Mmmmmm....bread!

Think I mentioned that I scored a mini bread maker at a church yard sale the other day. Believe I may be in danger of gaining 50 pounds if I keep making this:

It's so yummy it makes you want to just roll around on the carpet like this:

Why aren't you sharin your noms with me?

A Gwyntastic Thanksgiving

We took a road trip this year over the river and through the woods...to my sister-in-law's house for Thanksgiving. Happily, thankfully, Gwyn got to go! This is the same sis-n-law who let Gwyn & I stay when we took our road trip for the Frazz photo shoot. Gwyn thinks her house is fabulous. (And it is.) Her cousin, Lady (a border collie rescued as a pup from a shelter) is a most gracious hostess. And there are stairs! And a cat to search for! And wonderful places to hike.

A tired hound is a good hound.

Babies are a necessary travel accessory for any girl. Gwyn worshiping her new penguin

I know if I stay near the luggage I won't be left behind!

Did I hear "go"?!

Here's my silly face!

Black Cat in Black & White

You're interfering with my hunting!

If you insist, I'll come down to be admired

I am feline, hear me roar! Or...purr...

There is something about shooting my friends' black cat in black and white that really appeals to me.

She's a great hunter. She'd been watching birds and squirrels from the woodpile for a while before I interrupted her.

She's also very sweet, and not opposed to coming down to be fawned over.

Wayward Hound - Homeward Bound

It may be ironic that What Remains Now started a discussion earlier this week about what kind of identification your dogs wear in case they get lost...We had quite the scare last night when Gwyn decided to go on a walkabout...or runabout (the greyhound version)! Don't worry, she's home safe & sound. We're very grateful to have wonderful family & friends who immediately helped form a search party. We also had Home Again (the company who made the microchip she has) send out alerts to members, vets & shelters in the area. Fortunately for my cardiac health she wasn't gone too long. As I've often tried to explain to people who aren't familiar with greyhounds, it's not that they won't come home (she did), it's what can happen before they have a chance to! LoML was out first thing this morning fixing the gate that had gotten messed up and come open that allowed her escape. While the rest of us were out looking (some walking, some driving slowly around the neighborhood) my Mom had volunteered to be the one to stay at the house in case the wayward child returned home on her own. Which she did. Mom says she came running up, grinning her big grey grin...delighted to see that her grandmommy had come for a visit!!

photo courtesy of J Frazz Photography

I don't think my heart could have taken her being gone any longer than she was!
We’re participating in this Saturday’s Pet Blog Hop, hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  If you’d like to participate, please follow the rules and follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste the html code into your html editor.  Thanks again to our hosts for putting on the hop!

Thanks for Helpin the Goggies, Mayzie!

I was thrilled to learn yesterday that one of my blog posts was selected in Mayzie's Rescue Me Week contest. Now a $100 donation is being made to Greyhound Friends of North Carolina Mayzie says there were 180 posts featuring 233 wonderful animals needing to find their forever homes. May Granpa J's kindness and giving spirit live on through us all and may we be ever mindful of how a simple act can change lives. I'm reminded of the starfish story (many variations...)

THE  STARFISH  POEM Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.  He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean." "I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?" "The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die." "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!" The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said-  "It made a difference for that one."

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Thanks to all who make a difference in one life at a time! Also, kudos to Mayzie for showing us this video which I have to share:

New Books & Crazy Dogs

First: For me, there is nothing quite like opening up that new novel by Stephen King. It makes me so happy. It makes me wish I could call in sick and stay home and do nothing but read. Alas, since I was actually sick recently I am woefully behind at work and have too much of a conscience to "play" sick. Here's something I wrote a while back and somehow never published:

Okay. I get it. Stephen King is not for everyone. But, for those of us that he speaks to, well, the man is a genius. And I'm not ashamed to say I adore the man! I firmly believe he's the most amazing writer of our age. He is the every-man writer of our age. Unbelievably prolific. I'm glad he couldn't stick to his threat of a few years ago to never publish again. Turns out he could not leave Constant Reader after all.

So, I've just finished his latest novel, Under the Dome. As usual, I am blown away. His books transport me to another place and time (which, when it comes right down to it is really my main [only?] criteria for a good book...or movie....hmmm, see a pattern here?). But, I digress.

This would have been in 2009 that I wrote that. It all still applies. I adore Stephen King. I just started my copy of his latest, 11/22/63, and look forward to telling you more about it later.

Next: One of the phrases you're likely to hear me repeat frequently these days is that Gwyn is the funniest dog on the planet. I get that I'm biased. But she is. Really. One day soon I will post a video of her playing with her Kong Extreme Flyer. But for now I'll just tell you about it and show you a few pictures. It's the best toy. Ever. It holds its shape to fly like a regular frisbee, but is made of very pliant rubber and is so soft it can be picked up and folded in half easily. Gwyn has an entire ritual that's developed that in part includes running around the yard with it, playing keep-away and then hiking it like a football between her legs and spinning around to try to catch it when it flies off.

One more reason I love my Nikon Coolpix is the sport continuous mode can take a great series of shots to capture such craziness (Gwyndiculousness--the root phrase originally coined by LoML). Here are just a few of the shots I took yesterday morning:

Hike!

 You can't see it, but the flyer just went behind her...she's right up against the flower bed that borders the screened-in porch...that's our rosemary bush in the foreground..it's not unusual for Gwyn to come in smelling like rosemary...which is not a bad thing in my book!

spinning...

spinning...

running the loop

part of the shake

shaking and walking

Monkey Business

Yesterday was a good day. Went to some church bazaars and an estate sale with my mom. Didn't get too much, but did snap up several stuffed animals for Gwyn. I find that bazaars, yard sales, etc. are a fabulous place to get hound babies. You can get them much cheaper than buying new, plus I prefer to try to find ones without squeakers and with fewer bits that must be removed. If you're owned by a hound you know what I mean. "Babies" are to be rationed out. I discovered with my first grey that you can, if they survive long enough, rotate babies in and out of the lineup...sneak one up & hide it when the pile on the floor's gotten too deep and then give it again one day and it's like a new toy all over again!

Yesterday's new selection is a great monkey. Perhaps this series will give you an idea of the ritual dance of the new baby:

For Me?

Why, yes! I think I will take him!

This is when Mommy realized the monkey's hands velcro to each other & embarassed me by wrapping him around my neck. :::sigh::: I was 'stuck' and couldn't move!

P.S. I started this post on Sunday, but had technical difficulties and am just now getting the pictures to load properly.

Shorter Daze

Is anyone else out there having difficulty with the shorter days? Maybe it's worse this year because I'm also recuperating from bronchitis and have very little energy. But I hate when I leave work and it's already getting dark! Makes me want to hibernate. One thing that does help is that when I get home I am greeted by the hound as though I'm the best thing that's happened to her...ever. That unconditional love combined with the joyousness of the reunion is priceless. I have to say that my training is coming along nicely. Even if it is getting dark, even if her daddy just played with her moments before, she still insists (and I acquiesce) on us going out in the back yard to play with her favorite toy. More on that this weekend. Am hoping to post a video for you.

Meanwhile, if you want some of that greyhound love for yourself, consider:

                             You could adopt this sweet big boy, Blizzard (EF Lee Blizzard) and I'm sure he'd give you kissies! If you want more info on him, or any other greys for adoption, please visit Greyhound Friends of North Carolina Again, we're participating in Mayzie's Rescue Me Week playing to win a donation for GFNC. Mayzie's blog is terrific and I'm happy to have found it. Hope you'll enjoy reading more about the most glorious adventures of one brindle dog.

By the way, sometimes I get ahead of my learning curve with all this tech stuff that I'm so infatuated (read obsessed) with...can anyone tell me why all of a sudden when you go to my blog you only see that day's post and have to click on "Older Posts" to see more...versus how it used to show several as you scrolled down the page? Thanks!