In which Pickles Marie and I kill some time by walking around town

Pickles is doing pretty well after a little more than a week at Haiku Farm.  

When she arrived at the shelter, she was covered in fleas, full of worms, lacking a bunch of hair, and desperately in need of an ovariectomy (spay).  PAWS took care of all that stuff, and then gave her to us at about half the cost of all those treatments.  Wow.

However, while recovering all of her former owners' neglect, and in the stressful environment of the shelter, Pickles picked up a crummy case of bordetella (kennel cough) and has been horking and snorfing for several days now.  While not a serious disease, kennel cough is highly contagious...and since she didn't show symptoms at first, we didn't isolate the floofy dogs when Pickles entered the house.   We expect to have a house full of phlegm very soon, sigh.

Still, life goes on.  Today, the truck needed brakes, and the trailer needed tires rotated.  Down I went to one of my favorite vendors:  Les Schwab Tires.

 I know it's unusual for a girl to have a favorite tire store.  I know that.  But if you knew how often Les Schwab has fixed stuff on my rig--often at no charge--you would understand.  They don't give me special treatment.  They treat ALL of their customers that way.  Other tire stores might be cheaper, but I have learned that in the long run, I will save money by using LS.   Our family refers to the free roadmaps that LS stores give away (with LS locations marked on it, of course) as the "map of the civilized world." 

Across the street from the Les Schwab store in our town is an access point to the Centennial Trail, so Pickles and I went for a walk while we waited for the guys to do their magic to the rig.   

 The trail through Arlington features public art.

 I adore public art!  (close up of the stones--above).

We walked the labyrinth.  Well, I walked it.  Pickles scampered all over it.

 We explored Legion Park, and read the old inscriptions for the Service Men's Memorial, now more properly referred to as the Veterans' Memorial.

 I love this sculpture (below)

 It marks a time capsule, and commemorates part of our local history:  dairy farming.

 Also, it's beautiful.  See the fancy glasswork detail (above).

Salmon are also a heritage industry in our town, and it's hard to escape "fish art" around here.

 From the casual (above)
to the truly stunning (below)

to the outrageously wonderful (below)

(taken at the Festival of the River yesterday afternoon--that's Lisa in the salmon's mouth!).

More fabulous artwork that my dog and I saw as we wandered:

 (back side of a deli)

 (detail of the mural, below)

 Pickles and I walked a couple of miles, slowly, enjoying the sights.

 The (appropriately-tinted) purple "Whitehorse Trail (unfinished)" on the map will eventually run very close to Haiku Farm.  Hooray!  

 The old railroad bridge spanning the North and South fork junction of the Stilliguamish River has recently been re-decked for pedestrians. 

 view from the bridge (above)

 There's a little detour north of the bridge.  Hmmm.   We followed the "horse" trail into the shady woods.

 What's this?  Fallen maple leaves?   NOOOOOOooooOOOOOOO!

 We can't be getting ready for autumn yet!  The blackberries (below) aren't ripe yet!

Pickles enjoyed her walk on the trail.   

 Then we returned to the little park by the tire store, and had a little picnic. We used Fiddle's rump-rug for a picnic blanket (since they finished with the trailer early, but the truck was on the big elevator getting a brake job) and we relaxed in the shade until the rig was finished.

Life. Is. Good.