"The three bears", West LA; 09.11.11

Today was a nice sunny day.  We got out at around 10-ish in the morning to The Boneyard, a dog park in Culver City on Jefferson and Duquesne, just south of downtown Culver.  To get there, take the Jefferson Blvd. exit off the 405 North, and make a right on Jefferson headed East.  There's tons of parking across the dog park, and street/side parking as well.  It's a part of a large community park, where there's a children's playground, a nature trail, etc.  There's a separate area for small and large dogs, and there's water fountains on either parks.  There's tons of benches, but only a few with shades.  Bring your hats and sunglasses, as it can get pretty bright on here.  It's all dirt, so wear covered-toe shoes.  There's tons of balls for dogs to play with, and it's pretty large (about an acre).  It's not a flat area, so for a large, overactive dog, this place is perfect to run around in.

When we got to the park, there were about 4 other dogs in the large dog area; we got in at the same time with another german shephered Tico's size, who's apparently about 3 years old and a female.  She looked just like Tico.  After about 15 minutes in, all the large dogs left; so B, Tico and myself had a ball throwing tennis balls around the park to get Tico his due exercise.  I've never seen him get so tired.  Even now that I'm typing this about 7+ hours later, he's still pretty beat.  So he tried to rest in one of the shaded areas.  After about 10 minutes of sitting down, I figured we'd walk towards the nature trail.

The nature trail is inside the parking lot across from the dog park.  It's wheelchair accessible for the handicapped, and there's also dirt trails for the joggers/runners.  It's a 20-minute hike with a 105 feet elevation.  I saw the ramp, and got curious, but alas, it's not dog-friendly.  So I took a sneak peek and went up halfway to see a decent view, and I was not disappointed even at that height.  I could see the ocean from the horizon, and all of Culver City as well as the children's playground down the hill within the Culver City park.  The trail drops you off to the side of the baseball field, and the overlook, from the pictures I found online, looks very good.  One minute into the trail, I came across Fulcrum Adventures' 50-foot climbing wall and high rope activity set up.  Fulcrum, as it turns out, is a team-building company, whose clients include Northrop Grumman and UCLA. The 50-foot wall made of weathered wood looks intimidating and unstable.  A well-trained staff with the right gears are needed because if you make a mistake, you can easily break a leg, or worse-your neck.  It's private, so contact Fulcrum/park if you are interested in checking this wall/rope out.  If you have to have your climbing fix, check out Rockreation Indoor Climbing instead, just north of here on La Grange, just off of Bundy and Olympic Blvd.  For $45, you can sign up for FG1, which offers a two hour class, a week of free climbing, and includes shoe/gear rentals.  I've signed up for this a few times before, I just never followed-through each time.

There's the Culver City stairs within the Culver City park that B and I still have to check out one of these days; but sans Tico, as it's not dog-friendly.  And unlike the Santa Monica stairs, it has twice the steps, and apparently, just as crowded nowadays. 

B needs to get his car washed, so I took him to the local car wash in Del Rey/Mar Vista area that I used to go to.  It's next to Outdoor Grill, a place known for some good tri-tip in West LA.  I had their chicken here once, and they did not disappoint. 

Since we have about half an hour to kill, and having a dog is not condusive to just sitting around in the waiting area, we walked around the neighborhood, which served us well, since we're looking for ideas for wood fences for the house.  Venice/Mar Vista is known for their lateral wood fence and home curb appeals that are still accessible to the common folk like B and myself.   But we feel like Goldilocks and the three bears; some of the fences are either too high, too low, not private enough, wood's not treated, etc.

This wood fence is good width, but we could use another three feet higher.

The multi-color wood is nice, but it's too high.  B is 6'4; so I think 6 feet is pretty high enough for us.

Nice wood work, but not good for someone with a large dog.

 Too low/not private enough.

 There's an entrance door at the end of this, apparently; and a large, angry dog on the other side of the wall.  We did not hang out long enough to find out more.

Great concept, the main gate is very zen-like, but I don't see this lasting more than a few years.

This is a lesson in weatherproofing your wood before installation.



This house reminds me of Costa Rica. 



What a welcoming, friendly looking house.  The french door entry is very appealing.We liked everything about this house.

We like the decorative tilework on the front steps of this Spanish-style house.

Tico saying hello to the neighborhood ridgeback/weimerauner/something else mix 9-month old female dog.  She wanted to play with Tico, but he's too tired.



This building is on the corner of Duquesne and Washington.

There are houses along Duquesne that are for sale, which gave me another option with future homes.  Although this area is not cheap, the walking distance to the Culver City park/Boneyard and downtown Culver City is appealing to me.  And the ocean is only 4 miles away.  The 10 and the 405 freeway are a few minutes from here as well.

This bar called Bottlerock is a local wine bar in downtown Culver City that I've always wanted to check out. I took this photo yesterday, after meeting the girls for some churrascaria(sp?) at Libra Brazilian Steakhouse next door.  Amazon.com offered a half off coupon, so I got four for me and my girlfriends.  Another place I'd want to check out here is Fraiche's, but my pocket book says no bueno.  L'Epicerie, which lookes like a Dean and Deluca type place, is on the corner of Culver and Duquesne.  That's another place I'd want to check out.  Weaver's coffee sounds good.  That place more is like my speed, aka my budget.  Downtown CC offers two hours of free parking, and $1\hour after that.  So it's worth a visit.  Ugo (yay!), Rush Street (wee!), Tender Greens (yum!), Akasha (meh) as well as Trader Joe's and the theaters are also in the area.   

The cons about living in Culver City is that it's further north from us, which is not a good idea for B, who works about 36-40 miles south from our house as it is.  So the further north we live, the worse it is for him.  My job is pretty centralized and is accessible via multiple freeways, so I'm pretty set.  I mean, I got off work at 5pm, and had plenty enough time to stop by the house to let Tico out, stock his water/food dishes, and drive down to Anaheim to meet B, his sister Michelle and Jerry to see the Yankees/Angels play.  B on the other hand, not so much.   

Here's a photo of the Friday night fireworks the Angels put up after the game.

Anyhoo, it never failed that for the few minutes that we were at the dog park, Tico apparently over-exerted his paws.  And he is now nursing a raw rear-right paw.  He now walks around smelling like a bacon-wrapped hotdog you see cooking along Santee Alley.  He's whiny, limping and cranky.  And he bites me whenever I wanted to check out his paw.  He listens to B more, me not so much.  It looks like it's going to be a sock-around-the-paw time in the Tico household tonight.  Between this and the Pedi-paws session yesterday, it has been a butt-head weekend around the house.

I can't wait to send him to bootcamp.  Hopefully that would mellow him down a little.  He's such a grumpy bear.