It had been some time since I had managed to roll out of bed by 6:30 a.m., properly adorn myself, then explore the surrounding environment by 7:00 a.m. I was sore from gardening the previous day and came very close to going back to sleep when something tugged at my laziness. The prospect of a “full” sunny day soon invigorated me though and I joined my Wheaton Terrier for a morning romp along an oxbow lake not far from our home. The birds were in full force singing their hearts out, but it wasn’t until I crested the rim of the former riverbank that I saw something new. There sat a momma prairie dog bringing out her brood of children for the first time. Some nine of them were moving through the grass popping their little heads up here and there until they noticed me. They froze only knowing that this big dopey “thing” was in the vicinity of their home. They started clearing away from my path after hearing my T-Rex like footsteps (to their little world) and began running in all different directions. One little guy decided to head for a clump of grass on the edge of the parking lot just in front of a Nissan there. He charged headlong into the grass until I heard a “THUMP” from his bouncing off the red car face. The little guy was ok, but he had a tough first lesson on being outside. I’m not generally a morning person, but I rarely regret those days I manage to get up before everyone else and see the world in it’s quiet time.
Riding the Big Sky 