Tomorrow, I have a total knee replacement.  I look forward to not being in constant pain, although I know the pain will be bad for the next couple of weeks at least.  Couldn’t hike today, to keep the knee from inflaming prior to surgery.

Saturday was the final weekend class for Master Naturalist.  There are so  many beautiful places!  Ojito de San Antonio and Sabino Canyon are beautiful areas for hiking. Naturally, wildlife shares these areas.  We found signs of bobcats and bears!   One picture is a bear print where the bear slipped in the rain while climbing the hill.  Another is bear scat showing that the bear ate bear corn.  This can be seen by the orange-ish grains in the scat.  These grains often glint in the sun.

Below are  some views from Sabino Canyon Open Space.  The day was so beautiful! Ruins remained from Reidmont fur farm where silver foxes were bred for their fur.

Below is  video of a pocket gopher popping his  head out of his burrow!  The picture isn’t great,  but he was cute.

Check out this map of some of the outdoor places in New Mexico.

Shark week starts tonight.  Sharks are amazing apex predators – and like other predators, keep their ecosystems in balance.  Many more people are killed  or injured by other events than sharks.  In 2015, taking selfies killed more people than shark attacks!

Do you remember this poem by Ogden Nash?