Guam Greyhounds

Sadly, I don't know where I've been since November, and how this horrible news has flown below the radar until now:

The ONLY greyhound track in Guam [a US territory] abruptly closed in November. For whatever reason, the owner decided to have a "come get your greyhound for free day." Seriously - I don't know how else to describe it. In short, people just randomly came to pick a GH. No formal adoption process or anything - so you can imagine how that's ending up

GH were taken to be used in dog fighting as bait dogs [allegedly], as guard dogs [laughable], and a miriad of other uses that obviously aren't suited to GH. Numbers are being found starved and abandoned; some released into the wilderness/jungle to fend for themselves.

This is unacceptable on I don't know how many levels. The only welfare group on the entire island, Guam Animals in Need, is doing the best it can to try and get the dogs OFF the island. It's working with a local group in California to ship them a few at a time. Many are malnourished and in need of lots of love and compassion @ this point.

PLEASE VISIT www.guamgreyhounds.org and donate whatever you can. Whether it's $1 or $5, any little bit will help these dogs. I'm unemployed - and have been since November. I'm trying to get $20 together to help; as I firmly believe this shouldn't be allowed to happen anymore in this day and age. I won't even begin to try to figure out whether or not the track owner was just on crack or what when he allowed this to happen...

Pass this on to anyone and everyone you know. I know times are quite tight everywhere for everyone. But even if you can only give $1, that could buy a can of food for a dog.



Do you knit? How about making a greyhound sweater with this great pattern courtesy Terry Lea Royea: http://www.royea.net/side_button_greyhound_sweater.pdf

These needy little pups could use some hand-knit lovins. Pass this around to everyone you know!

Poor Evie

She's had the worst teeth, and sadly, I haven't had the money to get them fixed until now. Greyhounds are known to have bad teeth. Genetics mostly - some are blessed with fabulous teeth, others are not. It has nothing to do with NGA v. AKC breeding or anything like that. Just genetics.
I had saved enough last fall to get her teeth cleaned [and some likely pulled], but alas, I needed new tires for my car. Tires or pup? Well, if I crashed the car, I'd totally be SOL, so I went with tires. Saved up more $$ to get her teeth done.

And the results? Totally trust my vet - Dr. Kevin - who even has one of the puppies from the litter we had almost 18mo ago. Instead of 4 teeth [all pre-molars] being pulled, she had 4 pre-molars, 4 incisors, and 4 other teeth pulled = 12 total. [She also had a full senior blood panel, full mouth xrays and her nails lasered back beyond the quick to little nubbins...]

Evie is now at home, totally jacked up on tramadol, clavamox and metacam whilst recovering. Her face is swollen like a chipmunk who ate too many nuts and her tongue hangs out the right side of her mouth because of all the teeth pulled. The good thing? I swear it looks like Dr. Kevin used Crest Whitstrips on her teeth - fabulous! Also, I know that after she gets over the initial pain, her mouth won't hurt anymore [which I know was happening before] - and she'll be happy.

The cost? Hahaha. It pains me to say, so I won't burden anyone with that! Plus you all would pass out - like I almost did.

[Oh, and how 'bout that new pic of Evie this past fall in the title header? Dippin' her toes in the cool Snoqualmie River.]

21st century has arrived...

Ok. So there seems to have been continual leaks under the sink for whatever reason for the past few months. Fix & think everything's under control, then voila! Another leak comes up several months later. Blech. Tiring.

Anyway, so we had another leak last weekend. BF goes to see about fixing it & runs up to the Ace Hardware for parts. Sad because they actually know his name in there. He comes home and says, "I have a suprise for you!" Of course, I'm thinking cute adorable GH puppy.

Alas no, but ALMOST AS GOOD!!! He bought a garbage disposal!!!!! WoooHoooo! His rationale was that it cost as much as all the parts to fix the sink. He's never had a garbage disposal in the house! Do you have any idea just how nasty and gross cleaning those little traps in the sink were? Bits of food particles all floating around soggy and then start to smell. He spent all day Monday putting it in rather than go skiing. How wonderful is he???

It's a joy to scrape a plate directly into the sink rather than the trash can. Part of me secretly smiles too b/c I used to tease him about it for several years before we were even dating - and I have no clue why he never had one before. He's lived in this house for almost 14yrs!

We have joined the 21st century. He bought a dishwasher about 2wks prior. I know...

And on a side note... Hope all the peeps and pets down in AU are going to be ok! Just devistating about those fires. On one GH list I follow, a very prominant trainer lost his life and another lost his home. Haven't heard anythign about the dogs being in trouble, though lots are in temporary kennel situations while other living arrangements can be found. Hope you all are doing as well as can be expected at this time. Read more here http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Where Did January Go?

Wow, that month went by fast! Super fast. Hmph. Watched the inauguration streaming online at CNN. Pretty good, though I only really cared about Obama's speech. In terms of his prior speeches, I was disappointed. It was a solid 9 or 10. But I was expecting an 11 - the complete "WOW" factor. Something that would stay with me the rest of my life. Bummer.

Was diggin' Michelle's outfit and the kids' coats. Love the fact that they wear JCrew. Half my wardrobe is JCrew. If I ever run into her, we can bond over the latest JCrew catalog! Hehehe.

Random pictures. Here's Evie hittin' the sauce. You wonder what greyhounds do when people are at work? They raid the liquor cabinet. Apparently Evie likes the Bacardi.

And flowers from the bunch BF brought home last night. His response - because I haven't brought you flowers in awhile. I've been kinda hard to be around lately; studying for the bar exam doesn't help. He's a wonderful BF! They're still pretty.