Stretching It Day

I’ve been waiting to capture this move of Calla’s for years!  It is just the cutest thing, and she wobbles from side to side as she pulls on the scratcher.  It doesn’t take long to finish, which is why I haven’t caught it.  Excuse the sock, I just got back from my big walk.

Out back, Calla tries the taste of the honeysuckle bush that encroaches on the rocks.

Today, I tried to find a southerly trail.  I went to what I thought was a trailhead at one point and went out on it, but it just followed behind a subdivision.  It was hard going not because of brush, but because the houses are perched on the edge of a stream gorge.  I keep thinking that my house is at the bottom of the little valley, and it looks like it from the roads.  However the real “brook” in Oakbrook, which I guess is the name the valley I live in , is the real low point – but is mostly hidden from view.  So my impromptu trail was often sideways on a slope, which was annoying.  By the time I got back to the main road, I was far enough out that I decided to check out where the trails from the north wall of the valley come out if I were to make a larger loop than the ones I did the last few weeks.

But on the way, I spotted a new trail up the hills in the south and couldn’t resist going up. And up.  The ground had already risen a few hundred feet to get to the start of the trail, and I turned around at a point 750 feet above that, in a mile or so of trail.  Near this peak the trail was on the knife edge crest of a ridge so you could look down on things in every direction.  I dislike retracing my steps, but peering down on the landscape I saw no sign that this trail would go down again except the way I came.  Broke my record for altitude, as I could see down on the other trails I took on the north rim of the valley.

A little bit further on was a Chumash Indian Museum so I visited that and walked back.  At the museum on the way to the restored village exhibit I almost walked into three deer – two bucks with velvet on the horns and a doe.  Pretty impressive.

The total trip was almost 10 miles.  I thought I would be taking it easy, but I kept seeing one more hill to peek over.

In the morning before I left, all the cats were fascinated by this spot in the “grass” – (it is actually some Korean ground cover plant).  First Julie was mesmerized, then Gus came to see.

When Julie gave up on it, Gus had to do his own inspection.  When he was done, Calla had to do her own.  I looked myself and saw nothing of any interest.  But what do I know?