Grey day with friends, dogs, and fossils

The day was cool and damp - we couldn't decide if it was misting or if it was thin fog lifting.



Grey upon grey and chilly-damp

We got out to the park mid-morning and TDW had already arrived. The dogs greeted each other and scattered. Each time I tried to snag a photo of the "pack" one or more of the four-leggers moved just out of the shot.

Stanley and Ruby (way out ahead), then TDW, DH, and Scruffy. Paddy is directly in front of me and Hugo is lagging behind.

The dogs scatter and rejoin the humans.

Here Stanley has come back to see what is keeping everyone else.

Stanley moved ahead. He kept turning around and waiting - as if wondering why everyone else was moving so slowly. A couple of times he came back, then turned around again and headed off to the creek. Stanley is the "wise old one" of the group. He looks so regal. And he often ignores the rest of us, as if he can take us or leave us (he mostly leaves us). But today he stayed close.
The textures of this place excite me every time I visit. Dried weeds, abandon nests,

Lovely thinly stacked wafers of dried vegetation (or seeds within the dried flower-heads).

Abandoned nest?

Just at eye level, a peek into the once-bird-home.

Wild verbena still hanging on (why does neither camera capture this purple well?)

This strange little bush looked very strange and scary.

Pile of something gathered in a low spot in the creek.

Porcupine egg (OK. I know it is a cocklebur*) was caught in Scruffy's coat. I tried to "pull" it out, but then had to carefully extricate it with care and patience.

Small driftwood pile and snaky stick.

Fungus? Lichen? Whatever - cool.

I've watched the seed pods - now sprung open, seeds disbursed.

We headed to the creek and tried to walk along the creek bed to the other side of the highway and the "rest" of the wildlife area. Our efforts were thwarted by a big waterhole. The creek will have to dry significantly before that path is opened.
[View these in quick succession. It is like a flip-book. The guys walk ahead.]

It is all me really. I want to walk on the other side of the area. It is new and I am curious. There are some serious woods and other paths to be explored. Perhaps next weekend.


Other stuff:



Love this dog - at least one dog poses.

Still posing.

And he comes when called.

Love this girl too, but she only comes when she's called - and FEELS like it.

Here they come. Scruffy hit a deep hole, but kept running.

Old metal fence?




These rust spots are lined up along the creek about 5 to 6 feet apart. The remains of metal bars pounded into the rock?

Close-up of rusty hole.

Another spot.

Close-up

Fossils and chert (all photos from the middle of the creek bed - all items in the middle of the photo):

Knuckle-sized piece of chert. It looks worked (and the folks at the Gault site have provided support for that**)

Small thin sharp (knife-like) piece of chert.

Another small fossil.



We always all these "devil's toenails.

Another view, in case you missed it.



Large shell fossil. Yes, I was excited.

NOTES:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthium
**http://www.gaultschool.org/Home.aspx