A rainy walk

It rained steadily all of Sunday. Riley and I took a 40-minute walk around Como Lake in the late afternoon. At first, I had trouble getting him to leave the house; he was his usually rammy self--he dashes all over the porch, scouting out all the windows for squirrels, and I have to wait until he's secured the perimeter before he'll sit nicely for me to click the red harness over his strong little chest.

And then I opened the front door, and he saw the rain pelting down, and he tried to back up.

But once I dragged him out to the sidewalk, he was fine. Trotted along beside me, pausing every few blocks to give himself a good shake.

Only a few other walkers were out. One man was walking his dog under a green-and-white golf umbrella. (Riley and I rolled our eyes at such prissiness.) I was the only one out there who had been wise enough (or geeky enough) to wear both a rain jacket and rain pants; God bless Helly Hansen. I stayed nice and dry.

On the south end of the lake, an American kestrel (sparrow hawk) flew right over my head, almost low enough to grab, had I been quicker (and stupider). It landed in the bare branch of a tree by the water and croaked its distinctive call again and again.

But on the far side of the lake was our true reward for braving the weather: birds don't fly much when it's foggy, and that apparently includes eagles, as well. The bald eagle was sitting in the top of an elm tree on the north side of the lake, looking like a gigantic soggy football. Its white head and tail were unmistakable; I could see its sharp curved yellow beak as it turned its head.

I was so excited I nearly grabbed the next person who happened by: a Hmong man bent under a large black umbrella. "Look! Look!" I said, and he turned, startled. I pointed to the treetop, but the man just hurried off, worried, no doubt, that Riley and I were up to no good.

"Eagle!" I called after him, but he didn't turn around.

Riley shook the rain off his back, and we squelched our soggy way home. The goofballs of Como and Lake. That's Riley and me.