Events

The Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society is having a fundraiser that sounds like lots of fun: Mercury Chicago Skyline Cruiseline Canine Cruise kicks off its 2007 season by hosting a fundraising cruise to support the important programs and services of The Anti-Cruelty Society. Join well-behaved, leashed Chicago pups and their companions on Thursday, June 28 from 7:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. for a relaxing 90-minute lake and river cruise aboard the Skyline Queen. Pups will get the royal treatment. A wind-in-the-face...

It's official: Illinois has moved its primary election day to February 5th. With elections in New York, California, and Texas also on the same day, the primaries will be all but complete then.

Parker will destroy just about anything he discovers in the back yard. Like this welcome mat, for example: Or this flower pot: Yesterday I also spent several entertaining moments removing children's bath toys from his mouth. I would take the boat, or scuba diver, or whatever, put it beyond his reach in the play house, and then go back to him and repeat the process until the kiddie pool was totally empty. He thought this was a fun game.

Via Bruce Schneier, a report of an English artist being arrested for sketching a military asset...in 1748.

I finally got around to updating my biking stats (but not the Google Earth tracks—Garmin changed their XML format and I haven't written a converter yet). I discovered, to my surprise, that I got a new personal record on May 27th: 40 km in 1:22:15, which is an average speed of 29.2 km/h. This bested my previous record by 23 seconds. Cool. Also, today's ride took me up to Cicada Central. Wow. I only had two collisions (and only one cicada fatality), but the sound was worth the trip. On the other hand, the...

Parker is officially[1] one year old today. Then: Now: Here's to 15 more. No party, because nothing looks sadder than a dog in a birthday hat, but I will have a special treat for dinner tonight. [1] The shelter said he was 11 weeks old on 1 September 2006, so 16 June 2006 is my best guess for his birthday. He's not telling how old he really is.

From a long-time blog reader, a court decision that...well, just read it: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0601071beatles1.html.

Fred, one of the dogs Parker knew from the morning group in the park, died from cancer last night. Fred was ornery towards other dogs but really sweet towards people. His owner reports Fred would have been 14 today.

At what point in Parker's cat-like tormenting of a junebug should I take the insect away from him? Apparently they're not very tasty, and they seem to fight back. I never thought I'd actually have these kinds of questions before I got the dog. Odd.

I forgot to mention how Parker is feeling. The antibiotics (only one of which had to be re-inserted in his food after he spat it out) seem to have done their job. Of course, on the way to visit his friends Sam and Hershey last night, he got to eat his dinner a second time. (Yeah, ew.) Here's the problem: there is no effective way to keep him from eating rabbit poop. He will get another crypto infection; and he'll have to be on heartworm pills year-round to prevent hookworm. He's not likely to grow out...