That's a big dog..not!

I was walikng Max this morning when we approached a house a block south of me that had a new fence around its yard. That's not unusual: people put fences up all the time, for whatever reason. This was a chain-link fence, again not unusual, except that this one is about five feet high, rather than the usual three.

As we got closer, I caught a glimpse of a fair sized critter through the links, and thought, "That's a big dog." But I was wrong. it wasn't a big dog, it was a small horse! A pony, to be exact. It was just standing in the yard, nibbling the grass. I was a bit surprised, and wondered if keeping a pony in town was legal. But it must be, else the people who own it wouldn't have spent all that money. I know keeping 'livestock' in town is illegal, but ponies probably don't fall under that catagory. I might have to look into this, as my curiousity is piqued.

Did I really see that?

Sunday, 3 may, 2009. It is 10:40 a.m., and I am driving west on 12th St. NE, on my way to pick Chris up for Sunday dinner at the 'rents. 12th St. NE is crossed by a viaduct carrying a long abandoned railroad. How long abandoned? Twenty or thirty years, judging by the trees growing on the right-of-way. The bridge itself is largely free of vegetation, except for grass and a few small trees. It was there that I saw a man walking south along the railroad.

That in and of itself isn't strange: I've seen a lot of people on that bridge over the years, and even been there myself. What made this weird was, the dude was carrying a canoe. Yeah, I said canoe. Not a full sized one, mind: this one looked to be about half the normal size. But the shape was unmistakable. It was a freaking canoe.