February 3, 2013

White Dog looked shocked...but in a good way! "Two Sundays in a row, Quinn? Really? You are coming with us?" She quickly barked out the new seating plan in Pumpkin that would allow Quinn maximum comfort and space: he and Nuka had the way back seat; Puff the middle single seat; YoYoMa and Oso the padded dog bed on the floor. WD, of course, rode in the co-pilot "throne" on the console at the front.

For a long time, The Other White Dog chose NOT to join the WDA on Sunday maneuvers preferring instead to stay home and mind the ranch. For some reason--feeling better physically or mentally; boredom; or simply being lonely--he has of late insisted on rejoining us on road trips. He pushes to the forefront to put on his harness and to line up at the door. We are all amazed and thrilled (even though Nuka grouses about have to share the back bench seat). It just feels right to have him along.

At the Park we met Dragon and Sen-ge. Because it was Superbowl Sunday the Park (and every place else) was deserted so the extended Army were able to run or amble and explore to their heart's content. Quinn did his part, out of the van for quite some time. He did a fine job walking and standing as the humans chatted. He even had the back strength to hop back into the van afterward.

Oso and Gregg hung out together as Dragon's dad is on "no exercise" orders from his doctor. So while Candace took their boys for a romp across the grass, Oso showed Gregg the beauty in focusing on a small square of the grass with its different scents and sticks and treasures. White Dog is a sprinter and watching her 10 minutes of charging full speed across the field always makes my heart sing. She is simply poetry in motion. Puff and YoYoMa had a chance to trot around the perimeter of the Park with our friends and when they got back to start. YAWD asked if he could join Nuka's stroll as a cool down walk.

I could not stop telling Quinn how proud I was of him and how much he has been missed on our outings. He beamed from the back seat. All of the White Ones made me happy, I told them, and nothing felt better than all of us being together. Each got kisses on the forehead as we strapped everyone in for the ride home.

We discovered that somehow this Sunday of football has become like Christmas Day. All of our  favorite dog-friendly restaurants were closed for the game; in fact, we humans were hard-pressed to find ANY place to sup. Fortunately, the great little Thai restaurant in our neighborhood that we don't visit often enough WAS open, so the WDA had to "settle" for Musaman Beef Curry as leftovers ...strangely, there were no complaints.