Courting Cormarants

“I should know better than to follow you downhill,” one of today's riders remarked (when he caught up with me). The group was massed at the summit when I arrived, so I waved and immediately started my descent. [Otherwise I'd be on the brakes the whole way down, mixing it up with them and likely making more than a few of them uneasy.]

All that water in the reservoir was a site to behold! I paused to admire a hunting great blue heron and a pair of cormorants who seemed fixated on each other.

I missed the fawn that others saw, but this pair of young deer posed nicely for me. [No, they are not lawn ornaments.] They didn't immediately bolt when I stopped, and seemed curious when I spoke softly to them.

On the return trip I looked up to see a halo ringing the sun; not wanting to point directly at the orb, I captured a lower arc.

It was cool and breezy, the kind of day we needed to reassure us that our recent run of triple-digit heat was a fluke.

A smooth 44 miles, with a scant 1,319 feet of climbing.

Engineering Farmers

Although we're always encouraged to support our local communities by volunteering our time, once a year our company works with a local agency to sponsor a broad array of projects over the course of a month—and nudges us out of the office to pitch in during the work week. Projects fill up fast, and I quickly learned that the best way to work on the project of my choice was to sign up to lead it.

We all spend too much time in office buildings, so I gravitate toward the outdoors. This year, the one that aligned well with my schedule was a project to revitalize a small plot near an urban school, run by the California Native Garden Foundation.

Here they mix native plants, to restore the soil's ecosystem, with food crops. During the school year, students learn from the garden. Year-round, produce is sold at a local farmers' market.

Our representative from CNGF shared her passion about “agrihoods;” her dog, having heard all of this before, knew where to settle down in the shade.

Cell phones were stowed in favor of wielding sledgehammers and pry bars. Who doesn't enjoy the chance to do some serious demolition?

When I put out the call for volunteers, many of my teammates signed right up—including my manager. (You're not the boss of me, today!)

Everyone worked hard, and of course they're all quite clever. Count on engineers to figure out the best way to get the job done (and do it well).

At the end of our morning, the folks from CNGF surprised us with a salad of tasty (and unfamiliar) greens from the garden!

We left a big pile of debris and a garden much better than we found it, and no one got hurt in the process. (Whew!)

You, too, can volunteer!