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We took Collen to a dog park for the first time on Monday. The Second Annual Doggy Fun Run in University City was held Monday morning. The “run” went from City Hall to the park. Afterwards, all the participants were able to use the dog park, even if they weren’t members (which we aren’t currently).

This was Collen’s first real social event, and he was a bit overwhelmed waiting for the run to start. He thought that barking at every dog he could see was a good way to introduce himself. Once the run started, however, he was very well-behaved and stayed as much on track as any dog can. Unlike the Indy 500, there were frequent pit stops along the way.

When we arrived at the park, Collen didn’t quite know what to make of this place. He stayed pretty close to us at first, never venturing too far, but after a while, he started wandering around meeting some of the other dogs. We stayed at least an hour or so, and he had a great time. We may become members if any non-resident passes are available, since the dog parks slated for our area are still some time off.

If you want more information on dog parks in the St. Louis area, check out People for Dog Parks of Greater St. Louis.

More pictures are available at the Pbase site. Here are a couple of teasers:

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Quite well actually. Below are some pictures of the garden as it was on May 11. Since it is now May 24, you can imagine how much bigger everything is now. Hopefully it won’t take me two weeks to post an updated picture. So far only the leaf lettuce has been a disappointment. Only two plants came up, so I’ll need to replant those squares. Tomatoes are doing great; we already have tiny tomatoes starting to show up.

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No big plans for Memorial Day. Originally the weather forecasts all said it was going to be cool and dry all weekend. Turns out that was too good to be true. Now we’re getting some light rain, with 50% chance of storms tonight and 50% chance of showers tomorrow. Oh well, good weather for seeing a movie.

With all the rain we’re getting, the grass has been growing like crazy. I should have mowed it before we left to get Kristin’s car, but I didn’t and wound up looking at a jungle on our return. Unfortunately, my cordless electric mower decided to go on the fritz. I’d get five minutes (if I was lucky) of mowing time before the battery would give out. I bought a new set of batteries, but the problem persisted, even on sections that weren’t overgrown. I’m going to get it fixed, but I still need to cut my lawn….

I looked into gas mowers, but I really didn’t want to deal with the noise, the pollution, and the hassles. That’s why I bought the electric mower in the first place. So I did some research and bought… a push reel mower! Yes, the same kind of mowers our grandparents used. Actually, the reel mowers today may look the same, but they are much more efficient. I bought the Scotts Classic from Home Depot for $118 (some assembly required).

It takes a little getting used to, but it is amazingly easy to push, not any worse than my electric mower. The lawn looks great afterwards with a crisp, manicured look. If you want to know more about reel mowers, check out The Reel Mower Guide.