Dog Park Morning

This was a dog park morning. It is great to watch Booker run. He used to be sore and lame after a good run at the dog park, but he has built up his muscle tone and his stamina and now he has no problem getting off the sofa after playing hard in the morning.

Run, and bark. At the dog park, Booker is free to use his "outside voice" -- with no restrictions. It is called "Bark Park," after all. We deliver!

Inside, it is important that he keeps barking to a minimum so that the neighbors don't call security. They have visited once or twice, in the first couple of months of Booker living with us, and we have to keep the barking under control.

Noses to the ground

Living in a condo, we take regular walks with Booker: 6am, 12noon, 5pm, 10pm ... and when it is cool enough, we make certain that the walks are a respectable distance. Or time outside - David likes to sit with Booker and watch the boats on the New River and then do "agility training" by having him jump from fountain wall to fountain wall.

But there is no replacement for a good leg-stretching, muscle-singing all-out run. A brisk walk on a leash will get business done, but Booker's natural gait is much snappier than the one he uses when walking at my side.

Emily, the "old lady" of the park

Bella the Husky -- she barks high and shrill, Booker barks low and very loud

The popular "pool flop" ... it is Florida and even the morning gets steamy!

Booker is the unofficial coach and referee of the dog park. He loves to run after a group of dogs, barking as they tear across the grass, and then stand at the edge of the resulting rumble, barking, making certain that everyone knows what terror the other dogs are engaged in.

Annie the corgi: throw the ball again!

Barking and peeing make a dog very very thirsty!

The sky

H-Mom is back. She had a difficult trip, but it is a trip that has made her thankful for a lot of things. Like being home. Like having a family. Like having a dog.

Like walking in the morning and watching the sun come up. Like appreciating the clouds, and the calm, and the vastness of the sky.

She is already looking forward to that bit of peace tomorrow morning.

Something to prove

Booker got wind (with his hound-dog nose) of a rumour about his less than manly behavior during recent fireworks and thunderstorms.

This morning, he hit the dog park with something to prove.

It took less than 5 minutes for him to determine that a raccoon was up a tree. He then opted to spend his park-hour aggressively trying to dismantle the banyan, climb it, or get someone to SHOOT the 'coon.

H-Mom gave up trying to coax him away from the tree. "If that's how he opts to spend his time at the dog park, let him at it," she said.

"At least it's good cardio," a friend observed.

After an hour, he had to be snapped into his prong collar and led away, howling, from the park. His frustration was tangible.

Booker was so wiped out, he couldn't even stand for the car ride home. The photo is blurry because he was panting heavily.

Please, don't infer that Booker is a coward, or less-than-worthy hunting partner.

At least not within earshot ...

Fairy Ring

A Fairy Ring appeared magically overnight in the park where we walk every day.

It was beautiful, a symphony of giant, sparkling white mushrooms. H-Mom doesn't know what kind they are, but she thinks they are a poisonous type from what she found on the Web. Anyway, we didn't touch them. The ring was too pretty. Some people say that a Fairy Ring is bad luck, but others say that it predicts very good fortune, and might even be a sign that there is hidden treasure! In folklore, Fairy Rings are said to be the place where elves gather at night to dance.

When H-Mom was growing up in France, she knew lots of people who went "mushrooming" on the weekends. People are very brave to eat wild mushrooms -- we would hesitate to taste them even if they were collected by an "expert." We will stick to buying our mushrooms at Publix.

Wild mushrooms are plentiful in South Florida in the summer, which is our rainy season. They appear when a few days of heavy rain are followed by dryer, sunny days. This is exactly what the weather as been this week. Golf courses are not very keen on them, as they pop up very quickly and ruin the "look" of the course by creating a circle of dead grass or discoloration. Lawncare resources call Fairy Rings a "disease."

Booker didn't smell anything interesting in our Fairy Ring, so we didn't disturb a thing. Maybe the fairies will come back and dance again tonight.

It looks more like magic than "disease"!

Hatchling

Look what H-mom and the H-mans spotted at the dog park this morning. None of us dogs noticed it, which is really good because Rick's Golden Retriever, Davis, is lizard-crazy. Davis chases them and KILLS them. He is fast - a lot faster than most lizards! This isn't just a "regular" little Florida lizard. It is a green iguana hatchling. Can you see the markings on his tail? He was hanging onto the fence really tight and not moving at all. He was bright green, which is the only reason anyone saw him at all. He should have been hiding in the trees. There, he would blend right in.

Iguanas are not native to Florida, but they do very well if they make it out of captivity and into the wild. They are not protected because they have overrun many areas. They dig holes in gardens, undermine seawalls and eat vegetation. In the garden, they make a huge mess. Last summer, Fort Lauderdale authorities encouraged homeowners to "humanely dispose" of iguanas found in their yards. A heavy shovel was recommended. They are not aggressive, and usually run from people or animals, but they can deliver a wicked bite, have very sharp claws and can SLAM you with their long tail. They can grow in excess of 5 feet.

H-Mom just loves a "nature moment." She whipped out her phone and was taking pictures! She has lots more of this guy, but this is the best one.

Snake with a collar

Can you find the snake in this picture?

We saw this tiny little guy on the sidewalk at the dog park. At first H-Mom thought it was a crazy earthworm. It was writhing around like an insane nightcrawler on a hot sidewalk. Then it got its bearings (some dog must have disrupted it from the lawn) and wiggled with that distinctive s-winding snake motion back to the grass and leaves. It was very, very petite and only about 6 inches long from head to tail. The body was shiny black with a brilliant, thread-thin yellow ring -- like a bright sunshine-colored dog collar -- around its neck. H-Mom likes to GOOGLE everything she discovers. Now we know that this tiny snake was a southern ringneck.

from Florida Conservation on the Web: ... the most abundant snakes in Florida are seldom more than 12-14 inches long. Although common in most gardens and backyards, these diminutive snake species are easily overlooked due to their secretive habits.

A good representative is the southern ringneck snake, a distinctive little snake that is shiny black or dark gray above, with a bright orange or yellow neck ring. The belly is a startlingly bright orange or yellow with a row of black half-moons down the center. Ringnecks spend most of their lives under mulch or leaf litter, where they feed on small lizards, earthworms, slugs and salamanders. They are fairly social and often are found in groups of two or three.

The ringneck is one of the least aggressive animals in the world and almost never attempts to bite people. Even if it should try to bite, its mouth and teeth are too small to cause a wound. When seriously threatened, ringnecks defend themselves by thrashing about and expelling musk. The four to seven eggs laid in midsummer hatch 40-50 days later into tiny snakelings, only 4 inches long!