Last Sunday, Aggie and I took a little 150-mile tour of the southwestern section of our county in order to appreciate the beauty, to capture a few photographs, and to be alone with our thoughts. Because we hadn’t been to McAlister and House for a while, we headed in that direction in order to note changes which have occurred through the years. From Ragland to McAlister, I strained the brain while trying to remember who had lived along that road in the ‘40s. The mind has stored much in hidden compartments that continue to remain hidden! Nonetheless, I recalled a few places and the people who lived there. The school at House is quite a show place as it is beautifully landscaped and made the teacher want to do more exploring. Of course, the student was remembering the older buildings and the two wonderful years I attended school there. Much has changed in the interim, but the warm surroundings remain. Of course, we had to check on the wind farm and even stayed on the state road as we drove from one end to the other on our way to Hassell and the Blackburn country. Again, I was trying to recall names and ran into more blanks but could recall faces even when names were absent. A stop at the Ima Community Center gave us a chance to walk around for a few minutes in order to recall some of the experiences I had there in those long ago years. We then headed west and decided to take the back road through Collinsville on our way to the Sparks place. A few more names filtered in because I knew those pioneers from the time I was born and kept up with many of them throughout their lives. We stopped to watch a deer and tried to get a picture, but one of us wasn’t really speedy enough because she took flight and leapt a fence before I could do much with the camera. We also stopped so Aggie could raise her voice at some cattle. She is very brave when she is in the car but doesn’t want to get out in case one might decide to chase her. We just naturally turned toward Ima in order to enjoy the beauty of the canyons and to eat a little lunch. The green pastures throughout our trip were beautiful, but those pastures at home stood out more clearly as the green grass was showing off amid carpets of yellow flowers. Taking in that much beauty was a major experience and provided time in which to relax and remember. As we wandered back on the mesa, we saw a small flock of herons and had time to admire them as they played in the water. One even came close enough to be recognized in a picture. Seeing water in most of the tanks throughout the trip was a major experience. Because all my other furry friends enjoyed playing in tanks, I thought Aggie might do likewise, but she is such a city dude that she didn’t even want to get her feet wet and became indignant when I splashed her. She wouldn’t even take a drink until she saw me pour water from my bottle into her own dish. At any rate, we had a wonderful tour and surely recommend that you do a little driving while the land is showing so many colors.