Catching up

Work and life have kept me from adding anything to the blog in the last few weeks. Now that winter seems to have made an early appearance in the Peg, it's pretty quiet in the park....at least when I get there, which is usually after dark these days. So not much going on at the moment, unless you count the meteor sighting in the park last Wednesday evening, 24 hours before the Big One in Alberta.

There IS one news item I should have written about a long time ago, and that's the appearance of the 3rd dog park sign. It was installed right before Hallowe'en, as I recall, and is located at the western perimeter of the off-leash area, next to the labyrinth. The park staff did a great job of positioning it, so that it's very visible from the walking path. I noticed that they also drove the posts into the ground a little deeper than the first 2 signs. All through the summer the temporary metal sign at this location were being pulled out of the ground and dumped. The last time the culprits went so far as to hide the sign, complete with pole, in the bush. According to the groundskeeper I talked to, it would have taken a lot of effort and some planning to uproot it - in his opinion it wasn't the work of teenage vandals. It's unknown if the perpetrators are dog owners who don't want any boundaries set, or anti-dog people who don't approve of the off-leash area. I'll be watching to see if anything happens to the new sign, which is pretty big and very sturdy.

With 3 corners of the off-leash area signposted now, the question is whether we want to try fundraising again for the last sign. The City has made it clear that the cost-sharing model we enjoyed for the first 2 signs is not valid anymore, so the final sign would cost at least $400.00...probably more by the time 2009 rolls around. Time enough to think about that when the weather warms up!

My next task is to send a thank-you letter to the Parks crew who worked so well with the King's Park Dog Association to make the signage happen. I'll be sure to copy various civic officials, to show that lots can be accomplished when all the "special interest groups" work together. Given the way that the Maple Grove Dog Owners Association has been steamrolled by several bodies, civic and otherwise, I'm hoping it's a message that gets heard.