Cindy's First Outing

March 28, 2020

Cindy had her hip replacement ten days ago.  She is already starting to walk around the kitchen without her walker and often washes the dishes. She is back to working from home part-time. (She will be working from home until this is over. )

Today we went on a driving expedition to Fort Hunter Liggett, where she works.  We took a lot of side roads to look for birds and elk. No elk showed themselves, though. 

We went to a pond on the base and Cindy got out and walked on a gravel road with her walker. We also enjoyed eating a little lunch there. 

I love the long view of lowlands and hills

First year bald eagle

Same bird showing off his huge bill

One of a few huge rock outcroppings

Yellow violets

I can never get enough of the beautiful patterns of the hills and draws

A very cheerful flower that is almost through blooming

Eurasian collared dove

Owl clover

Lupines are makeing huge patches of color

This was one of the only two plants of this species we saw

These were on a shrub but feel like nightshade family plants

Blooming shrub

Another long view

This flower was the size of a fingernail

We explored down a dirt road to find this relic

One of two shrikes I saw

A western meadowlark refusing to look at me

The William Randal Hurst Hacienda - of course we could not see the inside today

A single great-tailed grackle  at the pond- kind of unexpected to see one by itself

Ground squirrels were abundant

A very old California sycamore

On the personal front, we are hunkering down as the Corvid-19 infections continue to increase in our area. We don't yet know how extensive the infections will be, but they are predicted to get quite high. I am the only person going around people to do our shopping.  It takes several visits to get everything on our list since there are a lot of missing goods. Albertsons is disinfecting the carts and the belts between customers and had the floor marked for when we stand in line so we stay apart. And everybody is being careful to wait for another person to leave an area before moving into it. California county and state leaders are managing it to the best of their ability without much help from the federal government. 

I'm grateful that I got to come help Cindy.  I am not allowed back on the refuge until this is over so I'm homeless. Cindy says I can stay here even after she is all well.