Saturday's Pet Blog Hop: Race to the start

It's a race to the start. Or, rather, it's four days of panic before we leave for a month-long trip to the US. For those of you planning to rob us, please arrange your break in with the cat-and-housesitter. If you do make it in, please take all of my Manboy's socks and that silly karaoke machine that he got "for us". 

It's stressful for me right now. I don't feel it, but I never do feel stress. I just know that I'm stress because my zombie patches bloom. This week I am fortunate to have a quarter-size patch on my face. I'M SO FECKIN' HAPPY ABOUT THAT! No no no. Be calm. Relax. Big breaths. Waterfall sounds. Patchouli. No, wait. I hate patchouli. Lemon-scented myrtle. Calm. Happy Katy. Happy happy Katy. Contemplate the belly button. 

Yeah, right.

I feel that everything is going at warp speed:

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 The most important task was getting the boys back to the Mothership for a month at Camp Coominya. Everything else is minor, even Fat Bastard. It's easier to find a sitter to come in to take care of him, but I wanted the dogs out in the country with their friends. Fat Bastard has no interest in playing with others, so his situation did not add to the stressful side of my to-do list. 

The boys travel with their own beds, which are flung off balcony in the true classy style we are known for. Fabian won't go around the hall corner in our house to get to the front door, so we flung him off, too:

(You can see how slow we are at painting the house from green to purple, red, and black. Until we're finished, it's a cashing mess.)
 

Saying good-bye to them is hard, but I know that they're in heaven for a long time. They've got buddies who have the same interests: 

"You like sleeping?! We LOVE sleeping! You like festy old cushions?! Oh. My. Bone! We also love love LOVE festy old cushions!"

"You like carcass? We--Oh man. We so love carcass and the way it crunches and stuff and makes our poops firm so that our anal glands get a little squeeze. And does your mom crap herself in a spazmoid conniption when you sneak a little carcass in to monchmonch on the rug? Yeah. We love it when our mom craps herself. It makes her bum so pooey and lovely." 

 

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 "And you've got cool, long green grass, too. Man, ours was just mowed. Blow and mow rhyme for a reason, man. You can roll and roll and roll. You can also look over to the weak-ass tripod, who is too chicken to learn how to go downstairs. Has to be carried. Soft. Softer than a unicorn's farts, he's so soft."

Omo said good-bye gracefully, then he went back to playing with his main bitch, Jelly. Fabian was less cool with saying good-bye. He'll have a great time, but he doesn't like seeing his favourite lady leave. 

I'll miss my boys, but I won't worry about them. Knowing that they're with a family who loves greyhounds (and JRTs) and have greyhound buddies, I can travel at ease. I know that I'll come back to happy hounds. Happy manky, skanky, dirty, stinky hounds. This is the wet season, and now that we're no longer in a drought, the wet season is back to being a wet wet season. I also know--and we all have to face this possibility--that if one of my boys dies, he would die happy. If that sounds morbid, I lost a hound to DIC the day after I got back from the US. After my active grief settled, I knew that Tamale died after three weeks of Camp Bliss at Brooke's. 

Unfortunately, Persephone Buttercup doesn't have a place to go. She will be parked for a month. She'll even lose Berry Dude, the flat Berry Austin mascot. Whenever I'm in Texas, I try to make a stop at Berry Austin. It's not a franchise frozen yogurt place. Oh no no no. Berry Dude comes from an independent yogurt shop that not only has great frozen noms, but is decorated by donated "garbage" in the craziest mosaic around. They even have laminated I-Spy cards for you to play with. It's crazy. It's original. It's delish. It's very Austin. I'll be packing Berry Dude on our trip. 

I don't know how often I'll post, hop, or read others' blogs. It's harder to do while travelling, especially since I do not have a US network. We'll see. I know I won't be blogging next Saturday. We'll be leaving New Orleans, where we'll see my cousin play basketball (or sit on the bench--he's a rookie), for Dallas, where we'll see the Pokes play the 'Skins. Who knows when we'll be where and for how long. I have a calendar somewhere. Planning is one thing; remembering what I planned is a whole 'nother bucket of carcasses. 

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Comments

[Jet]

have a great trip, we will miss you!

[Caron]

Have a great trip! If you come to Arizona make sure to say Hi.

[Terri]

Safe travels! I'm sure the boys will be just fine while you're gone. When we travel, most of my stress is about the poopers. Although, before we had them, I found plenty of other things to stress about. I'm confident yours will be happy and won't hardly notice you're gone.

I love all the pics, especially the second-to-last one of the first collage: greyhound swarming!

What is that on your bike handlebars - is it an iPhone holder?! I need one for my BlackBerry!

[Sue]

Safe jouneys.

[Houndstooth]

Oh wow! I don't know if I could leave the girls for a month, but I can imagine that you have a lot of people you want to see when you get back to the States! I'd beg to meet you, but it doesn't sound like you'll be near me at all! Have a great time! I'll sure miss your posts.

[Katy the Greaty]

Jet,

Thank you. I usually judge my trips by how many greys I get to hug while Im gone. The last two trips saw no hounds. Im hoping that this one will be houndful.

[Katy the Greaty]

Arizonas not on this trip, Caron, but we do love the US southwest. Itll be on in the future. Sometime after this trip is paid off. Its 3x as much to fly to the US now than when we go in the fall or spring, but this is his summer vacation time, and its silly to go in Jan (still his time off from school) and miss the holidays.

[Katy the Greaty]

Terri, that IS an iPhone holder. I like to map my rides. I dont know why. I dont go fast, but I like to see where Ive been and to compare routes and times. When I look at times, I compare the time I leave and how long that takes. Leaving before 5 is much faster. By 5, the tradies are out and on their way to work. That slows me down. Next to it is a cupholder. Its not so good for riding with a full thing of coffee, but I dont drink and ride. I use it for my coffee as I walk from the coffee shop to the platform. 

It also holds those cups of Oreos. Noice.

[Katy the Greaty]

Houndstooth and girls,

Leaving would be harder if I didnt have a network of sitters. For long trips when were both gone, Camp Coominya or Camp Brooke is ideal. They have a party and dont miss me. If I feel that they dont miss me, then I can go. I travel with my phone and update the critter album so that I have little photos to remind me. Also, Cathy and Brooke send me lots of photos.

When I go solo, I leave them with the manboy. Hes not so good with the photos--hes not the cybernerd that I am, but he emails me stories. I also dont go for that long when Im solo. I dont travel much then either. Solo is strictly family and friends. If they travel, I do, too, but its more about catching up when I dont get to see them. 

When we go away for less than a week, I have a few friends here who, because of rental agreements, cant have dogs or cats, but enjoy mine. 

Ive put my dog (Tamale) in a kennel only once. That was Cathys place before I knew her. For $4.95/day (!!), Tamale stayed in the kennel that is about the width of a master bedroom and the length of an average suburban block. I still tell her that if adding two more gets too much for the house and their pack, the back kennels would be fine. Theyd love it. If I didnt have this network, Id worry. 

[Pamela]

Hope you have a great trip. We'll miss reading your posts while you're traveling but I'm sure you'll have lots of interesting things to post when you get home and back to the pooters.

Looks like they'll have a great time!

[Lori @ According to Gus]

Have a fabulous trip! It was almost 80 degrees in South Texas yesterday, so hopefully the weather will be nice for you!

[Never Say Never Greyhounds]

I cannot imagine being gone for an entire month!!! I hope you have a fun time in the states.