When the Best Laid Plan Goes Awry

Friday, August 10, 2012

I thought I had a well laid plan* for my walk today. I knew, given what I had to get done this morning, I wouldn't be able to get out for a walk until late in the day. I also knew the weather forecast, which proved in the end to be accurate, had a heat advisory up for this afternoon. In fact, the actual air temperature high was 103º (F) with a heat index of 107.

So, with all that in mind, I had my sights set on an evening walk going into sunset. There was, of course, a 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms to consider, but that left an 80% chance there wouldn't be a problem. Sure enough, a line of severe thunderstorms formed late in the afternoon and headed south towards Bexar County. And, as so often happens, the line fell apart as it moved across the county line around 6 PM.

Granted, the northwest quadrant of the county had rain, wind, lightening and some damage. But that in itself didn't interfere with my plan. What finally altered my plan was a combination of the uncertainty the weather presented and the fact the clouds remained thick enough to effectively create an early "sunset."

Fortunately, I have more than enough photos to publish from previous walks. So, today's photos are the third set from my walk this past Wednesday, August 8. These photos were all taken along the upland El Chaparral Trail in the Medina River Natural Area.

While it is upland from the river, there is a pond that still has a small amount of water in it not far from the trailhead. A pair of cattle egrets and a snowy egret were finding a few things to nibble on in the shallow water. And there were any number of other creatures around the pond as well:

* As an interesting footnote, the title for this post is originally from the poem "To a Mouse" written by the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, in November 1785. The poem is relevant to the theme of While on a Walk. Click here for a link to the poem.