We wanted to get our shopping done early, so we were on the road to town around 8am. We had Wilbur’s IGA virtually all to ourselves and it was quick work finding what we would be needing for ourselves and a couple of dinner parties we had planned. As we were driving back out to the ranch, we decided to take some time for an explore, so instead of turning in to the ranch road, we continued on the county road eastward toward New Mexico. Paul had found an interesting looking spot on the map, and we found the road and were soon rolling between patches of emerald green grass dotted with flowers like a Seurat painting. We stopped to investigate a curiosity off the path a ways, and discovered what looked at first like some sort of ritualistic ring of dead wood, surrounding a stump in the center, and exploding with the colorful blooms of myriad flowers. Soon it was obvious that someone had simply cut the tree down for firewood, and this was what remained, but it looked so artistic as to be almost planned. Were it not for the bees and the hot sun that was burning through the cloud cover, we might have stayed longer.
