Marty’s photo of the day #4094: “The Little Dog on the Prairie.” Okay, at 58 pounds, Nellie is more of a medium-to-large-sized-dog, but you get the point. I shot this photo during a long hike in the American Prairie Reserve, after Deb and I discovered that Nellie could successfully dodge all the cactus and gave her some freedom. She had a blast—answering prairie dog calls with a mad dash to say hello. That was a harmless activity, since the prairie dogs obviously thought Nellie was just another coyote, and they’d be far underground before she arrived. And we kept it short, requiring Nellie to stay next to us for the vast majority of our hike.
As you look at this photo, you’re probably thinking it’s “a bunch of nothing.” That’s not true, however. Over the days we explored this stretch of prairie, we saw prairie dogs, coyotes, mule deer, elk, a variety of birds, and a yellow-bellied racer snake. And on our final night, we enjoyed an amazing sunset, which I will post at another time.