Out and about

Everyone was talking about the weather today.  Tomorrow will be even warmer and may reach 70º F. which is pretty spectacular for early February.

I was in Petaluma today which is a different route entirely.  Instead of vineyards - there are some in this photo - there are sheep and cows grazing all along the way.  I also counted over 40 red-winged blackbirds, one of my favorite birds,  plus one kestrel.

While I was running errands I saw a working dog from Canine Companions for Independence.  A mother was with her little boy who was in a wheelchair.  I told her that for several years I was a puppy raiser for CCI and she thanked me gratefully.  It was such a nice conversation.

Yesterday there was a red-shouldered hawk in the empty field behind our house. I watched out my kitchen window with the binocs - it would stare for about ten minutes, then find some prey, drop down for dinner and eventually fly back up to the very same branch.  I'm hoping it was finding rats and mice which proliferate in this area.  Someone once explained to me that there is so much water from Santa Rosa in the North Bay to Contra Costa County in the East Bay that it's a perfect habitat for vermin.  Oh, yuck!