Dogapalooza

Today I thought I would share a nice trip we had last weekend to the dog park at North Park. But first, I'll experiment with embedding a google map of the location:


View North Park Dog Park in a larger map

Did it work? By my calculations the off leash area is a little under 3.5 acres, an enclosed area of grass, mud, and other unmentionable substances that used to be a paddock for captive deer.

Otto's favorite activity at the park has varied from racing and wrestling, to ball chasing and butt sniffing, but he always likes to start off with a circuit of the perimeter fence, which is basically like Facebook for dogs. Buttbook. P-mail.

He was feeling pretty mellow that day and didn't want to do much chasing. Instead he found a shady spot in a stand of trees and made a friend. This husky was not the one that went on to take a bath in the huge mud puddle at the bottom of the hill.

We wandered over to the other stand of trees where there was a huge dog party, and a couple of other dogs were making friends as well. And who can blame him? That big red hound (not Otto, but with some resemblance) was a beautiful beast with his short shiny hair, taut physique, and friendly floppy face.

Some people didn't think that was appropriate and thought the chihuahua should make friends with a dog that was a little more...vertically compatible. The big red hound (Clifford?) didn't seem to have taken offense.

Otto started feeling the love and thought he'd jump on the table and get in on the action. But then a hawk came screaming over and the chihuahua had to leave.

Random pictures

Kevin dropped some change getting out of the car. Ashley whipped out her trusty LED pig flashlight (complete with oinking sound effects) to search the gutter.



The tail lights, brake lights, and blue LED made a pretty picture, or if it uploads, video.

Otto demonstrating proper stick chewing technique for Bailey.

Ashley and Otto demonstrating their preferred car riding technique while stopped at the gas station. This technique is NOT condoned by Brain Barrel, its staff, owners, or subsidiaries.

It's on!

Well, it's faint, but it's there. Just like it was on the other five that Ashley did. We know it's very early, but we're still excited.



To celebrate, we had smoothies and waffles.

Enormous moth

It's hard to tell from this blurry photo, but this enormous moth had a wingspan of about 6". Ashley thought it was a bat. I jumped out of the car and grabbed a picture with my phone.

Aggressive Advertising

Ashley has been enjoying the convenient location, hot and cold beverages, and friendly personal service of our local drive-through coffee hut "Mocha Mountain" (?) on Route 65. Note the tastefully subtle billboard advertisment one of their competitors purchased overlooking the hut: