#130: Dumb and Dumber

 

Springtime has FINALLY shown itself in the canyon. Although mornings are still a bit cool, the trees are putting out leaves and there are even some flowers poking their little noses through the rapidly thawing ground. There have been a couple of severe thunderstorms that have rolled through the area, but no major damage, unlike the folks to the south and east of us. 

It has officially begun.

"Where are the falls?" --asks a Harley rider, after having walked past at least two of the giant rocks with "<---FALLS" carved into them.

Welcome to my world. 

It all goes back to my first rule, my rule #1:

People are dumb. 

So far, attendance has been less than I figured it would be. Nice weather? School's out? They were crawling the walls so to speak, last year. Not that I am complaining really. But when it's busy there's actually less trouble: more eyes means fewer troublemakers, people don't mess as much up because there is always going to be someone there to stop you or report you. But at the rate it's going I fully expect to see at least some graffiti sometime in the near future. 

We've also received visitors on the wing. This is a yellow warbler; apparently he's offended by reflections in cars and mirrors. I confess this is kinda new to me. I've seen cardinals and blue jays attack their reflections. But I was unaware other birds really did this. 

I keep explaining to him that, yes, that's you buddy! You don't need to peck the other bird's eyes out--it's you! See how handsome you are? Now go home to the missus. 

It does no good--he flies away only to return later. He especially likes to perch on the truck antenna and peck at the windshield. I guess his little bird brain (literally) has trouble comprehending. 

At any rate, he should simmer down once the breeding season is over with. I hope. 

My coworker revealed to me this afternoon that she'd picked a bat up off the trail; apparently it had ended up on the ground and couldn't take off again. She somehow managed to get it up into a tree, where it happily wriggled around and hung itself off a branch to take a nap. I'm glad I have a compassionate coworker. I jokingly refer to her as the "worm whisperer" since she likes to save the earthworms that wriggle into the concrete floored bathrooms after a rain. But even wigglies serve a purpose. 

Of course, for every tree hugging hippy we have hiking and enjoying nature, we have three more that in all honesty, have more money than sense.

Take this for example. You take these into the deserts around Saudi Arabia or something. They're couple hundred grand at a minimum. Why the hell you think you need one to tour the US (especially South Dakota) I will never know. 

Fortunately these guys didn't try to pull into our tiny parking lot (even though one of the lots had plenty of room, I still didn't want to deal with it). They did pause in the road on the way out to tell me, in heavily accented English, how pretty it was out here. I was unsure of the accent but may have been German or some other eastern European country; they had EU plates. 

Several things in the works, first up will be the Renaissance Faire. I volunteered to work the second day, but have yet to hear back on what the hours are supposed to be. This year's promises to be a shit show, since they've not only moved it to a different location out of town, but you have to ride a shuttle bus to get there. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

It looks like our trip in August to see the munchkin graduate is on! I have a friend offering to go with me and is even suggesting taking his van (to camp in on the way since it may take a couple days to get there). I'm excited, and somewhat relieved as I'll be missing some of the chaos that is Bike Week. 

My own graduation in December is also forthcoming. I was unsure about "walking", but since at least 6 people have asked to attend the ceremony, I guess I'm going. Even though I loathe being the center of attention and being fussed over.   Would be interesting to get friends from various aspects of my life together and see how well they get along, though. 

Stay tuned!
Aye,
Kraneia