Skyy's last meet and greet

Bill with Skyy and Bear Bear, Veronica with Bettina and Dennis, and Tommy with his guardian

We don't go to meet and greets very often anymore, but we just had to attend this one up at the Petco, in Augusta. Our buddy, Skyy, has cancer. This was her last meet and greet.

Lady Flame, Toby, Sugaree, Trouble, Tommy, Bear Bear, Dennis and Bettina

The purpose of meet and greets is to educate the public about greyhound adoption. Skyy is one of the best ambassadors of the breed. So, our buddies Shannon and Billy arrived with Trouble and Sugaree to honor Skyy as well.

Skyy, the hound of honor...

Skyy has cancer and has a short time to live.

Skyy still has the energy to smile! This smile has been seen by lots of people in nursing homes as Skyy is a service dog.

Bear Bear is such a great little brother to Skyy

Bear Bear has been a great addition to the Axell family. He is a nervous pup, but is as lovely as can be.

Bettina and Dennis are experts at scarfing food. Poor Bear Bear needs to up his game if he is to compete for treats!

Tommy is the new kid on the block. He is a gorgeous brown and white hound!

Cola arrived with Wade. She is super sweet and she is a service dog!

Cola

Cola even has her I.D. badge so that she can accompany Wade to work at DHHS!

Toby got a bit bored with all the action going on. And, poor Sugaree (behind him) was a bit on the nervous side. She doesn't much like big to-dos!

So, we took the pups on a walk around the store.

They were super psyched as there were kitties galore! Great sniffing here;-)

Trouble was a great ambassador for the greyhound breed. He let this little boy pet, and pet, and pet him! Check out Trouble's smile. He loves kids!

Good buddies catching up on baseball greyhound and neighborhood news!

Skyy perked up after her mom arrived!

Bear Bear said, "Hey Mom, I want some attention too!"

And, lastly, Veronica sported her new shoes! She's always ready to model the latest haute couture in Greyhound fashion;-)

Family walk on Caesar Pond

The daytime temp rose to 31F under a partly cloudy sky. There was no wind and the afternoon was perfect for a family walk on Caesar Pond.

Left track - Dog,   Middle track - Human,   Right track - Deer

We headed over to the south cove as we rarely walk there. We came across a set of deer tracks coming out of the woods.

As we walked along the western shore, we had a nice view of a large part of the pond.

Drew and Toby stopped to admire the view and enjoy the warmth of the day.

Lady Flame has gotten wise to me with a camera and refuses to "wait" while I snap a photo. She is one stubborn pup!

Toby looks cute all the time. It really is amazing at how well blind dogs navigate the world. Just walking on the pond, you wouldn't guess that he can't see a thing!

Although, he does hear, or gets a whiff of wildlife periodically, and gets very excitedly barking and lunging at something unseen to all of us, including Lady Flame;-) Toby's spidey senses were tingling!

Lady Flame was trying to figure out what the fuss was all about! Hence, the perked up ears;-)

We checked out a blow-down on the western shore.

The trees have such shallow, widespread roots that they blow-down easily after lots of rain resulting in soggy ground. Check out the rocks that the roots are holding onto!

Then, we headed over to the boggy, north end of the pond where a long-term beaver lodge is located.

There has been lots of beaver trapping this year as our beaver population is extremely healthy.

Lady Flame found lots of great scents to sniff out around this little island. Probably muskrat or beaver scents galore.

Toby and Drew had found something else exciting, so we followed them to the outlet of the pond.

Lo and behold, we found some thinner ice! This part of the pond has lots of springs that often keep the water from freezing over. The beavers also have a long row of branches damming the pond outlet. I didn't get too close as I didn't want to get wet feet!

Half-Sibs walk the snowmobile trail

Wow, what a gorgeous day out on Caesar Pond! The temp. was a balmy 20F with a feel-like temp. of 11F. We met up with Shannon, Trouble, and Sugaree for a wonderful walk along a short portion of the snowmobile trail across the pond. Our round trip total was 2 miles.

I walked Lady Flame who is a perfect trail companion for me.

Drew walked Trouble and Toby, who are great walking buddies.

Shannon walked Sugaree who did a phenomenal job on the walk and we were all so proud of her! At 12 years old, Sugaree's hind end is a bit weak, but she seemed quite comfortable walking the entire 2 miles.

Houndy Half-Sib walk on Caesar Pond

I met Trouble, Sugaree and their minions on Caesar Pond this afternoon. The pond surface is covered by a few inches of snow and has a fabulous texture for walking.

Trouble found lots of good scents where the beaver has had a feeding station.

The pups walked around to the western shore where they got to explore the beaver lodge.

Sugaree, who has a nose for bunny news, informed us that there might just be a bunny inhabiting the top apartment of the lodge!

And, how did Sugaree know this? She followed the tracks!

Hmmm... evidence of bunny tracks were in the snow on the pond surface as well!

1st Half-Sib Play Date of 2019!

It was a nice warm day for a play date with the temp. above freezing. The snow was somewhat sticky, but not slippery. Our somewhat geriatric crew had a good time.

After a bit of running around...

and Trouble getting on Toby's case (and being gently corrected by Drew)...

the pups settled down.

The day then became mostly about Sugaree who has really been blossoming now that she is taking a puppy pain reliever. She is enjoying the snow to the fullest as it cushions her feet.

She loves cold weather and spent a lot of time just lying around.

As our neighborhood elder hound, at 12 years old, she gets so much joy from snow.

Merry Christmas!

We took a walk to visit with one of our favorite pups, Lexie! The pups do like visiting with her, and Lady Flame would love a play date.

Lexie is a small German Shepherd who enjoys visitors. This time, she tried to hop into the car when we arrived.

She is one sweet dog and Drew has known her since she was a puppy. This was my first meeting with her. Drew grew up with German Shepherds and loves them.

After hanging with Lexie, we took a walk down her road just to get a bit of exercise in. I love this photo of Drew and Toby. They are such good buddies.

Lady Flame kept looking back as there was a couple with a dog behind us. Note her perked up ears! She loves meeting people and dogs.

Then, we headed for home. Toby likes to think of himself as the protector of our yard, and I can just imagine a wolf or coyote howling with laughter at our boy in his jammies, strutting his stuff around the perimeter!

Lady Flame just loves her yard. She spends a lot of time relaxing outdoors.

She loves to roll around and get tummy rubs as often as possible!

Pre-Christmas Walk on Papermill Trail

We celebrated vacation time by doing a family walk on Papermill Trail today. It was so cold and we just weren't prepared for the windchill. But, it was pretty nonetheless.

I just couldn't resist taking a shadow photo of Flame and I!

The Sabattus River was flowing as it has been near to above freezing during the day.

We only walked 1.4 miles round trip, and that was enough for us and the pups.

We decided to head for home and warm up with some delicious hot cocoa!