TimeOut

Each year or so we walk this stretch and here we are again. Not many birds at first sight but as we walked, they appeared.

Birds on a fence in the water (more or less)

The industrial project underway for the last few years is approaching completion. I'll cross that bridge when they're done with it.



Amazingly, I spotted a guy walking around under the bridge, in the middle of the river. The camera revealed he was wearing a wetsuit and poking around at the bridge with a big pipe.



These 4 birds ignored him. Here's a question. Upstream is to the left, downstream to the right. Which way is the water flowing now, and why?



Moving upstream we saw white birds in the grass



Some stretched out, others folded up compactly

We started walking back upstream and noticed a whirly bird (real)

I said, "I helped build real planes when I was young". 

The guy sitting next to me said, "I used to fly them when I was young."

I said, "My dad was a Navy pilot." 

He said, "So was my dad. But he died in a crash." 

I said, "Very Sorry. So did my dad." 

There was a moment of silence. 

"Tough -- my dad was in Hawaii".

 "Ah. Near Corpus Christi". 

More silence. 

"Were you young?"  

"Yeah."  

"Me too."

Changing the subject, he said "I was late this morning 'cause I just came back from the doctor, I think I got a kidney stone comin'." 

I said, "I have an appointment with the urologist in an hour to make sure mine's gone."

We're best friends now... almost everyone else was slapping their knees, rolling around laughing ... except a few who were looking painful.

This is not a young man's game.

I started thinking about flying and falling out of the sky, and keeping two feet on solid ground. And I came up with a riddle: What lives in the air but has no wings and can't fly?

We packed up and headed for Kaiser medical center. I noticed a woman inspecting the building's sign very closely... after she left I took a look too.  Dang it!

Cazalea

PS - it wouldn't been a full day if we hadn't seen this guy, and I wouldn't be writing if I still had the 'stone.

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