Wife of a Sailor

Wifey

I’m a small-town woman who fell in love with a Navy man while he was on shore duty in Michigan. And then I decided to join the Navy Reserves as an officer.   On March 21, 2009, we were married… just in time for him to return to sea duty in the great state of Washington. Without me.

You see, I owned a house not only in a bad economy, but in the worst economy in the United States. It took 10 months of trying to sell, but unfortunately it didn’t. However, we took a leap of faith and are trying to make it on one and a half salaries while I search for a job.  And yes, my husband now has to salute me

And this is my story…

Huzzy

Huzzy grew up in both southern Illinois and Texas, where he has fond memories of the Rattlesnake Roundup. He and his mom both want to get me there for that one year. Only in Texas…

Huzzy has been in the Navy for 11 years now and has spent them as a submariner. Did I mention he’s 6’5″? No, he can’t usually stand up straight while on the submarine. And no, he doesn’t fit in the racks well… since they are a few inches shorter than he is tall. And no, he doesn’t glow in the dark (a question that has been asked more than once).

The Wuzzies (our animals)

I’m an animal lover, there’s no doubt about that. I grew up with animals… lots of them. From horses to dogs to cats to hamsters to turtles to fish to rabbits… I had them all growing up. This is about the animals who are currently in our lives.

Chase
(J’s Fear Not)
10 1/2 year old red male Greyhound

When I was looking to buy my first home in the fall of 2005, I knew I wanted a dog. I love my cats dearly but both cats and dogs have different attitudes and personalities that fill different voids. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, but I was pretty sure I wanted it to not have a lot of hair, be semi-quiet (no yappy-dogs!) and be medium to large sized.

After doing some research, I settled on either a Whippet or a Greyhound. I started visiting a Whippet forum and asking questions and was pointed to a Greyhound forum called Greytalk. After finding out more about both breeds, I decided on a Greyhound because they are sooo many waiting adoption (I wanted to adopt, not buy from a breeder). On the Greyhound forum, I was contacted by the president of a local Greyhound group, Compassion for Greyhounds. She knew that I wasn’t ready for the cost of owning a dog (I had to pay my mortgage and the last 6 months of my rental lease), so she wanted to know if I wanted to foster so that I could see if a Greyhound was right for me. It also helps them because the more foster homes they have, the more dogs they can bring into the program. It was December 2005 that I got my first foster dog.

Chase (racing name “J’s Fear Not”) was my third foster dog who came to me in April 2006. He was returned to the adoption group because his family was moving to Florida and didn’t want to take him with them. In just a few hours, I knew that he wasn’t going to leave my house. We chose each other.

Chase is a pet therapy dog… he and I have visited hospice patients to help make their last days better in the past. Currently, we are volunteering for the local Humane Society and visit the oncology floor of a local hospital. He is so perfect for this role as he just goes up to people and gently leans on them waiting for pets and scritches.

As far as stats go, Chase is about 29 inches at the shoulder and generally weighs around 76 pounds.

Lulu
(Miss Baloo)
4 year old blue fawn female Greyhound

In August 2006, I saw a plea on that same Greyhound forum for adoption groups to help two litters of puppies who were on a coyote hunting farm. A coyote hunting farm is where a person breeds Greyhounds (generally with another breed like a Staghound or Deerhound, but not always) and uses them to chase down and kill coyotes. They were oops litters and the owner didn’t want them. So even though I had decided not to foster anymore (Chase wasn’t happy with fosters coming in and out), my heart went out to them.

I contacted my adoption group and agreed to foster two (a third was also brought into our group). So the puppies were GURed (Greyhound Underground Railroad) from vehicle to vehicle from Kansas to where I picked them up in Chicago to bring them back to Michigan. They were just 4 1/2 months old and weighed around 32 pounds. The first puppy found a home pretty quickly. I wasn’t sure if I could deal with a Greyhound puppy for the next two years (how long it takes for them to get out of “puppy stage”), so I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep her. Four months later, I was at a work retreat and realized I couldn’t wait to come home to BOTH my babies. I knew that I couldn’t let Lulu leave my home. The rest is history.

Lulu is very much a lover who always wants to be on your lap. She also has a fetish with ears and feet… she’ll do anything she can to lick either of them on you. She’s good for a puppy but, as expected, still gets into things now and then. She’s learning though.

For stats, Lulu is about 31 inches tall at the shoulder and weighs 85 pounds. She is done growing and has finally filled out. In Greyhound terms, she’s a HUGE female… she’s the size of a very large male.

Skah
(Matoskah)
2 year old white and badger Great Pyrenees
-coming soon-

Sam
(Unca Sam)
White, red and blue male Betta
-coming soon-