Avery Park

Avery park is(Nixie and Traz in the park) somewhere around two blocks from our shop. I have been walking our dogs there for 8 or close to 9 years now I think, 5 to 7 days a week. Back when we lived in Corvallis and Shadow as alive, we always took her and Traz to the park on the weekends too. Often, like yesterday when I was walking Traz, i thought of how much the park has given us over the years. It's a spectacular park and very large. When I was a kid, Dad use to take us there to feed the deer. They had this enclosed area with animals in it. The area is still there, but is now used to store equeiptment. There are several shelters for BBQ'S, an old train engine that kids love playing on. A horse shoe court, a community garden area. The Mary's river runs a long one whole side of the park, with a great walking trail along it. I have seen some really great things in the park over these years and a few not so great, that tested my ability to like people, more than I like dogs. We watch the wild flowers in the spring, the great redheaded woodpeckers in flocks and the osprey teach her young to fly over the river.
The heat of summer brings in kids by the dozens and the ground squirrles run ramped, teasing the dogs with their every move.
Deer are few and far between now, but once in a while we creep up on one eating someones corn or beans in the garden. Traz and I caught a couple making out on the river trail once, from the surprise on his face, I would venture to guess, she was not his wife. I really wanted to make a joke about telling on them, but of course, I did not! We quietly walked past them.
The park has given me endless gifts, the beauty of watching it at the change of every season, the room to run and play without worry, a place to cry in private when the mood strikes and a place to remember ones here and ones that are gone, but of course the greatest gift of all , was the day it gave me Avery. As I watch him become a wonderful, loving, sweet dog, I never forget the day we met, and how lucky I am to have him in my life. Tomorrow, he and I will walk in the park, just like every day, with joy in our hearts and a spring in our step, never knowing just what we'll see around the next corner.