Pretty pictures of flowers, an introduction to Bella and still, no morels...

But the mayapples are in bloom...

Acres and acres of them...although you do kind of have to peek under their skirts to see the flowers. :-/

The yellow colored lilac buds from over a month ago...

That looked like this earlier in the month...

Now look like this. An explosion of white.

It was time for all the purple irises to bloom...

The pink flowering shrub growing on the creek bank...

...turned out to be a pink honeysuckle. I never would have guessed (thanks Gardenweb.com).

Burgess pointed out this tree stump and we wondered what kind of oak it was.

Turns out it is a Blackjack oak and it looks like there is an oak gall starting to form (!). I didn't know until I saw the photo enlarged on the computer that there was a little spider waiting to be identified too. Turns out he's a ghost spider (thanks BugGuide.net).

I don't think I'll ever identify what happened to Aussie's head. We were looking for morels near another creek and one minute Aussie was perfectly dry, one minute later she showed up with a big mud patch on the top of her head. Hmmm.

Maybe Bella did it. Bella lives with Aussie and is a very sweet dog but kind of clueless about a lot of things. Like how the treatmobile works. Aussie knows that when a car door is opened, every door is a magic door because there is always a treat behind it. And then there's Bella...

Not quite focusing on what's going on...like that there is someone behind her with dog treats in hand.

Anyway, sweet, clueless but always enthusiastic Bella sometimes joins Aussie when Aussie comes over to visit... just that Bella usually shows up a half hour or more late. She's that kind of girl.

Last fall a friend of mine came to visit and I wanted to show him my land in Kansas. We were instantly joined by Aussie and Bella. It was a memorable day because this was the first time I took a big splat into the creek. I knew it would have to happen some day...and someone I had not seen in almost 20 years was there to witness the whole thing. Great. Anyway, when I felt myself airborne, I knew that when I landed something was going to be broken. Could be a tooth, an arm, my camera.....but when I completed my splat onto a big flat rock, I had no time to figure out the state of things because Bella and Aussie immediately jumped all over me to see if I was okay. Tom called out to ask if I was all right (after he took this picture!) but I couldn't answer because I was laughing so hard because of those dogs. That blurry black spot is Bella. The blurry orange spot is Aussie. The red and blue blurs are parts of me I can't quite figure out. :-/ Surprisingly, my camera and I did not get hurt... both of us did end up getting a little sore though.

Aussie gets along with most dogs and Bacon, just being a little over a year old, really likes to play with her. But Bella...he loves Bella. Rie says that's because Bella is more Bacon's height. Aussie is just too tall.

Bacon still is unsure about this whole water thing.

Bella is too but I don't think she's capable of studying the situation as thoughtfully as Bacon.

Bella comes over to be tutored about what to do about that scary water.

She studies as hard as she is capable.

Two thoughtful dogs sharing a moment. Too much thinking for Bella and she is.......off.

Aussie is mystified by all of this. It had been raining a lot but the creek was only a couple inches deeper than what it was the week before.

However, when it comes to Bucky, who is the shortest dog of all...two extra inches of moving water makes a big difference! Consideration about such things had to be considered.

Well, that was Sunday's adventure. We still have not found any morels but once again, it was a perfect day for dogs. Rie says Bacon loves it out there so much that he screamed bloody murder once he found out he was stuck in the car and on his way home. That little city dog sure does love the country. I should run a doggy day camp for urban dogs who have never experienced the country. Oh the ideas I come up with that could possibly net me tens and tens of dollars a year.

Regarding those elusive morels....we've searched near creeks, under cedars, near mayapples, beside dead trees, on rainy days, on warm days.....I guess the thing to do is to just look out your back door, that's where my brother found these...

Errrgh.