Learning how to park

I knew there had been an effort underway to get a dog park in our town -- I even dropped money in a dedicated collection jar at the Surley Cup on occasion -- but I wasn't aware that the park had actually gotten past the planning stages and into the oh-my-god-you-can-really-go-there-and-play stage.

Evidently it opened two years ago ... so ... yeah. I'm observant.

Anywhoo ... The pup and I went and checked it out yesterday.

What a great place!

Secure fencing. Separate areas for small and large dogs.

Lots of space. Lots of shade. 

Water, waste bags available ... 

There's even toys for dogs and lawn chairs for their humanoids.

I don't know what this is for ...

Crowd control? Humor?

And of course, best of all, there's always new friends at the dog park.

But it turns out dogs need to have a park use tag in addition to the standard license, both available at Kinderhook Town Hall, to lawfully use the park.

Which ... after being scofflaws for about an hour ... we tried to obtain. (Town clerk had stepped out when we arrived ... so we'll try again another time, but I was given the helpful advice to "look for her white Hummer in the parking lot" to be sure she was available.)

One final note: You might want to learn how to park in case you are the first to arrive.

Please to be ignoring the orange clown car.  

What I would have missed if I was at BlogHer '09 ...

Well, this and getting the shelves installed in my office closet. (I've always been a cheap date). Or taking Annabel on her first trip to the laundromat to find out that she's more like me than I realized: LOVED. THE. LAUNDROMAT. She didn't want to leave.
Although for me it's the smell of detergent and dryer sheets; for her it was helping strangers pick out working dryers and running around with the funny clothes carts. I also learned both Annabel and Silas can put together the wooden train tracks (Something I have trouble doing) and the profession of surgeon might be within reach for either of them, as well.

I know the BlogHer conference is more than angst, swag and public/private parties where people get to rub elbows with the top brass of influential blogs ... it just never sounds like it from the post BlogHer posts.

Why is that?