million paws walk

This was the first year we could attend the RSPCA million paws walk. Stanley and Rusty, may they rest in peace, were not well socialized enough to enjoy such chaos. Sheila on the other hand, too easy.

Mixing it up with the other hounds at the GAP stall

The wearing of the green. The GAP coats are too warm so I am thinking of making big green kerchiefs. 

The t-shirts are cute. This dog is for demonstration purposes only and is a much loved old  pet.

Star Wars! You can get a greyhound At-at costume on the web. Very tempting.....

let the walk begin!

early enthusiasm, a bit of towing...

Many hundreds of people, they must have mad a ton of money. I sure hope so.

awww I just missed a very sweet nose to nose shot

Too tired to get out of the van when we got home!

good grief it is the middle of May!

I have gotten away from the blog, sorry Mom. I am finding facebook and twitter more immediate, and I tend to have to repeat myself here. I do like the blog best as a repository though, so I will keep flogging away at it. 

Sheila has settled in quite well, so it wasn't an issue for me to leave her and travel to a conference

Sunset over the bowls club, Rockhampton, Queensland

A difficult city to find vegetables in. They are there, but small, and hiding under  meat.

The conference was very good, I got my presentations out of the way on day 1 and had the rest to enjoy. The best part was getting outdoors to see UAVs ( toy planes in the olden days) being used to capture large scale imagery.

ready to take off, all pre-programmed to fly transects to cover the field

Real time tracking and all done in about 15 minutes
The applications for this technology are many, it is a potential growth area. It was all very impressive and it shouldn't be hard to convince young men they want to do this for a living!!

I may have played hooky over lunch to go shopping.

We had time to kill at the end when all us northerners had to wait for a flight, so we went to the zoo/botanic garden

obligatory koala photo 

I came home to find myself mildly on the outer... but that seems to have passed. Must do a fashion  shoot of doggy jammies soon...

free to run

We are still taking turns cycling. Sheila is a lonely howling thing when left alone, we need to work on that. There will be lamb shanks. We are getting our monies worth out of council rates at last as we visit all the off leash dog parks around the city. Sheila needs a bit of room to run. I could have taken a video I suppose, but this series of stop motion photos is more fun. Enjoy.

you tube flip book creation

another update on Sheila

We finally have all the paperwork done for owning a dog and transferring a chip and verifying immunization...  having a baby is way easier than having a dog, I swear.

action shot, dog attacks octopus

Yesterday we went to the dog park after work and while there were nervous moments, and it all started with a tail between the legs when dogs came near, it calmed down and Sheila earned an off leash experience and she was awesome. Dogs were milling and playing and then one took off in the distance and Sheila flew. she just flew and joined the frey and the people gathered at one end of the park collectively drew a breath and sighed ooooh, AAwwww. That sound you hear at fireworks. It was breathtaking to see that girl at full stretch, streaking along and turning and loving life. What a good girl, what fun.

just doin' what comes naturally

Meanwhile at work we are facing uncertainty and upheaval (like the last 17 years) and early retirement is on offer and this creates the usual buzz and fear. And I get a delivery of chocolates because I made a normal effort to help out with a data extract request, which is my job, after all. I like it here, and I am not jumping ship thanks very much. And I have a mapping job that was too hard for a PhD... ohh yes please, I want to do that!!!

Now to figure out who rides when so a dog isn't alone while she settles in... will be a few weeks til we can ride together again, and I miss the sound of Scott's freewheel behind me while I peddle madly, and his shapely bottom as I hold his wheel...

settling in with a big dog

I have a dog tag now and everything! Mom is making me wear a crochet heart *sigh*

I thought Rusty was a big dog, but Sheila is a size up from that. She can rest her chin next to your plate. Luckily she accepts that dogs don't belong at the dinner table. She has a big grease spot on her head because she can reach that long lean face under the barbeque and fetch out the grease tray with ease. Yummo! She can lick a dirty pan when it is in the sink, no more relaxing after dinner. She can see if there are egg shells in the compost bucket on the counter. Tall is very useful when you are a dog.

This morning we were all roused by the mother of all possum wars in the big tree out the back. Sheila wandered to the end of the deck, took it in for a bit, then ran into my room and up on the bed where it is safe. Not an aggressor with wildlife. Later she was roused again when two cats joined the riot out the back and she bravely went to the fenced and barked at everyone. Then a vine from the tree grabbed her and she ki-yied out of there and back in the house. Not the bravest dog either.

She is perfect actually. When I was lacing up my shoes for a walk she gave me a kiss. When Scott came down the stairs to join us he got her very first tail wag. She loves my cooking and is a good eater (thank heavens). If you forget to put a fish oil capsule in her dinner she will just eat it out of your hand. She is a hungry girl, hopefully that will settle down. In the mean time she is on the Sumo diet.

It is good to have a dog again.

dog day afternoon

In the nicest possible way, because today is gotcha new greyhound day

My name is Sheila and today I got a green collar because I was adopted as a certified good girl

Scott caught in the act of making smoochys to his new girl. We are trying to resist feeding her every time we look at her. She has had a couple of healthy treats to see her through the afternoon though. Such a skinny hound. Can't wait for the "after" shots when she is fleshed out a bit.

She is very relaxed and quiet

What a dear soulful face. It will soon be walking o'clock, and we will take Sheila for her fist wander by the river. There will be lots of dogs to meet and soon after it will be dinner time. It's a dogs life.

we are ready

After my excellent start to the Strava challenge I have had to take several days off riding to manage this cold. So far it is just a virus, and I am will to invest some leisure in keeping it that way, as antibiotics are not something I can take easily due to allergies. So far so good, even though others in my workplace have crossed over to chest infections, I am holding my own. I miss my bike though.

However, life goes on and I have been feathering my nest for the arrival of a new family member:

a soft bed with toys, and a dog coat made by a Canadian sister that is probably too small, but worth a try

she may want to lie on the couch, which is why we have couches after all

a bed on the front deck has long been a tradition, so you can be comfy while watching the action on the street

finally a raised airy bed under the house lets a dog rest if her owners get compulsive about too much gardening

All these dog beds may seem like overkill, but we found that they all got used with our other dogs, so it seems sensible to reinstate them. All done on the cheap of course, covered with old sheets and blankets for that homey smell. Dog photos tomorrow!