Good Way To Warm Up

I took a couple days off from walking because my new knee was paining - so much that I thought there might be something wrong. But this morning it felt fine. I was so cold I decided to go out and walk in the sunshine at Green Valley Lake. I told HD what I was going to do and he asked, "Can I go along?"

I wanted to walk farther on that gravel path I followed a few days ago, which we did. I was surprised to find that a little further on from where I turned back that day there was another new 'bridge'.

This one even longer. It is near the west end of the gravel path where it joins back up with the paved trail.

I noticed that the Bluebird houses have been opened and cleaned out for the end of the season. I never saw any Bluebirds out there this summer, only a Wren in one bird house and Tree Swallows around another one.

There was a Monarch Butterfly on the Oxeye Sun-flowers. The only photos I got were with its wings closed. This one is in the upper left corner toward the middle.

There were also some similarly colored Painted Ladies on  the flowers. This one is in the middle of the photo.

Horse Nettle in bloom near the water.
By this time I had definitely warmed up!

One lonely little Killdeer searching the mudflats.

Almost back to the car. I had walked a lot farther than I expected to.





Bud wanted to investigate another possible trail so we drove over to the campgrounds.

While he was checking out the trail I was taking more photos. First these little tiny white flowers with the dark eyes caught my attention, then a bright blue damselfly lit on them.

These two tiny purple/blue butterflies were flitting around, but when they landed they folded their wings to present their lovely gray undersides. I have not yet been able to find a name for these little jewels.

Bud followed the path, which is grass, a little way. Coming back he talked to the people renting one of the cabins who told him the path goes all the way up to the highway. So we drove out of the park and down the road west as far as it went. From the parking lot there is a causeway across. This is at the far north and west end of the lake.

We turned around and went back to another parking area with paths down to the lake.

We walked out to the end of a jetty where I took this photo across the lake. You can barely discern another causeway crossing over the lake there. Maybe someday the paths will be paved all around the lake. Until then, we are going to try some of the grass trails; take the fishing gear, a couple lawn chairs and a picnic lunch and enjoy this quiet spot.

Doesn't this look like a seal poking its head out of the water?

As we walked out to the end of the jetty, I was looking among all the rocks to see if I could spot any fossils in them. When I told Bud that, he said, "So was I." We are so sympatico. He found the first fossil. 😎 It was a lovely morning.