Dean's List

 Nice letter in the mail:

Fledgling Lesser Goldfinch

 I was getting ready to use the car when I noticed this tiny dude/dudette by the wheel.  Like the fledgling Western Bluebird of a few weeks ago, this one could fly, but not far.  And it was so small!  Puck and I chased it out of the street and back into the yard and hoped that its parents would find it.

Happy Birthday!

Celebrating a fun, funny, smart, witty, energetic, cuddly kid.  We all love him so much!  He likes trains, so we made him a cake he could also play with.  He may be a budding engineer, as he wanted to tunnel through the cake... and when I told him that would be problematic without structural reinforcements, he told me we could make them together!

Dunsmuir Adventures

G had a chance to travel to Dunsmuir... and had a great time!  Super cool picture of G with my Mom and their dogs... and by super-cool, I mean that it was actually super hot and standing under a small waterfall looks like a super cool idea!

Gualala Reunion Trip - Beach Hike and Return Trip

 

Stopping in Valley Ford

My favorite office

Minerva wants to join me outside

Beach hike - we had to duck!

Gualala Reunion Trip - Forest Hike

Wonderful friends from Yosemite met us; we stayed in Gualala and they stayed at a house in Sea Ranch.  Games, food, a forest walk, a beach walk, and lots of great catching up!

Puck and the girls, Michelle, Jill, and Lynn (not pictured:  Greg and Joey)

 Hike #1 through the forest

Discovering the community garden

Happy Birthday Charles

 The day began with a fancy breakfast - fresh baked cinnamon rolls and birthday candles!

Presents, too - just what he requested.

Dinner was a burger picked up from a favorite restaurant, a fancy 'lager,' and his favorite cake - fresh baked spice cake!  

Camping Cat

 She's pretty cool to put up with us, so for that she at least gets her own post...

At night at the picnic table

Tent buddies

With her beautiful mama

Swinging in the hammock

Cutie!

She was buried with my feet at the bottom of the sleeping bag.  Then Puck laid his head on the bag.  She wasn't thrilled...

She's just so cute...

Packing up to leave...

Camping in Tuolumne Meadows

 

Spectacular Hike in the Hoover Wilderness

 

Tuolumne Campers

 Fun group photo.

Western Bluebird Fledgling Experience

This Western Bluebird fledgling accosted us yesterday in the yard. I first noticed him on the ground when I was walking out to meet the mechanic - he was staring at me and didn't back off when I leaned in for a picture. I called the girls out and they sat near him until he landed on K and posed for pictures (!) We tried the local humane society, which also offers wildlife rescue, but it was a holiday so they were closed. So we did some research and followed it, very carefully relocating him to the brussels sprout planter on our porch for the night to keep him safe from critters. We watched from nearby as his parents brought him worms. Next morning, I could hear him chirping as I came back from my jog. He flew off the porch and his dad (who was in and out of a woodpecker cavity nearby) met him and fed him. Eventually they took off together. Super cool (though we now miss him!)

That face!

He kept looking back at us, as if in invitation to...

Next day:  that's the fledgling on the fence (hard to tell) and the male adult flying in to feed him.

Disneyland and California Adventure

 A very long day.  We slept on the north side of the Grapevine, drove two hours to the park, and got there at opening.  We left at closing, 14 hours later, then drove the six hours home.  I did sleep for an hour from 2-3AM at a roadside rest!

Crowded, but not too bad.  They are still requiring reservations, which was a reason to go.  Maybe a 10-12 minute wait for most rides.

Hot, but not too bad.  I'm a weather-wimp and the low-80s was too hot for me.  But I know it could have been worse.  Last time we went was in a January (preCovid) and it was as hot then!

Fun and new:  we explored California Adventure for the first time and that was cool.  The new Star Wars experience is so popular that it requires reservations, electronic ones that you have to make on site.  We tried and noon and got in... as did everyone around us, from the eruption of cheers.  It was worthwhile, like being part of an adventure movie, with lots of live action around us.

I mostly just loved watching them have so much fun.  :-)