Penny For Your Thoughts $0.01

In an attempt to green Penny I have been on the hunt for new sustainable hobbies for her. I have decided to keep a penny (the actual one cent coin) tally to see how much I can accumulate by the end of the semester. See how it plays out on my first adventure...

Since she is a pup she has a lot of energy that needs to be exerted. The only problem is, as a grad student, free time doesn't come often and when it does it is usually used to do the necessities. I.E. being errands, groceries, cleaning, resting if I am lucky, etc. Basically the not-so-fun stuff. I find myself often mindlessly throwing a ball for her around the house so that she can get some exercise other than our multi daily walks around me apartment complex. Since I live in a dog friendly area, it is necessary for me to constantly keep her on a leash, not to mention that the little bugger is quick and doesn't like following direction so letting her run about in one of our smaller grassy areas is unthinkable. All that comes to mind is cars screeching and her in the middle of the street.

So in an attempt to find her a new place to run and play in I remembered hearing about Bloomington's unofficial dog park from a professor last semester. She had said about how great of a place it was. So I started asking around and one of our fellow pet bloggers Allie P. told me that it is located near Griffy Lake. So I grabbed my boyfriend (who happens to know where everything is in Bloomington, and thank God for that since I barely know where I live) hopped in his car and set off for Griffy. It was a beautiful drive up there and he recounted to me the numerous amounts of time he and his brother would go flying down the hills on their bikes when they went on excursions. We finally started getting near Griffy and to my utter shock the lake was NON-EXISTANT!!!!

Let me reiterate about how shocked I was. I had done a bathymetry study on the lake only last semester and knew roughly the size and depth it should be. So to my surprise when we drove up and got out of our car and saw this...

Lake Griffy drained.
Photo courtesy of Bloomington Government

I was shocked. The lake was gone, dried up, and a grassy vegetated dry wetland looking area was taking shape. Immediately I had thought it was due to the high temperatures and relatively no rain that we had this summer. But once I got home I learned it had been drained to repair the dam in that area. So we explored the area for a bit and decided to hike up to where the lake remained (which looked more like a pond) and near the dam because that was supposedly where the dog park was.

I like to check things out before bringing my dog. Call me the over protective parent, but she is on the smaller side (8 lbs) and I worry about her health, mobility, and safety. Just remember SAFETY because we will get back to that soon.

Once I got to the top of the ravine we had a beautiful overlook of the pond. The sun was setting, it was one of the first cool nights, and there was a cute little family fishing over by the rocks. On our way down the ravine we got to the dam where you need to cross to get to the dog park. My boyfriend walking ahead of me, being the Hoosier that he is, is a lot more in tune with nature than I am... therefore not as fearful of his surroundings. Just as we were crossing the dam I let out a huge gasp, grabbed ahold of him and pulled him back. We had just crossed paths with a full grown Copper Head Snake. I am from Chicago so snakes are not something I am accustomed to seeing ANYWHERE! Not even garden snakes. I don't like snakes, they are scary, hiss at you, and oh yeah could easily kill an 8 lbs. dog.

This doesn't do it justice, it must have been at least 4 ft long.

Of course once I realized that it was a bit of a ways away we could take a good look at it then. But a man behind us came up quickly and started talking to us about it. Mind you he also grabbed his fishing pole and started to prod at it to see if it was alive while telling us how venomous and dangerous they are. So we quickly snapped a picture and this scene began to play in my head...

Now I know many of you are thinking what a silly girl I am for being so terrified of a copper head because they are fairly common in Indiana and the are definitely not a JLo killing Anaconda. However, mind you my mission. To find a SAFE place for Penny to run wild and free. I just can't bring myself to take her somewhere that she can suffer a fatal snake bit while I am trying to exercise her in a sustainable way. I thought it was going to be a nice little play place for her to make some friends and interact with run free and not get eaten alive by an anaconda.

So if any of you readers out there know of somewhere that I can take her where I don't have to be paranoid of snake bites please let me know because at this point she is still confined to the grass spots at my complex due to her curious and puppy like nature of getting close to everything. I just won't risk it with her.

Stay tuned for the next Penny For Your Thoughts adventure where I emBARK on a green dog food recipe. Will it come out? Will she like it? Will I even be able to get the ingredients?

Friends Fur-Ever
Stephanie & Penny

Running total of pennies collected from good sustainability ideas:
-$0.01
P.S. Don't forget, if you are considering getting an animal always adopt from your local shelter. There are good animals out there that deserve homes and as Bob Barker always says "don't forget to spay and neuter your pet."