Water Walking

Rich: Winter lets us see water in all its forms, sometimes all in the span of a day. There it is, everywhere, beautifully presented. Sometimes it flows, like the water in the west branch of the DuPage River.



That's the kind of water you can play in, if you're of such a mind as Daisy was today.



Many times, it's disguised as snow.




When you walk in this snow water, people are going to know where you've been.



And in the mornings, it comes as a mist, like yesterday when a dreary fog enveloped the trees in the distance.



Water doesn't do straight lines; it moves in curves and waves.



YakTrax come in handy when the going gets icy.

We're Not In Cocoa Beach Anymore

 

Rich: I didn't want to get out of bed. I really didn't want to get out of bed. I really really didn't.

But somehow I did.

It was a dark and snowy morning, at least a half hour before sunrise. I stuffed a point and shoot camera in my pocket, grabbed the leashes, and off we went - Boomer all crazed about the falling snow, Daisy all crazed to be awake and me, just plain crazed.

In the darkness, the camera flash caught snowflakes in mid-fall. Something told me we were a long way from Lori Wilson Park, subject of last week's post. Maybe it was the frostbite.

Now that we're back, I'm glad we went.

 

 

 

Where in the Doggie World?

 
Rich: On New Year's Eve, I returned from my ninth trip to Florida in the last twelve months. Two of these visits were road trips that included Jane, Boomer, and Daisy, too. Those were the pleasure trips.

We discovered and quickly came to enjoy Lori Wilson off-leash dog park a few miles away from where we stayed. It's a great park filled with friendly people and terrific dogs. (More on that topic in future posts.)

Maybe you can guess where it's located if we provide a few clues:

1. From Lori Wilson dog park, on a clear day you can see space shuttles coming in for a landing. One day while Boomer and Daisy romped, we spotted one such landing. The shuttle came into view after two sharp sonic booms announced it. Wow!



2. Lori Wilson dog park is located on a street with the strangest name, as you can see below:

Now you know where the park is in Florida. Right?

Christmas Is Coming

The kids couldn't be more excited about Christmas.

Boomer knows Santa's on the way:

While Daisy's storing her energy for her first birthday, on Christmas Day:

I mean, what's gotten into these two?

Summer Scenes

Rich: The Woofgang's silence of late shouldn't be confused for a lack of things going on around here. Quite the opposite. There's too much going on; some of it's taking an emotional toll.

So, I'll share a few photos from the past few days. In capturing these summer sights and colors, I found a sort of quiet peace.

Till things settle down, enjoy!

Scenes from the Dog Park

We're celebrating wordless Wednesday on Friday this week. Have a great weekend, all!

(Click photos to enlarge)

No News Was Good News

Jane: Last week we promised you a report on The WoofGang's maiden voyage to Michigan for the 4th of July. In fact, we promised we'd update you last Monday. In case you thought the events were so traumatic that we couldn't even write about them until today, rest easy. All was calm on the Eastern front--surprisingly so. In fact, the brief trip left us with more stories of what didn't happen than what did. No inappropriate pooping or humping. No destruction (except for the netting on my brother's screened-in tent). No consumption of people food from off the counter. No peeing on carpets, no attacking their elder, Gus, no fireworks (celebratory or otherwise). It was all rather homey and mundane, a true gathering of loved ones who consumed too much food and fell asleep sitting in their lawn chairs.


The biggest excitement of the weekend was the repeated appearance of a groundhog pup that kept poking his head out from the wooden fence. He'd gather his courage to cross under the fence and check out the surrounding mulched area, only to dash back under to other side whenever the dogs appeared.


Boomer and Daisy never had a clue as to what was happening in their adopted backyard. They were too busy chewing on their rawhide bones or searching the backyard for tidbits from one of those dog toys you stuff with kibble.

My mighty-hunter brother (who numbers as his big game a few chipmunks) carefully set up a humane trap complete with goodies to lure the groundhog, but the goodies succeeded only in luring Daisy, who fortunately is now too big to fit in the trap. Otherwise, things might have gotten more interesting.

All in all, The WoofGang considered the past weekend a successful venture into the world of dog-friendly travel. So we'll be testing our luck once again in a few weeks when we make the long drive from Chicago to Florida with Boomer and Daisy in tow. We'll be staying with my husband's family (who doesn't like dogs). We've never even dared broach the subject of bringing our pets on a visit before. But the ice is broken; the die is cast. There's no turning back now. Besides, whatever canine misadventures lie ahead will make great fodder for a few new WoofGang blog posts!