Mountain goat

Today was a cold, but bright day with blue skies. Ideal weather for a long (1h 54min) run. Back in September I ran up a hill to look down into the valley below, but had forgotten my camera. Today I took it along.

It started harmlessly at creek and lake level:

Then I crawled up the hill in snail pace. And after each hill, there was another one. It doesn't look anywhere as steep as it felt like...

Back in the valley, I spotted this beautiful Mandarin duck:

Unfortunately, he and his mates were a bit camera-shy...

They have been digging holes into the road for ages now. This machine is new, though. The redish colour of the stone reminds me of my childhood. If we had no chalk we used to look for those stones, so we could draw hopscotch on the road.