Déjà vu all over again…
So we had an event filled Saturday. We made more progress on our move in. We gained a new member of the family. I finally have a male to bond with!
Sunday we were looking forward to one of our very special grand-families coming for a visit; some good people we don’t see often enough. However, one of them got bit by a bug, the summer flu bug, so they had to postpone.
Having a greyhound in the house again, combined with my Sunday opening up, I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things, take the dog for a walk on the beach. This is the serenity of a beach walk while being in the presence of a celebrity!
Celebrity? Yes, in my experience passer-by’ers just seem to gravitate to a greyhound. I don’t know if it is because they are possibly rare in public, their sleek athletic frame, or the good nature that they carry with them. But lots of beachcombers love to meet the greyhound, especially all the kids.
This afternoon, with the family in tow and a new greyhound at our side, it was no different. Just as soon as we cleared the path from the dunes a young girl came over and asked if she could pet Chum (the fan favorite name in the poll).
She was a young girl, maybe early teens, from Colorado on her first trip to the beach. She was looking for shells in the soft sand.
Upon her request Chum walked right up to her and then stood right in front of her to get petted, like he had practiced this so many times before. Just like my earlier greyhound, he stood right there, fairly expressionless as if this was all part of the expectations of being a greyhound.
What is he? Royalty or something?
When we were done Chum got a good look at the wide open beach for the very first time.
(WARNING PG13: Now for all you women with weak constitutions or get a bit squeamish, you better look away from the next two paragraphs. Viewer discretion advised)
Now Chum may be cat tested, and passed. And he may be kid tested and passed. But our new family member has NEVER been seagull tested!
He saw his first gull about 50 yards away when we turned and headed towards that the surf and the grey was gone. He was all hound! He nearly pulled my shoulder out of its unsuspecting socket. I think if a bird were the decoy on the track Good ol’ Chum would have been a winner!
But a regal attitude and a chaser of birds was not the only thing my first and second greyhounds had in common.
As soon as we all made it down the water I finally had the chance to relive my beach walks. We walked maybe 10 yards when the first couple walked up to us and asked if he was a greyhound and if they could pet him.
I told them yes and yes…and the autograph signings would occur at our chairs at the end of our walk.
OK, sometimes I do embellish a story a bit. But before they left the pretty blonde said how “Chum was the best looking greyhound she had ever seen”.
OMG! This is going straight to his head! The very first people we meet!
We restarted our walk and Chum, knowing how to play the game by now, went out of his way to walk up to people walking in the other direction, expecting to get a good petting or rub behind the ears.
What he found was that not everyone is interested in petting a dog at the beach. What I found is that Chum needs some more training on walking on a leash.
Chum has already been taught how to tie knots!
And just like his predecessor, Chum walked with like a heat seeking missile up the beach on our walk. But when it was time to turn around and return he just froze.
“What do you mean walk? I’m tired” he said. “I’m hungry”. “Carry me?”
Like he instinctively knew, or the spirit of Cloud had told him, this wonderful walk is over when we get back to the start.
Other similarities with Cloud was his fear of the ocean at first. I imagine he had never been to such a large body of water before. After all, Alabama doesn’t have a beach. (Just kidding SSM!).
He stood paw-deep on the bath water we call an ocean and when a baby wave rolled in and snuck up on him from behind, he literally leaped off the ground. All fours!
Poor Chumley.
“Which one did that? You, the short one, you look guilty…”
But it was a great day. King Neptune was gracious with the water temp, tides, and breeze. Like old times we found a whole sand dollar right away lying just beneath surf in the clear water. Literally, the whole afternoon was déjà vu all over again!
I gave the sand dollar to the nice young lass from Colorado on our way off the beach for being so sweet to our boy.
On the way home I took Mr. Regal and the kids to another favorite hang out, The Dog and the Duck restaurant, where they entertain dogs as patrons at their tables outside.
I asked Dylan if, by their name, do they also entertain pet ducks as well, confirming my roll as “silly daddy”. Literally. That’s what she called me.
Epilogue: Saturday and Sunday I mentioned how the day had its ‘spooky’ moments or the ‘spirit of Cloud’ was around. Saturday night as I was downloading the pictures I had taken from my phone that day, something strange happened.
When you download pictures or docs does your computer automatically go to the most recent folder or document that you use to store photos? If you have kids you probably have 100’s of said folders like we do.
I went to download the pictures of our first day with Chum and the folder that popped up to drop them in was the one we had of Cloudy. Weird, huh?
No one had been in that folder since maybe the post I did on him many months ago. Yet there he was, on a day for our new pet, Cloud pops up to not let us forget him.
It looks like we have a mystery on our hands!
Keep an eye out for our special “WEEKEND EDITION in 3D“, the weekend before our first day of school.
Please share any insights or funny stories to help me us get through next week.
And have the best weekend ever!
OUR LIFE IN 3D 
No, just this particular restaurant has outdoor seating so they allow dog owners to bring their pet with them. We have a muzzle for ours but we never use it; unless we leave the house and we don’t want him to eat things he is not supposed to. I don’t know if their training on the tack encourages them to be more aggressive’ or not. The rescues have to be tested and approved for small kids and cats before they will sell them. But I think their spirit is just ‘beaten’ out of them which makes them real gentle. Like they are afraid to be be anything else. And, of course, they loved to be loved on. Thanks for dropping by Ms. Beautiful! Always great to hear from you.
Lovely looking dog! Do they have dog restaurants? That’s very nice! Greyhounds here seem to have to wear muzzles, but I’ve never understood why – are they usually fierce?
Yes I am just the door mat for the dog(s) as well and hopefully can answer some questions about him. You are right, people will openly greet the friendly dogs. We took our old greyhound to the retirement home a few times in the past too. The folks (most folks) loved him there too and he was just right with his demeanor. Thanks for dropping by and commenting Ms. Deborah. Always great to hear from you!
We find that with our dog too! Everyone wants to stop and greet her more than me or my husband. Funny how pets bring out the best in people–most people anyway.
You guys had loads of fun on your beach walk. Chum is a cute name. Nothing against Chum, but I if I ever happen to see him on the beach, I hope he doesn’t come to me so I can pet him. I am terrified of dogs. Sad, but true. My children often tell me to go for therapy.
Enjoy your new addition to the family!
Not crazy at all…I find beachcombing to be an almost hypnotic way to decompress after a long, hard week. And it’s fun! Thank you – hope we don’t get too much of a breeze with that mess blowing up from farther South. 😀
So you know about their air of royalty then? Great dogs, but not a hyper one that love to play. What happened to your sand dollars? Ours are kinda seasonal but I’ve always had lots of luck spotting some on our beaches. Like a hunter, we go out hunting for them in a focused beachcomber mode. ~ Hope you are doing great Ms. Cyndi. Thanks for stopping by!
That is a nice way to look at it, Cloudy welcoming Chum’s pics with his. Too me it was just spooky! It makes you think that there is more going on in our world than we understand. Have a great weekend and vacation at the shore. Try not to write. We’ll be here when you get back 🙂
Love hearing about times with surprises like yours! By the way, we no longer find sand dollars on our shore. You need to go to the touristy stores for that, but it’s definitely not the same. We have rescued greyhounds though: there’s a race track in South Florida. Glad you are enjoying your Chum!
I didnt asked about Cloud cause Im slowly reading old posts of 3D, Im sure he will be fine as long as hes well remembered 🙂 … or just be prepared of daily scary clouds.
I sent you a mail about the forum thing.
How sweet is that??? Cloud is welcoming Chum to the family and letting him know that although Cloud was there first, Chum has his blessing!! Nice gesture on the sand dollar! Have a fantastic last weekend before school begins!
Its funny, we value whole sand dollars like money when they shine in the water like that. Its not uncommon to find broken pieces scattered on the beach but whole ones are rare it seems. Cloud was a good friend, I hope he approves and doesn’t give me any more scarey moments. And the seagull would have only eaten my sandwich at the D and D. They are vultures all dressed up in white, appearing to be nice birds. Great toi hear from you Ms Aurora. I never did find your forum.
You have a spirit haunting you too? It sounds like a great blog post by itself. Yes, i feel like a pirate spotting jewels shining in the water when I see sand dollars like that. Is that crazy? I’ll never know if the sand dollar made it back. As you know, you have to have af ew broken to show you how fragile they really are. Hoping you get a cance to enjoy your Bama Breeze this weekend. ..and shuffle your feet!
I know..I just don’t get good connotations from the word ‘Chum’. It reminds me of the fish guts fisherman throw in the water to attract bigger fish, i.e. Jaws. And Jenn, (sigh) you are blowing my cover here. Chum is not the only one that likes the attention on the beach walks. Chum just walks right up to strangers and holds the ‘pet me’ position. Royalty! ~ I hope you are doing well Jenn. Always great to hear from you!
HE IS SO CUTE!!!
i like the name Chum. my family actually uses “chum” as a euphemism for “throw up” haha, don’t know why or where it came from, but regardless i think it’s a cute name! and dogs are totally stranger-magnets. i knew guys in grad school who would borrow friends’ dogs and take them for a walk to pick up girls. and it totally worked.
Nice and fun walk on the beach.
Instead of a duck, maybe you should have brought that seagull to the restaurant.
Sand dollar, I thought you found money before I searched for what it is.
Yes, its supposed to go to the last folder you saved something, spooky… hello Cloud!
Good luck with the back to school stuff.
At least you didn’t have a sealed bottle of water fly off the pantry shelf or a door that was locked two seconds ago go from ajar to shutting itself – such was the hauntings of my past couple of days! Your greyhound is adorable – fits right in with your precious family. That sand dollar looks pretty fragile – what a great shot in the water! Have you heard yet if it made it back to Colorado intact?