Today's walk report: 012823

 Just pictures and a song.

Here's to nine years. 😘

Today's walk report: 012223

Here once again with some typical subjects but I noticed some things are sprouting new growth and despite a very cold (for SoCal, 31ºF is cold) start to my early morning, I'm thinking spring is just around the corner. Out the door at 43º, Docken joined me on the phone (thank you Dockie) and she got to hear all about how cold my hands were driving to the nearby college campus. My hands are still cold and it's almost 1:00, so I'm just going to post some pictures today and then go warm my paws. You know, my mother used to say, “cold hands, warm heart.” Nope, cold hands means dry, cracked and painful skin. 

Again, same old. Male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. The distant hawk in the tree is the same red-tailed I took pictures of yesterday. The donkey I've known for over a decade... one of my friends.

Today was not a day for the ancient car worshipers. Instead it was a "Vintage Market" day, AKA, one person's garbage is another person's future garbage. But there was this guy...

 
From atop the hill.

Do the leaves of green stay greener through the autumn
Does the color of the sun turn crimson white
Does a shadow come between us in the winter
Is the movement really light

Today's walk report: 012123

 Lots of walkies this week (most sans reporting), here's today's...

If I didn't take pictures of male Calypte anna hummingbird, "Dusty" people might start to think, WTF?

Cancel culture.

Sylvilagus audubonii, catching some rays.

Up to the hilltop, not a lot of action. Sheep were once again off in the distance. Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away.*

This red-tailed hawk sort of saved the day but I wouldn't know it until I got back in my car and started down the hill. The bird looked especially "fluffy" to me but molt would have probably ended in October. Pretty bird nonetheless.

These shots were all taken from my car. To my surprise the hawk flew down right in front of me just as I began my descent from the hill. 

*What do you get for pretending the danger's not real?
Meek and obedient, you follow the leader

Today's walk report: 011623

 I told myself shortly after the new year rolled in that I need to get out and walk with greater frequency once again. It wasn't a resolution. I just started thinking of one occasion when Docken and I were out walking and a guy jogged by saying something complementary about us getting out and walking and then he added, a little ahead of us, "staving off death." 

“Staving off death is a thing that you have to work at. Left to itself – and that is what it is when it dies – the body tends to revert to a state of equilibrium with its environment... When we die the work stops, the temperature differential starts to disappear, and we end up the same temperature as our surroundings.”

~Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design~

It wasn't a long walk. It's the walk Docken and I generally referred to as, one up one down. It's a little over 2 miles. Docken came along on the phone. Thank you Docken.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket a few times along the way. I can't help it. Here are some pictures.

Whatever the reason, this is referencing Route 66. For another few months and a couple of days this has some significance to me.

This is one of a couple of houses where there seemed to be a sort of mash-up of holiday decorating.

Again with the mushrooms. Believe it or not, these are the same variety as I posted yesterday. Again, I believe they are Tubaria furfuracea, commonly known as the scurfy twiglet or perhaps Tubaria hiemalis (Winter Twiglet). This is the aging process taking hold.

You may ask, where do all of these mushrooms come from? Why, the mushroom pooping giant spider, of course!

Today's walk report: 011523

 “We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us.”
— Ralph Hattersley

I went off on a mental tangent here after resizing and saving images. Docken and I spoke during the walk and I made some comments about a certain level of redundancy in the pictures I was taking in relation to the walk before or the walk before that and so on. Sure, the subjects might be the same as those from past excursions but the pictures are always different, every moment is new. You know, every picture tells a story. Also, some of the characters you see on my walks or at home, they are my friends. I like taking pictures of my friends. I enjoy seeing my friends.

In getting out the door my back was my greatest motivation. I, like many Californians, have been stuck inside due to an abundance of recent rainfall. Lazing around the house and only engaging in rote household chores generally takes it's toll on my back. Walking is my best cure for back issues. Today walking was again remarkable therapy. 

It was good having Docken for company on the phone. I drove to the local college campus but put over 1.5 hours into walking and picture taking. Onto the walk. 

Mushrooms love rain.

I was pretty far away and was sure this was the male Calypte anna hummingbird known as "Dusty."

 

 

 
And it was...

I'm enjoying his new expanded territory.

Yes, he's peeing.

Looks a little pissed off too.

I believe this is Banksia ashbyi.

Fresh growth on the Eucalyptus lunata 'Moon Lagoon'.

Time to get some walking in and then a drive up the hill. On the grass we have Canada geese and in the trees are European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) which were brought here by Shakespeare fans, Seriously, all 200 million (give or take) of these birds now living in the United States are descended from 100 birds set loose in New York's Central Park in the early 1890s as some sort of tribute to Shakespeare. Why? Short answer, people are idiots.

This panorama is similar to a couple of  the sunset shots taken on January 10th. More land, less sky. 

From on top of the hill I noticed a couple of cows visible near a road down in the flat lands below so I decided to drive down and visit them. I like cows. 

And more mushrooms. I'm working hard on mushroom IDs. I'm gonna guess that these are Tubaria furfuracea, commonly known as the scurfy twiglet or perhaps Tubaria hiemalis (Winter Twiglet).

Some other fungus among us.

There's no place that can be better
When you're up in clouds forever
Pacify your mind with islands
Colored snow and green field skies and
Poisoned dreams
Distorted dreams
Mushroom dreams