Sunrise 5:14: Greeted by the herd

This is cattle season on the fields surrounding the Big Dish but the female Dawn Jogger has larger missed them. They've been just specks in the distance or on the other side of the hill from the marked trails. This morning part of the herd was there to greet her as she make her way down the Junipero Serra side of the Dish. And they weren't in much of hurry to move out of the way...

Sunrise 6:16: Canine greens keeper

There are a number of dogs who work on the Stanford campus - or more accurately come to work with their masters and behave in a manner that doesn't interfere with the task out at hand. One is a Border Collie who makes the rounds tending the greens and fairways of the golf course. Today he (or she) and his master were working near the second hole tee as the female Dawn Jogger took off her her morning run. Like many Border Collies, he was all work and no play...

Sunrise 6:18: Lentil gets introduced

Occasionally a 'first blush' surprise comes to the Dawn Joggers. Such was the case this morning when the female Dawn Jogger went out to pick up the morning papers and heard the sound of a puppy whimpering across the street. She knew neighbor Kay had recently adopted a pit bull/shepherd mix puppy named Lentil through the Pound Puppy Rescue, and sure enough Kay's daughter Malea was in their yard with the still shy 8-week-old pup. He and his litter mates had been abandoned when they were a week old but careful nursing made them ready for adoption. Malea was good enough to walk across the street so that the male DJ could meet Lentil, too. Now the DJs are headed for a duckling-spotting walk at Lagunita...

Sunrise 6:19: Goslings debut in Baylands

The Dawn Joggers have been jogging and walking in Palo Alto's Baylands Preserve for as long as they've lived in the Bay Area, but today was a banner outing, bird sitting wise. The male DJ walked to the levee where a flock of cormorants had taken up residence for the morning. Meanwhile, the female DJ was doing her loop run and came up more than one family of geese. The one she got closest to had four goslings (three are pictured), and her actions - don't come one step closer! - were well scrutinized by the parents. Later a pheasant crossed her path...

Sunrise 6:20: Robin in waiting

It's been exactly two weeks since Ms. Robin built her mini-mansion nest in the Brown Jordan umbrella on the Dawn Joggers patio and too up residence. The male DJ did a little research and found that Robins pair for a season and that they normally have three broods of three to five eggs each. The female does all the sitting while the male helps feed. Gestation is 13 to 17 days - so the DJs are on the look out for chicks. "Mom" now lets the female DJ put on and take off her running shoes nearby without her leaving the nest...

Sunrise 6:21: Ducklings everywhere

It was another frosty morning; the fairways of the Stanford golf course were glimmering in the dawn light. But the cool conditions were no deterrent to the activity on Lake Lagunita - the comings and going and squawking of geese and numerous broods of ducklings (the female Dawn Jogger counted four!). Should be a big weekend at the lake with warm temperatures predicted...

Sunrise 6:23: Fresh after some showers

It had been quite a while since the female Dawn Jogger set out at sunrise to find a damp world. There had been a few showers overnight, the air was fresh, and the lingering clouds displayed hues of pink and blue. Some oak stumps surrounded by mustard made a perfect tableau along the ridge leading up to the Big Dish. She wondered why the hardest weekday run is also the most pleasurable. Maybe something up about attaining higher ground...

Sunrise 6:24: Ducklings on parade

The female Dawn Jogger got the perfect Earth Day present this morning at Lake Lagunita. The 14 ducklings, first spotted when newly hatched last Thursday, were feeding on weeds close to the shore, which meant she could snap a photo before they headed out to safer water. After consultation with the male DJ, they think 14 is a record brood for the Stanford lake in their years of jogging there. Today is bittersweet, being John Hubbard's 97th birthday...

Sunrise 6:25: Who lives here?

What with Ms. Robin fully ensconced in the new brown umbrella that shades the new teak patio table, the female Dawn Jogger is on the alert for other bird dwellings. Many, many years ago the DJs enjoyed watching an owl family one spring near the Stanford mausoleum, but there was no sign of anyone in the same tree hollow this morning. She came upon one bird condo of sorts on San Mateo Drive not far from the bike bridge over San Francisquito Creek (ripples but no ducklings spotted). Do birds ever actually take advantage of prefab houses?...

Sunrise 6:26: Yard full of poppies

After attending church this morning - much filled with memories of Mike - the female Dawn Jogger headed for a walk downtown, to stretch her legs and take care of a couple of errands. An yard full of poppies waved to her as she walked by. They are satisfyingly cheery...

Sunrise 6:28: Challenge brings possibility

Continuing their their determine to share an outing while exercising separately on Saturday mornings, the Dawn Joggers headed out to Windy Hill Open Space. Like all the areas they hiked together, always with Cassie the Australian Shepherd in tow, it's bittersweet to return to ground much traveled before the male DJ was diagnosed. The area provides a wide path with a slight grade at the base of the open space which was where the male DJ did his out and back. The female DJ headed up on an alternative path and was a little less than half way up the spine to the top when it was time for her to turn around. The surprise - how easily she made it to that point. She'd seen people jogging Windy but had never thought it was something she could do. But now she's set a goal for a future Saturday to make it to the top. Like the male DJ, her thoughts are much filled with Mike whose memorial is this afternoon...

Sunrise 6:29: God's grace comes in orange

The Dawn Joggers headed up to UCSF for the bimonthly MRI and appointments with the neuro-oconology team. There is always anxiety around these tests/meeting - will there be good news (tumor is stable) or bad news (it's growing). While the male DJ was having the test, the female DJ walked at a brisk pace around Golden Gate Park, taking the photo of two Buddhist monks under a cherry tree in front of the Japanese Tea Garden. There was a peace and tranquility about the scene that was comforting to her. And thankfully, the news was good...

Sunrise 6:31: Newborn ducklings out for a swim

What with the larger ducklings spotted by the female Dawn Jogger a couple of days ago, jogging around Lake Lagunita is now all about "looking for ducklings." Big pay off this morning with a group of recently newly-hatched out for an early morning swim with mom. Getting a good photo was impossible; the mom spotted the female DJ and headed away from the shore with the ducklings packed so closely behind that they appeared to be a second adult duck. Clever about nature...

Sunrise 6:32: Sun up Dish jog

The dark Dish runs are no longer- at least for the next three or four months. The sun was already up and shining brightly on the Dish grasses and wildflowers when the female Dawn Jogger made her way up from Junipero Serra.. The DJs has long been obsessed with displays of purple and there was a pretty good one near the top of the first rise. The Celtic tunes on the iPod continue as do the memories of Mike...

Sunrise 6:33: Signs of new life

For the past month, the female Dawn Jogger has set out just before sunrise with the sound of Celtic music playing on her iPod. As the DJs' good friend - and rector - has worsened and death became imminent, in her heart she hoped that the music he loved would sing him to heaven. This morning it did; the call came soon after she came back home (eager to tell the male DJ that the first ducklings of the season has been spotted).

Mike Spillane was one of the most authentic people the female DJ has ever known. There was a quality about him that set him apart - and was difficult to describe in words but came through in feelings. He wrote: "In some sense everything that happens in our lives, from the mundane to the spectacular, is a part of one’s spiritual journey. It is an autobiography that we are all writing each day about how God is present in each moment of our lives and, more importantly, how we respond to that presence." He touched both DJs deeply and will live on with them...

Sunrise 6:35: Good looking Bird

As the female Dawn Jogger came around the path behind Stanford GBS, she encountered one of the facility workers admiring a very mint and pristine '55 (according to the worker) Ford Thunderbird. The black exterior with red and white interior made it particularly appealing, although the worker, who owned a couple of vintage T-birds herself, expressed some concern over just what it was doing out on this dampish morning. The female DJ think the 50s era T-birds have kept their looks...

Sunrise 6:36: Grace takes flight

The Dawn Joggers took off right after breakfast and headed to Oakland to visit Grace, Julie and John on another very warm spring day. The five of them went for a neighborhood walk, heading down the hill to the FM "Borax" Smith Playground, part of the land left to the city by the man who made "Twenty Mule Team Borax" a household name. There Grace took her very first swing ride, greeted with her usual aplomb. Fun to share even these small life events...

Sunrise 6:37: Great poppy display

The Dawn Joggers headed out to Arastradero open space this morning where the female DJ did the usual loop jog (up and down and up and down) while the male DJ walked. As she'd noticed a couple of weeks ago, the poppies are particularly abundant this year. There's a huge swath of them that spreads from hill top to ravine as the western edge of the park. Maybe the last time the DJs will see Arastradero in its green splendor this year, due to no rain and warm temperatures...

Sunrise 6:39: Good things at the end

The female Dawn Jogger had to wait to the very end of her outing this morning for the payoff. She'd noticed as she left the backyard just before dawn that the new teak dining table had a bunch of leaves and twigs on it - and she thought it strange. When she returned home and began to clean it up, she discovered that Ms. Robin Red Breast was in the process of taking up residence in the brand new umbrella. Evidently only the best will do for her nest. That makes the DJs a two nest household - there's another one on the wreath near the front door, a long time favorite location. Good cheer ups for the rough patch the DJs' are shuffling through...

Sunrise 6:40: Grazin' in the grass

A group of ducks, mostly male (for the keen eye, the female is the spec farthest to the left) seemed to be enjoying a soon-after-sunrise ramble through the tall grass. They were a couple of hundred feet from Lake Lagunita itself, although they can hitch a ride in by utilizing the water channel that's continuing to stream into the lake. The female Dawn Jogger continues to think the full lake is a real gift this spring...

Sunrise 6:52: Frolicking general birds

The red winged blackbird have been amusing the Dawn Joggers for the many springs that they've lived in the Bay Area. There encountered most soon after sunrise foraging for for around mustard and other taller grasses and seem to have their territory. They're not all over the Big Dish area but mainly near the gate that comes in from Junipero Serra. At Arastradero, their territory seems to be one ridge line. Undoubtedly due to their distinct coloring, they are very cheery...

Sunrise 6:43: Good spring at the lake

The female Dawn Jogger is a broken record in the sense of how much she's enjoying the full Lake Lagunita this spring. The early morning light is the special ingredient, especially when the clouds arrive in mixed hues of gray. Spotted today was another annual sign of spring - the appearance of a pup tent along its shores. According to a Palo Alto Weekly article, the female DJ is being treated to a full lake this year because the university plans to dredge Felt Lake this summer so that it can hold more water to irrigate the golf course. In preparation, Felt water is being diverted to Lagunita. Stanford's environmental pitch is that the steelhead trout will get new fish ladders. With the university, there always seems to be an angle...

Sunrise 6:45: Election time on campus

The female Dawn Jogger set out on yet another frosty morning in the Bay Area, with temperatures cooler than her Saturday run in Milwaukee. When she's been away for a few days, it's always good to catch up on what's going on in campus (other than Mike Montgomery clearing out his office at the athletic department). The donut whole portion of the bicycle traffic circles on campus had been taken over by election posters. And speaking of elections, the pulse of the Midwest beats Obama...

Sunrise 6:26: Lakeside - then off to Miller Park

Some of the Giants' coaching staff were heading off to the ballpark as the female Dawn Jogger headed down down to the shores of Lake Michigan for a wake up jog. The sun was shining, a first for the DJs' Milwaukee stay, although he Milwaukee Yacht Club was still thawing.

Then if was off to the game at Miller Park, retractable roof closed. Thanks to be close to house seats, there was a hearty group of Giants' fans (relatives/friends of the team) right in front of them. Fun to be a a new park and see all its attractions.
But wish the Giants had won...

Sunrise 6:27: Lakefront in Milwaukee

It isn't exactly pretty but spring is evident along the Oak Leaf Trail in downtown Milwaukee. Most of the snow had melted, and there was the tiniest hint of green to the long covered grass. It was an quick few blocks from the Dawn Joggers' hotel, the landmark Pfister, down to the lake front where the Milwaukee Art Museum is located. And a really pleasant jogging route for the female DJ, particularly as it wasn't very cold. (Hardy natives were in shorts and long sleeve shirt). The Giants team bus was waiting outside the hotel when the female DJ returned...

Sunrise 6:50: Over the top in Milwaukee

When the Dawn Joggers took off before dawn today on a fully-loaded 747 headed before headed for O'Hare Airport in Chicago where they would rent a car to drive to Milwaukee, they could not have imagined nor scripted a more magical evening (yes, it all happened at last blush, not first blush.) They decided to make it easy and eat at their hotel's restaurant, touted as being run by "uber-chef" Mark Weber. And the female DJ admits that she thought that just maybe they might run into some San Francisco Giants baseball players or personnel, given that the Giants were in town to play the Brewers. But how magical was it for the female DJ to walk into the the Mason Street Grill and stumble upon Giants broadcasters Mike Krukow and Dave Fleming seated at the bar and then have a fun discussion about Larry Bowa's 'major snappage' as described by Kruk during the Giants' broadcast on Tuesday evening from Dodger Stadium. They were shortly joined by another Giants broadcaster, Jon Miller. That was enough grace for one evening - or so they thought. After their very good dinner at the restaurant, Mark Weber (pictured) himself came over to philosophize about the restaurant business with the male DJ. Famous broadcasters, famous chefs - this is about as good as it gets for one evening in Milwaukee...

Sunrise 6:52: Soft light at dawn

April showers are predicted for the Peninsula today and the clouds created soft lighting, pretty from both directions as the female Dawn Jogger made her way up to Big Dish from the Junipero Serra side. As it gets lighter earlier, the number of walkers/joggers is increasing. The hares continue to put in their appearances; a full-grown one was spotted today. The female DJ wishes she's started a hare count this year...

Sunrise 6:54: Numbered for what?

There wasn't much doing around Lake Lagunita at dawn this morning. The female Dawn Jogger found neither a pretty sunrise nor a lot geese or duck activity. The year of the hare continues - one greeted her but, as usual, didn't want to pose for a photo. That left the female DJ to ponder why some of the oaks around the Lake are numbered. A past orienteering event? Part of Stanford's horticultural activities? Number 4 oak is where the DJs used to rest the stick needed to gently prod an older Cassie away from the many distractions she'd find on her way around the lake. The DJs miss both pets...