recreating Pamplona

a baby mantis stays out of reach of hooves

Run lizards, run for your lives!

As Major powers down the trail, small creatures scatter. Always alert for rattlesnakes, I focus ahead, but only see smaller reptiles scattering into the dusty weeds. Mostly small Western Fence lizards, who were nonchalantly sunning themselves until we thunder by.

blackberries on the right!

They have different evasion techniques: some dart right, some veer left, others freeze, then run straight down the trail away from us, hooves coming perilously close!

all dry and brown...or golden if you're optimistic

I've always imagined that maybe it's the lizard game of chicken, or a rite of passage for stupid teenage lizards. But today was the running of the bulls in Pamplona, maybe these lizards are the equivalent to the idiots who run from huge bulls through the streets to the arena (and the bulls final tragic demise, a truly awful event to me).

On a happier note, I don't think we trampled any. Though there was one that was a bit different. Or maybe Major saw something else on the trail. The wind was blowing, the temperature was cool, I was trying to slow him down, as he slammed on the breaks and spun. I somehow stayed on. A shadow? Who knows what he sees...

On the way home the lizards were safe. Major was tortured by walking the final mile home. I use the term "walking" loosely. Walk a few steps, attempt to trot, no, you will walk, repeat over and over. And stand still for just a minute while I eat these delicious blackberries overhanging the trail. Major had some too. And he found a good place to scratch an itch on the way home. Some summer evenings are just perfect.

itchy this side

and the other