Running, Reading, Reminiscing & Writing About It: Meanwhile Back in the Valley

While I enjoy my traveling to visit friends and family and to do various races. There is always something going on here at home in the San Joaquin Valley. I'm currently reading a book by Ken Gire, The Reflective Life - Becoming More Spiritually Sensitive to the Everyday Moments in Life. While the book focuses on being spiritually engaged I think it is important to simply engage period. So many things that we either ignore or simply don't acknowledge can often lead to something bigger.

For example the past several months we have had either one very busy mole or multiple moles in the front yard and I assume that if nothing is done he or they will continue to live here. Many mornings I have gone outside and watched him busily digging and throwing dirt everywhere. He'll even poke his head up from time to time but I can't get close enough to get a picture of him. Every time before I mow I go around and rake his mounds back into the grass and by the next morning he has some new ones. I suppose the yard is getting a first rate aeration.

On Monday of last week I noticed that we had a new tenant as a snake moved into one of the mole holes. The snake was entertaining for almost a full week. He would literally sit all day with his head out of the hole anywhere from a few inches to over a foot and just watch. He was particularly interested in one of our lizards that insisted on running up and down the tree in his line of sight. The snake was there through Saturday but since I mowed on Sunday he hasn't shown himself.

My sisters kids and grandkids were all here for a couple of days before leaving for a vacation in the mountains. It was good seeing them all, especially Mark because he lives in Maryland and we usually only see him once a year. We had our traditional meal at El Rosal and everyone had a good time catching up, telling stories and laughing.

Almost Everyone

When the kids left Sassy got a roommate for the week. I've written about Gia, Tim's dog in other posts. She's a really good dog and fortunately gets along well with our 7. Yes, I said 7. We adopted two more that my sister found out about on Facebook. They were found wandering along a busy road and were going to be taken to the shelter. The person who found them and Donna both left their contact information with the shelter but we've never heard from anyone so it looks like Shorty and Red are here to stay.