Backyard racetrack

Welcome to our on site racetrack. Nothing fancy but lots of racing action! My greyhounds love to run. When they are all giddy and in a playful mood, they don't wrestle like some other dogs do... they'll challenge each other to a race and then stand back... greyhound "zoomies" in either an oval or figure 8 around the backyard. They are crazy fast for about 2 to 3 legs of their race then they tire out, slowing down for another couple of runs, then just trotting over to me with huge grins, big panting breaths and a soft bed dancing in their heads. It is so much fun to watch... but this fun has come at a big toll for my backyard. There is an actual "track" now around their turns. My grass is being dug out by their little cleats and I'm afraid to try to plant more in it's place because I know they'll just run right over it again. Oh well, their pleasure is worth my yard's pain! :D

This side is the most prominent of the turns because there is an object that they are turning around. Just check out the roundabout!

Spring!!!

Today was another beautiful, albeit cloudy day... but I was able to be outside without a heavy coat on (or even a jacket for that matter) so I made the pups stay outside with me all afternoon while I worked in the yard. They weren't as excited as I was to be in the fresh air, begging for the most part to be back inside on their comfy beds. Sheesh. :-) But I got a few cute pictures while I was out there that I thought I would share:

Try getting 2 dogs to pose for a picture at the same time. Not an easy thing to do when springtime wildlife is close by and a rather high prey driven Bean.

Bo Portraits

Poor Bo is having such a hard day! He has to make due with soft cool earth as opposed to his overstuffed pillows. How will he ever recover???

This spot ok, I guess. It'll do in a pinch.

Breathe in that fresh country air!

Bella portraits

Bella spent the afternoon doing 2 things... looking at a log pile hoping for a chance to chase down a little furry or lounging. Here are a few of my favorite lounging looks:

Sunbathing:

Watching for the furries: Sitting on command but refusing to look at the camera (Bella: this is my "good" side)

Hey, what was that?!?

I was taking a break and just listening to the wind in the still bald trees when all of a sudden Bella stood up. As soon as I got my camera on I took 3 pictures right after another. In the 1st one Bella is just taking off towards the log pile (there are a few critters that are using that space for the time being and Bella LOVES little critters). Picture 2 is Bella almost reaching the logs in the few seconds it is taking Bo (bottom left corner) to scramble to his feet and move. And picture 3 Bo arriving to help Bean investigate the myriad of fuzzies that have escaped them. Man are they fast, I don't know how the little mice escaped them.

I think she feels entitled...

After our long afternoon walk the pups nestled down for their afternoon naps. I was on the couch for a few minutes before I remembered a quick errand I had to do on the other side of the house. When I got back to the couch I saw that Bella Bean has no only taken my spot, but taken my pillow. In the short time I was gone she had gotten on the couch, gotten comfortable and drifted off so soundly that a bit of tongue was escaping from her lax jaw. *sigh* She looked so sweet and comfy that I didn't ask her down.

Daddy's little girl...

This afternoon was a great afternoon for a walk. It was warm, albeit a little humid, but we are so itching for Spring that we had to get out. When Jon kindly volunteered to clean up after Bo in a local public park, he had to walk away from us to dispose of everything in their proper places. Bella just stared at him the whole time. When he started coming back she was wagging her tail and pulling to get to her papi. Just look at the love! Awwwww. :)

What a great week

This last week we had some vacation time that we got to use and it was nice, we were able to spend some good quality pupper time. I think we all had the most fun the day we walked along one of Madison's bike paths along the lake. We walked a good 3 hours, long enough to wear both the dogs and us out!

Bella was super excited to get out

Where are we going???

I think I'm gonna be carsick... wait, no I'm ok! :)

We walked and walked

Bo: Mom, are we there yet?

Bella: Hey dad, I think that was our exit!

We got to enjoy watching springtime wildlife... Bella a little more intently than the rest of us.

Hey what are those?

Ducks you say? They look chase able...

If it weren't for this darned water, they'd be MINE!!

We took a quick pit stop at a small, local, very muddy dog park.

Bo: Hey, I think I found a dry spot!

Bella: Where? I can't get through all this mud!

We had a quick lunch break at the halfway mark and Bo made himself quite comfortable:

I'll just get a couple of zzzs here before we take off again.

Zzzzzz

Bella thought she sould haggle a piece of our lunch from us.Sorry girl, you are too late, these are the napkins.

After the long trek back to the car and the 1/2 hour drive home these two were o-u-t for the rest of the day.

No pictures, its snooze time!

*blink* Huh, what now?

We are so looking forward to warm weather so we can have more outside afternoons like this one!

Another dog park visit

Early Saturday morning (and I mean early) we decided to bring the pups out to the dog park. It was to be a beautiful clear day, and in the low 40's. Unfortunately there weren't any other greyhounds at the park, but they had a blast anyways. We got some good shots of them doing what they love best at the park. And when you look at the snow, consider that the fence is typically 4 feet tall... there was still A LOT of snow on the ground!

Jon with Bo and Bella

Sharing a good sniff together. Bo, making sure the world knows that he was there. Bella seeing a potential running buddy come in. Sacked out after an hour of good solid, running, sniffing, marking and having fun.

Spring is on the paws!

Yea! The weather has finally crept up above freezing! This means the mountains of snow that WI has dumped on us has been melting... and fast. Bo and Bella are ecstatic. They can hang outside without sweaters on and without freezing their long tails off. This also means that they can see grass again. They are quite happy to have grass and earth between their toes than frozen ice and snow. So they have been seeking out any bit of grass to walk on and rest on. Apparently the wet grass and earth haven't been soft enough for Bo's liking, so he has taken it upon himself to remedy that to his liking. I knew that Spring meant a little more cleaning, but wow... how was he tracking THAT much mud in? I didn't think there were that many open spots yet. So I hid behind the door yesterday to see what they were up to and I caught Bo red-handed, or should I say muddied paw-ed.

1st he gets up from a seemingly comfy spot, I initially believed to be rearranging himself (notice the tongue lagging to the right.

Then he started to dig...

And dig... and dig some more!

He must have sensed me peeking, so he looked up with a big smile on his face.

He bounded for the house, came in and left me many little tracks to remember him by. Sheesh!

Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!

Apparently our home is more Bella Bean's than ours. I was working on the computer earlier today and I felt an absence of the dogs. And everyone knows when it is too quiet, there is usually trouble a-brewing. I went to the living room... empty(Bella wasn't in her favorite chair). I went to the sitting room... empty (She wasn't on the couch). I went to the "dog's" room... empty (she wasn't on either of the big fluffy beds in there). I went into our bedroom and lo and behold... Bella has staked a claim of the bed, with her head on our pillows nonetheless (actually she kicked my pillow off the bed). I was going to shoo her off the bed, but she was so darned cute! *sigh* I think we've let her take a mile out of our inch. As long as she knows to move when it's time for me to get in there!

Goodby Misty

Our little houseguest Misty has gone home with her mama. She was such a good little girl and I'm sure the pups miss her. Bella had just started letting her close enough to share a couch with her.

It was nice meeting you Misty. I hope we see you again soon!