Our dog Sammie has finally gotten used to Tree Ring.
Normally he is hyper vigilant and stays alert the entire time we're there.
But he's starting to relax.
While he still can't wait to get back into the truck to go home, he appears to actually enjoy being there.
While the shovel made a handy leash holder, we found we could let Sammie off the leash without him wandering off. This is really remarkable, and something we could never do in the City.
I suspect that in the country he looks to us to protect him. In the City, he knows that protection is his job.
The gophers seem to have relaxed too. They think there is buried treasure somewhere on Tree Ring and have told all their friends. The hills are sometimes taller than Sammie.
We only saw one other animal on our trip. A gopher tortoise that wasn't very happy to see us. So far I've counted 5 gopher tortoise holes on Tree Ring.
We went to Tree Ring this past weekend. That's two times in two weeks! Yipee!
The photo below compares the winter version of the picture in the blog header.
What a considerable difference, huh?
This picture is from a bridge up the road from Tree Ring.
For some reason, when you click on the picture you just see the winter version.
Eight weeks ago I was doing this:
Yesterday I was doing this:
We haven't been to Tree Ring since mid-November. It was so nice to be back. Looks like the TRC gopher was very busy since we were gone. He seems to be looking for something - like we have buried treasure in the clearing somewhere.
I've been back to work part time since week 4 and full time starting last week. Because of the pre-existing STD clause, I won't be able to get the left knee done until June. I am on 5 hydrocodone per day and really it is for the left knee, not the right. I'll have to wean down, though, since that is still a high dose. I can't wait until I don't have to take any of this stuff anymore.
TRC was wonderful as usual. We didn't see any wildlife except for a flock of about 8 turkey hens on the neighbor's property. We awoke to a VERY loud male gobble though. That was the coolest. He gobbled about 4 times over about 1/2 hour as I walked to the dry pond.
On this trip I found a new talent - fly whisperer.
He let me pet him like 10 times. Country flies sure are strange.
I also found that I should watch those flying fire embers just a little bit.
We are hoping to go to TRC every other weekend now, if possible. The weather this winter has been spectacular. It was 75/55 this weekend.
