Two Small Parks...

Everyday this week, I've been running back and forth between Dallas and Ft. Worth, to the same areas of each city each time...

At the end of each run, there are small city parks where I pull over to wait for the next job, and possibly eat my lunch...

These pics come from the Dallas park... I don't even think it has a name. It's in the middle of an industrial district, and quite frankly, the small creek running through it is the only reason it exist. It provides very necesary drainage for our torrential rains, and keeps everything from flooding... but there is a little basketbal court, and a parking lot, and plenty of oak and sycamore trees for the local factory workers, and occasional courier drivers... to take their lunch breaks... I got to take pics of this egret as he hunted for minnows, and also got a shot of some wild violets peaking up through the leaves... Of course, it was right at high noon so the sun was a little too bright ...

Now, since it provides drainage, there is more than it's fair share of plastic cups and such laying around, but I did catch sight of a few frogs jumping around. That means that it's probably not seriously poluted, as amphibians are usually the first things to disappear. But what those frogs chances are with that egret there are beyond me...

I didn't take any pics in the Ft. Worth park because I was too busy... I was distracted by it's creek...

The creek in the Ft Worth park cuts through several layers of rock, and this rock is rich in fossils... Nothing too dramatic... but if you're willing to scratch around in the nearly dry creekbed you can find some fossilized shells and ammonites, and my absolute favorite fossils are the ones that are probably the least significant... When this mud was laid down, before it turned to rock, earthworms and other creatures dug tunnels through it. Therefore the most common fossils you find are rocks with holes all the way through them. I have some wierd fondness for rocks in general and holey rocks in particular. But the second I happened to think to myself that I should take a pic, an order beeped on my radio... but I should get a pic in the next few days as that park is right near one of our big clients.

Have a great day!