Lone Blue Heron

The lone blue heron which haunted the fields around Mt. Peak was found on the side of the road dead several months ago, its crystal clear eye open to the sky. Another lone blue heron was sighted in the fields last Tuesday the 24th.

Mt. Peak Boots

My new boots are making my feet bleed.

?

Yes I'm still here.

Buzz-Buzz Barbie Boy?

Barbie Boy was back on Mt. Peak today. This is the guy with the "Barbie" backpack who blocks the trail when people are trying to get uphill doing their workouts.

Today, he didn't get far up the trail, when a bee came buzzing out of the shrubbery and stung him in the lower back -- ZAP. He stopped, fiddling with his shirt and lower back, trying to get the stinger out. This time, he pulled over to the side of the trail, more worried about getting zapped by the bee than blocking other hikers doing their workouts.

Buzz buzz ZAP . . .

Beware Flying Rocks

Near the top of Mt. Peak today, at the last switchback of the road, near the top, I saw a rock come flying from the upper section of the road, over the wooded and ferny section, over the lower section of the road, and just miss a downhill hiker's head by two feet or less.

He yelled "Hey!" but kept going. He and a woman with two or three youngish-teenish kids had just passed on the upper section of the road, with them going uphill, him going downhill. I couldn't see who threw the rock, but there was no one else but the woman and kids, and I didn't see anyone hiding in the wooded section.

It was surely one of the kids.

This rock was palm sized to a large man. It could have knocked the hiker out. If he'd fallen and hit his head on one of the big rocks on the road, it could have killed him.

There were no consequences for the rock-thrower. I thought the kid couldn't have thrown a rock that big and hit someone in the head before, or he/she would have known the seriousness of it -- that it could kill a person. So, I'm guessing the kid is going to keep throwing man-palm-sized rocks until he/she hits someone, and finds out the seriousness of it. Or, the kid is a sadist, and has hit people, and is going to keep doing it.

In years hiking Mt. Peak, this is the first dangerous act or attack I've seen. What do we have to do, wear helmets on the hill so we don't get killed while we exercise?

Think about it: Some kid threw a good-sized rock at a hiker's head today near the top of Mt. Peak. The kid got away with it, and will probably keep doing it.

Bye-Bye Billboard

I was just about to write about the property billboard at the corner of Garrett and Battersby -- you know the "coming soon" type that advertise what lovely warehouse or offices are shortly to rear their ugly heads.

The problem with this billboard was, if you were on Garrett, at the intersection, trying to turn left on Battersby, the sign obscured your view of traffic coming from your right. You'd have to creep forward and backward and crane your neck to see if a vehicle was coming.

But before I could complain about this blockage and eyesore, someone else got frustrated and disgusted and brought it down the other day. The 4x4 posts are collapsed onto the ground, and the signboard itself is missing.

Hmm, I wonder if the Judge Bathum Sign-Smasher is expanding his/her repertoire?

Chipmunk Picnic

On a recent clear day, getting to the top of Mt. Peak, I saw a chipmunk sitting on a sunny rock. He or she froze for a second and eyed me sideways.

As I crossed the top and got a better view, I could see that he was holding a slice of banana in his little mitts. He held it out comically in front of him, at mouth level, as though it was a big plate, or a pizza pie.

I saw a few more slices on the ground around him. Once he realized I was just passing over the top, he went back to spinning and nibbling on his banana slice.

I chuckled, wondering if he'd raided someone's picnic, or if the pieces had been sliced just for him. I got the feeling he'd been a guest at the picnic, rather than a party-crasher. It was a kind action, whomever was behind it.