Today's suggested reading

One of my favorite books growing up was a Weekly Reader book called "Andrew Henry's Meadow" written and illustrated by Doris Burns. It's about a kid who loves to "invent" things but his inventions make his family crazy, so one day he runs away and finds a meadow where he builds himself a house (fort) and where he can work on his inventions. He is soon joined by other children whose families also do not understand their hobbies and Andrew welcomes them to his meadow and helps build each of them their own house where they can enjoy their hobbies. And, yes, there is a happy ending to the story!

This makes a great gift for young readers. All kids go through the "not fitting in" stage and will relate to Andrew Henry. Amazon had this for awhile when the 40th anniversary edition was released. You can also purchase directly from the publisher: San Juan Publishing.

My Niece! My Grand-Niece! ? My ?

This is my niece's daughter. What does that make me? What does that make her? Am I a grand aunt or????

No matter the logistics, she is boootiful!

February 2008 Daddy Daughter Dance

Finally! A couple of shots I'm happy with. Now, if I could only get Ian to let me photograph him. Anyone know how to get a teenager to cooperate with pictures???

Canine Character

She looks a little scary - she did a lobotomy on her hedgehog afterall - but Mabel is really just a character, not unlike every other greyhound out there!

Foster Failure: Meet Our Latest Greyhound - Connor!

Figs Cansano Racing Data What a HANDSOME guy!

Dogs, chocolate, and vomiting

I walked into my office this afternoon and found Mabel and Connor, two very innocent looking greyhounds, with an empty bag of Hershey Kisses on the floor.

I grabbed a turkey baster and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and called for Mabel and Connor to go outside. Bill held Mabel while I administered the hydrogen peroxide...she was the one who looked the most guilty and I was sure she was acting lethargic. Then Connor stepped right up for his turn (!). I was feeling guilty for leaving the chocolate where they could get it and for shoving hydrogen peroxide down their throats. Never had to do this before...when do they start vomiting? Why are they looking so miserable with their heads hanging low? Soon enough we've got greyhounds upchucking all over the yard, so I asked Bill to look and see which dog ate the Hershey's Kisses. Sure enough, it was Connor, our 3-year-old red fawn pup that we adopted a few weeks ago. He's a naughty boy and always getting into things.

However, it was soon clear that it wouldn't be just Mabel and Connor tossing their cookies. I turn around to find Bill bent over, right in there with the pups giving the ol' heave ho. Where is my camera when I need it? :)

Greyhound Acrobatics

Natalie is our 3-year-old foster greyhound that we have had since September. She is a NUT and is going to be a Greyt dog for someone! Here you see her doing one of her favorite tricks, head on the floor, butt up in the air, scooting her back feet ever so closer to her front feet until she does a somersault. Nutty Natalie! You can see her racing statistics here.
If you would like more information on adopting Natalie, please visit the Royal Hounds web site.

Nutty Natalie in action!