To the Reservoir and Back

I wasn't sure how it would be with just Gabe and I home this school year. We miss having Bess with us. We have gotten used to Rachel, Hannah and Dan being gone all day, although I know Gabe misses having someone to play with. It has been good, just the two of us. We are getting our work done, taking long walks, having endless conversations about every under the sun. Gabe is a wonder at chatting. He can produce a seemingly endless stream of thought for very long periods of time. It isn't the nervous chattering type of conversation, just the natural flow between two good friends.


Today we headed out on our walk and both of us were feeling adventurous and ready to explore a bit further. We walked down to the reservoir.

The fall colors are not very bright this year. Probably a result of the very dry late summer we have had. I am still hoping that a bit of rain might help. There are some nice colors and we saw our share of lovely leaves.

It seems so many things were out and about today. We saw this snake basking on a rock in the riverbed.

There were lots of butterflies around and grasshoppers galore.

When we got to the reservoir, we decided to venture out a bit. The reservoir has restricted usage and you aren't suppose to go down to the water unless you are fishing, but being just a bit of a rebel, I figured Gabe, Gracie and I would cause no more disturbance than the fishermen. Because the water is so low right now, we could get out onto the rocks and walk along the edge rather than in the woods. It was very pleasant. There wasn't anyone else around today, except the creatures that call it home.

We came upon this Great Blue Heron, who seemed very unconcerned with our presence. We watched him for a bit and then Gracie started thrashing in the water and startled him.

The clouds started to roll in and we still had about 2 miles to go to get back home, so we turned back.

It started to rain when we were 1/2 mile from the house, but Gabe had one more task he wanted to accomplish. For several days he had seen an old scooter down under the bridge. Today he decided to retrieve it. He climbed down over the bank and hauled it out. The front axle was bent, so he had to carry it. We hoofed up the last big hill and made it home before the rain got too heavy.

What a beautiful day to take a nice long walk with a pair of very special friends.