Fall.

It was a ridiculously nice day weatherwise. Not so, football-wise. In the last year or so, the city of Iowa City opened a second dog park on the east side of town not far from my sister's house. We've driven by it often, but never stopped. Today, with the weather incredible, we met my sister and nieces there. It was the place to be post-football pain.

Nola is finicky. She only fetches a blue racquetball. A idiosyncrasy she picked up as a puppy from our then-neighbor's golden. Rykert has primary dog park duties, so he's found that an old racquet is the best way to burn her energy.

Grace had racquet responsibilities today. (Anna helped me behind the camera, and played with the smaller puppies.)


She quickly found she attracted another participant.


Rykert has taught her to retrieve the ball and drop it on the racquet. Of course, with a new participant, it needs some more work.


Of course, eventually, the ball accidentally ended up on the other side of the fence.


Nola thoroughly enjoyed her first trip to this dog park, and the extra company.