Today Boo! turns eight. That’s in regular people years. Boo! claims that he doesn’t feel a day over four. Who am I to contradict the birthday puppy? I am tempted to start calling him Old Man Puppy, but I think I will wait until tomorrow.
So far we have no plans other than a couple of trips to the dog park, weather permitting. Perhaps we’ll do a little more when Papa gets home.
I kept checking the Cherry Blossom Watch at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, but I never managed to get there this year. Scott started traveling for work and so we would end up doing stuff closer to home on weekends. The last thing Scott wanted to do was travel more on his rest days, and I found myself pretty tired from running Boo! around three times a day.
I was also less motivated by the fact that the complex I live in has lots of cherry trees around and for three weeks I had many different trees to catch my eye.
It started with these lovely white blossoms.
As far as Scott (and Boo!) are concerned, today tomorrow is the first real day of spring. The White Sox are going to play their first game of the season. The game scheduled for today has been cancelled due to the threat of snow.
What a difference a day makes!
Here the layer of snow is covering the “ice rinks.”
Do you notice the footprints in these pictures? They don’t belong to Boo! I didn’t fancy slipping on the ice below, but obviously someone else didn’t mind.
When I walked Boo! this morning, it was 58 degrees F, a welcome reprieve from this winter’s chill! The snow turned the park into a couple of big puddles.
With a little luck the dog park will reopen this week.
The current bitter cold has made an ice rink of the dog park, but no one gets to skate on it. For skating, you’d have to go here.
Poor Boo! has not been able to play in the park for days.
Boo! occasionally likes to help me with my yoga practice, which in reality means that he’s not very helpful. Instead of doing a half lotus forward bend, I get to do a half lotus puppy hug. This is his idea of Up Facing Dog.
No puppy was abused (much) in the compilation of this blog post. You’ll see he gets his revenge. I promise.
Christmas was a bit subdued this year because I had a fever, but watching Christmas come together was exciting.
Scott, Boo! and I went back to Oak Park to oversee our move. The 14-hour drive was uneventful except for the unexpected detour towards Bear Mountain. The GPS was set up to avoid tolls. Had we taken the full detour, it would have added three hours to the trip. Thankfully we got suspicious and corrected our course.
We live near a park with a dog run so at least twice a day Boo! gets to go visit with the neighborhood dogs. Well, Boo! goes to visit the other dog owners. The other dogs are incidental. After taking care of business, Boo! makes a point of going up to each and every biped in the run. He smiles, wags his tail, gets his ear scratchies and revels in his “Aren’t you cute!” compliments. After doing that a few times, he’ll think about playing with the other dogs.
And there are all sorts of characters. One of my favorites is a hound. I don’t his name, but he’s aware of every girl dog not in the run as well as all the squirrels. He’ll go running to the edge of the fence and begin a baleful call: “I’m here! Look at me! I looooove you!” Audrey, who’s a tall, elegant, tawny-colored, short hair dog (not sure of her breed), is not full grown and thinks she much smaller that she is. She’s always playing with the smaller dogs and trying to squeeze under the bench. Last night she ran between my legs in pursuit of a wily puppy. I’m surprised I didn’t fall over (All the years of dance have left me with good balance!).
There are all the little “B” dogs: Beau, Butters (yes, via South Park), Blackjack, Bandit (not little, but aptly named; he tried stealing my knitting) and I know I’m forgetting some. Oh, and Bella. She’s the sweetest Doberman I’ve ever met. I was thinking that Boo! might have a crush on her, but we haven’t seen her often enough to confirm it. Personally, I still think Boo! is still in love with Stella.
There’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback that regularly jumps the fence. Little Ziggy plays as hard as the big dogs. Toby has the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. There’s a troupe of fierce little Mini Pins, any one of them can outbark Boo! Stewie is a Mini Pin that thinks he’s a greyhound. Leika is the one dog that regularly outruns Boo! for a ball. Scott and I think Sawyer, a large lab, is really a cat. He plays with the ball like a cat does. There’s even a Marley (obviously not the original), who everyone agrees, drools the most of any dog in the neighborhood. I’ve stopped wearing nice clothes to the park.
So everyday is an adventure even if Boo! is just there for the people.
Scott, Boo! and I are staying in temporary housing until we find a more permanent spot. The apartment is furnished with some, elegant, modern furniture. (I think Boo! looks very nice in the red chair.) I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have beautiful sexy-looking, low-backed couch. I haven’t gone in for such furniture because I thought that it wouldn’t have enough support, and that’s exactly what I’ve discovered. The aesthetics are quite pleasing. I feel like I’m living in a magazine, but I’m looking forward having my own stuff again. Boo! does not seem to be so picky.
