struggle and hope

If you don't know this by now, it is HOT in Texas. Triple digit temperatures and it is supposed to be 2-3 degrees less in the Hill Country. It's not. This is what my backyard looks like:
Ten years I have been here and it's never been this dry.

So today I was sneaking buckets of water to my poor burr oak (water restrictions) and the pampas grass in the far corner. The oak has sprouted new branches and leaves at the bottom.

As I was crunching my way across the dry brittle grass I came upon this:

A bright spot amidst all the brown.

swimming with equines

It's HOT HOT HOT HOT in Texas. On a fine HOT day nothing is better than taking a bunch of horses and their people to a river and going swimming.

For those of us who love being in the company of these gentle, sensitive animals, this is one of the ultimate enjoyments. While they can't tell us outright whether they enjoy it or not, the horses went in very willingly. The horses who were experiencing this for the first time were introduced slowly and in a short time were willing to swim.

Like kids in a pool, several horses decided to see how big a splash they could make.