Brea's Birthday and One Year Anniversary

Happy Birthday, Brea!  According to the records from the veterinarian's office, Brea turned three on May 20.  That's about 28 in people years.  I grilled some hotdogs and gave Brea and Siri one with their dinner to celebrate.

The dogs weren't really in a mood to pose today.  They were more interested in watching some kids practicing on the ball field.

Since she came to live with me almost a year ago, Brea shows a lot more interest in the people we see when we're out walking, and she's more willing to let new people come up and pet her, as long as they don't make any sudden moves.  A lot of that comes from watching Siri, who is a glutton for attention.

Playing in the Mud

Today, Brea and Siri played with an amazingly durable stuffed animal.  I think it was supposed to be a raccoon or a weasel.  The two squeakers in it stopped squeaking a long time ago - they lasted about 5 minutes into the first game - the rest of the toy has remained intact, despite some vigorous tugging.

Both dogs seem to be attracted to the wettest part of the muddy area.  Siri spent a lot of time here today, too.

This was the stuffed animal toy about a month ago...

...after the first time they played with it.

This is how it looks today.

Black Dog, White Dog

Visiting St. Louis

Siri and I just returned from a short visit with my mom in St. Louis.  Brea stayed in WV, at Animal Care Associates.  Sorry Brea, maybe next time.  I thought that Brea might have been a little overwhelmed with all the people and traffic, and I wanted to be able to spend some one on one time with Siri.

Some mornings, we went to Bee Tree Park in south St. Louis County.  The park is located on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, and has paths that run along the bluffs and inland around a small lake.

One morning we went to Cliff Cave Park, a few miles upstream from Bee Tree Park.  The park has several miles hiking and walking paths on the bottom land below the bluffs.  Unfortunately, on this visit, a lot of the paths were under water.

Siri decided that this would be a good place to dive into the water.

We did not go to the cave on this trip.

Cliff Cave in the 1890's.

Molly at Cliff Cave in 2011.  The cave has been closed to explorers since several people died in a flash flood in the cave a few years ago.

Siri also got to visit her first official dog park, at the city park in Arnold, Mo., the town where I grew up.  She was the only dog there that morning.  The dog park was clean but looked well used, with lots of toys and tennis balls.  The park is along the Meramec River, a tributary of the Mississippi, and had recently been closed due to flooding.  I wondered if people thought it was still closed.

 Even though she never fed her or gave her treats or took her to some really nice parks, Siri seemed to think that my mom was the most wonderful person she ever met.

 We came home Tuesday evening and found a new sign at the little league field:

About That Last Post

I just had to try putting some video up.  Working with video is a whole other world from still photography, and I wasn't sure if it would work or not.  I took a video production class about a hundred years ago, when everyone was still working with video tape - nothing was digital yet.  And yes, I've even played at making movies with 8mm film, even longer ago.  And no, I'm not looking for an excuse to buy an expensive new video camera.  At least not yet.  (I already spent my tax refund money.)

See Brea Run

Run, Brea!

Siri might be younger and stronger, but Brea is faster and more agile.