Deep In the Heart of Texas

Song - My Hero's Have Always Been Cowboys by Willie Nelson

Last week Mr. B and I were in Texas and Oklahoma to meet his new first cousins.

Thanks to DNA we were able to find cousins from both of his biological parents.

This trip was to meet his dad's side of the family and they generously shared

 stories, photos and laughter with us! Some of his cousins flew in or drove to Forth Worth to spend the day with us and it was very much appreciated!

Last Tuesday after a full day of visiting, we stepped outside of our hotel to see the

"The Herd" - these are Texas Longhorns herded by authentically dressed cowboys called Drovers.

These guys take their job calmly and seriously as just the day before they had trouble with one of the cattle when it wouldn't cross over a metal plate covering a hole in the street.

 The cowboys worked with him over and over again and eventually moved the crowd back
as he was getting feisty.

Tuesday they tried him again and he hesitated for a moment before moving forward.

"If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, 

take a look back every now and then to make
sure it's still there."

--Will Rogers 

Wild Goose Chase

Song - Little White Duck by Burl Ives

You have probably heard me complain about the Canadian Geese overpopulation in our neighborhood. They fly overhead and "honk", they land on our roof and in our pool, they are noisy and at times messy.

They even follow me to Lake Tahoe!

 But I have to tell you that they also bring me a lot of joy

Some years they nest right under our deck, near the creek.

Some evenings at sunset they fly overhead in a large flock and are beautiful to watch.

Did you know that they mate for life?

And that they were nearly extinct in the 1950's?

This afternoon my son, Tyler called for me to watch the two geese in the top photo, down in our little creek. They seemed to be enjoying the waterfall and the warm sunshine.

After a few minutes, these six little goslings came out from behind a bush.

And floated away with mom & dad........

Who were keeping a watchful eye on Tyler and me!


(Did you happen to see the horse head shadow on the floor of the creek? I have been teaching them to do shadow puppets all year now and it finally paid off!!!)


"If you feel the urge, go on a wild goose chase.  What do you think wild geese are for anyway?"  --Will Rogers