Mulling things on my morning ramble with Storm, the family’s mixed Lab.
I think I am getting a wild reputation in town. And I mean that in he best sense.
Last week, as I did my nightly routine of rolling up car windows and checking bikes and such outside, I heard the neighbor woman scream and her kids laughing.
Then I saw then trying to a shoo a cicada out of their house. And her oldest boy said, “We should take it over to our neighbor.”
Yes, the neighborhood kids know I love wild stuff. So if they spot the hummingbirds, they tell me. Same with odd spiders, cicadas, small birds, cicada killer wasps, toads, frogs and just critters.
There are worse ways to be known.
Last week, one of the neighborhood kids found a praying mantis. I wish it was in my garden, but it was on the side of their house. And yesterday, they brought another cicada to show me.
I do like observing the wilds around us.
As we set off this morning–more dark of night than even beginning light of the predawn–a rabbit jumped around between the decorative fruit trees and potted fall mums a street over. Until it figured the darkness was its friend and froze.
But by then, the meathead already had seen it and lunged toward it.
A patchy fog in the chill of the 50s this morning.
Heard what has been a rare sound in recent weeks–the honking of Canada geese–as we were by the ball field. I counted 18 as they came over low.
I do not know if somebody has an early harvested field or if hunting pressure just pushed them off the lakes to the south.
When I stopped to take the photo of the steam or fog rising off the north old pit, a green heron flapped off and headed north.
A few big fish splashed off shallow. So between the shallow big fish and the green heron, I am guessing there is small fish shallow.
As I watched the water, another seven Canada geese flew over and continued north.
As came out of the wild portion of the ramble, I noticed some fine graffiti on a rail car on the side by the grain elevator.
I have a weakness for graffiti, it seems like art in its rawest. At first I though the tagger was Art Crew. But when I looked closer, I think it was Act Crew, which I think is a more creative and apt name for a graffiti artist.
A quick google search suggests maybe Act Crew may not be so benign, as in stands for Always Causing Trouble.
I do like the artwork, though.
