The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Today's Daily Parker

No photo today. Instead, yesterday's message from the dog-walking service: "He was excellent today. He even had a crap, which is getting to be rare."

I'm so glad someone else is as interested in my dog's bowel movements as I.

Has it really been 30 years?

I remember 25th May 1977 well. My dad and I waited in a very, very long line in Torrance, Calif., for some movie he wanted to see, and said I would really like. He had to read the opening crawl to me—something about some rebellion somewhere. I had no idea what it meant. Then I saw the first spaceship—the first one, the little one, not the planet-sized one chasing it—and I was in love.

Yes, 30 years ago today, Star Wars hit the theaters. Wow.

Why Illinois rocks

Fully 63% of Americans want a timetable for our withdrawal from Iraq. This percentage includes me, 42% of registered Republicans, every member of my immediate family who can vote, Parker (who agrees with everything I say except "down, stay!"), the Speaker of the House (who is also my father's Congresswoman), and both of my U.S. Senators.

Unfortunately for the free world, majorities of both houses of Congress don't. So sad.

Correction, 9:00 CT Friday: Crap. One of my U.S. Senators, Dick Durbin, voted for the bill.

My proposed new neighbor

Now concluding the massive attack of pithy posts this morning, last night developers unveiled revised plans for the Orrington-Sherman-Church block in Evanston that will preserve the Hahn Building's façade and lower the proposed tower's height to 37 stories:

The proposal, from developers R.D. Horner & Associates and HSA Commercial Real Estate and the architectural firm Daniel P. Coffey and Associates, calls for the developers to rebuild the public plaza at Fountain Square and slip two levels of underground parking for the condominium high-rise under the public plaza.

The developers would demolish the existing Fountain Square building and replace it with a two-story restaurant building that would be topped with an expanded public plaza space, connected to the ground level plaza by an exterior stairway.

The tower would be supported on pillars rising over the landmark Hahn Building at midblock and the tower would be set back 9 to 10 feet from the Hahn Building's street façades and 16 feet from the north property line.

I think this is an improvement over the previous plan. I would be sad to see the Hahn building torn down; the Fountain Square building, on the other hand, is just plain ugly.

Today's Daily Parker

Parker's brand-new friend Harper showed up at the dog park this morning:

Harper (named after author Lee and therefore destined to become friends with Boo) was the runt of 13 puppies born 15 weeks ago. Her owner reports that Harper has nearly doubled in weight over the past three weeks—a phenomenon I know all too well. And despite my inherent bias towards my own handsome pooch, I have to say Harper is the cutest thing to hit the park since Paris left for Milwaukee in March.

Today's Daily Parker

Got one. Here's Parker in full-stealth mode:

This time the intended victim was Key, one of the enormous labs Parker has known for most of his life.

(I confess, this may be a photo of Buck. I'll have to take a look at Key's nose tomorrow morning...)

No ParkerCam today or Friday.

Today's Daily Parker

From our visit to the park Saturday Morning: Parker sees an old friend.

I just missed catching him in his "no one can see me" crouch, in which he, a black dog with a wagging tail on short green grass, completely fails to surprise anything he thinks he's stalking.

Late correction, 12:45 CT: "Old" was exactly the wrong word for two reasons, now that I remember who was there. A 10-week-old golden retiever moved to the neighborhood recently; Parker met her for the first time moments after I took this photo. Unfortunately, Parker doesn't judge size terribly well, and he seems to think all golden retirevers weigh the same as his buddy Dexter (i.e., 42 kg). The puppy kept coming back for more, so I think Parker and she will get along fine.

Today's Daily Parker

This little piggy went to hell: Parker disembowels yet another toy, decapitating it in the process.

So sad. This was one of his very first toys: a little squeaky pig that I got at the adoption event back in September.