Sandy Paws and other Peaches

Clowny's paw print, Jekyll

It always amazes me how Sandy Paws is up on me and then is over so fast.  I spend all year waiting, anxiously, to see a group of people that in some ways are closer to me than my own family...and like a flash, I blink and I'm on my way back home.

This year's get together was no different.  My Mister and I rented a minivan (go on, get that out of your system, me in a minivan) and headed down to Jekyll Island with Clown and Daisy.  Those two rode in STYLE...I was even more irritated than normal that the Mister hasn't gotten his SCDL yet because it would have been HEAVEN to crawl back there on the gooshy dog beds and nap all the way to Georgia's Golden Coast.

The hotel where we stayed was okay...older, and definitely not the posh affair of the last two SP events, but homey, in a way.  What was NOT cool was vending from hotel rooms rather than in a large vendor hall as we've done in the past.  You didn't get to see anyone if you were vending, other than those you were staying with or your vending partners.  I was lucky enough to glom (is that a word?) onto Janet Schaffer of Casual Bling and Suzie Collins of Skinnyhound Designs so that I could sell my books.  I sold seven, which is a record for a greyhound event.

Sandy Paws started out as a means to an end for me, and remains so.  I didn't go initially because I wanted to attend an organized gathering with workshops or because I had a stack of books to hock.  I went because I had preadopted an amazing creature called Daisy (FTH Oopsie Daisy) and was now a part of the Follow That Hound family.  So changes to the venue or schedule, ice cream socials and over-priced buffet meals really aren't a factor to me when I think of Sandy Paws.  The only thing that I do, really, that has anything to do with the event, is help sponsor the creation of crowns for the greyhounds named King and Queen of SP (even though my own hounds have never even been nominated...not even after Daisy went to SP 2012 a mere 5 days after a transatlantic flight-turned-nightmare).

Anne and I pay to have someone make crowns that fit the theme of the gathering, and this year was no different...except that prior to this year's SP someone in the organizing group got her pants in a bunch over a design for a Tshirt that the aforementioned Suzie made...for us, the FTH family...because she wanted EVERYONE to know that it was NOT an official SP13 shirt.

Well, duh.  Suzie didn't make it for everyone.  Not everyone is a Peach.  :)  Not everyone is part of the FTH family. But the WAY that the person made it clear to anyone that was listening was just over the top and plain rude, really.  You would think that it would be common sense not to make an enemy of a very popular vendor, but apparently it wasn't.

So jump ahead now to the crowning of the King and Queen at SP13.  Anne and I are there, she has the crowns and I have the bling that Janet made for the winners.  The person with the twisted pants approached us and took the lot, heading up to the front of the room to get things started.  We didn't think anything about it until we heard HER announcing the King.

Problem...part of our sponsorship of the crowns and bling means that we get to present them to the winners. It's a neat way for us to be a part of the gathering and to get to meet the winners...or, like at SP12, crown one of our own as King when Lightning (FTH Lightning) won.  Well, because Anne is a superhero, she charged down to the front with me, Mighty Mouse, trailing behind her to find out what was going on.  We were offered the chance to announce the Queen, but she turned it down, pulling a victory lap back to her table, and I continued on Anne AutoFollow back to the back.

Y'all...I don't have time for grownups that act like children, I really don't.  Not during a swiftly moving weekend with people that I adore that I only get to see once a year.  To the organization's credit, a few of their members approached us afterward and apologized, but you see, the damage was done.  Once again, I'm not "in the know," or a part of the core crowd...and finally, after over a decade of doing greyhound adoption and hanging out with greyhound people...that's okay.  I don't need it, or as my perfect niece Joy says, "I can't use it."

Keep the drama.  I love my Peaches, I know what is important in my life, and I'm off to celebrate it.  GEM and Mountain Hounds ahoy!