Monday, July 9th, 2012
Central Park East - 6:15am

Good morning!  We had a very wonderful week last week.  There happened to be a weekend in the middle of the week.  Brian got out of work early on Tuesday and so we could relax and take the doggies out to Chatham for a few days.  We got out to Chatham by about 6:30pm, met Maggie and James, chatted for awhile, and scrounged around through the fridge (which contained a half a grapefruit, frozen chicken breasts, and an avocado - I'm not kidding you - I don't know what they live on!).  Then Maggie & James drove us out to Cougar field so we could let both doggies run around off their leashes - it was SO wonderful to get out of the city and have some quiet - let me tell you.  We had some friends over after that and hung around in the backyard having some beers and eating pizza - a fantastic evening.

The next morning, we went and got the best breakfast in the world I think - Whole wheat everything bagels from Noah's with eggs, american cheese, salt, pepper, and ketchup - this is usually our default breakfast for every morning we spend in Chatham.  Then we took the dogs for a walk with Brian's mom over in Loantaka - it was really hot but a nice time because it's mainly wooded over there - nice and shady.  Finally it was time for party & BBQ time.  We went over to Brian's friend Jeff's house (actually it's his parent's house), and got in the pool from about 2:30-7.  There were TONS of dogs there.  2 American bulldogs, 1 pitt bull, 2 cavaliers (obvi), and 1 boxer.  These were some HAPPY dogs.  They all swam in the water and it was Bear's first try (he was very brave and very good), but Sofie was the queen water bee of them all.  She ran around the pool barking incessantly for the entire 5 or so hours we were there.  She would not stop swimming.  We kept thinking she would wear herself out - but no dice.  She is a water rat through and through.  She was dunked a few times by Kojak - the boxer, but all she did was pop back up and paddle around - no harm done.  She tusseled in the water with Zeus - the pitt bull for his water toy.  Zeus spent the entire day knocking his ball into the water and then jumping in after it and taking it back out.  We had THAT dog.  THAT dog that never wears out and never stops barking out of pure, unadulterated joy and excitement.  She could not be tied up, she could not be held, she could not be tired out, she could not be removed from the pool.  I was a little embarassed because she was so insane, but what the hell, she's a dog - and it was kind of charming.  

We had a great time and BBQ'ed pork chops from Jeff's brother's farm (his brother works at a farm in Vermont), had hot dogs, grilled, marinated veggies, salad, cake, ice-cream, lots of beer, pasta salad, and potato salad.  Best of all we had a great time hanging out w/ one another and all of our dogs.  All of the folks there live in Brooklyn now so I think we were all feeling equally high on being out of the city.  It was a capital day.  Yes, I just said capital. 

The next morning Brian decided to take a PTO day so we could sleep in and go to Noah's again and be in no rush to get back to the city.  We repeated many of the earlier activities including letting the doggies romp around leash-less in the highschool field.  We left to go home around 2 so we could have some time at home getting our act together before Friday.  That's the most beautiful part about all of this - we got back home just in time for Friday.  A FRIDAY!  That meant it was time for the weekend yet again! 

It was beautiful - and now it's Monday - but I don't mind because I feel rejuvenated. 

Have a great one!