Morris on Adventures

Well I knew she was going to take me. She put on my little blue collar with the jingly tag on it.
She says it helps her keep track of me because it makes a soft jingle noise.

I prefer going nekked without a collar. But She is the boss when it comes to hiking and I will wear a collar if it pleases her highness. 

I guess she felt that it would be fun to climb down the side of a steep hill on an itty bitty skinny deer trail.
Well, I took to higher ground to survey things.

Then I jumped down and decided to guide her to the bottom where we went into what we call The Back Valley.  It is hard to get to, but always worth the visit.
So many things to smell and mark!

She was more impressed at what the wall of water did to the creek.

It made the creek brand new again. There were big expanses of water here and there, little water falls, and even a lot of sandy beaches.

However the sand revealed that many coyotes had been travelling through recently. I'm happy that She keeps an excellent eye on me.
If I smell coyotes, I hurry up and get near Her.

She got busy with Her camera and I got busy checking things out.  The water was cold and very deep in some spots. She kept calling to me any time She thought I was a bit too far from her.
Sigh. Doesn't she know I am smarter than She is? I'm just scouting around for her own safety.

We found a place where the waters flowed slowly and covered a large portion of the valley.

She found a rock pile in the middle of the waters and set up her camera. She did a lot of muttering to herself. I know She was pretty excited over the view.
To me it was just...cold water, but it felt nice after that very hot hike through all those nasty weeds.

She even got all excited about some little water running over some rocks.

Tsk, tsk.
I was busy checking the creek.

We soon headed back. She had some farm work to do. I could tell she was sad about that. If She'd had her own way I think we'd have spent hours exploring.

She told me, "Morris...blah blah blah...we'll be back." At least I think that is what she meant.

Had She said Cookie, well that I would have that gotten right away.

We headed back up the ridge and She shouldered her backpack. We headed straight for home with a slight detour through a corn field. It was meant to be a short cut, but only was sort of a short cut.
It was really hot in there.

And then when we got to the first valley I turned and headed up the other creek. 
I've been doing these hikes for years now and it is a good thing I am there to direct Her.

She stopped in the creek with a big "Hello! Look what I found!"

A stupid boot sole. She laughed and seemed quite pleased.

Apparently this boot sole has been appearing in different parts of the creek this year. Since She first found it a few years ago, it has traveled half a mile.

Nice.
But not important to me at all. It had no good smells and it was not a cookie.

I was tired when we got home and full of dirt and mud. I had to suffer a quick rinse off in the tub before I was able to curl up on Her sweatshirt and a blanket on the couch.

Oh, you think I shouldn't sleep on the couch? I like it. It is one of my favorite places to relax. I can keep an ear out for most things happening around here.