Frisbees, Tug‑of‑War, and a River Wash‑Down

 Dixie, Shelby, and the Oldman River turning a hot day into something easy and good.

A Cool Break at Popson

After six straight days on shift, the kind that leave the house duties piling up and the evenings feeling too short, I finally carved out a sliver of time to get down to Popson Park with Dixie. We slipped into the river for a good twenty minutes, just sitting in the cool water and letting the heat drain off. It’s always a different world down there — quieter, fresher, like the river has its own kind of mercy for tired people.

We played frisbee between dips, Dixie splashing around with that full‑body excitement she gets when she knows she’s exactly where she wants to be. And today she had company. A dog named Shelby came trotting over, and the two of them hit it off instantly. No barking, no tension — just pure play. The kind of dog joy that makes the owners look at each other like, yeah, we did alright raising these two.

They chased, splashed, grinned, and kept checking back with us like they were proud of how well-behaved they were. It’s funny how dogs do that — they live in the moment but still want you to witness it with them.

I managed to get a few photos, though none of us sitting in the river. Tech and water don’t mix well, and with no one else around to take a shot, the moment stayed exactly where it happened — in the river, not on the phone. I even offered to drive a pair of friends down, but short notice and chaotic work schedules don’t always line up. Sometimes it’s just you, your dog, and the river, and maybe that’s enough.

Work has been heavy this rotation — six days straight, evenings that leave me drained, chores slipping behind. But that twenty minutes in the water, the coolness, the dogs playing like old friends, the quiet stretch of riverbank… it felt like a reset. A small one, but a real one.

Popson has a way of giving you back a bit of what the week takes.

River Wash‑Down and a Mid‑Air Frisbee

I got a couple more good moments at Popson today — one shot of the frisbee caught mid‑air as it sailed toward the river, and another of Dixie locked into a tug‑of‑war with me like she had something to prove. She didn’t win, but she made sure I had to earn it.

It turned into a decent day overall. Hot, but decent. The kind of heat where a dog starts smelling like dog — that heavy summer smell they get when the sun’s been baking everything for days. Dixie needed a river refresher, and she got it. A full wash‑down courtesy of the Oldman, cool water swirling around us while she splashed, played, and grinned like she’d been waiting all week for this.

We didn’t stay long — maybe twenty minutes in the water — but it was enough. Enough to cool off, enough to rinse the heat out of her fur, enough to shake off the long stretch of work shifts that have been wearing me down. Even with the tiredness, even with the house duties getting neglected from all the evenings on the job, the river still gave us a little reset.

A frisbee flying, a tug‑of‑war, a wet dog smelling better than she did an hour earlier — sometimes that’s all you need to call it a good day.