Photo: a white dog sits on a green lawn next to a green lawn sign with orange text reading, "At Crown Center / Kansas City / Irish Fest Aug. 29-31." There is green foliage behind the dog and the sign. -- Also be advised, the dog is what dog people *call* an English Cream Golden Retriever, even though Irish cows produce perfectly good cream, and butter for that matter, because they are happier, on average, than English cows, with more charisma despite their tortured souls & profoundly poetic melancholy. Naturally, Lucy bristles at any suggestion that she might be "English." Indeed, she insists, she would run guns for the IRA, if that were still a thing, and if she could do it on a little boat with a wheelhouse like Bogie had in 'To Have and Have Not.' If you need her, just whistle.

Lucy advises that an "Irish Fest" will occur at Kansas City's Crown Center Aug 29-31. Irish Fests are like ordinary fests except that the attendees pretend to be Irish. Please act accordingly and take suitable precautions. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
#ChonkAlert

Photo: a very wet cream colored dog holds a blaze orange retrieval dummy and is confronted by an only slightly less wet black & white dog, who finished second in the race for the dummy, but is contesting the outcome of the race. Shawnee Mission Park, Kansas October 2022 D5600: ƒ/5.6, 1/1600, 160mm, ISO400

[E] for Effort
Lucy got the orange dummy. But Annie got an "E" for Effort!
#ShawneeMission #DogBeach, #Kansas
October 2022
#DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs #DogPictures #ChonkAlert
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekEforEasyE

Photo: a mid-sized white dog sits in the back seat of suburban utility vehicle with farmland passing by in the window behind her. She is smiling. She is an "English Cream Golden Retriever," which is to say: she is a golden retriever, but very light-colored (thus the "cream" in the name) and notorious for driving on the wrong side of the road (thus the "english" bit). Somewhere along U.S. Highway 24 in North Central, #Missouri September 2023 TG-6: ƒ/2.8, 1/100, 4.5mm, ISO100

Lucy
… somewhere along U.S. Highway 24 in
North Central, #Missouri
September 2023
#AlphabetChallenge #DforDrivetime #RoadTrip
#DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs #DogPictures #ChonkAlert
(see alt txt)

Photo: a large and very furry black and white newfoundland/wookiee mix sits in the back seat of an anti-slaver gunship (convincingly disguised as a suburban utility vehicle). She is smiling and there are stickers stuck in her thick fur because she recently has run amuck in a park, in the late fall, in the midwest. She is looking out the window at the passing fields, thinking of all the stickers she could collect in those fields. [*sigh*] Perhaps she should have chosen botanical field research as her specialty instead of combating interplanetary slavery. Still, it's been a good day. And fuck that state trooper anyway. Ticketing the pilot for speeding. He deserved to be barked at. ASTAB! somewhere along U.S. Highway 24 in North Central, Missouri September 2023 TG-6: ƒ/2, 1/60, 4.5mm, ISO100

AnniGungi
a rare #Landseer #Newf / #Wookiee
… aboard an Auzituck anti-slaver gunship
… somewhere along U.S. Highway 24 in
North Central, #Missouri
September 2023
#AlphabetChallenge #DforDrivetime #RoadTrip
#DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs #DogPictures #ChonkAlert

Cellphone Photo: A large orange & white (St. Bernard / Bernese Mountain) dog sits in the front passenger seat of a grey Honda Element. She is happy. Her happiness is contagious. She has a bit of a cowlick atop her head. A bit of red bandana is poking out from under her collar. Outside the vehicle, it is hot and bright. Her yahrzeit is this Thursday. Her memory is a blessing. This was our last road trip together. In a motel parking lot in #Ontario, #Oregon June 2021

SuziQbacca
… aboard the Millennium Falcon
… in a motel parking lot in
#Ontario, #Oregon
June 2021
#AlphabetChallenge #DforDrivetime #RoadTrip #CellPhontography
#DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs #DogPictures #ChonkAlert
#BTW: Suzi Q resembles Chewbacca way more than I resemble Han Solo, #TBF.

Photo: a white dog in the bow of a yellow solo canoe sits facing the boat's stern, and her (the boat's) captain (not shown). She (the dog) has opinions. Her name is Lucy. We (me, the boat's captain) usually do what she says. The lake's water reflects the sky. People picnicking are just visible on the shoreline beyond. Shawnee Mission Lake, Kansas 3 September 2024 TG-6: ƒ/8, 1/250, 4.5mm, ISO100

First Mate Suggests Course Correction
The number two crew member aboard the Canoe LaRoeBoat has advice for the captain.
#ShawneeMissionLake, #Kansas
September 2024
#BlueSkyArtShow #SummerDaze
#DogPictures #canoe #boat #LakeScape #ChonkAlert

Photo: Monochrome. A mostly white, entirely wet, retriever (in profile) is in the midst of lunging herself across the shallows of a gravel beach (left to right), hind legs still planted but front legs mid-air. She may be wet, but she's happy.

Aux Barricades!
#ShawneeMissionPark ( #DogBeach ), #Kansas
October 2022
#WetDogWednesday #MonoClassic #UglyDogs #DogsOfBlueSky #ChonkAlert

Photo: Annie, a black & white Newfie, emerges from a lake shaking her head as water flies. Shawnee Mission Park Dog Beach Johnson County, Kansas June 2023 OM-1: ƒ/5, 1/640, 95mm, ISO200

Photo: Lucy, a white Golden, emerges from a lake shaking her head as water flies. Shawnee Mission Park Dog Beach Johnson County, Kansas June 2023 TG-6: ƒ/4.9, 1/800, 18mm, ISO200

Girls Gone Wild, #Beach Edition
Annie and Lucy at the
#ShawneeMissionPark #DogBeach
Johnson County, #Kansas
June 2023
#AlphabetChallenge in #WeekWforWacky on #WetDogWednesday
#DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs #ChonkAlert #DogPictures

Cellphone Photo: A white golden retriever addresses an assembly of pink (lawn) flamingos in front of a blue two-story house with matching detached garage. There are signs in the yard behind the dog congratulating Bishop Miege High School graduate "Evie" (not shown) on her graduation.

"I Suppose You're Wondering Why I Called You Here"
#KansasCity, #Missouri
May 2024
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekWforWacky
#PhonePhotography #DogsOfBlueSky #UglyDogs
#PinkFlamingo #ChonkAlert

Photo: Monochrome. Moody light and shadow wrap around a beautiful model, the light and shadow that is typically reserved for a woman leaning against the sill of a window in an upstairs Parisian studio. Maybe a little cleavage or side boob. She might be posing for a perfume ad. As it happens, however, this model is a golden retriever, and this studio, a mud puddle … on a cinder track, behind an abandoned high school. So, sorry. No cleavage. No side boob. No perfume. But, she is no less lovely for that. And the light, the shadow, no less moody. Her name is Lucy. She is a patient and excellent model.

The existence of "ThickTrunk" & "Rockin'" Tuesdays implies a
#WetDogWednesday. These are the rules of Photographic Alliteration. I don't write them. I just make them up.
Thus:
Lucy in a Puddle
#KansasCity, #Missouri
May 2025
#PhotographersOfBlueSky #MonoClassic #UglyDogs #DogsOfBlueSky #ChonkAlert

Photo: Lucy (platinum blonde, on the right) notices Marty (black & tan, on the left) noticing her.

Photo: the cute meet: Marty (black & tan, on the left) cuts off Lucy (platinum blonde, on the right) as she tries to dodge left

Photo: the tease: Marty (black & tan, on the left) acts like he's not interested in Lucy (platinum blonde, on the right) as she starts to chase him.

Photo: Marty (black & tan, on the left) "accidentally" lets Lucy (platinum blonde, on the right) catch up to him as she moves to cut him off

Lucy has a dog park crush on Marty
#DogsOfBlueSky #ChonkAlert

Photo: Two golden retrievers playing on some grass. One is golden and wearing a harness and seven months old (as I recall). One is white and teasing the other and four years old.

#DoomScrollInteruption
Just a couple of Golden Retrievers playing in the park.
Move along. Move along. Nothing to see here but a #DogPicture and #DogsOfBlueSky. (Also, #ChonkAlert.)

Photo: Annie, a black & white Newfie, lays in a chair, resting her head on an ottoman, looking straight ahead and wondering why this human has positioned a camera so close to her nose.

We interrupt this alert to bring you another #ChonkAlert: This just in:
Other canine member of LaRoeBoat crew is not amused.
Repeat, not amused. She is, bereft, of mirth (and interest, for that matter in the ongoing shenanigans aboard LaRoeBoat).

Photo: Lucy, a white retriever, imitates James Cagney's signature bad guy face, upon being coaxed and scritched in just the right spot by my wife.

#ChonkAlert #BreakingNews
Dog Imitates Cagney: "Top of the World, Ma!"
(also #DogPictures & #DogsOfBluesky)
Lucy has a face that she makes that makes me laugh. But she will not make this face for me. She will only make this face for my wife. My wife has prevailed upon her.

Photo: TLDR: Lucy & a Great Pyrenees do their meet cute at the park. It's Spring. Love is in the air. Verbose: We see two large white dogs, head to head. She's smiling, but he's going to steal her taxi (not shown), but then she hops in anyway, and it turns out: They're headed to the same restaurant! And, better yet! They're each others' blind dates. And he's like royalty or something. And so naturally, his parents are deeply suspicious. But later, his mom says, "Go to her! Got to her NOW!" And he rushes to the airport and catches her just before she gets on the plane back to Springfield, Missouri. And the rest is history.

tête-à-tête dans la parc
#ChonkAlert (see alt text)

Photo: we see that two English Cream Golden Retrievers and a Great Pyrenees are in a dog park. We saw only one of them walk in, but presume that all three of them walked in as there is no evidence of a recent landing of a helicopter. We have no idea what the Great Pyrenees (on our left) has said, but we can see that Lucy (the one in the middle) found it amusing. The reaction of the other English Cream remains a mystery, although she was seen playing with the Great Pyrenees later, so we may assume that whatever her reaction, she was not seriously offended.

#ChonkAlert #DogsOfBluesky #DogPictures
Two English Cream Golden Retrievers and a Great Pyrenees walk into a dog park, and the Great Pyrenees says ...

Photo: A black & white (Landseer) Newfoundland (Annie (Shenanigans)) bursts like a killer whale from the waters of a dog beach at a midwestern lake. The water around her is disturbed and appears the usual midwestern grey. The water beyond reflects a blue sky. Shawnee Mission Lake, Kansas June 2024 OM-1: ƒ/7.1, 1/1250, 97mm, ISO200

🎼 Way Hay, and Up She Rises 🎶
… in pursuit of a tennis ball (not shown) on the #Dog Beach, at …
Shawnee Mission Lake, #Kansas
June 2024
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekKforKinetic #BeachPhotography
#DogsOfBlueSky #ChonkAlert #DogPictures

Post a meme made by you
( #ChonkAlert #DogPictures )

Photo: a white dog runs toward the camera across green grass carrying a brown stick. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. "Also, say the magic word and ...." - Marx Kansas City, Missouri July 2024 OM-1: ƒ/5.6, 1/1000, 150mm, ISO320

Stick Master
These sticks ain't gonna chase themselves. Lucy tracks 'em down, one by one, when she's a mind to. It's a thankless job, etc. etc.
#KansasCity, #Missouri
July 2024
#AlphabetChallenge, #WeekJforJobs
#DogsOfBluesky, #DogPictures, #ChonkAlert
(see alt text)

Photo: A white dog lays in bright light in the bow of LaRoeBoat (its interior side kevlar yellow) resting her chin on the canoe's gunnel. The waters are calm, the shore lined with green foliage. The sky is blue, striped with feathery white clouds. There are no crocodiles or alligators lurking, no squirrels erranting, no knights miscreanting, nor cops copping. This, she is confident, is due to her continuous vigilance. "They wouldn't dare," she thinks. I whisper, "It's quiet, Lucy. Too quiet." We glide further into the cove. Shawnee Mission Lake, Kansas September 2024 TG-6: ƒ/8, 1/250, 4.5mm, ISO100

Pirate in the Bow
The ever vigilant Lucille watching out for lurking crocodiles and alligators, errant squirrels, miscreant knights, or cops.
#ShawneeMissionLake, #Kansas
September 2024
#AlphabetChallenge, #WeekJforJobs
#DogsOfBluesky, #DogPictures, #ChonkAlert
(see alt text)

Cell Phone Photo: A white retriever poses smiling with flowering white dogwood trees around and behind her. There's some blue sky, some green grass, and a tudor style stucco and brick cottage, too, if you look hard. But mostly, it's a smiling dog … and blooming dogwoods. Kansas City, Missouri April 2024 SM-G991U: ƒ/1.8, 1/306, 5.4mm, ISO40

Dog and Dogwoods
Lucy (Lucille) being happy last Spring on a walk in …
#KansasCity, #Missouri
April 2024
#BlueSkyArtShow #Spring #DogsOfBlueSky #ChonkAlert

Should have included #ChonkAlert above. Sorry.
To anyone who was inadvertently chonked by this post for lack of this warning, our sincerest apologies. Unfortunately, we will not be offering refunds or assistance with medical expenses.
It's like your car getting hit with a shopping cart. Sort of.

Photo: a large & floofy black & white dog sits nicely by a yard sign bearing a line art drawing of a woman in a clip-art style (which may evoke for some the work of Roy Lichtenstein) -- smiling over her shoulder -- and the words "GRAB HIM by the BALLOT / KAMALA 2024."

#ChonkAlert #DogPictures #DogsOfBlueSky
#HarrisWalz2024
We have a winner.
Annie has selected her favorite yard sign of the campaign.
(Thus far.)

Photo: Zachary, a Norman Rockwell Retriever, on a hike on on Ghost Ranch, near Abiqui, NM. Zach was a bunch of breeds, really. Slender, orange with white highlights and black undercoat, he poses Sphinx-like amid dry grass with tan and red mesas on the horizon behind him.

Photo: Annie, a black & white (Landseer) Newfoundland, in a midwestern lake. Someone one has just thrown a perfectly good tennis ball (not shown) into the lake and Annie is leaping up out of the water, making her turn to "rescue" it.

Photo: Suzie Q, a St. Bernard/Bernese Mountain Dog mix), in silhouette and full-stride across deep green grass. Her shape is Bernesie; her coloring, Bernardy. Suzie is wearing her "Therapy Dog" vest. She visited her local Veterans' Administration Medical Campus regularly for 5+ years, pre-Covid.

Photo: Lucy, an English Cream Golden Retriever, on high alert in the Northern Woods of Minnesota. Lucy is white, with a feathery tail. It is Fall, and the ground is covered in brown leaves. Lucy currently visits her local Veterans' Administration Medical Campus, focusing mainly on its in-patient behavioral unit, but also lavishing lots of attention on the staff and waiting rooms.

#ChonkAlert
Here's my #NationalDogDay #DogPictures celebrating four of the (many more than) four four-legged chonkish squirrel-bait darlin's that have brightened my life and lightened my heart.
You can all me blessed or just plain lucky, but ... wow. I sure am somethin'. And grateful.

Photo: a white retriever (the above referenced Lucy) sits upright on a broad limestone sofa (seat, arms, back, the whole bit) in a Kansas City pocket park.

#ChonkAlert #DogPictures
#DogsOfBlueSky
Lucy guards a stone couch in Kansas City. We don't take to couch molesters in these here parts.

Photo (by Mrs LaRoeBoat): an orange flower (center), two purple flowers (bottom left corner, lower right quatrant), quite a few green leaves (pretty much throughout), and (behind all that) a not-at-all well-hidden white retriever, standing very still, because she's INVISIBLE god damn it! Pay attention, people, you can't see her!

Lucy is here, but you can not see her, for she has mastered the Secret Art of Ninja Invisibility.
#ChonkAlert

Photo: white retriever head looking into park (not shown) over ... white male knee bent into sitting position. Also in frame: half a white male toe, portion of navy blue shorts leg, some gravel, bit of grass, white retriever foot.

Bsky: What's up?
Me: Not much. You?
Lucy: Squirrel!
#ChonkAlert

Photo: Annie (a black & white newfie, dripping an unusual amount of drool) and Lucy (a white retriever) are forced to sit in the shade while their human takes a picture.

Earlier today, in a different dog park, with a mostly shaded trail and before it got too hot, Annie and Lucy hiked.
#DogPictures
#ChonkAlert

Photos: Annie, a Landseer (black & white) Newfoundland, perches on a brown leather chair in a Midwestern living room.

#TimeLineCleanse
Who's that lounging
in ... my ... chair?
Who's that casting
de ... vious ... stares
in my direction?
Oh mama, this must be my dream.
#DogPictures
#ChonkAlert

Photo: a white Golden Retriever (Lucy) runs across green grass speckled with little white clover(?) buds, holding a stick (she was not allowed to bring her scissors to the park, so she had to settle).

Photo: a golden Golden Retriever (Mulligan) runs across green grass speckled with white clover(?) buds.

Photo: a white Golden Retriever (Lucy) runs across green grass speckled with little white clover(?) buds, escorted by an anonymous brindle of unknown lineage (she could tell you her name, but she'd have to kill you).

Photo: Hatch (a chocolate Labrador Retriever) has entered the chat room. He, like all the other dogs at the park, is on green grass, but in this case the brightness of the grass has reduced it to a light green haze.

More pictures from yesterday's Saturday in the Park (thanks Chicago, the band, not the city).
#DogPictures
#ChonkAlert