Rufus, a Canada six-month-old gosling likes to collect items left on the trail in Spring Lake Park by humans. So far he has found a red filmy scarf, two blue paper plates, a golden paper cup and 4 acorns. He is attracted to things that have interesting shapes and colors. He hides these favored items in a cardboard box that was left by a family who enjoyed a lunch in in the park where Rufus lives with his mother and father and sisters. Someone else enjoys the acorns that he found and the story is about this, introducing Squeaky the Squirrel. Chlele Payne Gummer is a native Californian born in Woodland, California. She began painting in high school art class. She graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in education and a minor in art. After her two children left the nest she began private classes in water color. She served the Northern California Arts Organization in Sacramento as president. During her two year term she won a first place award in their public competition for a non-realistic watercolor. She moved to Santa Rosa, California to be close to her daughter and her two granddaughters. Often she walked the trail at Spring Lake Park and became familiar with the Canada Geese that lived there. She wanted to relate her observations during her walks by writing the children's book "A Family of Geese." In that story Rufus was created and became the sole attention of hers. She wrote eight stories about his adventures beginning with "Rufus and the Games."
