Floating with friends

Tricia Johnson (in front) with husband, William

I had been debating on whether to do another hike on Sunday or to put the canoe in the water. Saturday evening I got a message from my friend Tricia about a canoe trip on Sunday so that made the decision an easy one. She and her husband, William, were in their canoe affectionate named "Old Tippy" and I was in my nameless one-man canoe.








 

We didn't start early enough to see any wildlife, but it was a great day. There were a lot of other people on the river today and that was nice to see. Same old stretch of river for me, but I don't mind, at least I'm familiar with a number of the obstacles. The water level is dropping because we haven't had any serious rain in several weeks. We didn't set any speed records but we didn't set out to; we had a very nice float.

Low water levels made for several tricky crossings.

This was a first for me, we encountered horseback riders.
The river goes past the Pleasant Grove property where I hike.

Another first, pictures of myself in the canoe,
courtesy of Tricia.

Walking with Sparky

I put on five pounds on the Kansas trip, lost it before we went to New York, and put it back on in New York.  I got an automated phone call on Friday reminding me of a doctor's appointment on Monday.  I had hoped to have that five pounds (and more) gone again by the time of my next doctor's appointment but I don't think that's going to happen.  But Sparky and I have been giving it a try the last couple of days.  We did five miles on Friday and six on Saturday.

He is just the best dog to walk with.  He's enthusiastic and encouraging, but he doesn't drag me (much) or stress me out.  He sniffs and pees, but he knows how long to stop and he keeps going.  We can encounter people, bikes, horses, and he's fine.  He doesn't go into a frenzy when we see or hear deer.  He usually leads me but sometimes he drops back and walks right by my side so I can reach out and pet his big head.  Good dog, Sparky.

A cool July day

Stella

Gigi

Max

Stella

Ochie and Gigi

Vince

Gigi sort of rears up like a horse when she runs.

Stella

Gigi, Stella, Max

Sleeping space

Pretty girl, morning, noon, or night.

Clay is out of town for a few days, which means there's competition for his spot in bed.  Instead of having more space with him away, I find myself with less and less.

Trooper's nose.  He's squeezed into some hypothetical space
between me and Gigi.

Gigi moves up from the foot of the bed to lounge against his pillows.  But she tries to stake out a place in the center rather on the right side.

Trooper feels that there must be space for him if Clay is gone so he gets up and pushes in between me and Gigi.

Maya hops up and sprawls on top of everyone for a while but then claims the space where Gigi actually should be.

Vince sticks to the dog bed on my side of the room.  He used to stay in the office at night but he dropped to the fact that all the household dogs come to the bedroom while the fosters stay in the office.  He likes to get in bed but he doesn't at night.  On rare occasions when I have to nap during the day I sometimes wake to find him snuggled up against my legs.

This morning I awoke pinned on my side, mere inches from the edge of the bed.  I pushed everyone out, claimed my spot, and made them all start over.  But, by that time I was wide awake so we just got up.

Gigi's big eyes are so expressive,
she rarely needs to speak.

Vince always looks a little worried.

Maya is such an angel, when she's sleeping.

Big yawn from Trooper

Trooper, on the dog bed where he's supposed to be.
You can guess whose paw that is reaching out to touch his.

New York Pride

Clay (right) and his brother Hugh (left).
We stay with Hugh in NYC. He has an apartment
in mid-town Manhattan, the center of the universe.

I haven't shared any of my pics from our New York trip yet, although I posted some on Facebook at the time.  Sorry for the repeats for those who see both, but here's a few that I liked best after being home a couple weeks.

The American Museum of Natural History is
one of my favorites and we visit it often.

Hedwig is the hottest ticket on Broadway
and Hugh got us seats fifth row center.
This is the greatest show,
I can't begin to describe it.

Times Square at night is not like any place else.

We took a historic walking tour focused
NYC during the revolution.  Small group,
great guide, learned a lot.

This is the first year we've been able to get tickets
to "The Book of Mormon."  It was fun, it was good,
but I can't call it great in the same week that we
saw "Hedwig."

Craft beer has come to NewYork.
This is inside the Pony Bar,
probably the best beer bar we found.

It happened that we were in New York for Gay Pride.  We went to a couple Pride events, including
the parade, although we didn't stay for all of it.

The new mayor of NYC, Bill de Blasio
walked in the parade, as did Gov. Cuomo,
Sen. Chuck Shumer, and many other
elected officials, all Democrats.

The Boy Scout contingent.  It's hard to
grasp how far we've come even if we
aren't there yet. 

The big-ass Pride flag was part of the Walmart entry.  I'm guessing Sam Walton was rolling
over in his grave.  I wish the rest of that family would join him soon.

We had a nice time.

Meanwhile, back at the Pony Bar
(which is straight, by the way, but in NYC
it doesn't make a lot of difference.)