Barney’s Des Moines Adventure!

Last Sunday, Mark, Barney and I went to Des Moines. I had a coffee table that was sitting out for me at work that I needed to pick up and I needed Mark’s car to retrieve it. So, we decided to take Barney so we could get him an ice cream cone at Snookies Malt Shop. For those of you who don’t know, Snookies is a really great malt shop in the Beaverdale neighborhood in Des Moines and they love dogs.  So, they hand out little doggie-sized ice cream cones along with people’s ice cream treats.

Barney was surprisingly good on the walk around the lake. He met a few other doggies and behaved himself. He also met a few little kids. So, all in all, he was very deserving of the ice cream cone he was going to get.

He was also a little apprehensive of the car ride. I’m guessing because every other time he’s been in a longer car ride the poor dog got dropped off at a new home.  I’m his 3rd home — 4th, if you count the brief stint with my parents (which I’m sure he does).  Anyway, he started enjoying it when I rolled down the window and let him hang out a bit (don’t worry guys, he had his harness on and I had a vice grip on both him and his leash).

We made it to the malt shop and Mark and I ordered.  I got Barney his cone and sat down with him.  To my surprise, he didn’t eat it all in one bite like my old dachshund* would have.  He licked it! Like a person!  He didn’t eat the cone part — apparently he didn’t consider that part food (this is coming from somebody who sometimes eats poo).

After he finished his cone, he sat around waiting patiently to see if there was going to be any more. Nope. Not sharing.  I got a brownie sundae with hot fudge and marshmallow, and Mark got a Heath not-sure-what-they-call-it-there-but-is-essentially-a-Blizzard (TM).

*side note — my old doxie (Jake the Snake) was famous for his eating feats. I don’t have all day to tell you the stories, but my favorite has to do with ice cream.  My mom was scooping ice cream for a birthday party or something, and it was a particularly frozen hard batch.  She scooped really hard, and the scoop of ice cream flew off the ice cream scooper. Jake just happened to be walking by and snatched the WHOLE SCOOP of ice cream on the way. It didn’t even hit the ground. It. Was. Epic. That dog ate EVERYTHING and lived to be almost 15.

In case you’re curious … since I got off on the tangent … here’s some pictures of Jake.

He was rather rotund here. I’m guessing this was when he was about twelve.

My papasan chair was one of his favorite places to snuggle up under a blanket. He would usually play musical beds/chairs all day long and find interesting places to nap.

For instance, on my pillow, covered up in my blanket. No joke. This dog did this on his own. This was actually the last time I saw him. I think I stayed for the weekend and I had folded my blanket up and set it next to my pillow. That dog crawled under the blanket and fell asleep like this.

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