A Walk in the Park With Puppy, January 30, 2010 by Bob Kaufman

There is beauty all around when you have a puppy!

Puppy lived with us for 5,265 days – Mother’s Day, May 15, 2005 to today, October 14, 2019. This is just a glimpse back at one of those days:

Spock, Killer, Puppy in His Younger Days

Puppy and I went for a walk just before sunset today, January 30, 2010. It has been a week since the
big rain. We had a tiny bit this week, but not much really. The ground is already dry in most places, but you can see where the water had been standing. Home plate at the park still had some puddles of water but they'll probably be playing games there in a week or two. A couple of trees were blown over by the wind. Workers have cleared the fallen trees from the sidewalk but haven't removed the debris yet. It's amazing how much the ground dries up in just a week. Ours and several other houses lost some shingles in the wind. Ours is not as bad as some, but still about 20 or so need to be replaced, but I've been compensated for the extra work of repairing the roof.

The pile of mulberry leaves that had accumulated at the foot of the tree has gone with the wind. The air was a little chilly, but still nice - mid 60's I'd guess. I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt. The park was buzzing with people. There were at least three groups celebrating birthdays or some other special event. In the basin there was a large group throwing footballs and such. They had tables set up I think with food but I'm not sure. I wondered who they were.

Around the back there was a birthday party for sure. The party-goers had those big pans like you see in a cafeteria to keep food warm. I don't know what they were eating, but it smelled good. The kids were playing in one of those inflatable playrooms. I wished I was a kid again. We didn't have things like that in the 50's. We had to use our imagination more. The playground was full of parents and children on swings and other equipment. As we passed the playground a woman was taking her small daughter to the bathroom. The girl asked, "Does your dog bite?" I thought about Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther when I said "No"...as she began to pet him. Luckily, he just sniffed her feet.

I saw at least 30 airplanes overhead as we walked. I sighed every time. Some were making contrails, others were lower. They were heading in every direction.

Randall, our neighbor, was walking south by the pool wearing his safari hat while we were heading east. I saw him, he saw us. But puppy was too busy sniffing the ground and peeing on bushes to notice. Good thing because he would have barked up a storm. Twice tonight he was on the arm of the couch facing the door barking constantly. There was nothing outside, I opened the door so he could see. Then I realized that a book of Arizona Parks was sitting on the end table. Randall brought it by this morning for me to look at. I don't know why Puppy has it in for Randall, but he does. Every time we pass his house, Puppy runs to the end of the leash barking like crazy and then chokes himself and has to cough to clear his throat. He settles down after we pass by.

In the park there was a father and four boys playing football. The father was the QB. Two boys went out for a pass and two others were defending. The father threw a long pass which was caught by one of boys and then raised both hands pointing to the sky signaling a touchdown and victory! He looked just like Brett Favre (I bet this dad knows how to pronounce his own name, but that’s another story). Another group of adults and children were playing a bean bag toss game near the ramada. They cheered when someone apparently made a really good shot.

When we got back to the house, our shadows were on the neighbor's house. This only happens for a week or so about a month on either side of Dec 21 when the sun is in the right position in the southern sky near sunset. Puppy saw the shadows, ran toward the house and barked at them. By the time I got my camera, the sun had dropped partly below the houses to the west and I couldn't see puppy's shadow any more so I had to pick him up.