entered today or tomorrow and Ashley takes her place in the ring.

Tigger’s performance today was much like yesterday — bouncy and having a good time. 3rd place again and really can’t complain. the puppy who’s taken 1st both days is a nice boy.

Then it’s Ashley’s turn and he pulls of 2nd place. Then Oscar with Ken handling him today. He did well, but I thought he was a bit tense as he didn’t give ears quite so freely although they were again perfectly shaped, and he didn’t move quite as freely as I know he can.

Winner’s Dog went to the puppy.

Butterfly won her class and went on to get the Winner’s Bitch award for a four point major. That’s her first major and she now has 6 points towards her championship. It takes 15 total and she will need another major win before she’s finished.

Keep your fingers crossed for us tomorrow!

Yesterday, when I got home from the show, I had an email waiting for me. Bruno’s people had moved to Gulfport, MS after leaving him at our place. They knew that they could not take him with them as they were going to live in housing provided by the college that she was going to work for. It was a really hard decision for them to make–they were obviously very attached to him. As fate would have it, it was a good decision in more ways than just the obvious one. Hurricane Katrina hit Gulfport about a month after the family moved there. They had to leave their small apartment and live in a motel room (family of 4!) for the next 3 months. Bruno probably would not have survived all this upset. I sent them pictures of Bruno and hope they might eventually be reunited with him at some point.

Well, I’m really tired and tomorrow will be a long day as I’m helping with the CGC test the club is giving. Ken’s working tomorrow morning and will meet me at the show site in time to show, then he’s leaving to drive to Ohio to see the grandkids and pick up our new furniture. We spent this afternoon taking the old stuff out and to the dump. He’ll be back Monday and he’s taking Tuesday off for vacation so he can get some rest.

Love to all,

Margaret

Well, birthday boy had a good day yesterday. Co-workers greeted him with banners strung across his cube and two birthday cakes. Jokes were made that two were necessary to hold all the candles. They gave him a balloon bouquet of mylar balloons — one a big yellow smiley face and another a butterfly proclaiming “Happy Birthday”. He wondered out loud how long it would take Tigger to discover and destroy them. (probably as long as it takes them to leak out the helium, but we’ll see).

For his birthday dinner, I found some fresh okra in the grocery store, cut that up and battered and fried it, baked chicken breasts with garlic, chives, salt and pepper on them and fixed new potatoes with butter, bacon bits and parmesan cheese which baked alongside the chicken. It was really yummy even if I do say so myself. Had the leftovers for lunch today and all was still delicious.

Got to run — conference call.

Love to all,

Margaret

Spent a quiet weekend at home for the most part.

Saturday did have me driving into Greenville with the Cresteds to do an interview with the Greenville News feature writer. She interviewed 7 of us from the Kennel Club regarding our breeds and thier distinctiveness. It was funny, but listening to everyone else answer her questions, there isn’t going to be a lot of “distinction” as we all said our dogs are good family companions and smart :P. She did ask if we could identify our breed with a celebrity and of course, the Cresteds are best known with Gypsy Rose Lee who is credited with importing the first of them from England back in the ’20’s.

Tomorrow is Ken’s birthday. It will be a quiet day for him as well since we both have to work. As always, he’s refused to tell me anything he wants.

It’s been cooler here the past couple of days, but overcast and rains off and on all day and night. We need the rain, but this weather sure plays havoc with my knees. I was hoping for drier weather for the dog show next weekend, but the forecast says we’ll have this for awhile.

All for now.

Love to all,

Margaret

Haven’t written in awhile. Ken actually took a day off Sunday and we spent the day together. Went to Atlanta to a bird show — just bought a few toys for the birds did NOT buy any new birds, but I think even Ken was tempted by a few of them.

Saw Al Minero there — he’s a Whippet breeder that we know and come to find out he also breed Gouldian Finches — they are pretty little birds, but I have the wild birds for twittering 😀

Heard from Eddie — he’s sounding very lonely although he maintains he’s very busy. He sent photos of his new digs and WOW! He’s got a palace! Hope he plans to entertain some while he’s there as he certainly has the place for it! I’ve updated the Baharain album with the new photos (and probably a new skin as I can’t remember what I used before :blush:) You can see them HERE. He didn’t take a photo of the bedroom he said would be perfect for Chrystalyn — it’s painted purple and he says wouldn’t take much to turn into a room for a Princess! It would be wonderful if Yvonne, Randy and Chrystalyn could go for a visit while he’s over there.

He was also telling me about shopping (what a NICE child he is to shop for us ! 🙂 ) He says you can buy real Persian rugs (the kind that are hand knotted, not the ones from the outlet mall that are made on machines) for less than half price — of course that still means I can’t afford one any larger than the bath mat, but hey! it would still be nice to own one! He’s also found a Christmas present for Chrystalyn, but I won’t say what that is in case she ever reads this. Suffice to say, it sounds very pretty and feminine and it’s not clothes or toys.

Got to run.

Love to all,

Margaret

Not much going on these last couple of days. Working on a costing report for the big man so he can go up on prices to our customers. Will probably have to work on it all weekend as he wants contract information it it and guess where contracts are?? In the database?? NO! On spreadsheets — YUK! Will have to pull all that junk in somehow so I can pull out the numbers he wants.

Had a humdinger storm a little while ago, so had to shut down the computer and go do something else for awhile. We needed the rain, though.

One of the glads Mom gave me last year is blooming. I’ve been watching all those flowers for signs of blooms, but this stalk just shot up overnight it seems. It’s one of the red ones — Judy you remember what they looked like don’t you?

A friend of mine gave me a ton of Iris bulbs. I’ve got to find time soon to get them in the ground (well before winter anyway :grin:) It’s so hard to dig in that ground — too much gravel in there. I need to put another layer of stones around the edge and add a couple of hundred pounds of topsoil. Then maybe my daylilies would do something.

Eddie sent me photos of him at Fort Jackson last night. I’ve created an album for you to view them if you like — click HERE.

He keeps promising more of Baharain so stay tuned for those. I’ll probably just add them to the Baharain album, so if you saved that link you should be OK.

Guess I really should add links to these albums over on the side over there.

You’ve probalby noticed that I’ve switched around the “look” of the blog the last couple of days. I keep trying out different “skins”, making minor adjustments to them to make them more like the rest of the site. It drives Ken crazy when I do that, but I get bored….

He did go and read the poem. He liked it 🙂

Guess I’ll begin working on pages for the Cresteds now that they’re getting a little bigger.

Need to run — Ken will be home soon.

Love to all!

Margaret

Today is Bridget’s last litter’s 7th birthday — lucky 7-11! I posted a happy birthday to them on Whippet World despite the fact that I doubt any of their owners view it, but you never know. That litter included Fabio, Delilah, Keebler and Madison along with Angel, and a couple of others whose names I’ve forgotten 😳

Wrote a poem to Ken — don’t know if he’ll see it as I think he reads WW more often than he does this blog ❓ Guess I’m feeling a little mushy today 😀

Never made it to the masseuse yesterday, so shoulders and neck are still sore and stiff but not as bad as yesterday. Will hope that hot showers and tylenol or aspirin will take care of the rest of it.

Talked to Mom yesterday and she admitted to overdoing it Saturday (and that’s putting it mildly!!!). She WALKED to the post office Saturday. Those of you who don’t know Maryville may not realize what a feat that is for an 83 year old lady! There are some pretty steep hills to navigate. At least she had the presence of mind to stop and rest frequently instead of being her usual bull-headed self and push on until she dropped. Ma — you need to leave the marches to Eddie — he’s the one in the military! 😉

Erin wanted to see more pictures of the Cresteds. Here is Saber

And here is Payne

Cleaned out the refrigerator today — the dogs had a feast 😀 Then they got to do dishwasher pre-wash duty. No complaints received on either the disposal or pre-wash duties unlike when I had 2 legged kids around 🙄

Need to get back to work (now isn’t that a 4 letter word:?:)

Love to all,

Margaret

Monday, Monday,
So good to me
Monday mornin’,
It was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin’,
Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That the rest of Monday would go as smooth
As I wanted Monday to be

Now that I’ve butchered the Mamas and Papas song… 😛

Woke up this morning with one heck of a stiff neck and shoulder. I’ve been flirting with the stiff neck for several days after falling asleep on the couch Thursday night :oops:, but evidently slept wrong on it last night, too and that’s about all it takes. Guess my lunch hour will be taken up down the street getting the kinks massaged out.

Speaking of down the street, next door they are renovating that building to make it into upscale condos. All winter, the building was open to the winter cold and winds, so I froze in my office since we share a wall with them. Now there is interminable pounding, grinding, thumping and mechanical shrieks that sometimes give me a headache and often vibrate my desk and monitor. I don’t know when they’ll be through with all that and down to quiet stuff, but I’m more than ready for it!

Angela picked up Aurora yesterday. She brought me this lovely bag as a thank you gift (which she did NOT have to do!). It’s nice and roomy, so will take the place of the totes I’ve been using to take my SQL books back and forth from work to home. She gave Ken chocolate truffles (YUMMY!) which he really shouldn’t have, but he’s being very good about limiting himself to only one a day. He did share with me (and I don’t need them either!) which was sweet. I don’t think he would enjoy the bag, though he’s welcome to use it if he wants to 😀

Erin wrote to me last night to send positive thoughts that she will find housing that will accept the Whippets as she moves to Virginia to go to Law School. First off, I’m really proud that she was accepted in the first place, but YES! We MUST send extra positive vibes that suitable Whippet digs will be found. She could not possibly concentrate on her studies and do well without Rose and Scarlett’s help!

Sent Kathy pictures of Payne and she wrote back that she’s pleased with how she’s turned out. If I could just get that one ear to stand straight, I would be happy, but I think that will come. She did send me a couple of suggestions on getting it the rest of the way up (only about the top 1/3 is floppy). It wouldn’t be such a big deal except it’s a fault in Cresteds in the US to have drop ears, so if I want to show her, they HAVE to be erect.

I also sent Cheylene pictures of Saber and Teddy. Saber got his first face trim — he did put up a fight, but eventually gave in and let me shave him. I will have to work with him more to get him used to that as he really looks better with a clean face. He sure is a good looking boy! Teddy is just cute 🙂 They won’t be old enough to show until October, so we will just enjoy their puppy-hood for awhile longer.

Well, guess I should get back to work and hopefully this little break with get the logjam in my brain broken up.

Love to all,

Margaret