"Look, Daddy!"

We live in a generally rural area, but it has really grown in the past 15-20 years. Fortunately we live on a short road that is not heavily traveled. It a pretty little rolling road with several houses but most are set back into the woods (mostly hardwood trees) and most lots have an ample amount of open land or pasture out front. Several residents have fenced pastures and horses. There are 2 prominent ponds along the road. In the early evening and on weekends it is not uncommon to see people who live nearby use our road for their daily walks or bike riding because it is fairly quiet with limited traffic. Plus, many will bring their children (or grand children) down the road for some quality time or maybe to feed the horses some sugar or carrots.

The pond is situated near the road with the shallow-end being very close to the road but almost hidden by the thicket of brush and vines which we let grow wild. This sort of separates the pond from the road. If we happen to be out near the pond we will often invite these passing neighbors (or the occasional non-resident passing by) over to the pond, especially if they have young children with them. During the spring and into the summer it seems there is always something to see at the pond and for many of the kids it is a new experience, perhaps their first exposure to a real natural setting, the first time they every touched a tadpole or held a fish or frog in their hands.