The thermometer read just over 20, but the sun was thoroughly out. The sun was thoroughly out, but its angle has been low enough, the days short enough, and the temperature cold enough that Wednesday's snow is still on the ground. After a late morning snack of a Honeycrisp apple and gingerbread cookies, I drove down to Haitch's and my favorite stretch of the Highline Canal trail.
I saw a peregrine falcon, an enormous Swainson's hawk, either two or twice, and a rabbit. And other critters, of course, but only the usual suspects: squirrels, magpies, flickers, and dogs. And horses. One side of the trail is peppered with McMansions but the other has older horse properties with horses to match. On the way out, I stopped to watch an Appaloosa gambol in its yard while its stablemate browsed desultorily nearby. The fence was only four feet high and I was sure it had enough room to run into a jump but no such luck (for me). On the way back, both horses lay in the sun. Perhaps I missed how the idle one tuckered itself out.
5.2-mile walk, with Haitch reminisces if not the actual Haitch.