More Adventures

Today I went to another park with my parents, along with Ebon and Siggy. It was the "big park," as I'm going to be referring to it. It's the biggest park in the city.

Ebon by the beautiful big fountain in the middle of the park. It was drizzly while we were there.

Of course, we had to get obligatory pictures by the fountain. I felt like such a tourist, but it was one of those situations where we've lived here so long but never got around to going there. So, now there's proof that we finally went. It's quite a nice park, with wide expanses of grass, tennis courts, a playground, a concert pavilion, restaurant, and lots of sidewalk that the local runners love. There is a very broad sidewalk that cuts the park in half long ways, flanked on both sided by live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. The decorations for Christmas were simple and attractive. The park is constantly getting dressed up for holidays, and they even dye the fountain green for St. Patrick's Day. Dogs must be leashed, but apparently old ordinances allowed dogs to be loose if they would come when called. I was surprised by how many people were ignoring the new leash law. Ebon's very good, but I still don't trust him that close to busy streets (which border the park on all sides) as he has basically no experience with them and I don't know if he would try to run across one.

Ebon in front of the concert pavilion, and another fountain, looking toward Siggy. The playground is to the left.

Siggy by the fountain

We had a nice little time, walking the length of the park and just kind of taking it in. Ebon had a blast, as he always does in new places. Unfortunately, he got a bit foamy today. It was very humid and I couldn't find a source of water available to him for most of the distance, poor fellow. He did okay, though, and was able to get a drink out of a water fountain that actually had a spout clearly meant for dogs, seeing as it was only a foot off the ground. Unfortunately, Siggy didn't have as much fun as Ebon did. He's a bit sensitive to certain noises and he spooked three different times while we were there. My father informed me that he is especially upset by the noises of small children, since they tend to squeal. We walked near the playground and Siggy froze when a child screamed, tucking his tail and doing the exaggerated licking motion that anxious dogs do. My father had to do a lot of coaxing to get him moving again. Clearly, Siggy needs some work to try and get him to be calmer. My father loves to run, and has taken Siggy to several public running events already. As such, Siggy's uncertainty involving certain noises is of concern. With time and cookies, hopefully Siggy's confidence will get a boost.

Ebon by the tennis courts. It was very quiet thanks to the dreary weather. For a size comparison, the pavilion in the distance is about forty feet high or so. The central sidewalk is to the left under the row of trees and beyond that is a green space of approximately the same size as this one. The fountain in the first image is past the pavilion. Of course, Ebon was looking right at me until I hit the shutter. It seems I always end up getting pictures of him getting distracted by something.