The Biergarten

The same old walks near my house got very boring after a while so we started loading the boys into my car and driving to other areas of my neighborhood.  It's a planned community and has lots of paved trails and common areas. A five minute drive in any direction gets us to new paths and a change of scenery and for the boys, new smells! One of the favorites is to park at the Sports Pavilion that is next to a lake and walk those trails. It's a popular place to walk so lots of dogs and p-mail to check out! The walk around the lake is too long for Wilson so we cut back through an adjacent condo neighborhood to shorten the return to the car. We have taken this path several times and each time, Wilson has tried very hard to cross a street and head toward a shopping center. It wasn't in the right direction and was not where you really want to walk dogs, pavement and cars and all that. One day, just for the fun of it, we decided to let Wilson lead the way, and find out where he really wanted to go! He crossed the street, meandered through a bunch of parked cars, and came to the backside of the shopping center at an archway that lead to two restaurants. Leave it to Wilson to find where the food is located! He plopped himself down on the walkway between an Irish pub style place with a patio and a German restaurant with a Biergarten outside. Happy he finally got his way, he sat and people-watched until we finally made him return to the car. Letting him go check it out really re-enforced the behavior, so now he tries to cross the street and get to the restaurants any time we take the lake walk. A picture was an absolute must!

I'd like a struedel and a pretzel and a stein of beer.
My friend here will have a schnitzel and a bratwurst.

A Popular Mailbox

When we are just walking the neighborhood sidewalks, we often pass what is obviously a very popular p-mail box for all the local dogs!

What gives it away, do you think?

Monday Mischief: I Can't Trust My Memory!

The other evening after dinner, I was walking the boys around the block. It was pretty warm out and they were moving slowly. My mind always goes in a hundred different directions while we take these strolls. I thought about my job search, agility, why doesn't that house ever mow their yard?, etc. One of the thoughts that popped in was that after feeding the boys their dinner, I had forgotten to get their breakfast out to thaw. It is very easy to forget to do that and then morning comes along and we have a frozen solid lump of meat. So there I am, out for a walk, remembering I need to thaw the next meal,  with no way to write myself a note. I didn't have my cell phone either so I couldn't set an alarm or type a reminder either. Knowing myself, it was almost certain I would forget again before I got home (darn those middle age brains!).

So how does one set up a reminder in this situation? I thought about the old "tie a string around your finger" trick......

 But alas, I didn't have any string with me either. Why would I?.......Then it occurred to me!

I have plenty of poop bags (clean empty ones, of course!) tucked into my pockets.......

It did the trick! When I got home, I ran downstairs to the freezer and got the food out to thaw!

Every Picture Tells a Story.......

.....some just do it better than others!

I have to admit, yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was a bit weak. The photo was less than stellar as Wilson just would not cooperate and give me the pose I was looking for! Also, this was a case where a picture "needs" a thousand words, instead of a picture being worth a thousand words.

There really is a story behind Wilson posing by a storm drain. Way back in the fall of '03, when Wilson was still a young pup, I would take him for bedtime walks around the big block in my neighborhood. On the corner as you leave my little cul-de-sac, the family there had an outgoing gray cat named George. He was often left outside to wander. He'd see us coming and dart down into one of the storm drains. He really wasn't afraid of Wilson as his owners also had a big yellow lab that they also let wander (and poop) all over the neighborhood (....but that's another story!). So George would enter the storm drain and next thing I'd know, I would spot him up the street ahead of us. He had used the sewer piping as his own private little metro system. So one night we are doing our usual circuit, trotting along, minding our own business, when George flies up out of the drain we had just passed and attacks Wilson! Claws out and accompanied by loud hissing, he hit from behind. I guess this was the cat-equivalent of shooting someone in the back. Needless to say, this scared the everliving crap out of mild-mannered Wilson. It got my heart rate on the moon as well! It was a hit and run attack, and before I could react, George was back down the storm drain and gone. I am sure he was very pleased with himself for finally telling this canine newcomer to his neighborhood the way it was going to be. Wilson is a very sensitive boy. He takes things to heart, and this unprovoked attack scared and scarred him badly. The next time we walked around the block, he gave each and every storm drain the hairy-eyeball and a wide berth, and there are ALOT of drains on my block. It developed into a bit of an obsession for him. Every drain needed an inspection to ensure that George was not lurking below. And he certainly could not get up onto the sidewalk by stepping over a drain! The sewer monster would get him for sure! George has since moved away, but Wilson's behavior has continued all these years. When Jimmy came along and had no knowledge of sewer monsters and thus no fear of drains, it did seem to ease Wilson's phobia a bit. As a result, I could not get the exact "Wary Wilson" photo I was looking for. Usually he pokes his head all the way into the crack for a good long look and sniff.



While not George, this gives you the general idea. Oh! The horror!