Dear Friend, Hello and hugs! Today we are sharing some photos that Frank captured two days ago in a coastal forest near Big Sur, California. The fog, the ocean mist and the healthy soil all contribute to the lush green of this forest. Because drought is difficult for moisture-loving plants, coastal redwood forests like this depend on moderate temperatures, good rainy seasons, and frequent fog year round. carpets of redwood sorrel cover the forest floor Living greenery th

Dear Friend, Today seems to be a pretty good day to think of moms. If you can be in the same place at the same time with your Mother today, we hope you are enjoying this time together! Frank and I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day. If you aren’t a mom, may it bring you joy to think about the many wonderful and nurturing people in your life, and if you are a mom, we hope that you are feeling especially appreciated today. Did your mother ever leave you notes? (It can't just b

Dear Friend, We hope that you and yours have had some really-good-memory-making experiences in the past couple of weeks! I am dog-sitting away from Frank and will rejoin him in a bit. We didn’t want to skip posting another Tracks, so he emailed me these beautiful photos, taken just a few days ago. Thanks, Frank! You will probably recognize these shorebirds along with some seabirds and other friends, as Frank captured all of the birds that he saw along the coast during t

Dear Friend, In all of your travels today, whether you’re moving from bed to couch or you’re already on a jet plane flying from here-to-a-faraway-there, we hope that your journey is enjoyable and, when you arrive at your destination, may there be time for you to rest-up before embarking on your next adventure. All creatures need to rest. It’s not being lazy, it’s time for the body to heal, and rest is necessary for rebuilding strength and stamina to do what needs doing fo

Dear Friend, How are things in your world? We hope that this week is off to a good start. This is a brown pelican flying over the surf near Monterey Bay, CA. You may remember that Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States, September 1901 through March of 1909. In early March of 1909, President Roosevelt put forward the first National Wildlife Refuge, ‘Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge’ in Florida, along the coast. People had been killing Brown Peli

Dear Friend, Happy Easter Day to you and yours. Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post! We know that there are many other things that you might otter be doing today. Aren’t Otters so cute? These are Sea Otters. (Hopefully, we can talk about River Otters in a future blog). Sea Otters are social friends. They enjoy each other's company but have to spend a great deal of time hunting alone. They can be seen floating on their backs along the coast in the ocean o

Dear Friend, Back in the early 1960s, Frank’s mom dropped off the family station-wagon to be serviced, it had suddenly started acting weird. The mechanic soon discovered the problem and the car was good as new after twenty-one plastic circus animals were rescued from the gas-tank. (Frank shared that story with me yesterday following his long day of repairing rodent damage to our vehicle). It’s hard to believe that our fix-it-guy is the same person that, at 3-years of ag

Dear Friend, What was the most profound thing you experienced in the past week? Was it something that happened to you, something that you realized, or maybe something that you heard or read about? It’s not unusual for praying mantises to land on my brother at the most uncanny times and places. He could be in a grocery store or the airport and one will find him. I haven’t seen my brother for over two years, he lives on the other side of the country, so, it’s good that we a

Dear Friend, The world is a planet full of life and it’s a big place. Technology allows people to observe lots of things happening all at once. How do you manage your focus? When is the last time you went beach combing? Did you come prepared with buckets, shovels and a strategy? Or did you, like Frank, prefer to document what you saw? Either way, do you find that your thoughts drift in a more positive direction when you meander near (and sometimes, into) the ocean? If so,

Dear Friend, Happy first day of March! This is a spectacular time to begin something new or brush up on a previously practiced skill. For instance, did you learn a different language in High School? Do you remember how to introduce yourself in that language? I wish I could hear your answer. If you don’t remember what you learned, please don’t stress. There are so many reasons that our memories come and go. As I’ve written before, I believe that practice just makes practic

Dear Friend, Would you mind giving us a re-cap of the past two weeks of your life? Have you been busy? I can’t imagine that your days rolled in and out with no surprises. But, if they did, and you are telling me that you have experienced uneventful busy-ness, I have to ask, how did you manage that? Today is National Walk Your Dog Day. If you have been on the fence about adopting a pet (of any kind), just know that there are countless friends, ready and waiting, and today

Dear Friend, I hope that your day is off to a pleasantly memorable start. Will you be at home today? Spending time with loved ones? Watching football? Taking walks? Maybe you’ll be writing a song about your newly adopted rescue doggy? Yes, please, I would love to hear it! Lots of people travel and camp with their dogs and cats. Dogs are usually on leash. Some cats are free to come and go from their vehicles, no leash, no crate, apparently staying close because they feel r

Dear Friend, Happy first day of February. Tomorrow, guided by Ground Hog Wisdom, we’ll discover how much more winter weather to expect this year. What does that information do for you, personally? And, when you hear that the Ground Hog predicts an early spring or longer winter, does it change the way you feel about the furry little messenger? Speaking of How Some Information Can Change The Way We Feel: When news is mostly ‘bad,’ it may seem inappropriate to wish someone

Dear Friend, It’s been a couple of weeks since our last post. How are you doing? Of course, we hope that all is well in your world and that you and yours have been staying healthy and just ornery enough. A couple of weeks ago, while standing in the sunshine at our campground near Wikieup, AZ, we were talking with another camper about our plans to travel north. She practically screamed, “Are you crazy? No! You can’t! It’s too cold!” She then listed several more reasons

Dear Friend, Have you ever been to Wikieup? It is located along highway 93, south of Kingman, Arizona. The name sounds musical to me, like maybe it could mean the same thing as ‘ accelerando with glee !’ But, no, it’s a Mojave word for ‘ shelter .’ The town was established in 1864. The story goes that when it came time to come up with a name, there was a wikieup, (a building), that existed near the area where the proposed Post Office was to be built. The town was named af

Dear Friend, Happy New Year! Thank you for being here to read our first blog/letter of 2026! Today begins the fourth year of Tracks by the Post. Thank you very much for keeping in touch over the past three years, and for sharing our Tracks Posts with friends and family! We do not think of you as a Like or a Click or a Share . To us, you are not a 'set of zeros and ones.' We are not rewarded in the land of Social Media or in any way monetarily by your presence here.

Dear Friend, We hope that you have been enjoying good health in these last few days of 2025. About a week ago, we returned to the Mojave National Preserve, in the Mojave Desert of California. There are several great hikes from this campground, and lots of incredible vistas! The weather in this part of the Mojave has currently been mild compared to many places on the globe. We’ve had wind and rain, but also lots of sunshine and mice. (Our humane-mouse traps, baited wit

Dear Friend, If you summed up the last seven days in a 6-word sentence, maybe it would be something like: I needed a lot more tape. I have never spent this much! I thought I had more time. Please, can we get a puppy? (I hope that you will write your own 6-word summary and share it with us)! Did you have a lot to do, on top of your regular routine, this week? Holidays or not, this time of year can press and whelm, we hope that you have been taking good care of yo

Dear Friend, Here we are in the last few weeks of December. There are 18 more days until 2026, 11 more days until Christmas, one more week until Winter, just a few hours until Chanukah begins, and so many other events and celebrations, what is on your calendar? Just a quick question: Do you have an Advent calendar this year? In case you don’t already know, it’s a calendar that starts on December 1 st and ends on the 25 th of December, and can be a fun way to travel thro

Dear Friend, How was your week? Did you have a chance to gander at the full moon on Thursday? I don’t know for sure if you are an astronaut in training and/or a mystic soothsayer, but either way, perhaps you will agree, the moon is a source of powerful energy. We feel fortunate to have been camped where we could see the moon, rise and set, all week. Frank and his camera have been very busy here at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Nevada. Located adjacent to t