The cake says, "Happy Birthday Grandma, Love Rebecca". 

Becca is 6 months old.

1. Granny Farley beside her house

2. Daddy and Becca (March 1986)

3. Becca (March 1986)

4. Mommy and Becca (April 1986) with the Chow named Clayton Meade Brennan.  This is probably the day that Clayton ran off and mommy and daddy were so busy with Becca that they didn't go get him.  They said he would come back on his own.  He didn't.  After that they said somebody stoled him?????

5. March 1986.  My sister, Rhonda, is leaning on the back of my chair. I don't recognize the woman on the far side of the dining room table.

6. May 1983. My mom, Betty Brennan, and her sister, Edna Mitchem, at there Nurses Graduation Ceremony. That is my Aunt Edna with the big smile on her face. My mom is on the other side of her peeping around her.

7. Patty and Gerald Brennan, my Great Aunt and Uncle. That is probably their baby, Sarah

8. Me and Lisa, picture says March 1986, Looks like Lisa is opening a Christmas present to me.

9. Lisa, my brother's wife, and me at Christmas.  Looks like Lisa is opening presents for Becca who was born 4 days before Christmas.

10.  Daddy in one of his favorite positions with a bottle of pepsi in the foreground. March 1986

11. Granny Brennan, March 1986

12. Becca, March 1986

13. Daddy, probably at Jacksonville, WV

14. Mommy and Daddy, Sept. 1961?, from the background I would say they are on my Mom's parent's farm.

15. My Aunt Wanda with Jennifer and Jimmy, her children. That is my Mom and Rhonda in the background.

16.    May 1986, probably a Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn Concert. My mom went to several. She quit going when Loretta was so drunk they had to carry her off stage and Conway had to come in and finish her concert. She also got Conway Twitty to autograph a dollar bill for her. Unfortunately I stoled her coin collection and sold it when I was a teenage screw up.

17. I believe that is Bunky and Toni on the outside of me in the middle.

18. That is probably Rebecca, my niece, but I am not sure.

19. Inside of card I bought my my mom when she graduated from nursing school.

20. Outside of card I bought my mom when she graduated from nursing school. I am glad that I found that. I don't remember acknowledging one of the most important moments of her life but obviously I did.

21.  September 1981. Looks like a Farley reunion to me. (my mom's family) pictured form left to right are Aunt Mary Ann, Leslie Goldie (Bunky's husband), Bunky holding her baby (sorry, I don't know which one, Bill Sprouse (Toni's husband),  Great Aunt Edna Ramsey, Granny Farley hiding behind Edna,  Aunt Edna, Mike (Little Man) Mitchem, Toni Sprouse holding Stacey, Rhonda, Todd (fifi), Cousin Billy, Mom, Billy (my brother).

In the background is the famous little red toyota that I have blogged about in the past.

22. picture taken in Smokey Mountains. Probably outside of Gatlinburg, Tenn.

23. Aunt Edna and Uncle Don Mitchem at Granny Farley's on Christmas Eve. That's Billy on the right.

24. Envelope that my dad sent to my mom on Sept. 3, 1962. From the timing I would say that he sent it to her in honor of their first anniversary. He sent it from: ADJ3 541 63 66

                                                                                           Attack Squadron VA163

                                                                                           USS Oriskany CVA 34

                                                                                           c/o F.P.O.  San Francisco, Calif.

He mailed it to my mom in care of her dad at Sarah Ann, WV.  She flew back home from California with me so the family could see me for the first time. Daddy was gone to Japan on a ship. She said she flew on a rickety old plane that scared her to death. When she flew into Huntington, WV she had to go to the rest room so she asked a complete stranger (female) to hold me while she went. You could do that back in those days, she said.

Before she got back my Granny walked up and saw me with the woman and knew it was me from the second she saw me. She questioned the woman and she told her she was just holding the baby until the mother got back from the restroom. When mommy got back Granny was already holding me.

 25. Back of envelope: "A.M.L.A.K." - means all my love and kisses

Then one day there was a dog fight.  One of the dogs had her ear cut which wasn't severe but when a dog's ear gets cut it bleeds like crazy.  He was there when it happened and I watched him doctor it.  That afternoon when we came in for turnout she had gotten the bandage off and Wayne redid it. This time he wrapped the bandage around her whole head instead of just her ear so that she couldn't get it off.

That night when I went in to turnout the dog was wheezing.  I looked for Wayne at the track but I couldn't find him. I did my work for the evening and went home thinking that he would stop by the kennel after the races like he sometimes did.  The next morning I could see that he had not been there.

I did my morning work.  I talked to his friends who assured me that Wayne intended to be there, so I went home again thinking Wayne would be there.  He was not.  That afternoon there was a note for me at the guard shack to take the racers down and somebody else would be weighing them in.  I did this and I let his friends know that Wayne needed to come to the kennel because one of the dogs had a problem that I couldn't fix.  I had redone the bandage and she didn't wheeze when it was off but as soon as I put it on she started having problems again.

Still Wayne was a no show.  I wished Jeff were still around but he had taken a job at another track.  I talked to a trainer I trusted that night and at first he wouldn't help me. He didn't want to interfere in Wayne's kennel.  I finally got him to tell me to cut a slit in the bandage at the base of her neck and that would help her breathe.  I did this and she seemed to get better.

The next morning still no Wayne and the dog was in as bad a shape as ever.  I was becoming furious by this point.  I went to one of his friends and I told him I needed help.  At first he refused.  He refused until I told him that if he didn't come help the dog I was going to the track vet and telling her about it and the fact that Wayne had not been to the kennel in 3 days.  Reluctantly he accompanied me to the kennel.

As soon as we opened the kennel door, we could hear the dog wheezing.  He looked at me with alarm in his eyes and he was a veteran trainer.  I knew for him to express worry was a big deal.  We  took the dog out of her crate and he gently doctored her and the wheezing stopped.  He wrapped the bandage around her head but it was much looser than what either Wayne or I had done.  Apparently I had been slowly strangling the poor dog.

Wayne showed up that night, apologizing profusely for leaving me.  He had also thanked Bill for taking care of the dog when I couldn't.  He was mad that I threatened to go to the vet.  He trusted the trainer I had forced to help me and believed him when he told him just how bad the situation was.

I even got a whole weekend off, partly for good work and partly for not going to track officials.  He also quit not showing up for work although I didn't get anymore time off after that until he left the kennel for another job.

Wayne came in the next morning and helped to do beds, sprint dogs and of course we went to Shoney's for breakfast.  As we were getting to know each other the other  trainers kept stopping by our table.  I was fascinated that they all seemed to know each other despite the fact that they all came from different areas of the country.

We went back to the compound after breakfast and Wayne said, "This is where your training begins.  I don't care what anybody has told you before, you do things my way.  You got a problem with that?"

"Nope."

"Good.  First we are going to change second turnout to after we feed.  It is crazy to turnout and then feed.  If you turnout first then the dogs don't get to clean out.  Feed first then they don't have to wait until afternoon turnout at two o'clock."

"Two?  We've been turning out at four."

"Well, now it's two.  Like I said things are different now. When we come back for weigh-in we will kick out the racers and pissers again.  It's more work but it will pay off in the long run.  By the way, I give bonuses."

That brought a big smile to my face. Then he said, "I want you to mix feed today so I know what they've been getting.  Tomorrow we do it my way."  I proceeded to mix feed while he weighed racers.  He surprised me by weighing the next days racers too.  When I asked him why he said, "if you don't weigh them the day before you don't know you have a problem.  You don't have time to fix it if you wait until the day they are in.  I don't want to do something drastic to get them across the scale."

After feeding he went over the racers.  I learned more from watching him check the first dog than I had learned in my whole time in the dog business.  He also told me the secret to his "deadly juice."  The "deadly juice" was his personal recipe for liniment.  I was to later learn that many trainers would try to trick that recipe out of me.  I never gave it to another soul - not even my husband.

Wayne had been working about a week when Kay was in.  He checked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt but then he took her off the bench and said, "little D piece of shit, tonight you grade off."  She was on her last line in D which meant that if she didn't run 4th. or better the track wouldn't let her race anymore. 

Basically it was a death sentence and I panicked when I heard him say it," No!  You can't do that!" I yelled.  "She can run.  She hasn't been running because she's afraid of Sal."

He turned to look at me and he could see the distress in my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Sal was mean to her.  If he would lose money on a dog he would come in the kennel and take it out on her.  Terri and I have been running interference for her but she cringes every time he comes in the kennel.  You can't let her just grade off.  If she's treated right, I know she can run. You have to save her."  I also let him know that I would have reported Sal but I didn't have proof and Terri was helping to keep Sal away.

Wayne got a determined look in his eye and put Kay back on the stand.  "C'mon baby, you get the special treatment today." He rubbed her down until she actually fell over on the stand, then he put a blanket on her to help drive in the liniment and put her to bed.

That night Kay won.  I went to pick her up with a huge smile on my face and Wayne was there waiting for me.  I thanked him with tears in my eyes and he told me not to worry that she was going to be fine from here on out.  And she was.  She was never a great racer.  She farted around in C and D but she made money for dog food and that was more than many dogs do. When she finally did grade off she was the first dog I ever found a home for.  Trainers were laughing at me for doing it and they all told me I would regret it. 

They were wrong.  One by one I started to find homes for the greyhounds.  I couldn't complain when one was marched off to the vet, but I was finding homes for more and more dogs and I saved the ones I could and refused to let it bother me when I couldn't.  Then the old timers started coming to me.  They would say, "I have a dog I want you to find a home for.  If you tell anybody I will deny that I gave you the dog and they will be your responsibility.  Do you understand?"

"Perfectly,"  I would tell them and take the dog and go on my merry way.  They added up pretty quick.  "One at a time."  That was my new motto.

1. puppy at 2 1/2 months

2. puppies at 5 1/2 weeks

3. Skye (mother)

4. Maxx (father)

pictures don't do them justice. they were magnificient animals.

My mom had a lemon yellow living room that we adored.  The picture doesn't do it justice but it is nice to see because it is the living room of my childhood.  On the wall is the picture of the matador fighting the bull.  On the other wall is a giant gilded mirror. 

The couch came from the furniture store across the street from my parent's insurance agency.  My mom fell in love with it the day they put it in the window and my dad surprised her and bought it for her.  The coffee table is octagon shaped and has a giant slate inlay. 

The chandelier had a dimmer switch which was new gadget in those days.  The idea for a lemon yellow living room came when we visited my Aunt Wanda and her husband in Martinsburg, WV.  They had a lemon yellow living room and my mom fell in love with it.

Pictured from left to right are my sister, Rhonda, me, Aunt Mary and Aunt Robin. I think that is my Aunt Rhonda Kay smoking but I am not sure.