Earring 0052 - Happy Trails

 These are kind of golden in color. They could have matched some of the sand piles that my brother and I saw today on our road trip. There is a lot of frac mining going on this area. With it are lots of signs protesting the mining. Ironically, the homes that are displaying these signs are extremely close to wetlands (probably was a wetland before they built). Other homes with the signs are sitting on top of hills. Neither of these are environment-friendly, as is the frac mining. However, I think what they are really protesting is the traffic that comes with the frac mining. It's a tremendous business. Still, if they were so concerned about Mother Nature, they wouldn't have built their homes were they did. Just an opinion.

 

There was a lot of indecision when it came to the earrings this morning. Funny thing is I have several pairs set aside for this coming week. Wonder if I'll wear them or pick another. Timing of indecision is kind of weird because within minutes of it, my brother called and asked if we should go on a road trip. You usually don't have to ask me twice to go on a road trip - I can't get the word "yes" out of my mouth fast enough.

 

There's something special about watching spring unfold in front of you on road trips. From the increasing number of kinds of birds to the different types of wildlife and landscape that changes each day enhancing the rides. Yesterday, my sister and I saw deer, very small warblers, a kingfisher that dove into the water for food, alpacas, flowering cottonwoods, eagles, egrets, cranes, hawks, and the list goes on. Can't forget about the sounds either. Many different bird and frog sounds. There was one kind of frog that made a purring noise just like a cat. Neither my sister nor I could remember ever hearing it before. Today, my brother and I didn't see too many animals or unfolding of the colors of spring. We were along smaller rivers and yet there was very little movement except for a lot of vultures. In a couple of weeks, green will be here. Even though the browns were okay to see yesterday, I'm ready for a new color. We take different routes all of the time so the trails are never boring.

 

One of the things my brother told me about was a story of when my brothers were kids. Mom and dad used to take us fishing. It didn't make a difference how old we were. I remember my sister at a very young age alongside the bank really close to mom and dad. Roger told me that they used to catch tadpoles and raise them. There was a big barrel on the back porch where they kept the tadpoles. Eventually, the tadpoles changed into frogs. They had to be scooped out because the frogs couldn't jump out of the barrel. Roger said he thinks dad got tired of the barrel being on the porch and one day it was just gone. My sister and I raised tadpoles too. I remember when they changed into tiny frogs and can envision it to this day. We had our frogs inside and I think it got too hot for them and they died. I'm definitely not good raising frogs. One time when my grandsons were staying with me, I got them an aquarium and some kind of frogs. Well, one day when I came home from work, the frogs were no longer the right color. Guess it got too hot for them where we kept them. That's the last time I tried having frogs.