Gathering of the hounds

Dusty having a word with new friend Reasey
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Ahhh, it was so good to get outside again to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine -- and, of course, the barbecue -- with all our hound buddies.

We had a great turnout Saturday at One Last Cast BBQ on the grounds of Flamingo Road Nursery for the first Friends of Greyhounds gathering of the season. The weather was almost perfect. It got a little warm at times if you were out in the sun. But we had just enough clouds, some nice breezes and plenty of shade cover to make it a success.

Of course, everyone exchanged their Irma war stories. Fortunately for us inland dwellers, no one had any real damage. Most of the Irma talk was about losing power for various lengths of time.

Mike and Andy spent parts of one or two evenings sleeping in Mike's air-conditioned car to escape the still, humid heat of their house. Jerry D. arrived late to the gathering because he was making arrangements to have someone rebuild the fence at the FoG residence. A few -- Dusty and I among them -- escaped the entire Irma incident without even a power outage.

As always at these outings, Dusty and I also had a chance to make some new friends.

Old buddy Savvy brought all his girls with him -- Granny Deb, Mom Kim, sisters Riley and Haley and the new family hound, Reasey, a 2-year-old brindle beauty who came out of a rescue group in Palm Beach County. Deb has told us Savvy has taken charge of that Coconut Creek household, developing an authoritative, Dusty-like voice. She told me today that Reasey came to the family last month as a pretty timid girl but is gaining confidence with time.

Lily has her hands full tending to Logan, Dusty, Luna and a text message.
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Today was the first time I got a chance to meet Luna's family -- mom Dawn and sisters Lily and Rosie. Michelle had told me the background story, that Dawn was bitten by a big dog many years ago but worked through her intimidation so her daughters could have a hound in the family. They met Luna (then named Lulu) at an event at Dog Dude Ranch last spring and adopted her. But a few weeks later, Luna had an incident with young Rosie, and Luna landed back at the FoG kennels for a couple of days while Michelle helped Dawn and the girls understand what happened.

Luna went back home as Dawn and the girls adjusted their approach to having a dog in the home, and all has been great since. I spent a bit of time talking with Lily as I went through my excellent grilled-chicken sandwich from the barbecue stand. The girl loves her dog, loved learning about everyone else's dog and was an exceptional lunch companion.

The great surprise of the day was seeing Crystal and Pharoah and the other members of their family -- Crystal's boyfriend and a daughter. Crystal told me Pharoah (formerly Taylor) takes those steep stairways at her Coconut Creek townhouse with no issues whatsoever and gets around on that gimp leg just fine. She said he and the cat co-exist without issue and that Pharoah has shown no interest in getting into the many knickknacks and geegaws that populate her home.

Dusty and I also got a chance to meet Frances and her hound, Rockefeller. And we caught up with several of the other regulars at these FoG events -- Creepy and his family, Beth and Molly, Jerry B. and his dogs. We saw Jill with her hounds arriving later in the event but didn't make it over her way. Sorry, Jill. See you next time. And we did see a couple of faces and hounds who we don't know. Maybe next time.

What a jam-packed four hours that was. It was a great day. Dusty and I always love these gatherings. FoG has another one coming up next weekend, an off-leash play date for the hounds at Dog Dude Ranch in Miami, at 6305 SW 120th Ave. Time on that is 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

UPDATE: The gathering at Dog Dude Ranch next week is cancelled. The place sustained some damage during Irma and won't be ready for use in awhile.

A quick group photo early on