The old maintenance road

Woke up to drizzle and cooler temperatures.  It was Gretchen's turn for a walk.  She is one dog I don't trust off leash as she has horrible recall.  The only place she's off leash is in the backyard, and then she doesn't go out very often if the other dogs are out there.

I walked east on my road.  There was no sunrise due to the rain clouds, but the breeze was invigorating.  I added an additional mile to the walk before turning around.  Gretchen walked well today and I think it was the prong collar that helped.  She didn't lunge at the desert hares, although I could tell she wanted to.

I've been using down time lately to get plants in the ground. That was my summer goal this year.  All this rain recently is helping as the soil is now saturated.  Most homes here don't landscape.  They use their land for livestock or workshops or junk piles.

But one house does stand out. I noticed one house with a landscaped front yard on this walk, east of Moson Road.  It's the only house with landscaping!  So I won't be the only homeowner here with flowers and cacti and fruit trees.  My yard still needs a lot of work, but I'm making progress.  Give me a few years when most of the seedlings start showing.

The four-mile walk did Gretchen good.  She rested once back home, but I could tell she tensed up a bit when I let the other dogs back in.  The other dogs always seem to like attacking her, and I'm always watching out for her.  I protect her more than she protects me.

In the afternoon I went out again with three dogs (Hansel, Gretel, Fritz) to walk the old maintenance trail that was a staple of mine until the house fire.  I could let the dogs run down the road to the end and back for two miles. Getting there from our old house was a mere three miles.  Now it's more like eight miles.

I wanted to see what wildflowers were blooming.  The maintenance road always had lots of wild senna and zinnias blooming during the monsoon.  I like both flowers for their bright yellow flowers and long blooms.  You can't buy them in garden shops as they are considered weeds.

But sadly the maintenance road is now closed off past the national forest warehouse.  It's now private property from there on down!  What a bummer.  The ATV trail now has a name so that means it will get graded, expanded and paved. My only option now was to walk back and let the dogs roam in the grass near the state road, although it's very rocky and I was on the lookout for snakes.  What used to be an easy two-mile walk up and down the road was now a 1.3-mile walk. We are losing our open spaces.

I found one senna in bloom.  I plan on being back in the area to harvest some seeds this fall.  I'll be the only house on the road with yellow senna but it should be able to grow as it's in native soil and only five miles from its original growth.