another thousand years

Well, it's been a week or so since I posted, which I didn't plan. Lots of interesting stuff happened and I wanted to put up pictures with the post, but I haven't made time to process them yet, so it's just going to be text today.











We took Patch up to Jacksonville to visit the big dog parkup there - actually its the largest one in the whole country! 42 acres! Scott, Vicky and the two huskies came with us and we all had a great time ! We drove to St. Augustineon the Friday night, got to the motel around 10 pm and spent the next morning and afternoon in St Augustine itself. It's a cool place and looks far more European than anywhere else in America than I've seen, except perhaps for New Orleans. We got a lot of attention, of course; it's not everday you see a Great Dane and two walking carpets on the main streets of St Augustine's tourist district. Top phrases heard: big dog....you could ride that thing/put a saddle on that thing....is he friendly?....can I pet him...."awwwww!!" Patch was really good and didn't object at all to all the attention he got, but he slept like a rock that night.

The dog park itself was very well laid out. It was a hot day so we spent most of our time in the shallow lake at the back of the park where the dogs kept cool by running laps in the shallows. Retrievers kept up a constant shuttle between the shore and lake center, happily fetching the frisbees and floating balls thrown for them. We didn't see a single fight all day; Deanne thought it was because there was so much space that they didn't need to fight over anything. We also walked in their "forest trail" section, which was heavily wooded and gave you the feeling you were tracking through the woods - Patch enjoyed that too :)

Our company is moving to it's new building at the end of next week so everyone has been packing up their offices and it's all looking very bare. Deanne and I will be in Dallas from Sunday to Thursday night next week, representing the company (most of which will be there anyway !) at a hospital trade show.