Squeaky Swings

Today was a sunny and warm 50 degrees with bare trees. It feels like Spring but there are no bright colors yet. The grass is brown and it makes things look scrubby. There is so much sand on all of the sidewalks. I walked Lily to the park. There were kids everywhere! All the swings were squeaking, a few boys were playing basketball. There were four boys playing touch football in the baseball field. I asked them if I could let Lily run around for a few minutes. I said she's friendly and she won't bother you. They said okay. I could see one boy was scared, but Lily ran in a big circle on the inside perimeter of the fence while the boys played in the center of the field. She paid no attention to the boys, just ran and ran and then dove into the swampy puddle along the fence and lay down in it to cool off. When she got up she was completely muddy and smelled like a swamp! On the other baseball field there were two men and two women standing in a tight group with their four black barking Chihuahuas running loose around them. They would call their dogs' names whenever the dogs ran too far. If I imagined the dogs as Lily's size it made the owners seem like they were twenty feet tall. I snapped on Lily's leash and thanked the boys for sharing the field with us. I walked over and said hello to the people with the Chihuahuas. Lily wanted to play with them but I knew the size difference was probably dangerous to the Chihuahuas. One of the men said Lily was a riot, lying down in the mud puddle like that. She loves water, I said. I asked if their dogs were all related, and the blonde woman said the dogs were siblings. The dark-haired woman picked up her Chihuahua and held him inside the front of her sweater like a bosom with a dog head. Then I walked home and washed Lily using water from the outside hose. It was ice cold but she was very tolerant. She loved the towel rub-down. Now she is exhausted and clean.