Merganser Preening

Pics from three evenings ago at Creek's End....today taken up with another commute...returned the rental car...charged for just one day..whew!....oh...after Breakfast, made a short roundabout through the Woods...quiet, but heard Hawk, and pic of Doe by Path....heard the Mariposa Hawk when I paused there to make teeth cleaning appointment....on way to Town: Buzz Birds, Ravens, and One Hawk..now and then a flight of Small Birds....driving sorta takes the same attention one uses sighting Critters...very hard to do both, and a similar dilemma to talking on a cell phone while driving!.....would have liked to stop to watch Hawk, but Road too narrow, and the things to do too pressing....hmmph....picked up shelving for the Cabin....and...I have my favorite places to go in the Valley, and when I visit Town, which isn't often, I have these favorite places to go, Giant Hardware Stores being one, and insomuch every Town nowadays has one, well, I feel sorta at home thereabout, even though far away from home!...anyway, back in Mariposa, bought some Animal Beads, miniature Bobble Head Critters, a replacement for my miniature Stone Dolphin that I dropped and broke, and a miniature Turtle--all these in my favorite Souvenir Shop...lunch in the Pizza Place on the Corner...a visit to the Mineral Museum...bought a piece of unpolished Lapiz Lazuli...talkabout with the geologist host....took the Dolphin out from under my shirt on string around my my neck, and asked what stone...'jasper'...and learned that it is a kind a quartz, and listened to an anology with how agate, jasper and quartz form with how jello is made!...minerals, with some imagination, show off how things are going right down to level of atoms....took note of a Meteor form Alaska that John Muir played a part in snagging from an Indian Chief for science...still time remaining before the teeth cleaning, and went to Happy Burger, a favoritefavorite place, for milk shake....teeth done, and made an appointment for April...oh, with appointments, loan payments, keeping my attention on the Road, I feel like in short order I've been put back in harness!...sigh...quiet ride back to the Valley, and drove to Siberia for dinner...large gathering of friends at one table...oh....found a Backpack that fits in the Shop, and immediately purchased it...my back requires a '22' sizing, which is kinda the maximum--have a long waist!...anyway, glad to be back at the Cabin, and will forgo more commutes at least for tomorrow!....oh...paddled back to Creek's End for Last Light....Twelve Mallards about, preening and sleeping and foraging at the same Shallow Spot with Small Branch, where Mallards and Merganser were the other evening....all floated downstream, and went airborne together...wondered if maybe it was 'time' for Mallards....in very Last Light, Raven flew overhead across the Merced, and looked to startle Owl from the Cottonwoods thereabout...but too Dark to be certain....oh, I forwent riding the Bus, and rodeabout in Silver!...muchmuch more comfortable, but missed the talkabouts, and overheard conversations....and the Big Windows!...Phoebe and Ouzel at Creek's End too...

There are a great many destinations hereabout, and some that I have wanted to go to, and forgotten I wanted to go to! The Diving Board is one. Blog of the Day: http://terragalleria.com/blog/2010/08/30/yosemite-unseen-iii-the-diving-board/