adventures in the out-of-doors
We considered making another attempt at the mall this afternoon, but Leah decided she rather go for a walk in nature. It was a good choice. We took the dog, and he pulled us through swamps and over hills for about five miles; maps were not available, so perhaps two of those miles were on a loop we might not have followed had we known what we were getting into. Still, it was very pretty along that particular rocky path, and it was less muddy than the more low-lying sections of the particular state park which we were visiting. The water table is quite high this season, we find. Rascal enjoys all manner of water, and he was in and out of ponds, puddles and creeks the whole way. Luckily as a short-haired hound he features a quick-dry, self-cleaning coat; though perhaps he wasn't entirely self-cleaned by the time he got back in the car. Oh well, nobody uses that back seat except dogs and kids, and they're both already pretty dirty anyways.
All the fresh air tired the three of us out nicely, and if we didn't feel bad about going to bed before the sun set we'd all be asleep already (instead of just the dog). Still, in bed reading at 7:30 aint bad. It's the old-fashioned, fresh-air natural life for us; and we don't even have to get up to milk the cows!