Friends of Millbrook Dog Park

At the work day on Saturday, August 29th, all of the old water buckets in the park were thrown away and replaced by brand new, two gallon plastic pails. With this change, we introduce our new Adopt-a-Bucket program.

We are accepting volunteers to “adopt” one set of water buckets. One is in use at the park and the other is kept at the volunteer's home. On a regular basis, the clean bucket is brought to the park and the dirty bucket goes home to be washed. We ask that the buckets be swapped out at least every three weeks. More often is better, but at least that often. This will ensure that we have cleaner buckets at the park and have less risk of germy buckets causing tummy problems. Some dogs are more susceptible than others to this so the cleaner the better. By asking one volunteer to be responsible for one set of buckets, we spread the workload enough that it's easier to keep cleaner buckets at the park.

Each bucket that's been adopted is labeled with both the person's and their dog's names. Each time a bucket is cleaned, the date can be written on the bottom of the bucket with a permanent marker to make it easier to remember each time it was washed. Bucket “parents” can decorate the bucket if they wish as long as no advertising is applied and nothing harmful to the dogs is used.

When this idea was first mentioned, someone replied, “So this is like a Bucket List?” Not exactly but it makes for a good email address. If you would like to volunteer to adopt a bucket, let us know by sending an email to Bucket_List =at= millbrook-dog-park.com.

Hi, Folks! Your dog park newshound, Buddy the Dog, here. On the morning of Saturday, August 29th, Friends of Millbrook Dog Park volunteers (supervised by many canine companions), gathered at the park for another session of cleaning, trimming, and mulch redistribution.

If you think the dog park is well-maintained and clean, it's due to the continuous efforts of many volunteers. If you think there's other work than can be done to make the park better, won't you consider helping by volunteering?

There's many things that can be done during our work days. We generally have a few activities planned but most of the work goes into general maintenance.

Several people brought those two-handled, roll-y things to help in the mulch moving. I think someone called them wheelbarrows. I understand the wheel part but I thought a barrow was a grave; however, that might also be a mound so a wheelbarrow is something to help move mounds (which we have) and if you don't have one and need to move a mound then that would be a grave situation? Human language is so complicated! A dog would just sniff it and say “Yep, that's what it is.” But, I digress.

OK, several people brought wheelbarrows to help move the mulch and a wonderful effort it was. Not all the mulch was spread around the park because there was just too much mulch and not enough people and time; however, everyone did a great job. We continue to receive loads of mulch every week and anyone who wants to do so is welcome to load up a wheelbarrow and spread mulch wherever you think it needs to go.

Other volunteers performed a duty that's near and dear to me and my doggie buddies and that's general park cleanup. It's a sad reality that not everyone picks up their dog's poop, so a special “Woof!” goes out to those who picked up paper, garbage, old toys and tennis balls, and a large amount of leftover mutt muffins (that's "poop", folks!). A clean park is a healthier park and one that's, to my nose, much nicer smelling. Thanks to everyone who helps keep our park clean!

There was at least one person who picked up things around the outside of the dog park. While we concentrate much of our time on things inside the fence, we dogs (while leading our humans who walk much too slowly) do have to get to the dog park. Keeping the outside of the park clean is just as important as maintaining the inside of the park. On a continuing basis, if you see trash or other things lying around on your walk into the park, please consider doing some pick-up so we can keep our entire park, not just the dog park, clean.

Another volunteer trimmed some low dangling branches in the “far, upper corner” of the park. That's the far eastern corner out beyond the main maintenance gate or, as we dogs know it, “the area where few people venture”. You know, that's not a bad area up there. It's quiet and, now that it's been trimmed, it's an easy place to walk around.

While all of this work was happening, two new poop bag dispensers were being installed – one in the smaller dog park park area and another one in the larger dog park area. This is part of our gradual switchover from the green bags to a different type of poop bag, one that is more biodegradable. As one person told me, “while the old green bags were colored green they aren't as green as the new bags which are black.” Huh? I know I don't do colors the same as humans but, that seems strange regardless. We'll be installing the new dispensers as we raise enough money for them, the posts, and the mounting hardware.

The two dispensers installed during this work day were donated by Madolyn R. who comes to the park quite often accompanied by CindeeLoo and Pete. For the first time, we now have a dispenser inside the smaller dog park area and that will be a great convenience for those who play there. In the larger dog park area, the new dispenser is located (when looking from the perspective of the main entrance gate) about three-quarters across the park, beyond the picnic tables that sit under the trees to the left of the big concrete tree that shines at night.

In the picture, Madoyln and Pete are on the right as they celebrate the finished installation of a new dispenser. If you know Madolyn, please be sure to thank her for this wonderful donation.

Thanks again to all of the volunteers who worked on Saturday plus to all of you who pitch in at other times to keep our dog park clean and healthy!

Our next work day at the dog park is scheduled for Saturday, August 29th, from 9:30am until 12:30pm (weather permitting).

As with all of our work days, we need volunteers for the following tasks:

• General cleaning - pick up trash and anything else that shouldn't be left laying around inside and around the park
• Mulch Moving - Move mulch from the large mulch mountains over to where we need ground cover
• Weed and brush removal - things that fall from the trees and isolated weeds that have grown up need to be removed
• Remove excess mulch from gate leading into the shelter

If you can spare some time and labor to help us keep the park in good repair, we would really appreciate it. One of the things we really need during the work days is more wheelbarrows. If you have one you can bring for the work day to help move mulch, it would be a tremendous help.

Whether you can work the entire three hours or for just a few minutes, we can use your help! Even if you can't do anything other than come by and say "Hello", we'd love to see you there.

Although not part of the clean-up effort, we'll also be installing two new poop bag dispensers - one in the smaller dog park area and another one in the larger dog park. This is part of a continuing project to add more dispensers inside the park to make it easier for people to keep our dog park clean.

If your schedule permits, we hope to see you there!