A Springtime Walk at Washington Park

Since I've been so busy with school, I haven't had much time for blogging lately. But today, I took my camera with me when we took our morning walk at Washington Park. Here are some of the photos I took.
The dog parks get so muddy in the springtime with all the melt and the rain, so instead the dogs and I have been taking our walks at different parks with their Unkie Rob who moved in with us a couple of months ago.
Spring is an exciting time of year for the dogs because there's so much to smell and lots of wild animals about. Check out these little baby geese!
Keeley really loves going to different parks. He likes to check everything out.
Teagan, on the other hand, just wants to go, go, go! Her motto is "Forward Ho!"
Keeley always falls behind because he stops to sniff something and then we've got to try to run to catch up to Teagan.
Today, there's apparently some music thing going on, because when we walked past the band shell, there were some musicians rehearsing this morning. There is also a community rummage sale from 8AM to 2PM today at the senior center.
We've had a lot of rain lately, but so far, the weather has been great today.
Rob and the pups stopped to pose for a picture with these German composer dudes.
Keeley and Teagan really wanted to chase some squirrels, but we didn't see any there today.
So instead, they chased birds here and there. It was a nice little walk and now the dogs are tired and I'm going to work in the garden for a while.

Washington Bark Day and other news

Last Sunday was Washington Bark Dog Day at Washington Park.

Last year we got tons of free stuff: treats, samples, balls, can lids, a dog coloring book, a bandanna, etc. It was well worth the $6 admission. But that was last year....

This year it cost $11 admission (two dogs with Teagan now) and we got just about nothing to show for it. We were really disappointed. I told Keeley that it must be because of the economy. Boy, that economy is really reeking havoc on our lives.

The only good thing about Washington Bark Day this year was that we met Keeley's friend Oliver there with his mom and his new dad (they just got married last month). And then we all came back to our house for a visit.

I thought Teagan would love Oliver because he's so sweet like Keeley. But no, she seemed to absolutely hate him and I have no idea why. She growled at him almost the whole time. They kept staring at each other with stink eyes.

Maybe Teagan thought she was defending our house and yard even though I explained to her that Oliver is our friend. Anyhow, I don't know what their problem was. Keeley is smart, so he just kept his distance from all their shenanigans.

Sorry, no pictures since my camera is still lost. I'm beginning to think it is gone for good. Bummer.

Later that same day, Keeley and Teagan were rough-housing in the backyard and they injured Keeley's bad leg. He's been walking around on 3 legs. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it so I think he just needs to rest it. We sent Teagan away to daycare twice this week so that Keeley could get some rest.

Also, yesterday Keeley threw up 6 times and had diarrhea. I was just going to ride it out but then I got a little freaked and decided to take him to the vet afterall. They gave him fluids and some pills. He seems to be doing much better already now.


Well, it's almost lunch time here so Keeley and I are going to go sit out on the porch. He loves to watch all the people walking around on their lunch hour. We live right next to Miller Brewery so I figure they are Miller employees.

Doggie Dip at Washington Park

Today was the annual Doggie Dip! This year we decided to go to the pool at Washington Park because we heard that last year there were only a few dogs there. You know, because Keeley likes to think that he owns the pool and barks and growls at everydog there. So unlike how Keeley normally acts! And very embarrassing for me and his grandparents. Teagan, of course, took her cue from Keeley and acted the same annoying way. Her constant yapping is still ringing in my ears.
Once Keeley got up the nerve to jump in, he was swimming laps around the pool. He seems to really enjoy swimming.
Everyone there laughed at their doggie life jackets as usual, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. Plus I think they look really cute with them on!
Teagan absolutely hated being in the pool. Her grandma threw her in a few times since she wasn't going to be going in on her own. I ended up having to carry her in and then releasing her to let her swim back to shore. She was fine as long as I was holding her, but wasn't too happy when I'd let go of her.
Since it wasn't crowded, we stayed for 40 minutes. That's twice as long as we've doggie dipped for in the past. We finally decided to leave after Keeley marked on some guy's shoes and bag. Oh, how embarrassing! But dogs will be dogs and I sorta feel like this guy should have known better than to leave such an enticing target sitting on the ground with a bunch of dogs running around.
Keeley had a great time barking and swimming. I think Teagan enjoyed barking, but not so much with the swimming.

MKE CO PARKS: Washington Park

The second park we decided to check out is Washington Park. It is 128.95 acres and was also designed by Frederick Law Olmsted & Co.
We live just a couple of blocks away but Keeley will not walk to it since he's scared of buses, trucks, and motorcycles. So we had to drive and park in the Senior Center parking lot. In the above picture you can see Miller Brewery in the distance.
There are 2 playgrounds like this at Washington Park. Keeley voluntarily went down one of the slides on this playground. It's weird because he usually doesn't like it when I make him do stuff like that.
Here are a couple of interesting facts: In the late 1800's Washington Park was called West Park. Also, there was a zoo at Washington Park during the first half of the 20th century. In the early 1960's the zoo and its animals were relocated to the current home of the Milwaukee County Zoo.
From the 1890's through to the early 1970's, the Washington Park neighborhood was mostly German and very middle class. This statue of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was created in 1908. It is supposed to represent German people's pride in their artistic achievements.
This is The Temple of Music band shell. Its construction was completed in 1938. It has recently been restored by Harley-Davidson.
Keeley climbed onto the stage with his grandma to do some tricks. Here he's demonstrating "Give Paw".
After WWII, middle working class African American families began moving into the Washington Park neighborhood and the white population began moving further west into the suburbs. In 1970, Milwaukee was at its industrial peak with very low unemployment levels. The African American population grew as families migrated here from southern states.
Unfortunately, these good times didn't last. A decade later in the 1980's, manufacturing plants along the industrial corridor, the Milwaukee River, and the Menomonee River started to close, causing great job losses. The Washington Park neighborhood was hit hard by this and the poverty rate soared. During this last quarter of the 20th century, the county neglected Washington Park and let it fall into disrepair, perhaps reflecting the unspoken racism of the time.
Recently though, revitalization efforts have been gaining momentum. For example, behind Keeley in this picture there is a new boat launch being constructed.
In the last 20 years, the Southeast Asian (Hmong and Laotian) population in the Washington Park neighborhood has more than quadrupled. I think this group is fascinating because of how rapidly they've assimilated.
These 2 cement arch bridges go over a huge lagoon. In the early 1900's park visitors could rent row boats. The lagoon was designed to only be 4 feet deep to lessen the chance of drowning if a boat were to overturn.
That's the Urban Ecology Center on the other side of the lagoon. They offer a summer camp in Environmental Education for kids.
It looks like they also take kids out on the lagoon in these canoes. And we saw a flyer for a fishing workshop for kids, so we figure the county must stock the lagoon with fish.
Isn't this cool? All the doors to the Urban Ecology Center are painted with different nature scenes like this one.
Our neighborhood is called The Martin Drive Neighborhood and we border Washington Park on the south. Our neighborhood association is trying to take claim of Washington Park by staging several events here this year. For example, there is a neighborhood rummage sale being held at the Senior Center from 8AM-NOON tomorrow.
Washington Park also has a public pool. It's still empty right now and there seems to be some construction going on too. We hope it'll be ready for operation by summer. We plan on attending the Doggie Dip here this year.
There are also basketball courts, tennis courts, and 2 baseball diamonds. Although these things are in a serious state of neglect, especially compared to other parks within the county park system.

Here's an interesting photo comparison on someone else's blog: Washington Park Vs. McCarty Park

For more info about this park, you can check out our past posts:
August 10, 2008
August 12, 2007

Washington Bark Dog Day 2008

Bogart is always reporting about totally pawesome dog events in the Portland area. Well today, it's Keeley's turn to report on Washington Bark Day.

It's an annual event that takes place each August here in Milwaukee. All the proceeds benefit Washington Park which is where the event takes place. There's lots of cool dog stuff to do and see, including lure coursing and a parade.

Keeley scored lots of free stuff from this Petco booth as soon as we got there.
However, Keeley was much more interested in meeting other dogs.
And of course there were so many smells to sniff too!
We stopped at the Residents for Off-Leash Milwaukee Parks booth where we learned that there are plans for an off-leash park within the city coming soon. We think that would be very cool because then we wouldn't have to drive so far to get to one. Right now all the fully fenced ones are outside of the city and at least a 30 minute drive from us.
We got to meet some more dogs! This event is about the dogs afterall.
Look at all these delicious cookies! If it weren't for Keeley's wonky belly, I'm sure he would have tried to gobble some of these up. Lucky for him, his grandma bought some special treats for him for later in the week when he gets feeling better.
The Wisconsin Humane Society had a booth too. So many of the best dogs come from them.
Take a look and these crazy pups! Keeley doesn't even know what to make of them.
Well, you don't see many of these guys around. Keeley had to say hello to this Chinese Crested because they're rare like Keeley pup. There's a big variety of dogs at this event!

Keeley's daycare provider, Central Bark Tosa, also had a booth. Keeley visited with the people he knew there and even posed for a picture but unfortunately it didn't turn out. (My flash apparently didn't work.)

There were lots of games for dogs to play too such as "Bobbing for Hot Dogs" and "Find the Treat in the Hay". There was also food for the humans to purchase. And some wading pools and sprinklers for hot dogs to cool down in. And a dog fashion show and costume contest were scheduled for later too.

Keeley had a great time and after awhile, we decided that it was time to head home. We only live a few blocks away so we walked.
When we got home we took a look at all the cool free stuff that Keeley scored. That's a pretty good haul, wouldn't you say?
Keeley looks pretty satisfied. That was a fun event!

Washington Bark Dog Day

Today Keeley got to go to Washington Bark Dog Day at Washington Park. He tried his paw at painting, attempted the lure course (but was a little too distracted by everything else going on), got a lot of goodies to sample, and met a lot of dogs. Even though it was very hot out, he had a great time.