Monday, May 19, 2008

Clean-up Day, Spring '08, Part I--Group Photo!

Max gets everyone in their places.

Spring Clean-up '08 wasn't just a success--it was a phenomenon. I don't really know how many people showed up to shovel, hoe, rake, and push wheelbarrows for well over four hours last Saturday--people would do their thing, leave, and be instantly replaced by more people, making an accurate head count really tough. We frequently didn't have enough tools to go around. I know it was more than 30 people, and probably closer to 40, in total. And a lot of dogs, but for once, there were a lot more people. Which seemed to get the dogs really excited, and maybe a little weirded out, and definitely fascinated at points--dogs, I have often noted, find it interesting to watch people work, as long as it's not the kind of work that involves sitting at a desk.

We were rewarded for our huge turnout with fantastic weather, and an enormous pile of wood chips, courtesy of the Parks Department (and thanks to Joy, Georgia & Red's person, the chips were not mistakenly left outside the run fence, which would have been an unneeded complication). We got great coverage over the whole run area, and there's plenty of chips left to cover up those annoying bald spots that will be emerging in the coming months. And the dogs will have a fun time playing king of the hill on the remaining piles.

I was there for over four hours, and I hope I did my share, but if you saw me, you probably noticed I had my camera with me the whole time, and took frequent photography breaks. The dogs were engaging in some very interesting behaviors, and I'd see something I just had to catch. I ended up taking over 200 pictures--digital cameras are not, let us say, an unmixed blessing. I hope I wasn't slacking off on the job too much, but I'll be making up for it over the next week or so, as I post one round of photos after another. This article is just for starters.

As we got close to the end of our labors, I asked Bailea to get everyone together for a group photo--I took a bunch, candid and posed, and someone was kind enough to take a few with me and Max.

I've been a bit stingy of late with the high-res expandable photo uploads, but you can click to get full-screen versions of most of these images, so you can find yourself--if you and your dog are in there. And if you had to leave before we did group photos, sorry--I couldn't get everyone lined up every hour, or we'd have never finished. I'll try to get you in there next time, promise.







The next three shots are 'official'--but aren't the candids more fun?



And here we're waving to Daniel Mercado, Park and Recreation Manager for our area, who helped arrange for us to get the wood chips and equipment we needed for today.

And here's Daniel Mercado with Jerry Culligan, who is always helping us get what we need to keep the run in top shape.

The Rocky Run--Before.

The Rocky Run--After!

A great job by all--and now that I've covered the work side of it, I'll focus on the play. Which means focusing on the dogs. I'll be doing at least three or four collections of photos from Saturday, maybe more. But I've got a few other subjects to get around to this week as well, including a mercifully rare situation--one where a new dog run is NOT a good thing. Because this proposed new dog run could cost us Fort Washington Park. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great pictures to match a great day!