Wintery Weekend at the River Bend Park

Early in the morning, I went around the front and back yards and got some “frost” photos, and some pictures of the little birds snuggling up in the bushes around the house.  There was a bunch of robins in the mulberry and hackberry trees, too.

It was slightly warmer today: 38° in the morning.  I think the cloud cover kept us insulated from some of the cold…

Around 9 o’clock, I headed out for my walk, but I left Sergeant Margie home because I was worried he’d get too cold.  I went to the American River Bend Park.  Today was the day I was originally going to do my “fungus crawl” for Tuleyome, but I’m glad I postponed it until the first week in January.  Although there was some jelly fungus and earth stars to see today, there were no mushrooms out yet; the ground and trees need to get a lot wetter for them.  While I was walking, I came across a mama mule deer and her two babies – yearlings by the look of them; so pretty.  She was trying to find a safe place to take them across the paved road in the park, and walked right by me.  When she realized I was there, she turned around and headed back into the brush, then came out again a few feet up the road.  I got some still shots and some video of her and the kiddoes.   I also got pictures of an Acorn Woodpecker who was preening himself in the top of a tree…

The cool air was very invigorating and I walked for about 2 ½ hours, but by the end of it, the cold was in all of my joints, making them all ache.  So, I kind of shuffled back to the car and then cranked the floor heater up to warm up my knees and ankles. Hah!

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