Monday, June 20, 2022

Farther Afield

The Hounds and I ventured out of town for a short jaunt!  Wonder of wonders. We drove up to Ellensburg (about two hours one way) for the annual Dachshunds on Parade event which hasn't been annual since 2019.  

But first, the usual Other Stuff has to be got out of the way.  

We've been out walking by the river more often, as the grass pollen has calmed down.  There has been so much runoff from the snow in the Cascades that the rivers here were near flood stage at times.


The sign in the pic above is normally completely out of the water.  Fortunately, the river boats were still able to dock.


They wouldn't have been able to dock at this spot...one of the smaller boat docks nearby.


The water level had gone down a bit the last time we were there.  Whew.

In artistic efforts last week, I drew two views of some church buildings:



And this challenging picture of a crow taking flight:


Okay, now for the report on our little mini-adventure.  Dachshunds on Parade is an event held in downtown Ellensburg which includes a costume contest, pet tricks contest, races, and of course, a parade of wieners.  It coincides with the weekly farmers market, and takes place over three blocks or so.


On Friday afternoon, I drove the Hounds up to our friend Michelle's vacation home in a town about 20 miles from Ellensburg.  We had a lovely visit there with her and Winston, the longhaired English cream dachshund who was buddies with Truman when we lived in Seattle.  Although they initially enjoyed seeing each other again, most of the time it was Pippin who claimed Winston's attention.  Those two followed each other around a lot, and played a bit, while poor Truman just sulked in a corner.  I suspect Truman was just unhappy to be away from his home.

We stayed overnight, and on Saturday morning I drove to Ellensburg, with Michelle driving Winston there separately, so I could head on home from there after the event.  We met up at the farmers market, where we scored some scrumptious cookies with chocolate and marshmallows in them.  We watched the parade of wieners, and then joined in at the end to walk the last block or so.  Then we enjoyed the costume contest, but did not stay for the other events.  

There were hundreds of dachshunds, of all coats and colors.  The weather was perfect, around 65 and sunny.  It was wonderful to attend such a fun and festive event after the two-year hiatus.

Here are a few pics (it's very hard to take photos in such a throng, but I tried my best!).

Costume contest:  the SS Doxie fishing boat:


Wiener dog chefs:


Fred and Wilma Flintstone:


Dachshunds on parade:


Parade grand marshals:


Winston, Pippin, and Truman relaxing at Michelle's place:


That's all for now.

Have a lovely week out there!


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