Treasure Hunting

Let's face it. Being stuck at home, even in the countryside doesn't always feel very good.

I came up with an adventure for the neighbor and her kids. They have stayed at home and worked diligently on their school work along with playing in their yard and working in the garden with their folks.

I know that even a 'Social Distance' hike was not in the cards. So I devised a plan.

A treasure hunt on our wood 'ridge' road and along the creek. I devised it so they could go on their own and seek out the clues I send them via email. I'll leave all the gates they should go through open and let them have some fun.

I took a handful of toys and set them out.

1) If you find the Brown and White Pony near the green round feeder, you are on the right path!

2)  There's a Pretty Pink Pony who is stuck on an blackened old stump. She may be scared! Can you help her?

3) Watch out for the Guardian Bear who asks for the secret password to enter the woods!

[forgot a photo of him!]

4)  Don't climb the ladder. But another Bear is hiding? Can you find him?

 5)  Percy, the Flood Bear has built a shelter far from the creek so he will never get washed away again.

He built this under the Huge Maple Tree.

Can you spot him from the trail?

6) Go to the gate and help the Little Pony who is stuck in the tree next to the Elevator!

[When I had no safe way to climb into the creek after a large flood, I rigged up a rope to climb up and down the steep bank. The kids called it an Elevator when they first saw it years ago.]

Next, sign in at the desk and look for instructions for your next move!

[Yes, I have a school desk down at the creek. Inside is a notebook sealed in a bag with a pencil. Visitors can sign in and leave a note. I will bring a book to sit here and read once in a while. I can just squeeze into the chair!]

The note in the desk claims that there is Skullduggery afoot. To walk to the Orange Orb and look for the green paint on a tree. Skullduggery!

Head to the blue chair and walk upstream.

8) Walk in the creek or alongside it to find 4 large Stromatolite Fossils on a rock in the water. They have a red Christmas Ornament with them. You may take the Ornament and leave the Fossils!

9)  Find the two lost Dinosaurs. One is Orange and one is Green. They are near or around the Large Cotton Wood Tree with Big Roots. Hint, it is the largest tree in this area!

10)  Yippee! You finished! Now it is your turn!
Hide the items and write down clues when you hide them.

In three days it can be my turn!

So I ran this by the mom and she thought it was a wonderful idea. Three days in between setting out the toys and letting the air at them should be plenty of time for any 'germs' to be destroyed. We have all been staying at home and severely limiting exposures.

This could be a safe way to interact without ... interacting???

I can't wait to see what the kids come up with!

Playing with kids...I see....

I had started a long drawn out post explaining what happened to our area and all of the towns devastated by flooding from the 12" of rain falls that we had just north of where I live. Some places had 10", some had 12".

It is too overwhelming to try to even explain.

So I just want to say, that the local people have been helping other local people. It comes from the hearts and souls of those around us.
~~~~

Yesterday was gorgeous and beautiful after sunrise. Charlie decided he needed a morning walk and so we went.

We walked out along the gravel road and just enjoyed the fresh morning air after two days of heavy rains.

He did a road inspection first. It seemed everything was to his liking.

Next was the hay field inspection.

His conclusion is that it could use a cutting and baling so he could walk unencumbered.

Evidence of the hard rains showed up in the morning light. However, we still have a road and we are not under water.

When we got home, Charlie got a bath. So many days of a short legged dog running through sand, dirt, mud, and wet grass makes ... little dog a bit smelly.
He took his bath fine, no whining no fuss.

Later on we had visitors who wanted to go down to Awesome Creek and go rock hunting.
And boy we did.

The kids asked to bring Charlie. Well, why not?

Rock hunting or creek exploring with Allie can be very interesting. Here she is wearing a plastic bag as a hat. She is intending on catching water bugs and any other cool insects she can find.
This way her hands are free to catch the bugs. Well, that is what she told me.

The basket was for cool rocks to be collected in. We had invited another friend who absolutely loves rocks and loves to look for rocks.

The boys got busy with carving their initials into a log. I had told them it was just fine.

Note Allie on the hunt for something. It was about this moment where everyone got distracted and...Charlie disappeared from our watchful eyes.

Suddenly our fun hike turned into a "Let's FIND Charlie!" I didn't start to really feel upset and scared until he'd been missing and not coming to our calls for about 10 minutes. Believe me, it felt like hours.

We found him, he looked smug and happy. I re-attached his cord and decided not to let go of him. This happened once before in the very same spot, so I suspect that he was tracking a deer trail just above the log that the boys were working on!

We ended up near the Red Clay and everyone wanted to 'paint' themselves.
And why not?

It felt good.

And it was perfectly silly!

Never doubt Allie though. When she gets 'into' something, she goes ALL of the way!

And then she asked if she could...paint Charlie red with clay.

And Charlie was very willing.

He seems to love whatever Allie has to do with him.

We hiked on down to the where my fenceline is and most everyone rinsed off...
except for...
Allie....

The Queen of Red Clay and mud.

Most everyone rinsed the red clay off. Allie didn't want to. I dunked Charlie in a pool of water to get some of the clay off.

I didn't bother rinsing my legs, arms, or face, either. It felt fun to be silly.

I suggested a first rinse before Allie went home.

I knew the water in the small stock tank would be warm and just perfect. The Red Headed sisters were quite curious about the small human in their water.
I was going to dump it and rinse it out later anyway....

When I got to the house with a wet red clay dog and full of red clay myself...my husband stared at me as if I was from another planet.

Then he said, "Oh playing with kids again I see."