After some trial and error, and even though he's still unclear on the concept, Parker finally got down and dirty with the tug toy yesterday:
Did I mention the "trial and error?"
He did, eventually, put all four paws into it:
He also killed one of his oldest toys last night, the lion-head tennis ball he's had since he couldn't even get down the stairs by himself. Yeah, once he started working on it, he spent less than five minutes scattering stuffing all over the floor. So now he has a tennis ball that used to have a lion head on it.
Oh, dear. I can't wait until they start building this, just one block from my office:
Developers went public Thursday with their plan for another race to the sky, this one in downtown Evanston: A proposed condominium tower that would crack the 500-foot barrier and become the tallest building in Chicago's suburbs.
Sure to incite heated debate in a suburb already in the throes of a high-rise building boom, the plan calls for tearing down a two-story retail building on a triangular block bounded by Church Street, Orrington and Sherman Avenues, and replacing it with a sliver-thin, 49-story condominium tower sheathed in glass and metal.
Pity, because the building they're tearing down is actually quite charming. It gets "better:"
The plan also envisions tearing down a 1940s mid-rise office building at the block's south end and replacing it with a low-rise restaurant building whose footprint would be half as large. The developers still have to purchase that property.
I'm torn. I think Evanston has to grow taller, but the old buildings in its downtown are part of its charm.
Another one bites the dust.
Apparently he's back on the Hollofil again. He actually killed two squeakies yesterday, and continued his project of removing the stuffing from my mortally-wounded comforter. Sigh.
(Via Talking Points Memo.) The Senate Judiciary Committee would like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to return within a week:
We believe the Committee would benefit from you searching and refreshing your recollection and your supplementing your testimony by next Friday to provide the answers to the questions you could not recall last Thursday.
Ouch.
I'm just now listening to the podcast of last Saturday's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Host Peter Sagal had this to say about entertainer Don Ho, who died last week:
Sagal: He also did his patriotic part to populate his home state. He is survived by 10 children, 15 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Adam Felber: Ho, Ho, Ho!
Sagal: I'm sorry, I was just thinking: He had all these babies...in diapers...that means dozens of nappy-bottomed Hos.
Oy.
OK, it's really time for new photos. I've been too lazy busy to take new ones lately, so it's time for another classic, this one from early October:
As a lagniappe (or mea culpa, depending on whether you feel French or Latin today), the dog-walking service note from yesterday said, "He's the friendliest dog in America." I can't argue.
Also, no ParkerCam today: he's at day camp.
People have asked me how big Parker is. Just knowing he weighs 23kg doesn't help much. So, by way of illustration, here is Parker and his crate with a helpful yard (90 cm) stick in the shot:
Also in the shot, visible just above Parker's head, is the ParkerCam. As you can see, I've returned it to its original location following Friday's disastrous experiment. No Cam tomorrow or Wednesday, sadly, as Parker will be at day camp both days.
Hmm. Problems with the new ParkerCam angle have become apparent in short order. Dogs naturally sleep with their backs to the wall. So putting the ParkerCam against the back wall of the room means we get six hours of Parker's butt today:
Back to one, I guess.
Emboldened, perhaps, by his recent successes with tennis balls, yesterday afternoon Parker decided to hunt bigger game. Alas, his spatial-reasoning abilities have not yet fully developed:
We still had a great time playing catch. Being crated most of the day along with continued treatment for his embarrassing problem left him with a lot more energy than usual:
He's not quite World Cup material, but he's still only a puppy.
Also, I'm experimenting with the ParkerCam a little. Instead of just wondering what he sees, I thought I'd see for myself by reversing the camera angle. I may decide it's a bit too invasive (of my privacy, not his), but for now, a rare glimpse into Parker's life:
Parker had a terrific time at day camp yesterday. The over-tired energy you sometimes see in puppies and children conquered his fatigue, so he spent an hour playing with my neighbor's toddlers, and then half an hour with this tennis ball:
Notice two things. First, he's not so much running as staring at the ball willing it to move. He did run at full-speed around the yard a few times, but perhaps because he was so tired, he seemed to have trouble with the concept of "ball." Second, though it's hard to see in this photo, the ball is now missing about a square centimeter of skin. I'm not sure where it went, but I would guess that the dog walker will find it this afternoon.
This morning he seemed groggier than I was. I think he wanted my coffee, but I didn't make enough. So you can watch him sleep all day on the ParkerCam.