Yesterday's Got-ya day

I'm informed it is usually referred to as "gotcha day", but to me that seems like it has a connotation of entrapment. The cry of "gotcha" when a prank is successfully pulled, and so on. So I'm going to try to get away with saying "got-ya day", which to me is better (even though I acknowledge that technically "gotcha" is simply a sort of contraction of "got you"). Well, enough of that useless rumbling. Whatever you call it, Vallie's first one was yesterday. Valkyrie has been with us now for one year.

She's starting to get used to us, we think.

For her special anniversary dinner, Selena prepared her a lovely (as you can see) bowl of tripe, liver treats, cheesy (?) dog buiscuits, all served on a lovely bed of high quality kibble. Valkyrie slurped it up. Then she got a few cheezies tossed to her (but that'll be our little secret).

The special meal may also have been hopefully to serve as an apology for doing this to her earlier in the day...

Poor, Big Baby! A little too much partying for her. She doesn't seem to even care that she won first place in this "costume race" competition!

As chance would have it, on her anniversary, a local Greyhound group was having a fundraiser fair. We headed over. Valkyrie was really excited to meet up with many dozens of other greyhounds again. Much joyous sniffing. Only a few growls.

She also attempted to have her speed clocked: 23 km/h! Ha. How embarrassing. Alas, the speed measurement situation seemed a little less than scientific. The running area was small, the dogs barely able to get up to stride. The timing was done with some sort of smart phone app, which seemed a little more than finicky much of the time. And the only inducement to velocity was a tossed rubber squeaky toy combined with some energetic beckonings. Apparently not enough! Also, it was raining. But everyone had fun anyhow.

The "race" she won, the picture at the top of the post, consisted of all the dogs being given a similar pile of clothes. The winner was the one which could be dressed the fastest and then make it to the finish line with all clothes still on. We are so proud. Obviously.

There was also a tail length competition. Vallie endured only to find out her tail length was... average. Though her adoptive mom insists that average really means really spectacularly awesome for a relatively petite hound such as herself.

You may also notice the bandaged leg. Actually what you see is an old kids' sock with the end cut out, stylishly covering a bandage. It is due to a nasty cut that seemed to be the result of a collision at the off-lease dog park -- though we're not entirely sure what happened. We didn't notice it until we got home. But greyhounds are notoriously thin skinned -- literally in this instance -- and are easily injured. The wound, while somewhat gruesome looking, doesn't seem to bother her. She gets a new dressing on the leg every day until it starts healing up sufficiently.

Anyhow... that was our doggie day for our dog's day (click link for a few more pictures).

Happy one-year at your forever-home, Valkyrie!

Anniversaire Girl

If not a roaring success, it was at least a sprinkling success — Istra's birthday party at the park. It was also a roaring success. Everyone was sick of cookies and icing and sprinkles by the end. What more could you want? (Or maybe that was just the adults?) And the pirogi-fueled VIP after-party party rocked, too. Never mind the smashing lemon curd blueberry cheesecake. Making less and less sense, as I am, let me just take my leave with a snap and a flick et une chanson...

Happy 8^th

"And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep."

I'll just quietly drop these here (for posterity).

With thanks to Sandro and Anne (for the surprise).

And to Leonard, & friends (for the stunning and mesmerising 3 hour performance... at 78 years old...)!