Walk in the hills

After a week of rain, the weekend was beautiful.

A bit chilly but that made it perfect weather to enjoy a walk out in the hills. We drove to the end of Stevenson Ranch and took a nice walk to explore Mentryville, one of the area's early settlements and the state's first oil boom town.

We spotted a number of nice birds, a bunny and a ground squirrel, and a small stream, the type we have around here that only flow after a lot of rain.

Cora loved her time out walking, and occupied herself finding mud puddles, sticks and rocks. In fact, it took us a lot longer to get back to the car, even though that direction was downhill, because the tiny pebbles (bits of asphalt, truth be told) were just too fascinating.

In the second photo, she's on the porch of Felton School, from 1885. She also liked climbing up the ladder of a falling-apart structure we think might have been used for filming. (Don't worry, grandparents, we didn't let her walk around that porch.)

The last two photos are for those of you who find it hard to believe, knowing our extreme summer heat, that we actually get frosty mornings.

Yes, that's a layer of ice on Stacey's windshield and window, and that is frost on the roofs and grass. It melts away pretty quick when the sun comes out, so it's usually gone by 9 a.m.

Lastly, I'll share a quick Coraism that just happened as I was finishing this blog post. Cora's been in bed for almost an hour, and I heard her shouting that she needed to use the bathroom. That's great news, because it's annoying when she makes a mess in her diaper when she's awake, simply because she chooses to not tell us.

Anyway, I went in and asked her if she wanted socks on her feet, since the tile floor is cold. I had offered socks before putting her to bed earlier, but she refused. This time, she said, "Yes! I've been asking for them for three days!"