Hart Park

We've been having rain and chilly weather, a switch from our 80-degree day last week!! The snow in the mountains surrounding the valley is at a much lower elevation, which is fun to see but makes for more complicated driving on Erik's nightly route. So say a prayer for him! To a Wisconsin Girl, it feels kind of like October. Windy, chilly, damp. . . it actually snowed in Bakersfield today for about 90-seconds. I think I counted nine plops of wet snowish clumps on the windshield and hood. Crazy! :-D

On Friday I got to spend the afternoon with our friend Laura at the 32nd annual Central Valley Sportsmen Boat, RV & Outdoor Living Show. Laura was helping with a fly fishing booth, and I got to try my hand at casting with a practice rod. We also watched part of a hunting dog demo--it is SO cool to see what a well-trained working dog can do! Picked up some hiking info too, and am looking forward to using it!!

Today we took a little time to get outside and loaded the pooches in the car for a trip to Hart Park. The stormy sky made for some pretty, vibrant colors, albeit a slightly wet walk. ;-)
There were all kinds of birds on the river and in the lake--mallards, coot and other ducks, and all sorts of different kinds of geese. This was one of the stranger specimens:So Pippin has only been swimming once in his life since we got him; he was NOT a fan. In fact he had to be encouraged rather strenuously to swim at all. But all the noisy birds on the water fascinated him. He jumped in before we knew it! He also paddled out as fast as he could when the water was over his head. Ha! Thomas thought swimming looked like a good idea too . . . but getting out was a little harder than anticipated.This is the time of year we get precipitation and so is the GREENEST time of the year--just beautiful.An egret:And finally, lest you forget we're in California . . . look at this perfect little palmetto growing at the edge of the river with the palm trees in the background! There was a little bird flitting around it that I wished I could capture, but he was too cagey. It was so good to get outside!! I hope you're enjoying yourselves in whatever weather you're in at the moment! :-)
oxox
cmr