Music Monday: New Month, New Music

 It's May, y'all, and that can only mean one thing... THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST. To get in the proper mood, I watched the Eurovision Movie: the Story of Fire Saga and fell in love all over again. But the best part of my Europrep has come in the form of the soundtrack from that movie which includes this gloriousness: the Song Along. I was slapping the back of the sofa and shouting at the dogs, "Do you see that?? That was Loreena! LOOK IT'S JESSY MATADOR IS THAT JAMALA WITH THE LYRIC ABOUT WINNING THE WAR?" 

As you may have guessed, the dogs didn't answer nor care. But I do. Quick history: when I moved to the UK in 2009 I took my three greyhounds and my cat. One of my dogs died shortly after I got there, of osteosarcoma. The second one, her bonded pal and soulmate, left me, Daisy (greyhound number three) and the cat to mourn and cause my husband to wonder what he'd gotten into with his new American wife. He finally suggested that I should watch Eurovision because he thought it would cheer me up.

He was right. Eurovision is happy memories of doing a TIGHT 8 TO 10 on the train platform in Leeds. It is dancing with my workmates in the bookshop. It is searching for the BBC1 feed on the tiny telly in our hotel in Maison Lafitte on our belated honeymoon. I have missed watching it live since we've been back in the US and I'm again on the trail of a way to watch BBC1 with Graham Norton's commentary on the 22nd.

For now, enjoy the Song Along from the Eurovision Movie. It's everything that is fun and mad and glam about Eurovision, and it makes me smile (and get up and dance, but don't tell anyone).

Song Along Lyrics, including the performers in each section.

[Song 1: Cher – "Believe"]

[John Lundvik, Anna Obodescu, Both]

No matter how hard I try

You keep pushing me aside

And I can't break through

There's no talking to you

[Bilal Hassani]

It's so sad that you're leaving

It takes time to believe it

[Bilal Hassani & John Lundvik]

But after all is said and done

[Bilal Hassani, John Lundvik & Anna Odobescu]

You're gonna be the lonely one, oh

[Loreen & Jessy Matador]

Do you believe in life after love? (Sing with me, yeah)

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough, no

[Song 2: Madonna – "Ray Of Light"]

[Loreen]

And I feel (And I feel) like I just got home

And I feel

[Loreen, Jessy Matador & Anna Odobescu]

Don't think you're strong enough, no

[Petra Nielsen, Anna Odobescu, Loreen & Jessy Matador]

And I feel (And I feel) like I just got home

[Petra Nielsen, Anna Odobescu, Loreen, Jessy Matador, Will Ferrell & John Lundvik]

And I feel

Quicker than a ray of light

Quicker than a ray of light

I really don't think you're strong enough, no

[Song 3: ABBA – "Waterloo"]

[Jamala]

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war

[Erik Mjönes]

My, my - at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender

[Molly Sandén]

Oh, yeah - and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way

[Erik Mjönes & Molly Sandén]

The history book on the shelf

Is always repeating itself, woah

[Anna Odobescu, Loreen, Molly Sandén, Petra Nielsen, Jamala & Jessy Matador, Will Ferrell]

Waterloo, I was defeated and you won the war (You won the war)

Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore

[Song 4: Céline Dion – "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi"]

[Elina Nechayeva & Conchita Wurst]

Ne partez pas sans moi

La joie d'être libre

Vous qui cherchez une autre vie

Vous qui volez vers l'an deux mille

Ne partez pas sans moi

[Song 5: Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"]

[Netta, Will Ferrell, Molly Sandén, Erik Mjönes]

Tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good night

A feelin' (Fill up my cup, mazel tov)

(Do you believe in life after love)

That tonight's gonna be a good night (Look at her dancing)

(Quicker than a ray of light)

(Just take it off)

[Netta, Loreen, Molly Sandén, Erik Mjönes]

That tonight's gonna be a good night (I can feel something inside me say)

That tonight's gonna be a good night (I really don't think you're strong enough, no)

A feelin' (Quicker than a ray of light)

That tonight's gonna be a good, good night (Do you believe in life after love?)

[Will Ferrell, All]

A good, good night

I'm so glad she was born. SO glad.

At first, she looked like this...

I've recounted the story of how FTH Oopsie Daisy/Daisy/Daisy Duke/Daisy Mae/Mae/Mei Mei/Princess came into our lives.  You have undoubtedly heard me brag about how she was named by the community of greyhound freaks over at GreyTalk, how she lived on her Mama Caffie's kitchen floor until she was old enough to go outside in the puppy runs, and how my entire family on my mother's side once gathered around the computer to watch her come in spectacularly, amazingly, and fabulously dead last in one of her attempts to break maiden at JAX.

(For those not versed in Racing Vocab, that means she has to win a maiden race to get to run with the big dogs.  She didn't do that at JAX but did at Sanford Orlando, where she got up to Grade A.  I'm sure you've heard THAT story before as well, so I'll move on.)

Then, this happened...

What you haven't heard from me lately is that Daisy is nine years old this week (there is a running debate about the Leelo Babies Birthdate so I celebrate 12-14 August to cover all my bases...and because I love her too much for only one day).  Nine.Years.Old.  It has been almost a decade since I watched via text on GreyTalk that she had been born, almost a decade of knowing about her and waiting for her and loving her.

I know, everyone moons over their dogs like they are the only ones that have that sort of relationship.  I know that I am not the only one that loves my dog.  But y'all, my Mei Mei is special.

She came home to me and Simon at the tender age of 2.75, in March of 2007.  Me and Simon weren't even a Me and Simon at that point, not officially, but he was Daisy's Dah-dee from the start.  She never had trouble understanding him like the other dogs did, and would look up at him with the most adoring expression as he talked to her, as though trying to understand every syllable that came out of his mouth.  She still does that.  With him.  With me if I prattle on too long she licks me to shut me up.

She came into a family of old dogs.  Hunky was 10 when Daisy came home, going on 11, and Jeany would turn 10 the next month.  They were still reeling from the loss of Profile, who was the clear pack leader, and were none too thrilled to have this young and bouncy dog around.  So she adapted to them, not the other way around.  She would defer to them in all things, and became a comfort to both of them as they got older.  She also took their Mommy's focus for awhile, so that they could sit around and love each other and not be bothered by my constant fussing and attention seeking.

After Jeany fell down the stairs in Keighley, Simon kept finding Daisy curled up next to her.  She could have been out exploring her new home, terrorizing the cat, or doing a host of other doggie things, but instead she decided to make sure Jeany was comforted.  I think Jeany actually liked it.  After we lost Jeany, Daisy was forever snuggling up to Hunky, even when he wet his bed, and I'm not sure if it was to comfort him over the loss of Jeany or herownself.  Daisy falls hard in love, and when she loves you, you know it.  She loved her big brother and sister with a fierceness that I wish more people could possess.

And now, all she has to do is this and I'm a goner. 

Now she's back in that position again, after two years in the UK of being the only dog, getting all the attention, and generally living like the Princess she is.  With Clowny's injury and subsequent paralysis, Daisy has to navigate a world where her people are either ignoring her or telling her to be careful, don't stand on Clowny, let him finish eating before you dive into his bowl, etc.  She could turn into a spoiled brat, acting out because she isn't getting the attention she's used to, taking her frustration out on Clowny who is, to be fair, the easiest of targets right now.

But she doesn't.  My precious baby girl, my Daisy Mei Mei backs up when we ask, she waits to be allowed to clean up the food Clowny leaves behind, she snuggles on the bed with him at night until he grouses at her to move.  She takes her toys elsewhere and plays on her own, tossing George, her stuffed monkey, up in the air over and over until someone notices.  She follows me down the hall when I just need to go cry about Clowny a little without letting him see me do it and licks my tears off my face.

Today (and the two days prior) are more than a celebration of her birthday.  Today is a reminder that through some twist of fate, I was given the gift of Daisy.  Love you to absolute bits, my babygirl, to the moon and back.   I don't know what your Daddy and I would have done this summer without you.  Thanks is not enough, not by a longshot.

"You're my back bone.
You're my cornerstone.
You're my crutch when my legs stop moving.
You're my head start.
You're my rugged heart.
You're the pulse that I've always needed.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum my heart never stops beating...
For you, for you."

(from Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips)

You Days of Our Lives Jinxed It, Didn't You?

Mommy, did you say GO?, a photo by Nancy Dunne on Flickr.

If you are not familiar with the Days of Our Lives Jinx phenomenon, let me briefly explain. I watched Days from the time I was in pre-school until about four years ago, so I consider myself somewhat of a home-grown expert on soap opera plot construction, at least for American soaps. I also should mention that I just did the math on that, and I spent an incredibly HUGE chunk of my life in the fictional town of Salem...and I'm not sure whether I'm impressed by my own loyalty or horrified that I've just admitted that in public.

Right, so on to the Jinx: You can always tell on Days that a major plot twist is coming when a character utters something in terms of absolutes. I'll give you an example. "Nothing can ever come between us again!" is the signal that the third member of the love triangle is about to arrive in town. "Your prognosis is beyond excellent and I'm sending you home today!" means that this character will be in hospice by the holidays. That sort of thing is the Jinx, and I have a hard time avoiding it in my real, non-soap life.

I seem to have done it again, on a grand scale. Remember that post before, about how we had sold our house? The buyer backed out. So, all of that "we are on the path to happiness" business of last week is now replaced with "hello, Square One, fancy meeting you here, AGAIN."

I chose today's picture because it's a visual reminder of the Days of Our Lives Jinx which is loosely related to the adage about counting chickens too early...and because it's my Hunky Man, whom I miss desperately. Ugh. I need a do-over.

"Hunky"
Fond A Hunk
17 July 1996 - 29 May 2009

He was supposed to be with me forever. The idea of life without him there, smiling, rooing, ears madly unfurled...it was just not possible. And now here I am. He's gone. Who am I now?

"The puppy was born on a farm in Florida." That is the first sentence in his book, the book that let me share him with the whole world. That book let people know my simple, special, old soul as though he was sleeping on their sofa or nudging their hands for another scratch or ear rub. Even though every message of condolence breaks my heart, it simultaneously amazes me at the impact that one dog had on so many.

I hadn't wanted a big dog when Hunky came into my life. I was afraid of big dogs, to be quite honest. But the day that I met him and looked into those brown eyes I knew he was coming home with me. I have Hunky to thank for so much in my life. Without him, I wouldn't have so many of my friends that are fellow greyhound people. I wouldn't have been able to perform with the Carolina and Georgia Renaissance Festivals. I wouldn't have published books. Most importantly, if I hadn't had Hunky in my life, I wouldn't have had Henry, Jeany, Profile, Bo, Lizzard, or any of my foster dogs. Without Hunky, I also wouldn't have had my psycho precious puppy girl Daisy.

He was my heart dog, but I came in second place in his heart. Hunky fell hard for Jeany from the very first day she came to live with us, and he never looked back. I think that his soul died the day she did, and as soon as he had a chance to go be with her he took it. I just consider myself the luckiest person on the earth that I got to be the one that took care of him, loved him, and lived with him for the nine short years we were all together.

Go find your girl, Bubby. I will put my heart back together, and look for your stars dancing together in the night sky.

Playing Catch Up, but not on Channel Four

Well, I'm here now, in the UK. It's really amazing to me to think that I've only been here 5 days. In a lot of ways it feels like I've been here for ages. I got here on 8 April after a lovely flight over the Atlantic. Thanks much to Dave and Susan for the upgrade to World Traveller Plus on BA! I had a bigger seat which was also a bulkhead seat, and because there weren't many people in that class I didn't have anyone next to me. I think I slept the best I have on a trans-atlantic flight in a long time (without medication).

London Heathrow's new Terminal 5 is amazing...if you like posh shopping malls. I never found the Krispy Kreme, sadly, because I was spending all my time looking for my gate to pop up on the monitor and reading...and sitting. My laptop weighs a ton, and I was honestly tired of having it in the backpack on my back.

The flight to Manchester was loud but mercifully short. The only challenge left at that point was to collect all my luggage. When I left Atlanta I had four other adults to help bring my four checked bags and two carry-ons to the desk to check. In Manchester I was on my own until I got outside of the security area where I was to meet Simon and Louise.

Thank heavens for those carts that you can stack a million bags on top of and they still will not tip over.

Honestly everything from Wednesday afternoon until Friday was a bit of a blur. We got back to Simon's house and I checked on Jeany to see if she needed to see a vet. It turned out that she did, so we made an appointment and took her in to Aireworth Vets. The short story is that she'd suffered some pretty serious damage when she fell down the stairs, but in typical greyhound fashion had remained stoic throughout. We lost her Friday afternoon when it was found that her injuries couldn't be repaired and it was more kind to let her go.

Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be Settle In and Unpack days, but in truth I think that the jet lag and the grief over losing Jeany finally hit me and I did more sleeping than anything. I took a harried trip to the emergency vet with Hunky Saturday night because he had a little blood in his urine. Turned out that he has a UTI, very treatable. Last night we went out to Haworth with some friends of Simon's, which was a nice distraction from all that's been going on since I got here.

So, it's Monday, and the objective is to get the bedroom tidied and my things put in some sort of order...or maybe I'll just go back to bed.

Faith 0, Humanity 2

So the dogs and I went out for a meet and greet at a local pet store yesterday, right? While we were there, Hunky had an appointment to get groomed in the hopes that a professional could get the extra hair out of his coat that is currently covering my furniture and kicking up my allergies.

Our appointment was at 1:45. I brought his rabies certificate in as requested, discussed with the groomer what I needed done and what I didn't need done, and left him in their care. I was concerned, as I always am when I leave my animals with people I don't know...and to make it worse, they were adamant that if he was on the grooming table I should make sure he couldn't see me. They seemed concerned that he would get very excited when he saw me and try to jump off the table. I mentioned that he couldn't see that far or through a glass window anymore anyway, but I don't think she believed me.

Back to the meet and greet...Daisy was anxiously waiting for me and Jeany looked like she was miserable. Status Quo. We met and we greeted (how tempted was I just now to type "gret?") and all was well until a strange little man with a little too much bling on his hands and an aversion to looking any of us in the eye approached the table. It seems that he was a representative of an invisible fence company, and wanted to try and convince us that an invisible fence was the only way to go if you love your animals.

I'm going to take a second, dear readers, and mention that if you (or someone you love) has an invisible fence and you (or that special someone) can sleep at night knowing that you've strapped an electrode to your dog that would make you almost wet your pants were you to hold it in your hand and approach the perimeter, or that while your dog can't leave the yard without a zap the other neighborhood dogs who are irresponsibly left to run loose can enter your yard and harass your dog at will, or, even better, that if your dog is a greyhound that can be at full speed in three strides so you're basically playing Russian roulette with his or her life that he or she will be moving so fast through the perimeter that the only pain he or she will feel is when he or she is struck by a car outside of the perimeter of that bloody stupid invisible fence...then have at it. But never, ever let it be said that someone doesn't know my opinion on invisible fences...and that my opinion on the fence colors how I feel about someone who would leave their "beloved" pet behind one, waiting to get shocked.

Whew! Okay, so back to yesterday. Fence Man tries everything that he can to convince us that as a group we are mistreating our hounds because our group does not adopt to people that use invisible fences for containing their animals.

Let me say that again...we do not support invisible fences. I'm sure we all said it numerous times yesterday...so one wonders why Fence Man continued to try to sell it to us?

Fence Man made outrageous claims, our favorite being that he could personally guarantee that the fence would work for each of our hounds. Is that right? You can guarantee that my dog, who, by the way, can be at 40 mph in three strides from a standing position, will be contained in your fence? Is that because you ramp up the voltage to get my dog's attention? Is that really a selling point? Oh no, he assured us, it's because he personally trains the dogs and the owners on the proper use of the fence. It's a week long training.

Seems to me it would take about five minutes. Put electrode on dog. Take dog to perimeter. Watch dog writhe in agony. Take dog away from perimeter. Watch dog go back in house and never ever leave again. All done! Dog contained.

My argument about the dog being at 40mph in three strides was the only one that he didn't have an answer for, by the way. We told him they will ignore it if their prey drive kicks in and they take off after something. He countered that his training would break them of that habit. Habit? Um, sorry Fence Man, that's actually thousands of years of instinct. We told him about the other animals being free to wander in and out of the yard. He countered that under controlled situations that was never a problem. I'm sorry, isn't the reason for this torture device so that it will control the situation and I don't have to lift a finger?

Finally Fence Man was reduced to lying. Outright lying. He told us that he worked with "that big group in Greensboro, NC" and that he had personally trained lots of their greyhounds with the fencing and that "they totally support me and what I do." He then wanted to know what was wrong with our group. Now there are two fairly large adoption groups in Greensboro and I am about 95% sure that neither of them would support this kind of "fencing" for their hounds they adopt out. When we confronted him with his lie, he resorted back to insulting us. "I can't believe you don't really love these dogs." "It's just ridiculous that your group wouldn't take advantage of a free offer to show you how well this fencing will work for your dogs." He finally left after saying the bit about the free offer again and being told that our group did not support his fencing, but if he wanted to talk to the group's director that he was welcome to do so.

Oh, and on the way out, we saw him with a nice 40lb bag of total crap dog food that he was taking home to feed his beloved dog that was probably bald around the neck from being zapped when it tried to escape.

Well, okay, but it was Beneful dog food. That part is true.

After all that ruckus things settled down and I waited for them to bring my handsome and no longer shedding boy out to finish him up so that I could show him off to everyone and not drop enough fur to make a new dog in the process. No Hunky. Dropped off at 1:45 and it was now past 3pm. She had told me it would take about 3 hours to do a groom on him which I thought was suspicious because it doesn't take me that long when I'm chasing him around the yard with a hose trying to wash off the soap! But I digress. One of the other ladies went in and asked after him, to be told that he was in the back drying off and then he'd be done.

What? In the back drying off? Isn't that why they have those drying machines, so that my dog doesn't have to drip dry? Unless they put him under a dryer like my mother used to sit under when I'd go to the beauty shop with her, they let my dog drip dry because I watched the girls that were working...working on other dogs. I ran to the toilet and when I came back, one of the ladies at the table was holding my Hunky, my gorgeous...fluffy...slighly damp Hunky. Hunky was fluffy with visible loose fur in his coat and still damp in spots almost three hours after I left him with these people.

Oh, and let's talk about the "fragrance" they left on my dog. On second thought, let's not, it made my head pound just riding in the car with him on the way home yesterday. Thank goodness he loves his dog bed that has cedar in it.

Apparently when I didn't want them to do his teeth or toenails (teeth don't need it and he hates them to be brushed and his toenails are always potentially ready to shatter) I also excluded him from a certain package of service that includes de-shedding treatment of some sort. Hunky got brushed (I'm still not certain of that), bathed, "fragranced" (he smelled like a man on the pull, all he needed was a gold chain and some Colt 45) and was so happy to see me I thought my heart would break.

I have to admit here, dear readers, that I might have done something I shouldn't have. I went in to get Hunky's rabies certificate back because without that we don't get into England in January and there was no one at the desk. I'm sure that they have to keep it on file, so I hope they had already xeroxed it because I snatched it and headed back out the door.

My poor boy. My poor nerves. I was literally (Susan? LITERALLY!) shaking by the time I got home. And I will never, EVER subject any of my dogs to that again unless the groomer is someone I know personally that I know will not make my Hunky into Leon Phelps. Seriously. That is disgusting.

Welcome to my Forehead.

What?
Originally uploaded by Nancy Allen

So much going on...so little brain cells to cope with it all...

This is pretty much how I look most days. Note the furrowed brow and the raised eyebrows. There is something to be said for adrenaline, because I think that's all I'm running on these days.

The wedding has to be planned. Three of the four members of the wedding party that aren't the bride and groom live across an ocean.

Oh yeah, speaking of that ocean, I have to move across it in about nine months. Before that, though, I have to move down the street here in Greenville, and then into my grandmother's house in Georgia.

It's enough to make you crazy. Oh, speaking of that, work is more often than not a headache. The joys of working a government job and supervising people that are not in the same physical area you are in...it just never seems to end.

Speaking of ends, I'm watching Hunky's carefully. He had a "boo boo tummy" last Thursday and Friday which kept us home from the Renn Fest in Georgia. Since Friday there's been no movement on that front, literally...well, until Daisy got sick for two hours straight on the rug next to my bed.

Note the eyes in the photo...that's called tired, boys and girls. Tired.

It's a Sappy Kind of Thursday

Whatever our souls are made of,
his and mine are the same.
~E. Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Hello from Falls Park!

Hello from Falls Park!
Originally uploaded by Nancy Allen

Just today I remembered why I love Greenville, and why when I was in Alabama last year I longed to get back to the Upstate. Before my friend Leah went back home, we took all of our dogs out to the Reedy River Falls Park for a walk and it was just so gorgeous and tranquil...in the heart of downtown with its bustle is this oasis, and I love it. Late New Year's Res...go to Falls Park with the kids at least once a week!!

I must away...anon, anon...eeek!

Tomorrow is the opening day of the 2007 season of the Carolina Renaissance Festival. HOW did that get here so soon?? I had plans for a new gown and a new leine, I had visions of collars that I would make for the dogs myself, and all I've managed to do is remember to ask Amy for my old green gown so that I will have something cooler to wear that ISN'T my old blue McDonald plaid garb.

I haven't even sewn the drawstring into Leah's pouch yet, but don't tell her. What shoes am I going to wear? What on EARTH will I do with my hair now that it isn't all one length? Thank goodness for green snoods I suppose.

This past week has been a blur. Simon left a week ago Sunday. Every time one of us leaves the other at an airport it gets harder I think. I maintain that it is harder on the one being left, because instead of being distracted by bad airline food and tinny sounding movies for 8+ hours, you have to return to your house where the other one now isn't. Even the animals have been depressed, MAINLY because Simon spoils them but also because they love him.

Several blog posts have come to mind this week...and have gone right out the proverbial other ear. My house again looks like a tornado has taken up residence. The car has become a dog bed with wheels, and will remain so until festival is over.

H and J had dentals this week. For the first time since I adopted J seven years ago, her breath doesn't make me ill. She's a bit upset with me over the whole thing and stares at me with what greyhound people call the "Stink Eye." H had a growth removed from his mouth that IS NOT CANCEROUS! Can I just shout that from my rooftop? After losing P last January if that had been cancer in H's mouth I think I would have lost it completely.

And sadly, this week the greyhound world got a bit dimmer but the night sky more brilliant as a new star entered the heavens...H's littermate Marky. Bless. Marky was a sweet and unassuming soul, often shy and always hilarious. I feel like I lost one of my own, but when it's H's time to go I know his brother will be there waiting on him.

The bright spot of the week? Definitely the H=Cancer Free moment. And now I'm off, I must away, anon, anon! Well, okay anon=after I get everything packed for this weekend...

Splish splash...

Wish I was still there...I'm just so happy that my Hunky Man got to get in the ocean. He loves it...until it hits us both in the heiney and we have to run back to shore...

Me and My Pack, Christmas 2006

Do I LOOK like a scottie dog to you?

Hunky's Maryville College Sweater
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Is Hunky not the most handsome thing ever? (Scottie dogs are the mascot of my alma mater, Maryville College in Tennessee.)

The unpacking continues...the wondering why on earth I still have half of this stuff continues...the adjustment to life on the surface of the sun definitely continues...and I continue, continue to be amazed by the people I encounter at work, continue to wonder what made me move so far away from everyone I love, continue to be impressed at the strength and bravery I didn't know I had...continue to be thankful that I have these incredible creatures in my life that love me even when I dress them like orange and garnet bumble bees.

PS-Much love to Angela at A&B Originals for the sweaters...they are just perfect. Go SCOTS!

Conversations in my house, part 401

Hunk: (lying on the floor in the guest room, making a moaning noise)
Me: What is it baby?
Hunk: (moaning noise gets louder)
Me: Are you okay?
Hunk: (moan, moan, moan)
Me: Are you hungry?
Hunk: (moaning ceases)
Me: Lemme finish my blog first, handsome boy.
Hunk: (loud sigh followed by faint moaning)

Circular Logic, a la My Name is Earl.

Conversations in my house, part 400

Hunky: Whine Whine Whine...pause and tilt head in cute manner...whine whine whine.

Me: Hunky, what is it? Do you need to go out?

Hunky: Stop whining as you ponder the word out, head appropriately tilted, then decide that is not what you need...whine whine whine whine.

Me: What do you need, baby? Do you need some water?

Hunky: Rinse/Repeat on the pondering and head tilting, then whine whine whine...move closer to the crate in the office, stare pointedly at Profile who is sleeping in it, and whine whine whine.

Me: Do you want me to make Profee move so you can get in the box? (in my house box=crate/kennel)

Hunky: Stops Whining Immediately. Wag Tail Furiously.

Me: Ugh, the things I do.

I still like them a whole lot better than I do most people...

Love, Greyhound Style

I love my furry family.

(Clicking on the title above will let you download and see the latest "ZooFilms" production, simply titled "love.")

Happy Birthday, HunkamunchafromOz

The Handsome Birthday Boy
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Today is my Hunky's 10th birthday. When he adopted me he was almost four years old. I can't believe it's been six years already, it seems like just yesterday I was lying on the floor next to his dog bed watching him sleep, thinking he was the most odd-yet-majestic looking creature I'd ever seen.

Happy birthday my little love. Here's to 10 more.

An Overnight Trip, told by HunkamunchafromOz

Hey y'all, Hunky here. Mommy and I went to Greensboro last night to see Auntie Leah and Auntie Kimmie.


Mommy says that Auntie Kimmie was philosophizing with the tortilla chips. I don't know what that word means. All I know is that she wouldn't share.


Auntie Leah wouldn't either, but after I smelled what was in the cup that made her grin like this I was fine with her not sharing.


Today we went to a place where there were lots of greyhounds that Mommy called GFNC which I don't think spells a real word but it's hard to tell because she spells things around us all the time...anyway, these were the neighbors...HORSES!!!


I love horses, they smell interesting and I really want to try racing one someday. These don't look like they'd be much of a threat, all they wanna do is eat grass! (Lucky horses, Mommy won't let me eat that much grass...)


Mommy and Russ put me and Deniro in jail while they went to look at the Kennel. I didn't mind so much, it was shady and there was still lots to look at nearby.


Then she came by to tell me they were going to see a llama. I wore myself out trying to figure out what that was so I had to take a nap.

We're back home now and I had a really tiring day, so I'm going to go take another nap. Dog's life and all that...

Octo-Rasta

Octo-Rasta
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

When toys attack...I'm glad Hunky loves me...

Hunky and Profee go Metro, and I don't mean the DC subway...