Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rock and A Hard Place?

Our school system has sent home consent forms for our children to get the H1N1 vaccine at school. They are requesting that the forms be returned by today.

The problem is that I have not yet been able to decided how I feel about it.

The rumor mill has it that H1N1 is already IN our schools (Fauquier VA). But the schools will neither confirm nor deny it. They only admit to very high absentee rates. If the kids have already been exposed to the virus- the value of receiving the vaccine later this month and then a booster (a month?) later is negligible.
And of course there is the concern that not enough testing was done on this new vaccine- in the rush to get it out to the public.
I very much respect ANYONE'S strongly held conviction- one way or the other, because to me it seems pretty much a crap shoot.

(I realize that this first story is not about the H1N1 vaccine- but I think the argument is still valid)




VS






Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A good Rumor to share

I am wishing that I had a bunch of new, adorable, pictures of Rumor to post on my blog.
Unfortunately, with 5 children with varying degrees/ types of illness (it's that time of year)- the photo-ops have been few and far between. I have 2 kids home sick, and 3 that are still functioning well enough to make it through the school day (but are single handedly keeping the Kleenex and Triaminic companies in business- a free investment tip :)
It is SO much fun watching Rumor come out of her shell.
She is a LEANER. She will stand quietly leaning up against your leg for what seems like hours, certainly for as long as anyone is willing to pet her. (guess where she is as I write this :)



If no one is petting she is exploring and * patroling ALL the windows for squirrels *.
Any potential family should be willing to be alerted of the presence of invading "stuffies". She is a sentry extraordinaire!
She does respond pretty well to correction, though, when she gets too noisy about it. And she is really good about crating.

My parents live in New York. They lost their last dog about 5 years ago. I always wish they were closer- but now, especially, because I think Rumor would be such a good fit for them. I can just picture Rumor leaning up against my mom as "she" (my mom not Rumor) does the crossword puzzle. And I could see her (Rumor, not my mom :) keeping my Dad company while he watches football games on TV- only problem would be that he would turn her into a GIANT's fan .

If you are looking for a friend to watch football (or squirrels) with please contact

VAGA
www.virginiagreyhounds.org

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Weekend Washout

This weekend was pretty much a washout. The weather was so bad that Mark's last Pee Wee football game was canceled, VAGA's annual picnic was postponed, and we skipped both the PW SPCA's fund-raising festival and Leesburg's "Dog Days" festival today.
The only thing that did go on as planned was Alaina's HS Homecoming dance.
Pictures posted below, mostly so that she can get at them for her Facebook page:
Femme Fatale



Once she started being silly:
The siblings needed to join in:

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Rumor's first week.




I brought Rumor to get her stitches out this morning. She was a very good patient (such a brave girl :) I think you can tell by the pictures above, the scar is barely visible (and it blends in perfectly with her brindle pattern.)

Rumor is one curious greyhound :)
She flits about, like a butterfly (albeit a 58 pound butterfly). She is constantly checking out EVERY inch of her surroundings. No worries though, because she's not really much of a thief. She did pull one shirt out of the laundry room this morning, but didn't actually "chew" on it. I was a little concerned when she showed a fair amount of interest in my shoes (but I guess she is just a typical girl who loves shoes), since again, no damage- so far all her chewing has been restricted to Greenies and stuffed Kongs :)- Such a good girl!
She is also unique, in that she is really NOT food motivated!
The first few days she was here, she refused to eat any of her breakfast at all (though she happily polished off her dinner). We tried more water, less water, and feeding her later in the morning- all to no avail. The addition of a LITTLE bit of plain grilled chicken with her rice and kibble completely turned her around ( I guess we will need to wean her off that too).
We are making good head way in convincing her that she does not belong on the family room couch, though she does give us a really good "your not actually serious about this are you?" look. I find it curious that of the 3 foster greyhounds we have had stay with us, she is the first one pick up on the habit simply by watching the resident hounds. I assure you no one "invited' her on the couch. She simply decided on her own that it looked cosier than the dog beds- and that jumping up did NOT look too difficult or scary. ( Unlike Hero, who at first acted like he was climbing Mount Everest.)
Climbing seems to be in her blood.
She took the 4 steps up to our deck without any hesitation (like she had been doing it all her life).
The first time Alaina and I tried to lure her up the inside stairs she flat out refused to move her feet at all- but then today she decided to climb them completely on her own :)
She has improved quite a bit on leash, and will pretty much heel now (unless she sees a squirrel :).
She has lovely manners when greeting most other dogs, though there were two "yappy" smaller dogs that set her to whining and trembling. Since she did not lunge like with squirrels we are still unsure whether the whining and trembling were a sign of fear or excitement.
Finally,
She has not had one single accident in the house since she arrived (I hope I haven't jinxed us!)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

My Embarrassing News and Rumor/ Gossip

Thanks to all my VAGA friends for letting me know that we were indeed in the local Fredericksburg newspaper- "The Free Lance-Star", and while I can not blame them for thinking that Will and Hero were the cutest thing at the Festival, it's definitely NOT a glamor shot for me :(


On to our Rumor

Just the perfect little angel, right?

"Hey Hero, she's not watching right"?
~
"OK Kid, the coast is clear, go for it"
~

Fosters on the furniture is a definite no-no.
~
"Will, what is Rumor doing on the couch?"
"I don't know Mom, I was sleeping, honest!"
We really are working to break her of the habit-
So don't spread it around, ok?

Monday, October 5, 2009

Funny Face

Hey Pepsi, did you hear? We are getting a new foster dog!

Her racing name was "Gossip Hound"- but we got the thumbs up to use the call name Rumor.
This has had the unintended side effect of the kids calling her- Rue, or would that be Roo?
She arrived along with the sweet fawn female- racing name "Nitro Gabbie" now called Lola.
They seemed very attached to one another.


All your warm wishes and prayers worked! You can just see the pink stitches on her nose where she had her "growth" removed. (I believe they said it was from an infected hair follicle?) They did a wonderful job stitching her up- no one can tell it was from an incision (small problem there- EVERYONE we meet keeps trying to be helpful and brush (or pick) the "lint" off her nose- I am getting a bit jumpy about it :(
Sunday brought about Beautiful weather and the Fredericksburg dog festival. The festivities started with all the dogs being blessed. Yes, Rumor got blessed too, but our photographer fell down on the job when it came to getting her picture :(
Then came the dog parade through downtown Fredericksburg. as you can see VAGA was well represented- the greyhounds were out in force!

Next came the costume contests. Here is Will and Hero in the under 5 category.
Of course he and Hero did not walk around the ring alone... no I am not hiding my face on purpose- just good timing! I may not be as lucky when it comes to the local paper- the reporter stopped us to get our names, as part of an article- I doubt I'll ever see it though, since we do not live in Fredericksburg.
Will wins a ribbon.

Next Mark entered the 9-12 age group. Hero graciously lent Rumor his costume (but notice that someone forgot to tighten the girth, Rumor is quite a bit smaller than our big Hero)- Thus the rodeo rider became a trick rider.

I hope all my readers enjoyed as lovely a weekend!