Wooly Worms are Our Friends

As a kid I tried to make all animals my pet that didn't have a collar, leash and a human attached to it. This would include the unusual types like, earthworms, caterpillars, frogs, turtles and the praying mantis that lived on our front porch every summer. 

Of all the childhood "pets" I claimed, I loved my wooly worms the most. Maybe it was because I could only find them in Boone, NC? Maybe it was because they looked like tiny, prickly porcupines, just friendlier? I don't know, but to this day I'm still fascinated by them. So you can imagine how excited I was to see a wooly worm crossing the Greenway Trail as Seka and I were walking a couple of weeks ago. I scooped him up (sexing wooly worms is very technical, ya know) and took him along for the rest of our journey.  He crawled all over my arm and vest and when we stopped to rest, Seka had to see what mom was so excited about. She could care less. So, I made her pose for photos with our friend the wooly worm.

Greyhound Crittoure

I'm glad that there's no date and time stamp on this photo so I can
lie and tell you that it was taken at a department store at noon on
black Friday. But it was more like 7 am. And I had been shopping for
two hours. Yes. I am a nut job.

But through my blurred vision I saw this awesome box, of what I
thought was perfume with clever marketing for dog lovers, but after I
did a little research it is actually a fragrance designed for canines.
While I can't imagine any greyhound owner using such a thing on their
dog, I have to admit that the box and the advertising is awesome. What am I saying? Seka
is a total princess. Maybe Santa will leave it in her stocking.

What I really want to know is how many women, or men for that matter,
mistakenly bought the crittoure perfume instead of the coutoure
perfume as a gift for their loved one this year?

Gobble Gobble

Need I say more? Happy Thanksgiving!

GreytBlack Utopia

Have you ever noticed that different areas of the country lend itself to different breeds of dogs? When you're on the coast you see a lot of labs and other types of "water loving" dogs enjoying a romp in the surf. While I was in NYC on business this past week, everywhere I turned there were small dogs of every shape and size. And during our long weekend stay in one of my favorite places in the world, there are a lot of what I call "mountain" dogs - huskies, GSDs, blue tick hounds, bird dogs, etc.

It made me start thinking, where do greyhounds fit into this stereotypical map of dogs? I guess somewhere warm is a start. Just imagine a location where you can walk down the street and pass other greyhound owners walking their pride and joy. Where you can talk about a greyhound's special qualities and not answer silly questions about the breed. Where all the designer dog stores in the town had a bigger selection of martingale collars and snoods than tiny little coats and sweaters. The dog park would have flat open spaces, safe for running and playing, with a sandy under surface that is easy on greyhound paws. Then in the center of the park there would be a mini track for fun runs - no starting box of course. Of course there would be a sign on the front gate, Dogs 30mph and Over Only Please.

While it would be fantastic to have other greyhound lovers all in such close proximity, I kind of like being different. I like standing out. I like the attention Seka gets when we're out walking or go through a drive through. I like that she's not like all the other dogs people see day in and day out. I think Seka likes it too. So I guess greyhound utopia isn't for us.

BTW: Here's Seka's contribution to NoPoYoDoToMo. Not sure that Omo will be impressed. Seka is not really proud of her bum, however from this angle it looks like she has plenty of junk in her trunk. She's wearing her new snood in this photo, which she rocked all weekend in NC. This picture just cracks me up the more I look at it.

Sad Week for the GBD

We lost our Nomie kitty on Thursday. It was sad and sudden. She fought. We fought. Our vets fought. Everyone fought to keep our tiny girl alive, but it was just too much for her.


Later on I'll write more about everything that happened when I feel up to it. Right now I'm just trying to focus on the good memories. Here are some of my favorite photos of my darling green-eyed girl.



She was the runt of a litter of kittens born in our garage on April 1, 2002. I held her just hours after she was born. She was the most curious of the litter, despite her size and we knew she would be the one we would keep. We named her Nomie after Nomar Garciaparra, who played for the Red Sox at the time. She was a tough little girl.



She loved to lay on my lap every day while I worked. I used to take her to our downtown office and let her run around the office and look out the big windows. She loved watching the cars from that vantage point. She was a hunter of lizards and could catch flies and moths that would make Mr. Miyagi proud. She even fought in an online kitten war, even though she didn't really do all that well.



She loved her sister Boo the most, despite her smelly bum. They slept together every night, and most of the day too. She loved her kitten tower and looking out the windows at the birds in the bird feeders. She really loved our new house.



We will miss you Nomie cat. There's an empty place in our hearts and our home that can't be replaced.



Godspeed, Nomie.

Steeplechase 2007 - We're Faster than the Horses, but We Didn't Embarass Them

Greyhounds are the second fastest land mammal, behind the cheetah. I believe that they may also be the most magnetic as well. After walking the girls though the thousands of people tailgating in the infield at the 2007 Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens this weekend, it was certainly obvious that there must be some excessive gravitational pull associated with their DNA, genes, or molecular structure, as everyone we passed had to make a comment, ask us a question or stop us to pet them.

We were Steeplechase virgins. The SEGA folks have been going for years, showing off our former racers to the thousands of race fans that are there to take in the long day of sunshine, obscenely large brimmed women's hats and a lot of adult beverages. It's like a mini-derby in Georgia where the upper crust and crumbs can both enjoy the day. SEGA sets up a tent with information on adopting retired racers, set up a few ex-pens with our dogs lounging in the sun and of course have a spread of food for us to consume, along with a few adult beverages. We really draw quite a crowd (I'm convinced it's in their molecular structure. No other dog draws this kind of attention) and I'm sure that we will adopt at least two, if not more dogs from our Steeplechase meet-n-greet.

Here are the best questions asked during the day in no particular order:

1. Are those dobermans? No Do they have doberman in them? No, they are greyhounds. Are you sure, because they really look like dobermans, especially that one. No, we're sure.

2. Aren't all greyhounds gray? We had two fawn, two brindle, and two black ones there, all clearly labeled greyhounds.

3. That's got to be a lurcher. No, but that's an impressive statement to make, considering I have no idea what one looks like in person.

4. I bet they run all the time. I wouldn't be able to exercise them enough if I had one. If you only knew how I have to beg sometimes for Seka to get up off the sofa.

5. I'd love to have a greyhound puppy. Uh, I don't think I'd survive a greyhound puppy. But maybe I'm wrong and you'd love to have your entire house redecorated by the Tasmanian Devil.

Seka completely enjoyed the day, getting more love and attention from complete strangers than she ever has in her entire life. Charlotte wasn't so sure what the heck was going on and stuck close to mom and dad most of the day, but she carefully selected a few people to meet and greet and they got to give her love. The chosen few, so to speak.

She's become incredibly nervous in the car and we've noticed a lot of drooling and significant nose dripping, not to mention some super smelly emissions coming from her when we're in the car. This is a new thing and she did it again today when she went to grandma's house today for a visit. I'm going to start giving her Rescue Remedy before each trip and see if that won't cure some of the nerves before making a trip to the vet for something a little more substantial. I'm afraid by the time we get to North Carolina in a couple of weeks the girls will be swimming in the back seat of the Honda.