I can now say February is winding down. This has been a very busy month for us with visitors, snow excursions and sporting events on top of our already pretty busy schedule. This weekend Noah’s eldest brother’s wife, Erika, stayed with us as she flew in from California to attend a teaching job fair in Aurora yesterday. It was a quick trip, in Friday night and out this morning. But just because Erika was here didn’t mean we sat around idly waiting for to get back from the career expo. I went to my friend Alison’s baby shower in the morning and Noah went golfing in the afternoon with the husband’s of all the wives that were at the shower. When Erika did make it back to the house, she and I headed into Boulder in an unsuccessful attempt to make it to Celestial Seasonings before they closed. So, instead of buying good tea she can’t get in California, we drove around the city as I showed her points of interest (Noah’s office, my office, our church). Okay, so they may not make the tourist map, but it helped put the area together for Erika.

With each step forward they carefully avoided each of the large holes. The absence of vegetation exaggerated the barrenness of the field. As the sun set lower in the distance and the wind blew dark clouds towards their location, they knew they had scarce time to safely pass through the land. Warning cries went off in the distance. First one, than another. Time was short. The leader increased her pace, not willing to slow down, but not wanting to leave the other two behind. The trees ahead were a shield of sorts, despite their sickly branches and lack of leaves. Although the other side of the grove did not mean certain safety, they did offer a sense of refuge. Another alarm sounded as another faded. Their progress through the field was being signaled, there was no way to avoid it. Without cover, the group was at the mercy of the land around them. One misstep and devastation would be upon them.

Okay, so maybe devistation is a bit unreallistic, after all the above description is of Noah and I walking Lava through Rotham Open Space (another open space that our neighborhood backs up to…but not the one behind our house) this afternoon. We had never actually walked through this open space, but decided to today. As soon as we made it through the tall grass we entered a barren “wasteland” and was soon greeted by prairie dog warning barks. One would pop up out of its hole, sound the alarm and then jump down into hiding before we got to close. But, then another one would pop up a little further down the path and continue the warning. This continued until we left the open space and they felt the threat was eliminated. Lava, the terror that she is, didn’t blink an eye. However, a thought I had as we walked through the barren hole filled land was that it looked as if we were walking through a mine field. Only if I had to walk through a mine field, I would choose one with holes that bark and were not caused by large explosions.