Red white and blue

Cover your ears. We hear there will be some booming in the skies tonight!

Morning walk

Two more mornings before Madison's stitches are out. Two more morning of long walks.

This little guy almost got a piece of Madison on the Riverwalk this morning. It's not a good photo: it's a little translucent land crab, waving his nasty pinchers right at Madison's beard!



And then ... look! The gates were open.


Madison got to stretch her legs. She chased a few balls and ran in circles. It obviously felt good.

Wandering around Fort Lauderdale

This morning H-Mom and Madison headed out for another long meandering walk, before the heat settles in. The first destination was the lawn bowling court at Florence C. Hardy Park. H-Mom was hell-bent on breaking the law ... Madison could use a leg stretch. The lawn bowling grass is short and clean, and the court is completely fenced. No dogs allowed, but at 6:45 am, H-Mom thought, a 20-minute romp at an easy pace would be non-destructive.


Too bad the park was locked up tight, with chains and padlocks. Secure. No romp. We think it is to keep the homeless out of the little park house and off of the benches and the planters.

Plan B.

H-Mom took off for a long walk, headed down to Davie Boulevard through the huge grassy park and then took a diversion through a winding side road. This is where the hefty population of Fort Lauderdale peacocks live.



These birds are huge. Madison was astounded, intrigued, a little apprehensive. H-Mom kept a good grip on the leash, thinking that a flock of peacocks would inflict more damage - both physical and psychological - than a ornery mockingbird.

She would have gotten better photos, like a shot of seven of these huge birds sitting on the roof of a little stucco house, but she was a little apprehensive herself. Better not to get too close. We don't think they are particularly friendly.

Hanging in there

Our walks are getting longer. Madison is better by the minute. H-Mom is amazed at how quickly youngsters heal. And she is being pretty good inside too, even with the lack of a good dog-park morning.

We'll make it. H-Mom is really good at planning interesting walks, and we've done short ones, medium ones, and today, a long-ish one.

Tonight we made it out between rain storms. We walked west along the Riverwalk, which was paved and landscaped in 2007. It's a beautiful brick walkway that meanders along the New River, where the mega-yachts dock and the water taxi picks up passengers, hopping from bar to bar.

The sun was setting and the bridge for the Florida East Coast Railway was up. It goes down according to a timer, which blasts twice to give boats a five minute warning. It's a busy rail crossing for trains in and out of Port Everglades, and a popular train-spotting location.


We circled around and headed home. We got dive-bombed by some of those crazy mockingbirds again. H-Mom was trying to photograph one, but was busy protecting her head. She told Madison to go ahead and snap one up, if she could.

I'm bored, now. Really really bored.

This recuperation stuff is not for Madison. She has been trying to be good, taking it easy and resting a lot. But she is kind of like a horse, chomping at the bit. Ready to roll. So what if her belly is shaved from here to there, she feels like strutting it at the dog park.

It's going to be a long long week, before the stitches are out next Monday.

H-Mom is adamant. No dog park: no agility jumping, no dirt-wrestling, no swimming.

Even a quick lunge for a lizard or teasing squirrel is being discouraged. H-Mom has been walking Madison like she is a tottering little old granny. Slowly.

This is getting old.

There is no such thing as a chew toy that will keep her busy for a week. (Although this is a really really good one.) Any ideas?

Friday Spay Day

No dog park for Madison for a week or so. Today is "spay day." Kind of like D-day for the pup. She will be one-year-old next month, and has made it this far without going into heat. Her vet said that her teeth are all set into the bone so that we have given her much benefit of maturing and hormones.

No food or liquid after midnight, so it wasn't fair for a trip to the dog park this morning. H-Mom and Madison enjoyed a "historic walk" instead. This is what they will be doing for the next week. Gentle walks, as long as Madison is comfortable and healing.

We are hoping to make it happily until we can get back to the dog park. Better to have ten days of recuperation than 3 weeks in heat twice a year.

Still, it's kind of a sad day, and H-Mom and Man-dad and especially the teen-human all feel bad for Madison. She is going to get lots of treats while she gets better. We are stopping on the way home from the vets to buy her some cuddlies.

Mango bombs

This is disconcerting. The little park, now formally named "Stoner Park" (H-Mom laughs. What kind of name is that? Visions of naughty teenagers abound.) , now has mangoes thumping down around our heads. The trees in the park are heavy with ripe mangoes, huge fruit, and they hit the ground with regularity.


Madison is vaguely interested. It is much more exciting to hunt lizards and sniff dead branches. H-Mom is considering protective head gear.

The smell of the rotting mangoes is sickeningly sweet. We don't eat them, confused and a bit put-off by the odd flavours of pinecone sap and citrus.

P.S. The beautiful little rottie girl has a new mom! She is now named "Nolly" (which we all hate, but WHATEVER) and Coach is keeping in touch to make sure that her new home is a good one! We think Coach really misses her. Maybe he will find another little rottie to take care of!