Room to spare.
She’s a little bigger now.
I’ve been thinking
We go to bed on a nice cold winter night and what do we do? We throw on an extra blanket, pull the covers up to our chins, then we’re nice and warm. I saw a guy on television stepping out of a helicopter onto the frozen Arctic Sea. It was 50 degrees below zero. He was wearing many layers of clothing, boots, mittens, and a hood. Totally covered from head to toe. But he was still talking. His face was uncovered. When we’re sleeping on that cold winter night, every part of our bodies are covered except our faces. Of course our faces are open; it would be inconvenient for them not to be; it would be hard to talk or breathe. But what is it about faces that they can be exposed to the coldest temperatures, but if everything else is covered we’re toasty warm? The skin on my face is not particularly tough; it’s not that. Do we have different nerve endings in our faces so that part of our bodies responds differently to cold than every other part of our bodies? Do faces perceive cold differently? I need to know these things…
Meanwhile. Back at the ranch. We’re still moving back into the house (there is a lot to do), working, and reminiscing about our Alaska Trip.
From Hill Country
To Coastal Plain.
To the Falfurrias Rest Area.
To the Rio Grande Valley.
Not that the name The Valley has anything to do with topography. There are no mountains, so hard to imagine a real valley. The highest elevation in this neighborhood is a freeway overpass.
The name Rio Grande Valley came about at the turn of the century, the 20th century, when agriculture was just starting here. Land developers came up with that name to make the area sound more attractive to potential settlers. Apparently the ploy worked because this whole area is filled with agriculture now. Probably the fact that agriculture works here had more to do with the area’s growth though. Anyway, this flat floodplain area that drains into the Rio Grande continues to be known as The Valley.
And here we are, back to our cozy little house.
And nice little yard.
It all survived our absence.
One more line to draw on the map. Seven months on the road, and one more line to draw on the map and wouldn’t you know, I can’t get the map to take it.
The heading home part of the trip map
One more line to show we made it home. Maybe the map is suffering trip-withdrawal and doesn’t want it to be over…
Hill Country
Sharp-shinned Hawk
We’re at Choke Canyon State Park.
The heading home part of the trip map
Forest. Trails. No bird feeding stations, but internet!
A Milestone
For the last several days, not a single person in our house has peed on the floor.
The housebreaking effort is starting to take hold. Jesse now goes to the door and yips to go outside to pee and poop. We have about one minute to respond before things go terribly wrong. Wait a minute; who exactly is being trained?
A lot of West Texas today.
Gradually giving way to Hill Country with its limestone cuts.
The heading home part of the trip map
We’re at South Llano River State Park. Great place. Forest. Trails. Bird blinds. No internet.