New Year....New adventures

 Yesterday I invited my little kiddos on my long walk. The past couple days it was just me and my 4 legged companion (Stanley). It wasn't that I didn't want the kiddos, they were all off playing with friends when Stanley and I wanted to go. So yesterday the kids went with me. I am just going to go ahead and say that all wildlife heard us coming before we even left the house. When it is just Stanley and I we can creep up on all sorts of critters. And there are heaps of critters in the "wild" as all the neighborhood kids call this undeveloped part of our community. Between you and me I hope it remains undeveloped. It is quite lovely and a desolate and barren sort of way. I keep expecting Nacho Libre to pop up over one of the rock and cactus deposits.

 So, here is the trail element....Sam and Emma. Emma is having drama because she changed her mind about wearing a cap and Sam does not want to carry it. Ethan and Stanley are in the front. There are lots of fine things for Stanley to sniff out, and I hope with him out front he can scare off Mr. No Hips.

 As we get closer to the Concho River the foliage changes a bit. Still plenty of cactus, but more trees. Deer like to bed down here. Stanley and I have surprised them here in the past. Surprise! Here we are! Didn't happen yesterday. Emma was still trying to make the boys carry her hat. It involved a bunch of fussing.

 They did pause their squabbling long enough to pose for a picture.

 We saw a tree with some buzzards in it. I told the kids that if we didn't keep it down a bit more they would find us and eat us. A couple years ago that would have worked, Ethan was quick to point out that Vultures actually eat things that were already dead. Well... there you go.  See, I wanted the kids to be quiet so we could listen to the sound of nature. I love the sound it makes.

 We found some of these funny holes in the rocks that one of my neighbors said is where the Indians ground their grain.  the sides of the holes are perfectly smooth. There are quite a few scattered about. (See Mom, I have your boots on. They keep my legs from getting scratched up by the prickers. So you let me know if you want me to give your really fancy ones a good home. Unless you gave them to Laura. And that is fine too.)

 My little fellas. Sam looks like me and Ethan is a clone of his father.

 So we finally made it down to the river. There really is not much of a flow to the water, so it is more like a long, skinny stagnant lake. But it is the best river we have around here.

Stanley has made this walk with me quite a few times before and he has never gotten in the water before. I just figured he didn't like to swim. Well, today was the day. He jumped right in and swam around, leapt out and jumped in again and I swear he had the biggest smile on his face. We will have to find somewhere cleaner for him to swim around. He is a lab after-all.

 So, after this picture it got kinda crazy. I had to scramble over a barbed wire fence to round up my errant dog who was on the trail of a flock of peacocks. and while I could get over the fence he refused. And I wasn't about to heave 100 pounds of wet lab over barbed wire, so I left my kids with a stern "STAY RIGHT THERE. I will be right back as soon as I can find a way." In the end I had to walk almost to the highway all the while fearing my kids would wonder off into the desert never to been seen again. Now I don't think I have told you what I was wearing....I looked a bit like a crazy woman as I was lounging around the house sewing all day. I had on some tights, one of my husbands wool sweaters, cowboy boots, and a crazy looking knit hat. Oh and a Camera. Imagine that storming down the highway. But happy news! My little brood was right where I left them. And I did indeed hear them well before I saw them. They were talking to the peacocks.

Have a wonderful New year folks and I hope you have many wonderful adventures. We are going to do "Cowboy Canyon" today.