Dusty and me

BBQ Dave (kneeling) surrounded by humans and hounds Sunday at One Last Cast BBQ ---------- We had a glorious day Sunday for one last gathering of the greyhounds at One Last Cast BBQ. Our beloved barbecue stand on the grounds of Flamingo Road Nursery announced on Facebook earlier in the week that it was closing shop at the end of business Sunday. Diffy and Creepy enjoying the beautiful day ---------- But not so fast: BBQ Dave told us Sunday that we'll know for certain on Monday but the farewell announcement may have been premature. Dave said it's likely that he will stay open at the nursery. If you get past the great barbecue aroma, it all smells like a lease negotiation worked out in the end. Here's hoping to see you again in a couple of weeks, Dave. We had a pretty good turnout of hounds and humans, considering the NFL playoffs probably kept a few people away. The weather was superb -- sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s. Most of the ...

Luna with Dawn and Rosie at Ruby Falls in Tennessee ---------- Luna just got home from a winter vacation to points north. Mom Dawn sent along some photos to share with everyone. It's never too cold to have fun with sisters Rosie and Lily. ---------- Dawn, Lily and Rosie took their hound on a four-state expedition over the holidays. Dawn said Luna (known as Lulu when she was in the Friends of Greyhounds kennels) was a great travel companion. Luna got to visit dog parks in four different states -- Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky -- and went everywhere with Dawn and the girls. She had no problem with the frigid weather, Dawn said. Luna's faux sheepskin coat and hound tee helped her cope with temperatures in the single digits. Dawn said Luna got a bit spoiled on the trip. "Re-entry has been a little tough for her," Dawn wrote. "Each time I reach for the car keys, she is halfway in the car -- and I have to break it to her gently that she can...

It was sunny but cold for the FoG gathering at Flamingo Road Nursery. Hounds and humans alike were bundled up and preferred the sun to the shade of the usual hangout under the canopy. ---------- The hounds and their humans were bundled up Sunday for their gathering at One Last Stand BBQ at Flamingo Road Nursery. The sun was bright, but temperatures stayed in the low 60s as a stiff breeze made it feel even cooler. Considering, the turnout was pretty good at the monthly Friends of Greyhounds event. Joy's hound David sporting his football jammies ---------- Michelle handed out a few more kennel collars and had some hound jackets and jammies to sell. And Lynne turned up with a nice spread of martingale collars to sell. Dusty picked out a nice holiday-themed collar she plans to wear for her Christmas visits to the FoG folks and the grandparents. The day featured Andy's first public appearance since his scary heat-stroke incident about a month ago. Andy appeared in gr...

Dusty and Kelly at the Parkland adoption event Saturday morning ---------- That's two black greyhounds in two days for Friends of Greyhounds. Four-year-old Kelly will be delivered Sunday evening to Sam and his family in Palmetto Bay, a day after Michelle took Kal to his new home in Coral Gables. Kelly isn't officially adopted yet -- he's going to spend a few days with Sam's family on a home trial. But I would be very surprised if Kelly came back to Sunrise after visiting with Sam and his young son Saturday afternoon in Parkland at the Homes For Dogs Project event. Sam and his family lost their hound to cancer a few weeks ago, and they are ready for another one. Their previous grey came from FoG several years ago, when Jerry D. and Michelle were operating in Hialeah. Sam keeps an eye on FoG's website  as well as Dusty and Me, and he and his son got interested in Kelly. He called Michelle when we were at the Parkland event and decided to make the drive all...

Kal, left, who will be delivered Saturday to his new home in Coral Gables; and Kelly, who will be at the Parkland event ---------- Our old friend Kal, the 3-year-old black hound who has been in the Friends of Greyhounds kennels since July, will head to his new home in Coral Gables Saturday afternoon. Kal first met his new family a few weeks ago when Michelle took him to a book signing in the Gables. Michelle exchanged several emails with the family, who came to Sunrise on Friday afternoon to put in their application and claim the playful boy. He'll be delivered Saturday, after the Homes for Dogs Project adoption event in Parkland. The event is set for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Equestrian Center at Temple Park, 8350 Ranch Road. FoG and three other adoption groups will be there, as will Chewy.com. The event will be set up in a roofed pavilion, so don't let the threat of rain scare you off. Come on out and meet FoG dogs Logan and Kelly, a couple of the second-chance dogs at...

Apollo would love to be in a new home for the holidays. ---------- Friends of Greyhounds has a new guest in the Sunrise kennels. Meet Apollo, an 8-year-old fawn boy who is looking for a new home after a family breakup. Apollo landed at FoG on Friday, and he's already adjusted to his new temporary life. I stopped by to visit him this morning, and he seems like a happy, healthy, friendly, well-adjusted guy. He's eating well, he was excited to get attention and affection from perfect strangers, and he got along great with his fellow senior adoptables during their turnouts today. Here he is (with the red collar) hanging out with black hound Kelly and fellow fawn Logan: Apollo was adopted in Virginia six years ago by a couple who eventually moved to South Florida. The family broke up, however, and Apollo landed in an apartment in Coconut Creek with his dad. But Apollo ended up spending long days by himself in his crate in the apartment as his dad works 10- and 12-hou...

Fella looks to me for help, but I was busy taking photos. ---------- Yahtzee bargaining with the devil ---------- Old friend Mike brought the Groom Waggin mobile doggie spa to Sunrise today to give Friends of Greyhounds ' 10 guest and resident hounds a little freshening up. All of them were getting a bit long in the toenails, and Mike, as always, stopped by the shelter to give pawdicures for all. Mike's a longtime supporter -- in fact, he and his wife have a couple of greyhounds adopted from FoG. He picked up his two dogs' kennel collars from Michelle while he was there. Groom Waggin has been giving pawdicures to FoG dogs off and on for a few years. Mike's visits have been sporadic, though, and always overdue by the time he arrives. Today, he told Michelle he would start putting her on his calendar and schedule regular visits. Casey trying his best to be brave ---------- The Davie-based Groom Waggin takes its mobile spa all over South Florida. Mike ...

John G. says hi to Bo, who we used to know as Boogie. In the background are Bruce (formerly Posey) and Knuckles. ---------- It was a glorious day for a gathering of greys. Midday temperatures got into the 80s and the sun was bright for much of the day. But One Last BBQ provided plenty of shade, and the tropical breezes made for a beautiful afternoon. Joy gets a family photo with Turtle, David and Honey. ---------- Friends of Greyhounds had a great turnout for its gathering today at the barbecue stand at Flamingo Road Nursery. The big attraction: Boxes and boxes of kennel collars Michelle and Jerry D. have collected over the years. FoG put out the word earlier in the week that adopters wishing to claim those mementos of their hounds' histories could pick them up at the BBQ gathering. And a lot of old friends showed up to do just that. The collars giveaway is looking like a hit. Michelle distributed dozens of them today and has heard from several other adopters who wer...

Approaching the western edge of Cypress Creek Greenway at Tephford Park on Saturday. ---------- Dusty and I are enjoying a relaxing day at home today, taking the occasional long walk around the neighborhood between her greyhound naps and my Abbott and Costello movies on the Roku. We had a fairly busy week. We spent several hours in Sunrise helping with Friends of Greyhounds business and were able to get to the two Tamarac parks a couple or three times. Dusty also got over to Joy's new house in western Broward a few times to run with David, Honey and Turtle while their mom was away with long shifts at the hospital. I got this short video of the four of them: There's another video of those guys along with all of Dusty's videos at my YouTube page . LET'S HAVE SOME BBQ: Michelle at Friends of Greyhounds has organized another outing for us hound lovers at One Last Cast BBQ. We're set for this Saturday, Nov. 11, on the grounds of Flamingo Road Nursery ...

Dusty having a word with new friend Reasey ---------- 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 ...

Hello again, everyone. It has been awhile since we've talked, hasn't it? The dog days of summer just wore us down, nothing of note really happened for a couple of weeks, so we just decided to lie low. And then came Irma to shake us awake. And fortunately, there went Irma leaving most everyone I've heard from in our little community almost completely whole. A few of us lost power for a time, some of us lost cell service, Friends of Greyhounds lost part of their backyard fence. But none whom I have talked with lost life, limb or home. So we're in great shape. While we were sweating it out in Florida with Irma raging around us, old friend Buford was playing it cool at his other home in New Jersey. Travis, hope to see you guys soon. Come join us at some of our gatherings this fall when you're in town. ---------- Dusty and I were probably the luckiest of them all. Neither of us, nor the Kia Koach nor the townhouse sustained a scratch from Irma. Worst thing that ...

Marvin the Moose and her new collar from Happy Hound Designs give comfort on another morning indoors. ---------- It's been a slow week for Dusty and I. Summer's onset in South Florida has made us kind of lazy -- we're not getting out as much as we used to when the weather was so pleasant. Kango enjoying a few minutes of free time ---------- But we did get a chance today to get to Friends of Greyhounds. Dusty got a few minutes to run in the yard with her Sunrise buddies before the rains came, and I was able to spend some time with the four guests at the kennels. As expected, old FoG friend Daniel appeared at the kennels Monday and went home with Domino, the big black hound who stole his heart Saturday at the One Last BBQ gathering. Daniel was ready to adopt a new companion after Jeff crossed the bridge a few weeks ago. Domino's big personality won him over Saturday and pretty much sealed the deal when he planted a big kiss on Daniel late in the day. And ...

A black-hound convention: Molly, Dusty, Domino and Slinky ---------- It wasn't the biggest crowd for a Friends of Greyhounds gathering at One Last Cast BBQ. But it certainly was the hottest. At one point about halfway in, Jerry B checked the weather status on his brand-spanking-new smartphone, and he said the Feels Like was 99. It wasn't completely unbearable. We did have some nice shade cover out on the patio and we would catch a nice breeze now and then. But the hounds weren't very active, preferring to find a relatively cool spot to lie down. And not many of the humans stayed around for the entire four hours. Jerry B. and his lap dog, Slinky ---------- All that said, it still turned out to be a good afternoon. Old FoG friend Daniel, who lost Jeff to bone cancer a few months back, came to tell Jerry D. and Michelle that he is ready to adopt a new companion. He set up an appointment to stop by the Sunrise kennels Monday to check out the dogs on hand. He bonde...

Savvy with little sis Riley, big sis Hayley, mom Kim and grandmom Debbie ---------- Without a doubt, my favorite task as a volunteer with Friends of Greyhounds is accompanying Michelle on her home deliveries. I got another chance to do it today as we drove the FoG greyhound bus a few miles northeast to Coconut Creek. This time, we had two guys in the van -- Savvy and Posey. Debbie, Kim and the two young girls, Riley and Hayley, met those two dogs last weekend at the FoG adoption event in Boca Raton and decided they wanted to adopt both. The plan was to leave one of the dogs there today, return to Sunrise with the second one and then to come back to Coconut Creek with the second dog a couple of weeks later, after the women adjusted to having the first one in the home. Posey ---------- When we arrived, Michelle thought it a good idea to take the dogs into the house one at a time. Savvy was the first, greeted at the front door by an excited Michelle, followed by Debbie and R...

Ann surrounded by Creepy, Randy, Diffy, Bambi and Bob ---------- D usty is sound asleep now, wiped out after another great gathering at One Last Cast BBQ at Flamingo Roads Nursery. It was a glorious day for what was probably the final Friends of Greyhounds outdoors gathering of the season. Bambi talking it over with her new whippet friend, Chili ---------- Some of the regulars were there -- Jerry B. brought Slinky; Mike had a grumpy Andy on his leash; John and the family brought Creepy, who's always a hit with the regulars. We also got to see Bambi and her parents. We saw several others whose names haven't burned into my little brain as of yet. And our hosts, Michelle and Jerry of Friends of Greyhounds, brought a couple of the kennel dogs, rambunctious Ralph and beautiful Randy. Everyone always has a good time at these gatherings spending time with longtime two- and four-legged friends. And it's always a kick when random nursery visitors and their youngsters s...