Bath time for the boys

Sunday we did a lap around the Hurshtown reservoir. And we found out that although the park has many advantages for the dogs, there is one danger involved. Dead fish cast off from the fisherman. We had made it 97% around the lake when Joey spotted a rotten fish he could roll in. The smell was about as awful as you can get and earned Joey and his innocent brother a bath.

At the start of the walk, they look like little angels. You can almost see their golden halos above their head.


Rabbit chasing in the backyard has really slimmed Joey down and he's becoming more athletic.


"I can't believe a roll on one dead fish can cause me so much grief."


Joey all suds up.


Boomer, "Hey I didn't roll on a fish, why do I have to get a bath?"


"Too bad for you, little brother", Joey


"I guess I'll just have to shake off my bad luck here", Boomer


Boomer happy to be done.

Bob's at the Old Timers Banquet

It's a quiet evening, as John's at IU, Jenny is going to the Dwenger football game with her friends, and Bob is at the ITT Old Timers Banquet. It's an annual affair for employees who have 15+ years at ITT. This is Bob's 24th year at ITT, next year I'll be invited to go for free and learn the secret handshake & other traditions all the old grey beards have. Even "the boys" are pretty quiet as they had an adventure to the Hurshtown Reservoir today. I'm sure you'll see some cool pictures from there from Bob in the future. He always carries his camera these days, so I could see him capturing some Amish plow horses harvesting in the field or other sites. Today I took my camera and got a few pictures of the boys at play. The Hurshtown reservoir has a trail that goes 2.75 miles around it, that gives us walkers about 5,500 steps on our pedometers. It's a body of water managed by the City of Fort Wayne as an extra water supply for the city, just in case. I remember about 10 years ago when we had a very dry summer they tapped into it. The lake has fish and they rent rowboats if you don't have a boat of your own. Also, the entire site has a fence around it, so it's safe to let the dogs run free as long as there are no other walkers nearby.

Joey coming up from his first dip.


Sometimes we wonder what blood-line Boomer really has. For instance last year he acted like a Australian herd dog as he chased shadows non-stop till exhaustion. This year he has developed a tendency to act like an otter when he's been swimming.
He'll come out of the water do a shake and then squirm his way sliding down a hill on his back. He acts like he's enjoying it so much that the last week Joey has been trying it (although he doesn't have it down-pat like Boomer).



I guess I'll invite "the boys" to come out and join me in the screened in porch for now.

John's move into IU

On Wednesday John started his new career as a student at IU Bloomington. After being inspired by his Kokopeli Polka blog,(http://kokopellipolka.blogspot.com) mom & dad have decided to contribute our posts to the world wide web. The move to Bloomington went very smooth, which we attribute to an early morning take-off from home (5 a.m.) to beat the traffic.

Here you see John checking out his room before we hall up all of his belongings.


And here is his pile of stuff.


This is the final look, before John & Alex do their personal decorating.


After John was moved in we went to ProWinds where John purchased a new Bam saxophone case with money he received from Becky for his high school graduation. It's a very nice case that can be carried with an over the shoulder strap, or a handle like a briefcase or it has shoulder straps for a backpack. The inside is very soft and protective for the sax, it feels like you could crawl inside and take a nap in it. The case also has a built in rain coat to pull over it, in case the weather turns bad.

John is putting his sax in the new case by his locker in the music practice building.


We then had lunch at Momma Bear's Pizza and it was very good. I can see John hanging out here in the future. Then we were off to the freshman induction ceremony. IU's president urged the freshman to take chances on failing but to really stretch themselves and try to learn new things. The student body president advised the freshman that being fat, drunk, & stupid was no way to go through life. (a quote from Animal House) Afterwards there was a picnic, but we were still stuffed from the pizza, so we went back to the dorm. It was then we said our goodbyes to John. He has quite an adventure ahead of him and we are very proud and happy for John. All his hard work and focus the last four years has given him such an opportunity.

We noted several wineries for future visits on the way home, as well as forest and park lands for hiking and biking.