DAY 1 OF MY VACATION. Even so, my body woke me up at 5:00 am because that’s when it’s used to getting up. Even Sergeant Margie was awake, so I made him breakfast and made some coffee for myself and worked on my journal until about 7:00 am. Then I headed over to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve for a walk.

It was 55º when I got there; perfect walking weather. It remained sunny and breezy all day and got up to about 80º by the late afternoon.

At the preserve, I saw a lot of deer including does, fawns, and bucks… and the big 4-pointer buck that is so impressive. He was sitting off to the left side of the Meadow Trail, just looking majestic. I saw the fawn with the chewed-up neck again; he’s healing nicely. And there was another fawn with his mom at the opposite end of the preserve from the other deer. That one has a really broad nose and looks so cute in photos.

CLICK HERE for the album of photos.

I could hear Cooper’s Hawks, Killdeer on the river, and Belted Kingfishers but wasn’t able to actually see them.

There is more Sulphur Shelf fungus around than I have ever seen in the preserve. I wonder if it’s a result of the 2017 flooding in the park…

I also got to see a group of about six baby California Ground Squirrels scampering around outside their burrow. They were fully furred, but still about half the size of mom. They ran in circles, rolled around in the grass, jumped on top of one another, and explored the world outside their front door. I got a little bit of video of them, but it doesn’t do their cuteness justice.

I walked for about 3 hours and then headed back to the house.