"Ma'am, do you need a bag?"

It has been a while since I have done the morning shift at Dog Park. Roma is older now and really can't handle two visits in one day anymore. (To be honest, I can't handle two visits either, in part because among the morning regulars are several Women Who Frighten Me with their thundering proclamations about How Things Should Be Done and How People and Their Dogs Should Comport Themselves. They remind me of the Queen of Hearts in the animated Disney film Alice in Wonderland—"Off with their heads!" Yikes! I am only a low-numbered playing card.)  

In any event, I braved the park on a weekend morning recently. I had just taken my girls to the vet for their annual checkups and vaccinations, and they needed a little time to shake off the smell of the place and the trauma of being stuck with  foreign objects. (Muzzy particularly objects to the thermometer, and who can blame her?) 

So both Muzzy and Roma were wheeling around like larks on a spring day as I shut up the car. It took me a moment to catch up with them and the two dogs they were razzing. The owner of the dogs was a guy I had never seen before. While I was walking over, Muzzy had taken a massive dump, and the guy politely offered me a bag. Under normal circumstances, I would have been quite snappish about having brought bags, thank you very much, but I realized that he was a Good One. He not only pointed out that Muzzy had deposited a load large enough to be seen from space, but he offered the means to pick it up. "He gets it," I thought to myself, "Don't be a jerk."  

So my point is that clearly the morning shift at the Dog Park is in capable hands, and that we old timers need not look suspiciously at every newcomer who strolls through. I'd also like to report that someone has kindly replaced the broken plastic bag dispenser on the telephone pole in the north parking lot with a very cool chrome one that seems much sturdier and easier to fill. Thanks to whoever is responsible for that improvement. 

See you 'round the Dog Park.

-z