Flora and Fauna

We hiked to a nearby greenbelt w/ a water "path" that is seldom wet. More of an arroyo, you could say. This day it was RUSHING. "Fast water" as both boys call it. Heavy rains have made it ideal for those w/ more extreme sports in mind. More extreme than skipping rocks.

There was this ...



And this ...

There was The Short One telling me what poison ivy looks like. And he didn't learn what poison ivy looks like from attending nine months of nature school, but from his uncle who I didn't know knew what poison ivy looked like.

There was The Big One who kept us from getting lost. To me, each bend in the trail looked like the next muddy, puddled bend in the trail, but he knew exactly where we were each time we asked. And we DID ask.

There were the dogs on the trail rushing over to sniff our jerky and cheese.

There was the red long-legged spider on my shoulder that prompted each boy to jump up and say, "OK, let's go." I think, as a precautionary measure ... as tho' they were worried for ME. And I thought that was sweet.

There was the picnic blanket. That The Short One insisted we use. Even tho' we had a bench.

And then there were the dung beetles ...

The HIGHLIGHT of the trip. Must've studied them for MINUTES. Longer than they skipped rocks.