Wow! Can’t believe it has been a month since I last updated the blog.  I hope we still have readers out there.  🙂 We have had a busy and fun July; time just slipped away from me. I will apologize in advance for the length of this post.  It is probably the longest post I have ever had!!  We had such a busy July. 

On July 1st, we celebrated Ziva’s 1st Gotcha Day.  Since her favorite thing in the whole world are toys.  She got several new toys to play with.  She is so smart.  She knew when I came home from work and had a plastic bag from the store that smells like dogs that there were toys in there for her.  I had a hard time removing all the tags/stickers quick enough before she got to them.  Note to self, keep a pair of scissors in the car.

She had a blast doing her usual routine of running from the living room to the bedroom, jumping up on the bed squeaking the toy and then back to the living room getting down in play bow position and squeaking it again. She is full of energy at her young age of four.  I played tug of war for a bit with her.  It was hard being camera woman and trying to play but I managed to get a few good shots.  These are also the first pictures I have attempted to edit with Lightroom.  The program is awesome and I have so much to learn!

 We are so happy she is part of our family.  She came to us as a foster, returned to the agency after two days in a home….due to no fault of her own and at a very difficult time for us, after just losing our Maggie, but over time she helped to heal our hearts.  Interestingly enough her official Gotcha Day is one day after Booyah’s Birthday and her Birthday is one day after Maggie’s Birthday.  We did not plan it that way.  In fact, when we first got her and I saw her Birthday on her paperwork, it saddened me because it was too close to my Maggie’s Birthday and I thought we can’t adopt her because her Birthday will always bring me sadness and that is not fair to her.  At the time, my heart was still in a zillion pieces.  It took a long time for me to accept Ziva as part of our family.  Mitch pushed for adoption of her because he knew she was the perfect match and he felt like Maggie and Booyah had picked her for us.  When I agreed to adopt her and Mitch called to let the agency know they asked us what date we would like as her official adoption day.  I said any date except for June 30th because that was Booyah’s Birthday.  So they said how about July 1st, and we said okay. This may not be the typical adoption story, but this is her unique story.  Everything worked out how it was meant to be.  She is strong willed, full of life and keeps us on our toes……a great addition to our family and just what we needed in order to heal.

Here is our special girl.  Look at the determination and patience she has to get her little mouth on the new toy.  She is so cute! Love her!

She and I playing tug of war.

After 15-20 minutes of play time, the excitement was over.  She decided my exercise mat was the most comfortable place for her nap.

Happy Gotcha Day, Ziva!!  You are one special girl, we love you very much and hope we have many more Gotcha Day celebrations for you!

Zola has been with us for four weeks now and will remain with us for a few more weeks.  Her mom calls from overseas every day to talk to Zola.  She has adjusted well to our routine and she is like part of our family now.  I sure will miss her when she goes back home to Canada.  She reminds me so much of my Maggie. She is a calm, sweet girl who just wants to be loved.

Pippi and Cueball recently had surgery.  Pippi had her ear tumor removed.  The pathology came back a few days later and we were relieved to find out that it was a benign hystiocytoma. She should not have any further issues.  She has fully recovered and I think she looks adorable with her cropped ear!

Cueball went in for a dental and ended up with 6 teeth extracted.  He was pretty pitiful for several days.  They were all small teeth but still it was a lot at one time.  He has fully recovered.  He eats can food anyway so we did not need to change his diet.  He stopped eating dry food about a year ago.  He could be the new face of Ceaser’s dog food.  This is his favorite!

On July 16th, we celebrated Cueball’s 11th Birthday!!!  It doesn’t seem like he is eleven.  He is still spunky, loves to run, enjoys a good walk, enjoys a good roo, loves to roach and gets super excited when he hears the words Frosty Paws.  Since this is his favorite treat and his Birthday falls in the heat of the summer, it was the best way for us to celebrate him.

 

Happy Birthday to our handsome, goofy boy!!!  We hope to celebrate many more!

A few days after Cueball’s Birthday, we joined our friends with our local walking group, Around Town Hounds, on a walk through a beautiful historic subdivision of Windsor Farms.

The interesting factoid about this subdivision is the two historic homes that are nestled in the subdivision.  Agecroft Hall and the Virginia House.

Picture and information copied over from Agecroft Hall’s website:

From Elizabethan England, to the banks of the James. Built in England about 500 years ago, Agecroft Hall now overlooks Virginia’s James River.

On the rolling banks of the James River stands a remarkable Tudor estate. And by Tudor, we’re not simply referring to an architectural style. This manor house was actually built in Lancashire, England in the late 15th Century.
        For hundreds of years, Agecroft Hall was the distinguished home of England’s Langley and Dauntesey families. At the end of the 19th century, however, Agecroft fell into disrepair, and in 1925 it was sold at auction.
        Hearing of this tremendous opportunity, Richmonder Thomas C. Williams, Jr. purchased the structure, and had it dismantled, crated, and shipped across the Atlantic, and then painstakingly reassembled in a Richmond neighborhood known as Windsor Farms.
        Today, Agecroft Hall stands beautifully re-created, in a setting reminiscent of its original site on Lancashire’s Irwell River.

And The Virginia House:

Picture and information from their website:

Virginia House was formerly an English manor house that was relocated to Richmond in 1925. The home is now owned and operated by the Virginia Historical Society.

Virginia House was completed a few months before the stock market crash of 1929. Designed by Alexander and Virginia Weddell, the home is situated on a hillside overlooking the historic James River and was constructed from the materials of a sixteenth century English manor house. Although Virginia House was a blend of three romantic English Tudor designs, it was for its time a thoroughly modern home complete with seven full baths, central heat, modern kitchen, and commodious closets.

Mrs. Weddell’s appreciation of style is evident as the visitor moves through rooms decorated with English and Spanish antiques, silk draperies, Oriental carpets, and fine silver and china. The nearly eight acres of gardens and grounds that Virginia House rests on were designed by Charles Gilette and provide a rich backdrop to the house throughout the year. The house has been preserved much as it was when the Weddells resided there.

Lastly, at the end of the month Pippi, Zola and I headed to Watkins Glen, NY for the Grapehounds NY Wine Tour.  Mitch was unfortunately unable to attend due to work.  So Cueball and Ziva kept him company while we were out of town.

Aside from Beach Bound Hounds, Grapehounds New York is the best Greyhound event I have attended thus far.  The weather was perfect (upper 70’s to low 80’s during the day and in the 50’s at night) the scenery is peaceful and beautiful and the wines of NY are some of the best I have had yet. Better than the California wines I have had a chance to sample.  I have never been to Napa Valley, it is on the “to do” list so this was my East Coast Napa Valley.  🙂  I went up a day early arriving on Wednesday, so that I could have an extra day of wine tasting.  There were 26 wineries listed on the tour this year, along with 2 breweries and one cidery.  I was able to wine taste at 18 in 3 and 1/2 days.  I used Facebook as my tasting notes.  I met a couple of friends in NY so I wasn’t completely alone since Mitch was not able to join me.  We had a great time! This is an event that I won’t miss again. 

This is the view we had for most of the trip and how the pups spent most of their time.  All the wineries were so welcoming.  As long as I remembered to tote in the two quilts for my girls they were happy wherever we went.  Such troopers, even when they got tired, they hung in.  Greyhounds really are the best!!

We had dinner one night at Seneca Harbor Station and while we were waiting for our table, I took a stroll down the pier.  It was so beautiful!

On the day before we left, we joined other greyhound owners for the walk to Taughannock Falls.  Hard to believe, but these falls are taller than Niagra standing at 215 feet, but at no where near the velocity.  It was a quick 20 minute walk to the falls and was so pretty.  The girls enjoyed some time in the cool water when we reached the falls.

The last picture of the falls was taken at the overlook.  This turned out to be my favorite picture from the trip.  I love the colors and vibrancy.  It looks like a painting to me.  I am pretty proud of myself and plan to print and frame it.

18 wineries = bringing home 2 1/2 cases (I stopped buying when I ran out of cash, it was my way of setting a limit). 

Mitch is excited about un-corking NY!

I hope you enjoyed this long winded post!  I had a lot of ground to cover.  Now, I have a lot of catching up to do on your blogs.  🙂