Day 530

About a month ago, one of my Twitter followers, Louisiana painter Carolyn Finnell, wrote me and said she was interested in painting a Dalmatian because she had never painted one before. I sent her a picture of Dot that she could use for reference and then I kind of forgot about the whole thing. Today, Carolyn wrote again and showed me the finished picture. It was wonderful. She managed to capture Dot's personality perfectly. I look at this painting and it seems to convey more of Dot's spirit than any photo I've ever taken. Janet and I immediately bought the painting, before someone else could snap it up and then asked Carolyn if we could commission her to paint a portrait of Dash as well. These two dogs are really amazing and it would be nice to have a good painting of both of them.

It was a busy day today, especially considering it was a holiday. We went to the dog park earlier than usual, so the dogs wouldn't get too hot. When we got home, I immediately proceeded to get too hot myself by mowing both the front and back yard grass. I guess our short, pleasant Spring is already over. The temperatures are in the high 90's already and the humidity is typical for a Texas Summer: muggy and miserable. At least there was a breeze today. That made it seem a little bit cooler.

When I took the dogs on their afternoon walk, I noticed that a group of boy scouts were having an overnight camping outing in the park. The scouts were acting just like scouts have always acted, but the scout leaders were riding around in golf carts. I wonder what that's all about? When I was a scout, the troop leaders didn't ride around in golf carts. They hiked right along with us to ungodly locations where we got covered with chiggers and ticks and then came home with a case of poison ivy.

One other weird park encounter today. We passed a group of picnickers who were eating their holiday dinner about 20 feet from a very dead and smelly possum. The dogs and I could smell the dead possum from at least fifty yards away. It wasn't a very nice smell. It definitely wasn't a smell that you'd want around while you were grilling your Memorial Day brats and burgers. I don't understand people anymore. Maybe these were the same group of picnickers who had their meal right next to that tree that was on fire in the park a few months ago.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day