Trophies

Now that we have come off of daylight savings time we have about 15 minutes after work before complete and utter darkness. Ok slight exaggeration but it is dark. Of course Kassa and my evening walks have been cautious adventures as we try to ensure the cars can see us on these narrow Tennessee roads. Last night we stepped off to the side as a car went by. Kassa went into his sniffy mode as he so often does.. pauses.. and comes up with something hanging from mouth to pavement. "Thanks dad.. its the roadkill I always wanted!" An unfortunate fuzzy tailed rodent had not survived our foggy mornings and now had become Kassa's prise. I yelled "DROP IT" as I secretly said thanks for the darkness. One really does not want to see maggot covered road kill hanging from the mouth of ones couch companion. Almost surprisingly he did.. drop it that is. It bounced off my boot and we went on our merry way. This morning Kassa got retaliation for the loss of his prise by snookering his mom out of an extra breakfast. "The way he was following me around and looking at me, I thought you hadn't fed him yet." Ahem.. Well those big beautiful eyes don't work so well on me my boy. I've seen road kill hanging from just beneath them. Thats it for today. Aren't you glad I don't have pics :)

Busy boy

Kassa was a busy boy this weekend. On Saturday we loaded up the truck with a weeks (well truthfully two weeks) worth of trash and headed to the convenience center. Now you can't go to the convenience center without visiting the base ball diamond just up the street. Good times! Then after chillen with the misses we loaded up the truck again but this time with a riding lawnmower. Of course if anyone has seen my truck it is on the small side. Although my riding mower is no farm tractor it does have a 42" cutting deck, therefore some disassembly and re-assembly was required. I also don't have a ramp so I ended up backing the truck up to the retaining wall in the backyard to drive the tractor on to it. Then we headed to the grey-play field we have been working on. This is the point were I realized that I didn't really have a well thought out plan for removing the lawn-tractor from the truck. Well I had thought of it but my original plan did not pan out. I finally spotted a old bit of deck and viola.. it was the perfect offloading height. Once the disassembled was re.. Kassa and I went for the field. Kassa quickly discovered that the tractor just wasn't that fast so he raced on ahead and eventually lay down in the middle of the field while I cut around him. All this to say the field was ready for some grey play on Sunday. Sunday came. My wife and I went to the coffee shop. It was a little cold and rainy so the boy stayed home. He was chomping at the bit all morning to get moving. Where was the walk? Where was the field? He has come to expect more then trotting out to the back yard for a quick poop and scoop. Finally 2:30 came. We headed to the dog park first for some play and then everyone formed a caravan and we headed to the field. Was it ever neat to see 5 hounds just galloping up one end of the field to the other. Kassa runs fast at the field by himself but it is something special to see a group of them thunder by. I really wish I had brought my camera but thank you to my friend for providing me with this shot. Well I think that everyone had a good time. We were a little concerned that the four rail fence would be enough for one of the hounds who in the past has proven himself to be somewhat of an escape artist. We also had a border collie with the group and so of course she found a weak point in the fencing. However all that to say, I think everyone had a great time. We have a few fencing issues to resolve but nothing too major. In total I think the first run of the hounds in the grey-play field was a grand success! While we probably won't use this location every weekend (as it is a bit far away for some) I think it will be a good location for some good old greyhound fun. This morning Kassa didn't even want to go for his walk. I guess he had a pretty good weekend.

Operation Grey-Play

Kassa and I have a really good time playing ball in large (yet fenced) fields. We also have enjoyed our meetings with other greyhounds and their people. As the number of hounds in our group grows, the limitations of the size of the dog park we use is becoming more apparent. So Kassa and I have been scoping out different areas to run and we have found an excellent location. It has four rail horse fencing in the front and that area provides about 1.3 acres of run-ability. There is also plenty of room to grow. There has been quite a bit of prep work including getting much of it bushhogged, removing misc junk and picking up rocks etc. There is still quite a lot to do. Now that it has been bushhogged I want to take my lawn tractor to it to even it out a bit. I want to make the running surface as consistent as possible to avoid injuries. A good friend of mine also had a bonfire/birthday party this weekend so I grabbed some pics of the fire. The grey-play property also has a nice area for a fire pit so I am looking forward to getting people together, running the dogs and then getting toasty afterwards (in more ways than one!).

Commandeer this blog

Well the past two weekends have been full. Just not entirely Kassa full. My wife and I made the journey up north for my highschool reunion last weekend and so Kassa got to stay with his good buddy Tequila. I have a feeling he made short work of many of Tequila's toys. Tequila's peps sent Kassa home with a few indestructible ones that he had taken a liking to. Kassa and I enjoyed the baseball diamond early Saturday morning however Saturday brought a whole new adventure for me.

As some may be aware I am involved in a local Judo club. One of my instructors and his instructor have been working a new style of competition called Xtreme Judo Grappling. It involves teams of 5 guys. Each guy on the team fights his corresponding opponent on the other teams. There is no kicking or punching in Judo competition under this or the traditional rule set. In a nutshell, you try to thrown your opponent hard, flat on his back. If you fail the match continues on the ground where you try to choke him, arm bar him, or pin him for a period of time. Under the Xtreme rules they have added some leg locks and wrist locks as well as more flexibility in the gripping rules. on Friday I found out that some of our more distinguished club members were not going to be able to compete and so (dispite the fact that I haven't trained in months) I volunteered to be part of the very first ever XJG competition. There were three teams. One from Atlanta, one from Dickson TN, and ours from Columbia TN. I would say the guys on the other teams was probably in the late twenties or early thirties. The average age on our team was probably about 42. Our lightest (and probably most accomplished competitor) was coming off a serious knee surgery in august and so our hearts were in our throats anytime he stepped out on the mat. Luckily he came off unscathed. My matches were pretty quick, and not in our favor unfortunately. I fought a guy 20lbs heavier than myself and lost in a hold down. Then I fought a guy whose pedigree was a long read. He fought on the National Judo team. Again I lost to a hold down. But regardless of the outcome, I had a good time and got to be part of the first ever XJG competition. When I got home I had another surprise. My wife had watched the prelim of the UFC Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez fight and agreed (offered even) to go and watch the fights at a local pub. I seized the opportunity (before it disappeared) and watch the fights we did. There was a great line up and we a really good time.

Sunday was back to sitting on the coffee shop patio with Kassa and reading a book and moving very very slowly. It was a fun weekend and I got to let my alter ego out of the box. Rest assured though that Kassa had a good time as well.

Heel work

We have been down one vehicle for the past week. This has meant no morning runs in the dog park or baseball diamonds. We have gotten in good morning walks and hit the tennis court a few times. In my efforts to ensure my boy stays healthy and active I have found myself exercising vicariously through him. While this is easier than actual exercise it really has none of the benefits. So in efforts to make lemonade I worked a bit on some heeling and got my own fat behind moving as well. Now I know this isn't probably a 'formal' heel but I'm not competing so I'm not going to stress to much about it.