A first

Sunday mornings can be so hard. No one wants to move. We have overdone and our achy bones tell us that we have walked enough, worked enough. But we know better, really. But there is an internal argument - walk or don't walk ("Stay home and put your feet up." or "Get up, you lazybones. You always feel better after a walk!").

And the good angel won the argument today - walking clothes were gathered, gear readied and walkers headed down the road in the damp, almost mist of a grey, grey morning.

A pickup entered the park as we walked the wood-line. The terrier and Labrador in the back stared at us. We wondered if we would have companions walking the park paths today. But they did not stay. So, once we were alone, we headed towards our dirt track.

But first I stopped to take photos of the dewberry vines in bloom. They were not as profuse (or lovely) as those at the springs, but I wanted to see if I could at least grab a photo. After taking a series of bad shots of dewberry flowers we heard a loud rustling in the woods.

To be clear - we hear "a loud rustling in the woods" all the time. We are usually confident that deer are about. But we never see them unless they break out of the woods and into the meadows. The saplings and underbrush in our woods provide sufficient camouflage. And the eyesight of the walker and two aging dogs always proves insufficient to distinguish deer hiding in the depths of our small forest.

But today we were stopped adjacent to a long clearing. We could see into the woods for about 60 or 70 feet. Having no reason to move too fast today, we watched and waited. And we were rewarded as three deer crossed the clearing. Camera in hand, foolish me, I counted deer instead of attempting to capture this event. [So, you will just have to trust me.]

I thought it too much to expect deer in the meadows as well, but we walked our road and the pups followed scents as we followed the turns in the road. The near meadow was empty of deer, but full of green and just blooming wild verbena.

See the deer in the meadow ahead?

Here, let me blow it up for you. NOW do you see it - there to the right side of the road? No?

OK. This all I can do. Do you see her now?

We continued down the road and glanced up to see a deer standing at the opening to the far meadow. It stopped, we stopped. I snapped photo after photo realizing that distance would work against me.

The deer ran as we approached, but was hiding close enough to us that we heard that loud warning snort as we entered the meadow. We watched and waited. It had been such a lucky morning already. Surely the deer would break from the woods and give us one parting vision. They have done so before...

But not today.

Dewberries along the barbed wire fence.



New mesquite leaves bright green against the cedars.

More dewberries near the entrance to the park.

Wild mustard blooming along the edge of the woods. It seems to be taking over the countryside.

NOTE:

Danger of frost is over. The native pecans have budded out. Spring is officially here.