Orange Elephant

The good weather continues and we were up early this morning to take Spike on a walk before it got too hot. The Sonoma Valley Regional Park is getting pretty dry so we decided to take the dirt trail that is higher up above the paved trail. All was fine until we came to a tree that had fallen across the trail. There was a space that was big enough for Spike to go under it, but he wasn't so sure about that. A man and his dog patiently waited behind us and finally offered to lift Spike over. Once he made the suggestion, John and I realized we could do it and managed it between us. I managed to scrape my leg on a twig sticking out as I climbed over, taking off yet another piece of skin on my right ankle. A minor annoyance but an annoyance nonetheless. (I added Band Aids to our shopping list once I got home).

Not wanting to negotiate our way over the log again,  I decided I could probably negotiate the steep rocky trail back down to the paved path. I insisted that John wait for me in case I needed to use him as a handrail.
My training of John to train Spike on the lead paid off because they both waited for me and we all made it down the hill upright and unscathed.( I have to say that Spike is a lot easier to train than John.

On the way home we stopped off at Swedes' Feeds, a place that defies description. It is sort of a garden center/farm supply/purveyor of an enormous number of metal garden sculptures. There are full sized giraffes and oversized chickens. I wanted to get a shot of the pink elephant, but just as I was about to take the picture a woman picked it up and walked off with it., so I made do with the orange one in front of a giant chicken. It's one of those places with shelves full of all and sundry things from dog food to gift cards with seeds embedded in them. Our garden is always a work in progress, but we're not in the market for pink elephants or giant giraffes, so we left with just a couple of succulents and several good pictures. Another one in extras.

We made a further stop at the deli right down the street from us and picked up two delicious banh mi sandwiches for lunch.

I spent the afternoon safety pinning the top, batting and backing of the heart quilt together, which I'm going to tie instead of having it quilted. Fortunately this process could be done on the kitchen counter as crawling around on the floor was not an appealing prospect. 

I'm afraid comments will have to wait as  I have spent too much time unsuccessfully trying to make a collage and it is now wine time....