Finally we figured we had to quit babying Paddy's paw and get in a hike.
We started below the dam and walked for almost 2 hours with the dog whisperer and his pups, Hugo, Stanley, and Ruby.
His dogs and ours were almost instant friends. Hugo and Scruffy ran off together. Paddy and Ruby were both kept on their leashes for a little while extra before we let them loose. They bonded too and ran with each other (the 8 year old and the 18 month old). Paddy had a hard time keeping up after an initial burst of energy. Ruby is a flash.
One sweet moment occurred repeatedly - I would fall behind the group as I tried to get photos of this and that. Scruff would stop, turn around, and come back for me.
Even Paddy would hang back every now and then, hugging my leg when she had gone too long and too hard.
We were all worn out as we headed for home. DH took a nap. I started to download these photos. Hope you enjoy them. [Reordering them has been a pain so forgive the lack of logic.]
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| "Why haven't we walked here before? Why did it take so long for us to meet these fun dogs???" |
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| What is this? |
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| Little yellow composites |
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| Ruby, the snake finder. She found no snakes today, but did catch a field mouse - poor thing. |
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| Ruby and Hugo and the DW (dog whisperer) |
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| The woods were full of Bois d'Arc (Osage Orange). The fruit were enormous. |
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| Ruby and Hugo wandering the path with Stanley way in the distance. |
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| Not sure - Iron weed? |
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| Insect tracks on the leaves - beautiful. |
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| Berries of some kind. |
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| These remind me of the sea oats at the coast. I suspect they are some variety of wild oat. |
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| The roots around this tree were beautiful. (1) |
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| Roots (2) |
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| Roots (3) |
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| Cannot tell if this is a bunch of bloomed out sunflowers or something else. It was pretty. |
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| DW, DH, and Scruffy |
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| Path winds through fluffy seed-headed grass. |
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| The creek. I have pictures from years ago - an Eagle project. We built an earthen dam. The scout involved just had his first child. I am starting to feel old. |
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| Not sure, but really looked like Pyracantha (firethorn) - a plant from hell, as far as I am concerned. |
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| Scruffy, come on back! |
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| Good boy! |
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| The path was pretty steep in places...not so much here. |
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| A hole. |
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| And another hole |
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| Yet another hole |
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| Prickly pear showing its ripened fruit (pear shaped - must be where the name comes from) |
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| Scruff and his new buddy, Hugo. |
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| The pack. Someone is missing - probably Ruby. |
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| Is that my sweet Padimus drenched in nasty stagnant water? |
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| Scruffy comes running to check on me. Love those ears in mid-flop |
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| Now THIS is a meadow! |
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| More interesting grass |
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| Happy dogs. |
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| Buzzards were everywhere and one lost a feather on the trail. |
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| Buzzards fill limbs of a tree along the river. |
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| Close-up of the birds...appropriate for the season... |
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| Stanley stalling on the way back to the cars. |
Amy, do you know what poke weed is? ~A tall North American plant (Phytolacca americana) having small white flowers, blackish-red berries clustered on long drooping racemes, and a poisonous root. Also called pokeberry, pokeroot.~ We had this weed growing in our yard because my mom grew up with eating during the depression. We kids would never eat it because it looked so gross and we knew it was poisonous if it wasn't fixed properly. Mother and her sisters loved it! Anyway, that weed with berries in your pictures looked like it might be pokeweed.
ReplyDeleteYea! Thanks for that. I have heard of poke weed (remember "Poke Salad Annie"?) I have never known what it looks like. I will take a look. What did we do without the internet?
ReplyDeleteYou know those walks are what I miss about not being in the country or having access to the area for walking. Remind me where you are. I do enjoy being able to look up information so quickly. Of course, you always have to 'consider the source.'
ReplyDeleteYou need to find a local park. Many of my walks are just down my street to the local park. I try to choose "low traffic" times, but there always seems to be something new going on in the area. The local park is mostly playing fields, but we manage to avoid the crowds.
ReplyDelete