Saturday, April 18, 2009

Alice's Acorns

I had a couple of guests on my hike today. Alice made a typical Alice-like return, and Jack decided he wanted to come along too this time. I'll bet nobody that read about Jack thought he was real. He is, but the stories about him haven't been so far, because there has been nothing to tell yet.

Any time I have guests along on a hike, I have to alter the way I do things. For one thing, I know I won't be sneaking up on any animals when there is so much noise from other people. They don't do it on purpose, but they just don't know how to be as quiet as I do.

We did get to pass by the noisy frogs I've been hearing lately. Alice looked for the frogs and asked a few questions about them, while Jack seemed kind of uninterested. He was mostly putting on an act because he didn't want to seem uncool by liking nature too much. At least he came along, so that's a good start for him.

When we got to squirrel territory, I told them that the reason the squirrels liked it here was because there were plenty of acorns to eat. There were empty eaten acorns laying all over the place here, but we only saw a few squirrels. None of them came very close. We were just too easy for them to spot.

Alice began picking up the old acorn tops that she was finding along the way. It's the kind of thing a kid should do. She also had a pocket full of rocks from a few of her other adventures. Jack remained mostly silent throughout most of this, but he wasn't complaining. If you knew him, you'd know that's encouraging.

After awhile a man with two unleashed dogs came into the nature preserve. That pretty much killed the idea that we would see any wild animals today. The dogs came running up to us, and one of them made a small huffing sound at Alice, so I shooed it away.

The dog came back again in a few minutes, a little friendlier, so Alice tried to feed it an acorn top. The dog really wasn't interested. It mostly just wanted to greet it's new found friends. Even though dogs are my favorite animal, I didn't really appreciate it when it came back a third time soaking wet and shaking water on us.

After the man and his dogs finally left we made an attempt to find some wildlife, with no luck at all. We ended up slowly making our way back out of the park. Before we left, Alice asked if she could take a few pictures of her now beloved acorn tops. There they are at the top of this post.

11 comments:

  1. I used to tell the kids that those are little fairy hats. They believed me for awhile, and I liked making them think there was a little magic out there in the woods.

    Love the frogs!! We have bullfrogs in our pond and I take their pictures ALL of the time. Only the males croak--so you can tell the kids that.

    I really hate dog owners that think we all love their dog! Ugh. I don't want to be approached by your animal, really. Why do they do that??? And yes, the beast scared away all of the wildlife causing you're adventure to be a little less exciting. Sigh.

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  2. Seemed to be a long journey for little Alice in a day. She ia a little cute lady whereby I have to know Jack a little more.

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  3. Glad you had a good walk. (you must have if Alice was around.) I can't help but to like anyone with a pocket full of rocks.

    Rain here today so no walk for me. It's almost a warm rain so I'm hoping it will get things greening up.

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  4. Lin - I like telling the kids things like that too. They're always skeptical, even when I'm telling the truth. I think Alice compared the acorn tops to hats.

    I've been trying to get a look at the frogs, but I've seen nothing yet. Thanks for the tip about the male frogs. I thought there was something like that, but I couldn't remember.

    I love dogs, but I agree with you. Strange dogs are only fun at a distance. You said it well.
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    Rainfield - Actually it was a short one for Alice. She likes to see everything she can along the way. We had to make it short for Jack. He hasn't found much to be interested in yet. That's why I don't tell much about him.
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    WiseAcre - It's funny that I've only seen girls of her generation that like rocks and other things of nature. None of the boys seem interested at all. You'd think it would be the other way around. Video games are a powerful thing, I guess.

    We're in for some rain in the next few days too, but it's been beautiful up here lately.

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  5. Glad Alice came with you and am sure she had a wonderful day. love those little acorns, and the sound of frogs would really be a big welcome for me, instead of the sound of speeding cars :(

    PS...I have a new bloghome, would no longer be blogging AT The Backroads, instead, you can find me here now at blogger :) I am in blogger now, yehey :)

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  6. Betchai - Alice really had a good time collecting those old acorn pieces. Actually, one of the other parks I visit is right next to a freeway. You just reminded me that I need to go back there to look for some little toads that show up every spring.

    Welcome to Blogger! I hope you like your new bloghome. I'll be sure to update my links, and of course I'll visit often.

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  7. Hi Ratty- The way Alice has arranged the acorns they look like little scaly mushroom caps! Now you've done it again and reminded me of something else I could post on my blog. Have I followed through on any of those yet? Hmmm. I did look up one picture but then never posted it. So I'm ready the next time your Friday feature is a good match (evil laugh).

    You are very generous to take Alice and Jack on your walks, as special as they are to you.

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  8. It sounds like a fun day despite the lack of wild life. Dogs can be a real bummer when you are hiking and looking for creatures!

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  9. Sharkbytes - I think Alice was thinking of little hats when she had the acorn tops. I forget to post some of my ideas all the time, I hope you remember yours this time. Your Friday plan sounds great, let me know when you do it and I'll add a note at the end of that post.

    I'm glad to have the two kids along sometimes. I never intended to bring them, but Alice always looks forward to it. My original intention was to get more adults interested.
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    Kallen - There are actually quite a few days without too much wildlife. There's usually at least something interesting though. I love dogs, but they're just not as interesting as wild animals when I'm in the forest.

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  10. You know....Florida dragon scales look a lot like acorn hats....

    The Retirement Chronicles

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  11. The Retired One - You're right! Maybe there's something more to this squirrel war than any of us imagined.

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