New Hood, New Parks, New...

It's been a whirlwind my friends. A literal whirlwind. I live in a new place with steps galore! It has nice wood floors and though I slip and slide on them, they feel good on your belly when you get hot. There are three floors here, and I can go anywhere I want! My favorite pastime is to sit at the top of the stairs with a ball in my mouth, and drop it. It bounces and bounces until I just can't take it anymore, and so I race down the steps after it! Rinse. Repeat. This is how fun should be described in the dictionary.

When you're a dog and you move, there is much to get used to and explore. Inside is just part of it, and really, I'm fine anywhere my dad is... I mean, I pretend like he's nothing special, but if he wasn't there, I'd probably freak out.

Outside is where I find myself most excited about the new place. I get new smells, new dogs to meet, new places to pee and poop, and new parks to explore. On my morning walk, there are three parks I go to sometimes:

1. Play structure park. It has a human name, but in dog words, it's play structure park. It has a play structure and when my dad walks me and no one is around, he lets me off-leash and if I climb the steps to the top of the play structure and look out, he hands me a treat from below. This never gets tiring. I'm always up for it when he says, "Go to the top!"  Sure thing, pops, just give me a treat! This is the park we go to most everyday.

2. When we first moved in to this place, we often went to "Muddy River" park down the hill in the low part of the valley.  There was a great place to run off-leash here as well, but I kept finding dirty Kleenex to eat and presto! – Dad stopped taking me there.

3. On special mornings, I get to go an extra hill up and take a lap through "Strange Statue" park. This place has a weird little vibe, and at first it sort of skeeved me out. Now, I am used to it. We have a routine when I come here. I sit right by one of the strange statues, and dad takes the leash off. I stay, under repeated stay commands (I really only need to hear it once). And he walks all the way around this curve in a strange wall and then holds up a treat! I tense, and wait...wait...wait for it... "Come!"  And I'm off to meet him and get my treat and then we run crazy circles and figure eights in the grass until he calls me back with another treat. This usually only lasts a few minutes, but it's fun. And I like walking up the extra block because on the way home, I trot along the busy street and people in cars stop and stare. I pretend not to notice, but it's kinda funny how people smile when they see me.

Here's a pic of me with one of those strange statues. See what I mean?

New smells, new morning parks, new great afternoon parks (another entry to come), new baristas at new coffee shops (another entry to come), and new places to play ball. Moving is a lot to figure out, but once you get it down, you feel pretty good. You feel like you accomplished something, and that right there, is a good reason to take a nap. So, my people, I nap! This is Trip and I'm out!