I’ve written a few posts about lambing, but that wasn’t the only thing going on. During the middle of lambing the Texas grandkids were here for a week. Kirby, age 10, and Kasen, age 8, flew solo (without parents) in mid-March, also spending a few days with the other grandparents a few miles away.

The first afternoon here we walked across the road with Ginny. I like this view of Mt. Diablo due south.

This photo shows the main canal to the right. I got carried away just now and did a bit of internet research about this channel, which I know is called Sweeney Creek, but it doesn’t look much like a creek anymore. This document describes the Ulatis Flood Control Project constructed in the 1960’s and 70’s, a series of channels that end in the delta. The focus of the document is a fish survey done in 2023 and sampling point #9 is at this location. How does this relate to this post? The kids wanted to walk down to the water and the easiest place for that is below the structure at the right of this photo.

At that point we saw splashing and realized that there were a lot of large fish in the rocky area below that structure. There is a fish at the top of this photo.

In a small still area we saw over a dozen fish.

Kirby decided that a rescue was called for to move the fish from the small rocky pools to a place where the water flowed more freely. She was able to easily catch several of the fish that were in the small pool.

One of my friends identified this as a Sacramento sucker, which I learned is the native fish found at this location in that 2023 fish survey.

The kids spent about an hour splashing in the water and catching fish.

I walked along the water edge and an artifact I recognized. How many tennis balls have we lost during our walks?

This one has become its own ecosystem.

Kirby’s rubber boots didn’t keep her feet dry after awhile

Ginny’s look after her explorations.

Another look after getting back on the road.