Yet another mystery...

I drove out to that land in Kansas on Saturday because I was curious to see if anyone had come by to continue working on their excavation. Nope. I think that will be a mystery that will forever go unexplained.

I was met by the Mueller dogs but sigh, no Aussie. We set off to test the depth of the creek. You can tell it's not that deep because otherwise Elvis would be walking on water.

Elvis, the dog with the ermine front side, is not my favorite dog. He has squinty eyes, a suspicious mind, and usually spends his time barking until he feels like he's made his point twice and then runs away. If he were human, he'd have a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth while he scrutinized you and you would not want to know what he was thinking. I really don't like that dog.

But on Saturday, for the first time ever, he had manners. He walked beside me, let me scratch his head, and didn't try to take my arm off when I gave him a biscuit (I normally throw one in the air for him to catch, but only if Aussie is around, because I just don't trust him).

We walked down the middle of the creek to where the the banks got high and rocky. I noticed that Bella had let herself go. I know I haven't seen her and Aussie in a long time but was it really that long since I had seen her? It was obvious that Bella had had puppies since our last visit because her figure was a mess. However, motherhood must agree with her because she seemed to be a lot more confident.

And Sassy? She's exactly that. Does as she pleases. Her behavior was completely unchanged.

I left the three dogs to play in the part of the creek that still had enough water to play in and started looking at the plants that were growing on the banks. It's an area I usually can't get that close to but since the water was so low, it was easy to get up close and see what was growing.

This is Ludwigia alternifolia, also known as seedbox or rattle-box because the seedpods, which are square cubes, rattle when you shake them. The yellow petals of the flowers are very fragile and don't last long, maybe a day before a slight breeze will knock them off. I didn't see any flowers, just the sepals that remained.

One set was in red for some reason. Doesn't matter. What remained after those transient petals dropped off was still very pretty. I'm looking forward to seeing the seedpods form which I'll be able to do if the water level continues to stay low.

The arrowhead I discovered last week was in bloom.

I didn't know this but there are male and female flowers on this plant. The males flowers are the ones with the yellow stamens and the female flowers are the ones with the round green ball centers.

And that was that for discovering new plants I could identify. And although I've run into blue damselflies before, it's always nice to see one of those cutie pies again.

This digger wasp (Scolia bicincta) was pretty too but I'm glad he was too occupied with the nommage of that flower to notice me.

Anyway, it was getting hot, time for one last biscuit to the dogs, and then time to drive home.

Once I got back, I decided to compare the photos I took of Bella that day and photos I had taken of Bella in the past because I just could not believe the transformation of that dog. Well, that dog was not Bella. That dog might have been wearing a yellow collar like Bella and looked similar to Bella, and was very comfortable interacting with me like Bella, but she was not Bella. Bella has a bit of grey on her face and chest and this dog didn't. How weird. I have never met that dog before. Why was she the first one to run over and greet me? Whoever she is, she got Elvis to behave like a gentleman. I salute her for that. But where the heck is the real Bella? And where the heck is Aussie? Are they together? The whole experience was so darn weird. :-/