The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Missed my own anniversary!

Last Thursday, The Daily Parker turned three.

Actually, yesterday, the dog turned 2 years, 5 months; but the blog is three years old.

And in honor of this august day in November, I hit "Post" three times before correcting all the typos.

Today's Daily Parker

We didn't hit the record for warmest November 5th today, but it did get within 1°C, to 22°C. After the euphoria (and, frankly, Champagne) of last night, I couldn't prevail against the weather, so Parker and I went to Wiggly Field with a Chuck-It:

Parker has—I am not making this up—learned to dribble. He drops the ball from his mouth and catches it on the bounce, repeatedly:

Mostly he just wants to chase the ball and keep it away from me once he's got it:


Today's Daily Parker

Parker decided a while ago that a patch of a century-old rug makes a comfortable bed. The rug hasn't turned black yet, but every time I vacuum it seems the thing yields an entire dog's worth of hair.

I delayed getting a dog bed because Parker ate the last one. Granted, he was 11 weeks old at the time. So, hoping he'd gotten past that phase, I took him to the pet store at lunch to audition beds. This is what he picked:

I think he's comfortable:

As for the urge to eat anything that gets too close to his nose, well, as I did a color test for the shot above, I decided not to worry any more:

Either he's grown up, or he's really sleepy.

Today's Daily Parker

I'm kicking myself for not riding Bike the Drive this morning. That's the annual, Memorial Day weekend closing of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, all 30 km of it, for any bicyclist who ponies up the fee. I'm kicking myself because it's 19°C and sunny with a good breeze out of the South. Good biking weather.

Along the way we both took a look at the skyline from Fullerton Ave., one of the best vantage points on the North Side:

Even Parker wanted a look:

And we wrapped up our short walk with some get-out-the-schpilkes time in the park:

Today's Daily Parker

One week at overnight camp (Parker's day care provider also boards dogs, so he got to hang with his friends every day) has exhausted my dog. This is a common behavior in dogs, apparently. He was overjoyed to see me again in a way I've never seen in a human older than four, but as soon as we got home he climbed into his crate and passed out. (Actually he ate two entire bowls of kibble first.)

Action shot: