Strolling down Salado--bit by bit

For the past two weeks, the Brackenridge Belles have explored segments of the Salado Creek linear park. Thanks to Mary’s son Maverick and his adventurous dogs, Chigurh and Sir Walter, Chica and I have already been on those trails. But it was in the heat of summer and we were plagued by mosquitos.

This was different. Thanks to a unseasonably cool spring, we have had two glorious walks, one north of Loop 410 past Los Patios and, this past Monday, one south of Loop 410 leading to the Austin Highway.

Talk on the second walk was all about Belle Martha’s attendance at the dedication of the George Bush Library at SMU. Martha’s husband, Sichan Siv, was a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under the younger Bush.

This Monday, we plan to walk south to the trailhead near Fort Sam Houston. And, given that there are more Salado segments farther north, we may not be back to Brackenridge for awhile. At least not until the mosquitoes arrive.

Oakwell Farms Adventure

On Monday, seven Belles and us two bitches were treated to a walking tour of Oakwell Farms, led by member Marijane, who lives in a townhome there. She led us down a wooded, paved trail along a small creek. While we walked she detailed the history of the Tobin family’s former ranch/farm, now developed into a gated planned community.

Oakwell Farms, we learned, was named after Edgar Tobin’s wife’s family’s ancestral home in Yorkshire, England: Oakwell Hall. After acquiring the property in 1945, Edgar installed an elaborate irrigation system, remnants of which remain. His son, philanthropist Robert Tobin, built a landmark home there, now used for special events.

But what interested us dogs more than the history bit was a little striped snake that crossed our path. Of course our mistress held us back, worried that it might be dangerous.

Throughout the morning, we were all distressed by Chica’s periodic shrieking. It was obvious that something was hurting her, but no one could tell exactly what it was. Except the vet. Mary ran us to Dr. Kothmann as soon as we left Oakwell and he determined that she had a bad crick in her neck due to a spill she had taken Sunday night. Thankfully, after Mary gave her an anti-inflammatory for doggies, she perked right up and never had another holler.

One Man's Trash can be Another Dog's Treasure

On Easter Monday, Brackenridge Park was a mess. A hailstorm that passed through the afternoon before scattered leaves and branches all over the ground--this in addition to mounds of catkins dropped by oaks.

To make it worse, the whole place had a droopy “the party’s over” aspect due to trash accumulation from a weekend of revelry. It’s a longstanding Easter tradition, passed from generation to generation, for families to pitch tents in the park, cook barbacoa, hunt eggs and break piñatas hung from trees. People come from afar to see (and photograph) merrymakers enjoying this colorful park-wide Easter weekend party. But when it’s over, it’s over.

People are good about putting their trash in large black garbage bags that are provided, but this year's sudden hailstorm forced many folks to dash out before finishing the cleanup. Chica and I spied one table that still had cups and plates laid, ready for a meal that was never served due to the storm.

Volunteers and paid workers slogged through mud to collect soggy trash the morning after. But on the bright side, it left a bonanza of treats for me and Chica to sniff out. For us, the party had just begun.

A new Bitch joins the Belles

On Monday four Belles walked the park--with three, yes three bitches. The new canine addition to the group is a Great Pyrenees with a girly girl name: Izzabelle. Izzabelle, as it turns out, has lovely manners. When Chica barked in her face-- which she always does when she sees large dogs--Izzabelle politely ignored her. Thank goodness. Had she chosen, Izzabelle could have consumed Chica in a gulp. But by the end of the walk past the Sunken Gardens and into the woods, we bitches had become fast friends So we're hoping that new Belle Francie brings Izzabelle again next week.

Belles sans Bitches go Exotic

Nine of the Brackenridge Belles walked last Monday on the grounds of the old Denman family estate. There, they paused to admire a colorful pavilion built by San Antonio's Korean sister city before walking to the Asian-inspired condo of Belle-member Lyn. Continuing their international explorations, the ladies shopped at Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern grocery store nearby, and lunched next door at Pasha, where they enjoyed everything from tabouli salad to Persian-style rice. All of that was fine for them but what about us bitches? Thanks goodness they will be back at Brackenridge next Monday so Chica and I can come, too.

To Dig or not to Dig

This week the Belles walked to an archaeological dig at the northern edge of Brackenridge Park, where remains of an original acequia are being unearthed near the San Antonio River. For those who may not know, acequias were ditches used by Spanish settlers to divert water from the river to their dwellings. While that was not of particular interest to us dogs, a rib bone on the ground nearby interested us greatly. And we didn't even have to dig for it!

Border Country Adventure--sans Chihuahuas

Almost every Monday Chica and I can count on a bracing one-hour walk in Brackenridge Park with our mistresses’ walking group, the Brackenridge Belles. But this week the ladies went bush. Literally.

Three-plus hours south of San Antonio and a mere eight miles from the Mexican border, the brushy desert-like San Pedro Ranch, co-owned by one of the walkers, is a radical departure from the park. This is where the ladies drove on Sunday afternoon. Knowing them, I'm sure they were gossiping all the way down.

The San Pedro is inhabited by the likes of coyotes, javelinas, wild hogs, red shouldered hawks, bobcats, rattlesnakes, even the occasional mountain lion--none, I might say, friends to little Chihuahuas.

As the ladies approached the headquarters, a large rattler lay dead on the road, just killed. Once they got to the complex of white stucco buildings that comprise the headquarters (one of the buildings is a historic stagecoach stop), their hostess explained that the snake would be draped over a fence in accordance with Mexican legend--which holds that doing so will bring rain.

There is a rich profusion of spiny plants on this flat, far-as-the-eye-can-see stretch of land. They range from several varieties of cactus, including five types of prickly pear, to white and black brush, whose blooms perfumed the air with the smell of spring; huajillo, which closes its leaves in the heat of the day; tasajillo, whose red berries are favorites of wild turkey; and Spanish dagger.

After a good night's sleep and a morning walk, the ladies drove over a portion of the ranch, guided by a range management specialist who is helping the owners select the least environmentally harmful spots to place new drilling sites, since the ranch is in the Eagle Ford. The ladies were fascinated both with lessons in native plants and in the process of drilling for oil.

Who knew that so much care can be taken in selecting a drilling site with respect to drainage and plant diversity? That sites are then cleared and flattened into a "platform" resembling a home building site before drilling and fracking with underground water? At the San Pedro Ranch, even the color of storage tanks--painted a grayish green-- are considered, so as blend in better with the landscape.

While Chica and I would have loved to have been with our mistress and her friends, as soon as we heard about the rattlesnake (not to mention the coyotes, hawks, bobcats and mountain lions) we were happy not to have been included. Hopefully, however, we’ll be there when our mistress takes the ladies up to our tame little place in the Hill Country.