Pleasant Surprises in Big D

I did a reasonable amount of research before moving to Dallas. I had a general idea what it would be like. However, I knew I would discover some surprises. Below are some of the surprises I have discovered.

There's very few cowboy hats. I generally make a mental note every time I do see one. All in all not many walking around with cowboy hats.

I knew from my research that there was more green grass and trees than I was used to seeing in Phoenix. That's for sure! Now to someone moving here from the East Coast or the Pacific Northwest, they would not agree. They would be looking for more trees. But for this Zonie I was pleasantly surprised to see how much green grass and trees are all around. Not to mention a few lakes. In my area there are quite a few parks even a dog park nearby and a beautiful lake.



The amount of small creatures I see is rather remarkable too. Not much going on small creature-wise in Phoenix. Since moving here...I've seen a raccoon, numerous squirrels, bunnies, frogs, an armadillo. Possibly I'm missing something but that's all I can think of right now. My first armadillo sighting came one Sunday morning just a few weeks back. I was on a walk with my boys when I saw this thing that I could not identify. I watched it for a few seconds. It eventually turned a little so I could see it's tail. Sadly, days later it was my first roadkill armadillo sighting. Yuk!

Dallas is more pet friendly than I imagined. There's many doggy daycare options. There's even an indoor off-leash dog park. First time I've ever seen one of those! Seattle needs to think about getting one since it rains so much there. There's also many self-serve dog washes. I've only taken my boys to a self-serve dog wash once since moving here. The experience was alright but just alright. Neither one of my boys seemed comfortable with the process there. They are used to taking bathes but not used to me taking them somewhere and having a bath in that manner. I remember I tried the drier on the boys. I've never seen such frightened looks on their faces. Both of them were likely thinking, "that's it, I'm outta here". Advice of the day... never try to use a drier on a pug at a self-serve dog wash!

It's not that hot here. People that talk about the dreaded Texas summers should move to Phoenix for one summer. This has been rather easy to deal with this summer in comparison to what I'm used to. As long as I don't have to deal with 115 degree heat, I'm good! I moved here in May, I couldn't believe it didn't actually start to have "summer like temps" until mid-June.

It also rains more than I thought it would. I love rainy days! The first few weeks I was here it rained so much I thought I was back in Seattle.

A rain related story to end with...Dallas had just had a bad storm in mid-June. Once the rain cleared late in the day I decided to take the boys for their one mile walk. I didn't imagine the residential road which we usually travel down would be flooded but it was at one little section. No problem I figured since it's just empty land on both sides of the street. So here we are, all three of us attempting to walk up a small hill in order to avoid walking through the flooded section of the street. The hill was completely saturated and we were all three getting stuck in the mud. Poor Cody hates getting dirty and hates water. He was not a happy camper! Simon however, seemed to be leading the way through the mud. Eventually we made it over the small hill and on to the sidewalk. I have to admit I felt silly for even trying to take the boys out after such a storm. The ground was too slippery and muddy.