Weekend Walk Report

 Walks for Saturday, November 11th and Sunday, November 12th.

Not a heck of a lot on the photo front. For both days I was trying to get decent walks in and basically survive the effort. Docken joined me over the phone for each walk and that provided a wonderful distraction from aches and pains and also mental motivation to keep going when the going got tough. Thank you, Docky!

Here are some "snapshots" from Saturday, which was also the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Los Angeles City Section, Cross Country Championships. When I ran cross country at this same location in High School the course was two miles. Kicking up a bunch of dirt, usually behind several other people kicking up a bunch of dirt, there's nothing enjoyable about the sport. 

Famous male Calypte anna hummingbird Dusty was way up in the Caesalpinia cacalaco and I wasn't too keen on any pictures of him but, here you go.

To be honest, the lighting in the morning when temps are still cool and conducive for walks, is pretty awful for the most part. I'll enjoy scheduling my walks later in the day once more of the day offers cooler climes. You say it's almost mid-November and what are you talking about? I'm talking about mid-80ºs before noon and I don't find that comfortable. Fall is coming though, it won't be long now!

Here, more crappy lighting on this mockingbird. Same Caesalpinia cacalaco shrub.

 I didn't hang out. I started in on the walk. I only went 1.9 miles, not even the distance these kids were running.

Two things I noticed that were very different from when I ran cross country a million years ago. One, there are girls in there running with the boys. There were no girls in cross country back when I was in High School and there was no offering for a girls only team. Two, in this next image... that's a bunch of parents hanging out cheering their kids on. I never saw parents come to a cross country meet. I can't imagine my mother schlepping up a dirt trail to watch a minute or two of running.

I kept walking. I didn't go much past the horses. This raven was certainly making a lot of noise and I got the feeling the horse was not in the mood. See the horse looking my way as if to say, would you please rid me of this annoying bird?

The horse finally got fed up and walked away.

Sunday, November 12th, that's still today.  

Another brief visit with Dusty, again too high up in the Caesalpinia cacalaco for much of a picture.

This is not Dusty. It appeared to be a younger male Calypte anna. It could be the bird Dusty seemed to tolerate in this post.

 I'm pretty sure this is the same mockingbird as yesterday. The finches seemed to be cramping its style so it took off.

Onto the walk. I'm not sure what this was but I think maybe I should've applied.

That's it, all I got. Today's walk was a little better on distance at 2.29 miles and it was also a tad worse for aches, pains and mental distress. Oh well. Again, my thanks to Docken, she made the journey a lot easier than it would have been alone.