Our Creek

November 4,2010

We have gone walking all kinds of places around our area, we almost forgot we have a creek on our property. The lack of rain has given us a wonderful opportunity to be able to walk down our creek that is pretty much dry now. All that is left is a few pools of stagnant water, however pretty they may be with the fallen leaves gathered in it.The first thing my little monkey does is climb a tree, “Mom, look at me!” Adam shouts in accomplishment.

It is hard to believe as we walk over the dry ground that this creek can turn into a raging whirlpool that threatens to come out of its banks during the rainy season. Right now it seems so calm and peaceful.

Fallen trees litter the way, probably some of the reason the creek breaches its banks on occasion.

Austin calls, “Hey mom, are these spores on the back of these leaves?”

“Yep, sure are, good job spotting them,” I say after a quick investigation of a small fern growing out of the side of the bank. Botany class is paying off!

“Hey mom, take a picture.” Anna requests. Up a tree she and her brother go, both squabbling over the limelight.

A stump has been smoothed by the water rushing by it on so many occasions. A tree fell overhead of the creek, a reminder of Hurricane Rita. Orangey, the cat leads the way. There are only a few puddles in the creek bed now, probably left over from the recent rain we received earlier this week. Just enough mud to leave behind a nice set of footprints from our neighbors the Raccoons.

Adam is all boy. He does this trick of hanging upside down from one of the fallen trees across the creek. Not to be outdone, Anna copies, monkey see, monkey do. Austin thinks his brother and sister are crazy.

The high grass shows how long the ground has been dry. This area should be covered with water. Ahead lies a fallen tree that was here since we moved here, it is mostly rotten now.

We get to the trestle, long forgotten by the railroad. The train has not come through our town since the early 1990s. I remember as a child walking down to the train track and laying pennies on the rails hoping to get a squished penny from it, a treasure to a small country girl. With a closer inspection of the old trestle we see that the remains of it were put to good use, honey bees are using it for their honey fort. We leave them alone so they will continue to pollinate our garden each spring.

The little monkeys find the swinging vine and take turns swinging across the little gully as brother looks on with amusement.

Dad finds a bucket washed down from the rains, so he takes advantage of it while he waits by our fence for us to catch up.  Donkey also waited impatiently for us to cross the fence. He wants his family in the fence if he has to be in there. We cross into the pasture, being careful of the ornery donkey and head home.

It was a very nice walk without ever leaving our land.

~Becky~

© Becky Husband & Oh Happy Daze & Disclaimers

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Blackforest Walkabout

October 23,2010

We were bored so we decided to go for another walk, just a short one because it was getting late. We drove down to the end of the road in the Black-forest community where the road dead ends into Lake Sam Rayburn. The lack of rain has left the lake really low so we had plenty of beach area. The sun was setting and was quite beautiful.

Anytime we go on a walk into the great world of nature we always carry our adventure science bags. They have containers and tweezers and magnifying glasses, paper and pencils and bug identification books.All the things a young scientist will need to take samples and investigate the world around them. I labeled these their S.C.O.U.T. bags…Science Class Outdoor Unique Tour..yes a bit of a stretch to get the name I wanted but hey it worked.

Anna and Austin with their S.C.O.U.T. bags in tow

Adam forgot his bag but that didn’t slow him down any. He just had his loving family help keep up with his treasures he found along the way. Being a bit more free worked well for Adam, he was excited and full throttle the whole time.

We walked along the beach looking at shells, footprints, feathers, plants, and crawdad holes. Every time I would stop to take a picture I would announce “Oh cool, check it out” and then to my surprise I would get the back of a little head in my viewfinder of my camera!

Above pic left to right: an emergent plant, raccoon track, mini sand dunes, Adam’s curiosity, a feather, crawdad hole, a large dog or cat print, and a deer or hog print.

We came upon a very large dead fish which did not smell the greatest but it had large scales that became part of our treasures for study.

Adam “Ewww gross!!”

Once we got out to the point of the beach the wind started to pick up and blew the sand across the beach. A mini dust storm was the one thing we will remember the most. The way the sand slithered along the ground was almost spiritual. It reminded me of the plague in Egypt of the death of the first born like in the cartoon Prince of Egypt. The way that it slinked and weaved in and around each bush and grass clump. It was a great lesson for the kids because last week we learned about the great dust storms the U.S. had back in the 1930s.

Anna got a bit far ahead and had to come back facing the storm.

The sun had set and it was time to leave. Though it was a short adventure, it was a good one!

The setting sun over the tree line. Simply Beautiful.

~Becky~

© Becky Husband & Oh Happy Daze & Disclaimers

Affiliate Links: Thank you for supporting my blog by purchasing through these links.

Christianbook.com carries a wide variety of Christian, Hebrew Roots, & Messianic products along with an abundant amount of homeschool curriculum, inspirational books, movies, music, gifts and more!!

Looking for great essential oils at affordable prices?? Check out Spark Naturals!! Be sure to save your 10% by using coupon code: HAPPYDAZE

Find pretty much anything you need at Amazon.com

Ads that are displayed below this point are NOT my ads but those of WordPress.com and are not necessarily approved or supported by Becky Husband or Oh Happy Daze. If you saw an inappropriate ad, please report it!