Took the day off and took the kids, my parents, and two tenacious heelers to the Pecos River for a picnic. There were no twelve-hour horse treks this time, as we left the horses at home.

These photos were taken just minutes before Lila (the blue heeler) fell into the water between these two dead trees and got swept beneath the downstream log. We had to haul her out, sputtering and clawing and shivering and quaking. Poor thing. There's always some kind of adventure going on, it seems.

A water dog Lila Jane is not. And check out her sister Red Dawg crouched down on the log like a fat cat.

We went upstream a ways to where it was more shallow later on, and they had a grand dog time. A grand kid and grandparent time too. My 10-year-old son C. spent so much time in that cold water, I'm not sure he could exactly feel his feet.

It was airconditioned alongside the Pecos at 10,000 feet. The grass in the meadow up there was up to our waists. The intrepid heeler sisters hopped through it like jackrabbits.

What a perfect place to spend the day. I can't afford to go to a spa week, and I can't afford a cruise to Europe, but I can go to the Pecos on a Wednesday. I'll take that.