My birthday walk at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.
It starts at the top of this trail map, right along the southern border wall, and does a big loop between there and the Rio Grande, so my entire walk was on the other side of the fence.
We get a variety of habitat in the thorn forest.
Past the old cemetery.
The cemetery relates to a large ranch created by a land grant from the Mexican government in 1834. It was Mexico here then. We have a friend a little farther north who still owns family property as a result of a land grant when this was Mexico.
Later, I ran across this mesquite tree that may capture how I want to be when I grow up.
Beat up. Twisted. A limb blown off by lightning and even burned a little.
But still out there doing its thing.
Unless maybe I’d rather be like this squirrel.
Fat and happy.