Sunday, April 17, 2011

Picnic Day: Doxie Derby 2011

It was the big day. I had been excited about this for months. A full year even.

Every year, UC Davis hosts Picnic Day, an annual event where, besides getting completely trashed, the student body gets to show off the school to alumni, parents, friends, family, etc. Each department will host fun events - grape vine giveaway (Viticulture and Enology), cockroach racing (Entomology), liquid nitrogen ice cream (Physics) for example.

Yet the event that I have ADORED and watched every single picnic day has been the Doxie Derby. Hosted by the Vet school, watching weenie dogs run full pelt (or walk off in the completely wrong direction) is one of the best things I've ever seen.

I didn't manage to enter Espresso last year, but this year, it was going down. My entire Picnic Day was planned around the Derby.


I showed up early to register and survey the field. I was a very proud Mommy of my future contestant.







Espresso is switched into her more aerodynamic racing collar and gets her game face on.






I've always known I have the best friends in the world. They have always supported not only me, but Espresso. They only showed once again how much I love them all by showing up in force to support Espresso. GO TEAM BARISTA!








The playing field is simple. Start in a box and run across the Pavilion to Mommy. However, these boxes proved to be our ultimate foe.


Espresso was actually quite happy and content even as the crowd swelled and grew noisy. However, when placed in the box, she merely stared at me through the plexi-glass front "What are you doing to me Mommy? Why am I in a box?"

Our first run of the heat, we didn't come out of the box for a long time. When we did, we scampered over to Grandpa, the closest human we knew.

Second run of the heat. Same delay at the box. I had given up on having a racing Doxie.

But Espresso never fails to win my heart. She may have started late. But damn when she finally saw me, Grandma, and Auntie Jen, did she run.

Check out my facebook for the video of her amazing fun.

This was a victory in my book.


I don't think I've ever seen Espresso be more tired than she was after Picnic Day. We had lots of nice rests on the way back to the car at the end of the day.

Espresso enjoyed her victory with some very well deserved rolling in the grass.



It was the perfect Picnic Day.

Facing Facts


I love Espresso.

Really, completely, and truly.

It's not just love though. It's about so much more than love.

I, rather irresponsibly, took on a dog in college. I thought my situation would be very different than I'm facing now. But now I will be moving across the country to live alone, knowing nobody local, to pursue a career I didn't even know existed 4 years ago. Yet however many changes have occurred in my life in the four years of college, owning a dog has been one of the most dramatic, yet fulfilling. I don't need to throw away this choice just because it was looking to make life more difficult, because I wanted "a fresh start."

But I am not magical. Sometimes she spends more time in the crate, I have to miss events, I panic about how I will cope.

But it is the love of her and acceptance of responsibility that has allowed me to always make it work. I work hard to make my life work for the BOTH of us. I think of all the choices, make all the contacts, and eventually carry out a successful plan.

Because there is simply no fine dining, poppin' party, swanky apartment or flirtatious fun that even COMPARES to this:




So I am embracing my own fresh start. Or rather, our fresh start. Because Espresso will be with me through it all. My buddy. My partner in crime. My sounding-board. My significant other. My little monster. My dog.