Friday, January 14, 2011

About That Spring Thing

Sorry for the absence. I got distracted with the holidays, a house guest, making a quilt, and reading Valley Forge, A Novel. The Arctic Express has hit, but we are faring so much better than the east coast. I'm thinking it's just too cold to snow here, and that's what's keeping it on either side of Iowa. As seen above, the drifts are back, but we're keeping our heads up :)  Heck, it's the 15th of January and things could be a lot worse! We did lose a day of racing due to the wind chill factor, the heated track surface just couldn't keep up,  but the temps are suppose to begin rising a bit, and more importantly ..... the winds are calm.

Monday, January 3, 2011

6 Months and a Day

My life definitely seems to go by in Six Month and a Day Increments.
In order to qualify as an Iowa Bred Greyhound there are several requirements that must be met. One of them is that the pups will live in the State of Iowa for Six Months and a Day.  After several inspections by the State to ensure that those requirements are met, the final inspection, which takes place 6 months and a day from the day the pups were born, is performed. The Pups are then deemed official; they qualify as an Iowa Bred Litter of Greyhounds.
Today is that day for the beautiful litter of 8 Kiowa Mon Manny's .They'll now head off to Abilene for the second phase of their training, and the 3 week old Flying Hydrogen puppies now become the alpha dogs of the farm.
It's rewarding to see the progress you have made in six months, nurturing those newborn puppies into a beautiful, happy, healthy, strong litter of Iowa Bred Greyhound pups!
A half of year has passed, and there wasn't a day that went by that you weren't out there doing something with them and for them, regardless of how you felt or what the weather was. Their care and comfort always comes before yours, and as each individual pup passes by, strutting their stuff, they speak for themselves that you have done your job well.
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We have been blessed with a fair winter and little snow to contend with ... running on bare ground in Iowa on January 3rd is pretty amazing!! These guys, along with their 5 litter mates will leave tomorrow for Abilene. They will return to Iowa in about 14 months, ready for the Big Show!
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Tatiana pops outside for a break from her pups. A few small bands of snow from month old drifts is all that we have on the ground and it's January 3rd in Iowa! Pretty soon, we'll be thinking about Spring!!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Silver Anniversary

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Did you know that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of Greyhound Racing at Bluffs Run!  For those of us who have been here since the beginning, it's been amazing to watch the growth in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area since March of 1986 knowing that our Greyhounds played such an important part of it all!
Because it's All About The Greyhounds, We "Paws to Celebrate" in marking our Silver Anniversary Season of Greyhound Racing in 2011 and invite you to come out to watch, stay, and play, as our amazing athletes compete at one of this country's premier year-round Greyhound Racing facilities.
For schedule, programs, stakes race schedules, kennel rosters, and live video feed of all races go to Bluffsdogs.com