Wakulla Beach

On Sunday we drove down to Wakulla Beach. It isn't a beach like with dunes and nice waves; it's more a half-moon of sand in the marsh, but the closest thing to beach we have around here. It isn't very far from our house. Tray and I have gone paddling there many times. Sunday afternoon we took Penny and our two dogs down and walked around. It was too cold to get in the water, but we still had fun. There are a million crabs scurrying everywhere every time I've been there and Penny didn't quite know what to think about that. (They scared Lindy - but she's a fraidy-cat.)

This is a photo of Penny checking out the crabs. Most have already run out of the frame, so I'm not sure that you can see any. There are literally thousands running to and fro all over the place though.



Here I am showing her some of the crabs at the water's edge:



Ok, and let me explain this one. She is not on a leash. This is Lindy's leash. Lindy was allowed to run free because (unlike a certain yellow dog who shall remain nameless...Jake!) she can actually listen. Penny is really into chains at the moment. She loves playing with any chain she comes across. So, she begged to hold the chain. I held on to the leash part and we walked pretty much the entire length of the beach like that. I never pulled her along or anything. We just walked together holding onto opposite ends of the leash. I was telling Tray it reminded me of this study I read about from back when they still did studies like this that they couldn't get away with now. They observed school kids on the playground and how in a fenced in area they would use every available inch of the playground, but when researchers removed the fence, the kids clustered together in the center of the playground and wouldn't venture out to the periphery at all, even though those areas had been fine to play in only the day before. The study supposedly indicates how kids need boundaries to feel free. The leash thing really reminded me of that. Before she took ahold of the chain, she kind of wandered around aimlessly and seemed unsure of what to do. Once we started walking like that though it was like she had a purpose and she stayed right with me the whole way. Interesting from a sociological/anthropological perspective I think. So, yeah, ok here's the photo: