Boo Hiss

I need to vent.... I just had an unsuccesful night at Town Lake. My goal? Take The Dog on a walk and get out of the house. It's been a ridiculously hot 3 weeks in Austin. Highs in the hundreds, with no rain. Poor Kilo has been stuck in the house because its just too hot to get out. However, tonight, 99 degrees didn't feel so bad, so I thought it would be good to take him on a walk at Town Lake.

We headed down there around 715pm, thinking the closer we got to sunset, the heat wouldn't be so bad. Kilo had been in air conditioning all day, just sleeping, so I thought he'd be okay in the heat. Before heading down the trail, I stopped at the water station to give him some water, and then we started down the trail. Kilo acted ridiculous. He refused to walk. REFUSED. Stop, go, stop, go. This is how it went for a quarter of a mile. Finally, I had enough. I was NOT going to drag this dog on a walk. We had stopped at the rowing center, I gave him some water, and was trying to drag him back to the car. Then, the woman running the rowing center, came out and talked to me. She said that if it was her, she would dip Kilo in the lake and get back to the car ASAP. She thought he was overheated, and she was afraid he was going to have a heatstroke. Her intentions were good, but it was frustrating. How do I know the difference between him being a stubborn, 5-month-old boxer, and an overheated puppy?

I walked back over to the dock, and I wasn't sure what he would do if I just dropped him in the water, so I decided to start pouring water onto him with my hand. The rowing lady then came over to "help" some more, and offered the use of her bucket. She dipped the bucket into the lake and poured it over Kilo, the water coming dangerously close to my recently purchased expensive phone.... *insert deep breath* I thanked the lady, and did my best to coax Kilo back to the car. He sure didn't act overheated 5 minutes later when he spotted a Doberman he wanted to play with.

I know the lady had good intentions, but I first felt like an idiot for trying to drag a dog on a walk, and then I felt like a jerk for potentially putting this puppy in danger.

We finally made it back to the car. I'm attempting to shake off my frustration with an unsuccessful dog walk, and I find a note on my car....

When I parked the car prior to the "walk", I pulled up behind a SUV that had just parked there as well, and there was no one behind me. The note on my car was neatly folded and said "Please be curteous of others and share parking! Park right! Thanks"

what?!? I looked at my parking job and I had nooooo idea what was wrong with my parking! I don't mind being called out for something I've done wrong, but it makes me mad and frustrated when I don't think I did anything!

I'll let you guys judge for yourself:










Please note that there is a 2-foot wide biking lane beyond those white lines you see.



WHAT DID I DO WRONG? I submit that I did nothing wrong. AND even if someone could nitpick and find an error in my ways, I don't think it warrants a note!



At that point, I gave up. Kilo and I headed home, he got a bath, a nail clipping. I vacuumed, and at the same time taught Kilo not bark at the vacuum.



After that, Kilo was exhausted. me too. Being a dog-dragging, puppy-over-heating, parking-spot-hogger is tiring.