When:  Wednesday–During the Afternoon- 2/28/2018
Weather: Drizzly and not very warm
Observations/Thoughts

When:  Monday–Late Afternoon- 2/26/2018
Weather: 60’s
Observations/Thoughts

Some days the walk is good but the distractions are minimal.  The highlights are barely worth mentioning.  Since mentioning what I judge mentionable and overblowing on the days when barely anything takes place is the purpose of this recent blog streak, I submit “overblown” tales today.

• The bike patrol:  I was greeted and warned of the passing on the left of the path patrol.  He did call me “sir”.  I am pretty sure he was older than me.
• Dual intersections:  I passed one person today twice.  The greeting was amicable during the first passage.  During the second passage, the iPhone and the podcast volume was much more important than providing any amount of recognition.
• Beehives?:  I got a glance at three structures about 3 feet tall tucked behind a few evergreen trees.  Having some beekeeping in my past, I believe this was an accurate sighting.  I will continue observing and attempting to validate this unexpected apiary.

When:  Tuesday–During the Afternoon- 2/27/2018
Weather: Drizzly and not very warm
Observations/Thoughts

When:  Sunday–Late Morning – 2/25/2018
Weather: Sun, the glorious sun, 60’s
Observations/Thoughts

• Russians in a Microwave:  With the gloriously beautiful day, I was not looking for any trouble today.  I was not looking for any trouble.  As I looked ahead of me, I saw the Russians walking on the “wrong side” of the sidewalk.  (Based on the US definition.)  I look mostly down.  I didn’t want to make contact.  As the distance closed, I wondered if I should switch to the “other” side of the sidewalk.  Just as I seriously entertained this idea, the husband, wife (Not sure they are married.  If it is part of their cover, they are only responsible for looking married.  The dog would allow them to appear doting without really caring for each other beyond the purpose of their mission in the US.) and the dog broke slightly to my left.  As we passed each other, I mean we must have passed each other.  I think I said, “Hello”.  I don’t remember either them or their dog doing anything resembling acknowledgment.  They walked past me and quickly migrated back to walk on their left side.  (As Americans, we generally walk on the right side of the sidewalk.)  Just a little further up the path, I saw a microwave cast along the side of the path–it was partially covered in water.  I am sure was not there the day before.  Coincidence? I think not.  I am sure it was used in some way by my Russian “friends” to pass or receive a message from their coordinator.  I was fearful any effort I made to confirm would leave fingerprints.  I am a family man more than I am a cabal chaser.
• Kids Love me: Before I finished the first quarter of my walk today, I had passed a mom with an occupied baby carriage, dad, and a dog.  On the way back, I passed the same family.  The configuration this time had everyone moving under their own power. The early walking son was just being helped past one of the remaining puddles when our paths intersected.  I mentioned to the mother, “He should take a good nap.”  She agreed the odds were improved.  He waved at me when I passed.  I waved back at him.  I get turning to keep walk away.  He kept looking at me.  I didn’t want to leave him thinking I didn’t enjoy his attention.  (My kids are all older.  It is good to have a child look at me with even a little bit of  “awe” in their eyes.)  His mom encouraged him one last time to say goodbye.  He blew me a kiss.  I replied with some modified version of the same.  The mom was slightly embarrassed.  I was glad to have my kid credentials reestablished.
• Today’s Survey:  With the exception of the aforementioned child, the crowds were not too friendly.  It was a spectacular day.  I don’t blame others for not being open to friendly gestures when out on the path.  Despite that fact, the bikers did not come out as welcoming today.
  • One jogger passed me today.  I walk fast but not that fast.  Without any prompting, she said, “Good Morning.”  I am not sure of the “rules” of the sidewalk.  My interpretation has always been the responsibility of initiating a conversation is with the passer.  Of course, I replied back with an immediate reciprocation of the greeting.
  • Parents with Babies:  See story above.  Also 100% on this one.
  • Fellow walkers:  I intersected (I walk south; they walk north or any combination where the other person is walking the other direction.) with 5 or fewer walkers.  I believe 2 of the 5 were open to a head nod or a hello.  Okay, not perfect odds.
  • Bikers:  The bikers were horrible today.  The bikers included a couple groups of 8 or more.  There were also a few individuals.  I believe I intersected with 20+ bikers today.  Of the whole lot, I got one “hello” and one, “On your left.”  I realize they were engaged in conversations with the other bikers.  What does it cost to nod your head?  Since today was a “sunglasses” day, maybe they did not realize I was staring them down from the other side of the lenses.  My head was pointed in their general direction. There were clues.  If they choose not to be open to others, it is on them.  If we both were wearing sunglasses, we both have deniability.  So, from their point of view, I am the anti-social one.  Maybe that is the shoe I should be wearing.

When:  Saturday–Mid afternoon – 2/24/2018
Weather: Sun, the glorious sun, 60’s
Observations/Thoughts

As I dropped my daughter off this morning for robotics, we chatted about the clouds clearing by early afternoon.  With all the gray of late, it seemed a little far-fetched.  Beyond the obvious fact, the day had more light then the night, very little evidence existed to prove the sun still remembered us.  The morning was spent in my den doing computer “things”.  I heard thunder and the rain that accompanied it spattering against the window.  I didn’t glance at the clock often.  My stomach said it was lunchtime.  A glance out the window told me the sun was ready to give me a week’s worth of “kisses”.  A quick lunch left me ready to walk out the front door with arms extended–ready for the sun’s embrace!  She turned out not to be very romantic.  I was just glad to spend some time with her!! (To me, the sun is a she.  Pronouns are more fluid than they used to be.  I have no problem thinking of her as him, either.)

• Texas Tea:  This Texas Tea has nothing to do with anything that comes from the ground.  (I believe I have mentioned the fracking well I pass.  The “well” was set up again.  Occasionally, they “re-frack” or otherwise tickle the earth to keep the natural gas flowing.)  This type of tea happens anywhere there are animals and excessive rain.  As the animals defecate, they have no concern where it falls.  As the rain comes and then come some more, the ground gets overwhelmed with rain.  The water starts dissolving and fermenting the patties.  The aroma is not the same as living down the road from a pig farm.  It is pungent just while around it.  After the area is left behind, the odor is soon forgotten.  With close to 6 inches in our area in the past week, there was a WHOLE LOT of fermenting going on.
• Double Vision Sunglasses: Within the first 7 minutes of today’s walk, I had intersected in some way with over a dozen life forms.  (Dogs included)  This was infinitely more than the number of life forms encountered on yesterdays sojourn.  If I even allow for my recently under-used sunglasses to cause me to have double vision, the company was much thicker than yesterday.  Where there are people, conversations might take place.  The people glut soon thinned out.  As it did, my desire to have a conversation was horribly wanting for candidates.  The whole rest of the walk I only encountered half the people I saw in the first few minutes.  (If the double vision sunglasses were worn the whole walk, the same calculation would still apply.)
• What is the bright thing in the sky?:  The only dialogue was the light chitchat.  The orb in the sky was the obvious subject for a quick throwaway line.  I used different flavors of this theme as I got my “stretch-on” and passed a couple of fair weather walkers.

When:  Friday–Mid afternoon – 2/22/2018
Weather: A brief gap in this week’s perpetual rain cycle.  40’s
Observations/Thoughts

If I was like most people, I would have looked out the window and decided not to walk.  The clouds were dark, and the sidewalks were still damp.  With a desire to walk still burning strong, I consulted with a weather website or two.  The next two hours were declared “rain free”.  With meteorology being at best an inexact science, I trusted but left with an umbrella.  The forecast was accurate OR the umbrella warded well.  I was rain-free throughout the whole walk.  It probably does not need to be mentioned, but I literally passed NO other walkers or bike riders or joggers.  The week’s weather conditioned them to not question the clues.  Or, they all have a recreation center membership.

• Saturation: About a quarter of the way in, a vehicle failed to float across the grass.  The ground was saturated and not capable of bearing the weight.  He sunk in once really well, and not as deeply on his other attempts.  The ground attempted to swallow his vehicle but only was able to swallow the first few inches.  If the truck would have stayed still long enough, the ground would have more chance to digest the driver and his ride.  In his defense, Texas doesn’t normally get a week of rain.  In defense of common sense, anybody should know how really, really wet ground will react to a truck driving on it.  Not that it needs to be stated, but common sense is not that common.
• Lost Balls:  On today’s people-less walk, two stray balls were scattered about.  One was a football.  It looks to have gotten caught in the impromptu river (normally just a little creek).   Not sure where it originated from.  As the river devolved, the ball accepted its resting place.  The other ball likely has a similar story.  It was a child’s ball.  The brand was one I believe caters to the 3 and under crowd.  This ball was along the sidewalk.  The story as to how this one arrived at its resting place could be more sinister.   The more sinister option involves a crime scene.  I refuse to even entertain the grisly details of such a possibility. I will choose to guess it was only a playful child throwing the ball from the stroller as his/her mother pushed from behind.  And, let’s say she was jogging–that will help explain her inattentiveness.
• Downhill:  When it is sunny out, no time is spent asking questions about where excessive rainwater goes.  When you are walking in a live “rain zone”, it becomes quite clear how “uphill” and how “downhill” are related to each other.  As I enjoyed the brief interlude between rain showers, I had the opportunity to see where rain would go when saturation had been reached.  It wasn’t the always the obvious.  The trees, houses, and the ditches along the side of the road are good at creating alternate realities of where “up” lives.  The disguises are unmasked when the rainwater has to flow somewhere.  Unless you pass the house of a wizard, the water will always flow down…ALWAYS.

When:  Thursday–Barely in the late afternoon – 2/22/2018
Weather: Rainy, rainy and then it rained again.  We get LOTS of sunny days in Texas, but this year we are getting a good dose of winter.  LOTS of rain and barely any breaks to walk.  When it is only drizzling, walking turns out to be a good idea.
Observations/Thoughts

• Heel, toe: On the rain spectrum, today was more drizzle then rain.  This may seem like a bad thing.  Given all of the rain that has fallen this week, it was a completely good thing.  The saturated ground could swallow no more.  It drooled what it couldn’t swallow across the sidewalks.  As I attempted to cross the sidewalk, especially in the low areas, it was too deep for me to do my normal walk through that area.  (Yesterday, my shoes and socks did not make it through the earthly slobber unscathed. )  When possible, I made an attempt at a middle-age hop across the irrigated area.  When not possible, I walked on my heels or toes.  It was an odd looking gait, but it was only adopted briefly.  The rain doesn’t always play nicely, but it does play fair.
• Rain Has To Go Somewhere:  When all the rain comes, you realize it has to find a path.  It may not be obvious, but when the ground has posted a, “Do Not Disturb” sign, the rain will find a way.  I sometimes walk past the bridge that was covered with debris and say, “I remember when the water was just under the bridge.  It didn’t take a superb tracker to discover where all of the rain came from.  The flattened grass made it quite clear.”  I say or think about how bad it has been.  Seeing it fresh makes the memories of the LAST deluge fresh again.  The sand is rippled across the sidewalk–just like it was on a beach.  (Not as much sand, of course.)  The pile of sand/branches/leaves and whatever other debris was available left a significant pile on the west side of the bridge.  The fence containing the cattle (to the south of the bridge, running along both sides of the creek) was plastered with dead grass forcible conformed to the bottom foot of a sizeable stretch of the fence row.  It was not pure destruction.  It was water doing what it does when the ground cries “Uncle”.
• If You Get Caught…:  On the final part of the walk–the part going toward the closed park, two people were in the pasture/wood shared with the cattle.  I am pretty sure they were not supposed to be there–I have met the owner.  They were NOT the owner.  When caught in a place you shouldn’t be, you need to create enough doubt in anybody who discovers.  What is the easiest way to create doubt?  Greet the person who looks at you strangely (me) with a, “Hi, how are you doing?  I  grunted back.  The warmly dressed twosome wandered deeper into the brush.  So, they were not nearly as visible as I passed their original location.  As long as they hadn’t built a bonfire with one of the pastures longhorns on a rotisserie, I didn’t have enough information to challenge their present occupancy.

When:  Wednesday–Barely in the late afternoon – 2/21/2018
Weather: Rainy, but I found a window of opportunity
Observations/Thoughts

Today, I was not going to walk again.  And, compared to many of my walks, today was barely a skip thru the park.  I did walk despite a couple of factors.  The first is rather obvious.  The second is God’s sense of humor.  As I left work, I said bye to everyone until I went out the door.  I dodged raindrops as I navigated my way to the car.  I was quickly heading down the road toward home…then I remembered I didn’t clock out.  I went back and clumsily placed my finger on the time clock.  (Cold fingers are not as effective as warmer ones.)  I began the process to head home again.  This time I made it farther before the problems began.  I saw the “Work Convoy” trucks in both lanes ahead of me.  I realized they were going slow, but I was oblivious to what their presence likely meant.  When they stopped ALL traffic, I was the 5th car behind the truck in my lane.  (My math isn’t perfect here, but the couple minutes I lost going back to clock out are the likely reason I got caught in the delay.  How long of a delay?  It was 20 minutes or so.  I ended up getting home a half hour later than I normally did.  I was able to eat my apple and practice relaxing.  The cars who tried to sneak by on the curb lane did not have a very relaxing time.  The frustrated motorists they tried to jump in front of realigned their cars to prevent the car from gaining an advantage.  My wife would be content to let people like this back in.  “Niceness” is not in my obvious DNA.  Eventually, my niceness can come out.  Trying to convince me you think you are more important than me on the road is typically not the way to accomplish it.

After getting dinner figured out (I was boiling the beans on their way to becoming refried beans.), I did sneak out for the walk.  The umbrella was working from nearly the beginning.  When it wasn’t helping me stay dry, it was providing protection from the yard of 5 rabid dogs.  (There was a fence.  They still really wanted a part of me!)  The paths were all flooded.  Because I don’t walk in heels, my shoes and socks both got wet.  It was quite obvious on the bridges and along the paths–the water had been higher than it was now.  I put a check in the “Did you take a walk today?” column.  I wasn’t asked to rank the quality.

The next couple of days are also calling for rain.  Grateful for a good, new roof.  All these days of rain bundled together get a little tedious.  As long as I don’t melt, I will try in squeeze in something to allow my shoes to talk to the sidewalk.

When:  Tuesday–Metaphorical walk – 2/20/2018
Weather: The rain was dreadful and constant.  It started in the 60’s and ended in the 40’s during the day
Observations/Thoughts

When:  Monday–Late Morning – 2/19/2018
Weather: The walk was long with lots of exploring.  The rain was teasing!
Observations/Thoughts

• Flat roofs: Having just got a new roof put on our house this week, I am more aware of roofs than I was a month ago or am likely to be aware of in a month. Our roof is pretty steep. I tried to climb on it to clear out the gutters. I was quite afraid. Today, as I walked thru the neighborhoods near my in-laws, this was not the case. The roofs were not terrifying at all. The branches and needles that had accumulated on them seemed to feel the same way. The leaves were just sitting there. They were not feeling any undue pressure to clear the roof. They wanted to get to know the roof a little bit and enjoy the view. Our Texas roof would not tolerate visitors staying that long without clearing them at least to the gutters on their way to the downspouts.
• Eleanor is a tough old bird: After turning into the final neighborhood that I was willing to include in my walk, I saw some flashing red lights. It was down the street a little bit. One of the neighbors who is a likely keeper of all neighborhood knowledge, came out to explore. After confirming the house the squad was parked at, he mentioned, “Eleanor is a tough old bird. She is older than me, and I am not young.” Not wanting to indulge in too much chit-chat. I kept walking after wishing him good health. As I navigated the streets in the neighborhood, I came back to the house again. The neighbor was still out. He let me know the squad just left. He was pretty sure her husband followed in his car. Not knowing what else to say, I said, “If you are the praying type, say a prayer for Eleanor.”
• Assess a chair and aim well: After leaving the donut place, my father in law admitted to having a sore back. He was moving slow, but he was the driver. I went ahead and sat down in the front passenger seat. As he prepared to be seated, he aimed his rear end in the direction of the front seat and just leaned in. I made mention of this to him. He then admitted to it being how his 8+ decade body handles seating most days. He hopes he judges a chair sturdy enough before aiming his rear at the chair and leaning back. To this point, I don’t think he has assessed incorrectly. If he does, it will be some work to get him back up again. Not as bad as Humpty Dumpty, but something may break.
• Satellite dish tells direction: I was always told moss grows on the north side of the tree. I don’t think it is moss I caught growing on a number of trees. It seemed to be growing primarily on dead branches. It was on the lighter side of green. It seemed to have “blades” growing off of it. Not being able to count on the green growth for direction–I was never truly lost where directions were important, I could always rely on the satellite dishes. Many of them were not located on houses. The tree cover was to thick. They were mounted away from the house in many cases. Wherever they were mounted, they were pointing south. As my mother in law was later taking us through the neighborhood on the way to the airport, I confirmed this hypothesis by comparing the car’s compass to the direction of the satellites. And, it was pretty consistent. I am not suggesting you look for satellite dishes if caught in a virgin forest area, but don’t refuse a piece of information if it is provided to you.
• Daffodils first blush: In Texas, the daffodils are not as abundant as in more northern parts of the country. That was quite apparent today. Yesterday’s (Sundays) walk didn’t seem to have any daffodils in bloom. Today, the first wave was spreading. And, in some yards that were a little more secluded and maybe a couple of degrees warmer than the yard next door (in a little gully of warmth), the daffodils may have been on their second wave already. I will see a few of them in Texas, but probably not in the quantity I saw them this morning.
• Worms caught in limbo: In Texas, worms only get caught in limbo (aka evacuated to a paved area with no hope of again finding the sweet earth) during a full deluge. In North Carolina and Ohio and other places that receive an abundance of rain, worms are smarter or everyone just becomes more calloused to their frequent population purges. I remember seeing the worms on the sidewalk and on the driveway growing up. I seem immune to any memory of seeing them after the rain was more than a few hours old. Only a few were on display today. Maybe I missed the peak of them abandoning their homes for the sidewalk, or as stated above, maybe they just are smarter in North Carolina and Ohio and other places where rain is more common.
• Dear Prudence: As I was just finding my legs in the neighborhood I was trying o walk in, I saw a dog on a leash without an owner. I saw the dog continue to my left when the owner came from my right. (There was a fork in the road ahead of me.). She started to turn my direction when I let her know she should continue walking straight. At this point, she referred to her dog as Prudence. (I thought of the Beatles song.). The dog was a couple of yards (not literal yards–she wasn’t blind.  Yards as in two houses) up. She claimed he was chasing a squirrel. I just saw a dog who had some playing to get out of his system. I passed the lady after clarifying directions. I then took a few walking liberties. I took the scenic route and followed all of the dead-end streets. After reversing on one of the dead ends, Prudence and her master were still plodding along. I warned her before passing. She let me know she was quite familiar with being passed. “There are lots of walkers back here. I am used to it.”