Wet Grass and Red Dirt

 People love dogs. 

You can never go wrong 

adding a dog to the story. 

~ Jim Butcher *

Zelda

The dogs rolled in the red dirt of the baseball diamond's infield. Now there is red mud caked in the grooves of the woven harness and clotted in Zelda's long hair. Of course, it blends well with her unnatural hue.

Keelynn and Zelda

<Sigh> 

I suppose children prepared me for dogs...almost.

The morning was cool and bright - the cool wearing off towards the end of the hour-long walk. These walks are the perfect way to start the day, but sometimes exhausting as the dogs run mad (only inside a fenced area) and exercise us by pulling on the leashes ("Squirrel!" "Duck!" "Dog!" "Cat!"). We** do try to change up the scenery - there are at least 3 options for our morning hikes. This one has the most distractions, but is often stunningly beautiful.

I'm combining photos from a couple of walks. The wildflowers have started to bloom in spots (in spite of rigorous mowing). Some birds are leaving the area while others are heading back. Our resident ducks have been joined (for a day at least) by a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

So, here are a few of our park neighbors...

This group of 4 mallards hang-out together.

Sweet little flower

Texas Baby Blue Eyes

This Great Blue Heron was hunched over - looking for breakfast in the creek

We usually see a half-dozen Fox Squirrels. I'm not a fan, but Zelda loves them...and would love to catch one.

M R Ducks...***

A patch of False Dayflowers. The strange little flower-faces watch us as we walk along.

Sweet little blooms of the dreaded, invasive Chinaberry tree. [Ask my sister about this one!]

These snobby grey geese steer clear of other geese and ducks. {I'm not sure if these are pure Swan Geese or hybrids.}

M R Ducks 2! (well, really 5)

Greenthread

The light was all wrong for color, but I loved the "profiles" of this Yellow-crowned Night Heron it allowed.

I attempted to get a little closer.

The heron was not amused. I got a little too close.

Perhaps the best way to end this post is with dogs running - so fast they were a blur...

How fast can you go? Pretty fast... Go, Dog. Go! ****

NOTES:

*This whole thing STARTED with the dogs, or at least A dog. And it continues. You can never go wrong adding a dog to your life.

**These long walks in the park are almost always with my good friend, VM. VM is Keelynn's human.

***M R Ducks - https://optymyst.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/m-r-not-ducks/

****One of my favorite kids' books.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go,_Dog._Go!