Contrail and Shadow

Is that really what it is? It was interesting enough to take a picture of on the way up to Spike's meadow. After yesterday's rain we all had cabin fever and decided Spike deserved his favorite walk. I wasn't sure I was going to make it up the hill but decided to go and see how far I got. It was a beautiful morning and the exercise felt a lot better than the not-a Peloton which seems to make me feel worse. Once we reached the meadow there was no point in turning around and the gravel trail was wet and much less slippy on the way down than when it is dry. Spike even had a swim as the water has returned to the pond but the newts haven't yet. We haven't been sure how he would react to water, but this seemed a very safe place to see what he did, and he loved it!

Dana and Jim are coming over here today and we are going to have a tortilla making party. I finished reading the Masa book in preparation and watched a YouTube video on how to get the tortilla from the press into the pan without wrinkling it. We'll see if it 'a smooth backhanded swipe' works . How did we ever get anything done before YouTube?

I looked out the window this morning and spotted an unfamiliar bird sitting on the cross pole of one of our bird feeders. It was pigeon-sized but didn't look like a pigeon with it's back turned to me. As it turned, it's profile confirmed that it was a hawk, probably a Cooper's Hawk,  They are
fairly common in populated areas, but I have never seen one actually sitting on the bird feeder. There wasn't another bird in sight which isn't surprising since Cooper's hawks feed mainly on other birds.It was gone before I could get my camera. Now as I look out there is a hummingbird feeding on the bottlebrush which is growing up around the bird feeders after the fire burned our thick hedge to the ground. It isn't as thick, but we love the view up the canyon that was blocked by shrubs and trees before.

The clouds are coming in over the hills as I watch and more rain is predicted for tomorrow or the next day.