Yesterday's Walk

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Yesterday we had a big ol' Kansas thunderstorm roll in at about 5:30 or so.  We were able to go outside for a quick trip before it hit, then us girls snoozed for a while. Not only did the storm bring us some much needed rain (almost two and a quarter inches!), but it was cool enough when the storm ended for us to all go on a family walk!  Everyone wins!  Anyway, Mom took her camera on the walk, so how about you come with us?

Because of all the rain, Little Kitten Creek was overflowing its banks!

Little Kitten Creek - muddy, but FULL!

We are still in a drought, so this is really great news and will help a lot.

We went up and around a bit, then down the path where we often see wildlife. Guess what was there yesterday?!?

"DINNER!"

Can you see him up there? Let me have Mom zoom in for you:

"Uh-oh!"

He saw us coming and kept running away from us.

"Quit following me!!!"

He eventually figured out that if he got off the path, Mom and Dad wouldn't let us follow. He slipped into the prairie grasses and made his getaway. We don't get to go into the prairie grasses - it's part of that whole "Let's Avoid Ticks" campaign our mom is on. Whatever.

Here's a shot of Mags once we got back up on the road:

Maggie - and Dad's legs

We heard Meadowlarks calling to each other. Mom spotted one of them, high up in this cedar tree:

Western Meadowlark in an Eastern Red Cedar

For some cool info on the cedar, please click here.

After the storm, as I mentioned, it was nice and cool for a little while -- and we also had some high winds (that's why you see Dad wearing a wind shirt).  When Maggie reached the bridge over the Kansas Ocean, she paused to enjoy the ocean breeze:

"Ahhh!  Smell that breeze!"

Both of us girls held onto Dad for a quick photo by the KSO:

Dad and I are standing; Maggie is sitting

Please note we are all smiling and looking in the general direction of Mom.  More or less.

OK - let's head up the hill by the water tower!

Me, heading up the hill

You can see the water still running down the hill. It was a couple inches deep in some places and was fun to splash through!

Mom and I stopped to shoot a picture of these wildflowers:

Western Horse Nettle

The bad thing about stopping for photos is this, of course:

"Hey, come on you guys!!!"

That's OK. The good part is what was all over the path!  MUD!

Anyway, we were so happy to get some much-needed rain AND to be able to go on an all-family walk!  Thanks for coming with us!

Cammie!