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Pastimes : NNBM - SI Branch

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To: altair19 who wrote (25635)	4/19/2003 10:28:14 AM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (3) of 104167

Happy Easter A19. Wifey colored the eggs yesterday with the boys. Hopefully we find them all this year... So anyway, I went for a walk with the dog again this morning. Took a new route. It was like exploring except for the fact I had a basic idea of where I was and I knew I wasn't going to fall off the flat edge of the world. I also didn't have a boat. But if Christopher Columbus had a beagle he'd probably would have considered this walk an small exploration. It was probably three miles round trip. Not quite as long as Roald Amundsen's quest for the south pole but perhaps it was just as interesting. Actually it was probably more interesting since I had more to look at than just a lot of snow and ice. One day the boys and I discovered a pathway through the woods at the end of one of our neighborhood cul de sacs. It leads to another community. It was as if our two neighborhoods would have been joined if only they had continued the road a little further. But for whatever reason the developer of our area figured he didn't want to join it with the much older community of the lake. Instead they made two cul de sacs that were separated from each other by about a hundred feet of woods. I had driven through this lakeside community before but often found myself lost in the maze of haphazard roads that intertwined about the lake's perimeter like a big spider web. The houses were smaller and older. Many of them were rather run down. I imagine this area was a vacation spot years ago for city dwellers who build large bugalos around the lake area. Then as urban sprall progressed this area was occupied by those in the market for a small house. Well anyhow, I decided to venture into this path with the pooch because it would be something different than the regular loop around the neighborhood. I'm glad I did. It gave me a sensory overload rush that made me wish I had brought a pad to take notes of all of the observations. The dog and I walked up to the path entrance and we felt a little funny about stepping on the ground there. Was it someone's property? Was some big farmer looking guy going to greet us with warning shots not to tresspass here? We walked quickly. We could see the borderline of safety; the cul de sac. We knew if we made it there, no one would be allowed to shoot us. As we walked along the path we saw lots of signs of this being a favorite spot for the kids of both neighborhoods. Remnants existed of small tree house fortresses, along with plywood ramps for BMX bicycles, and the litter of soda cans, potato chip bags and candy bar wrappers. This path tempoarily transported me back to my childhood as I walked through it. Then I came out the otherside. The grass looked just as green. There were houses on the right side of the road and were spaced closer together and nearer to the road. On the leftside of the road was a wooded stretch that climbed up the hill to a few houses and their backyards. We walked along with the volume of birds singing getting louder. I assumed we were heading towards the lake. It was still rather early. Perhaps a little past 7 AM and the sound of automobiles, lawn mowers and kids playing had not even come close to starting. I could smell bacon frying and breakfasts being cooked. I could also smell the pleasant aroma of the kindling burning in the fireplaces to take the morning chill out of the houses. It was nice. We walked further down the road and came to a house that seemed have a lot of stuff outside. This property was wooded and had more land. I could tell by how far deep into the woods I see the rusted automobiles and rotted oil drums. Seems the owner must have caught a huge sale on blue plastic canvas. Must have cornered the market. It was everywhere. He sure had a lot of important stuff wrapped in it. Even used some of it as an awning over his back patio. He had two old trailer campers parked next to each other crooked. They leaned apart as if he took off the tires on the sides he could reach easily leaving the center ones on. Perhaps they were guest houses when company came. You could see the property value of his neighbor's house next to him still falling. He had nice backhoe and some other earth moving equipment but apparently didn't use on his property other than to move equipment deeper into the woods. I could hear his dog barking so I walked a bit faster figuring he wasn't the type to have a cute little poodle. Suddenly I heard a russle of leaves spring from the woods. It made my heart rate jump to that of a snare drum before a "Ta-dah!" (You know. Like on the Letterman Show. The snare drum sounds before some sort of climax of a daring stunt. Then when it's over you hear Ta-dah followed by a crashing cymbol.) My head jerked around to see what the noise in the woods was as my feet hit a higher gear. Was I about to meet Sasquatch? Was it Big Foot himself who operated that backhoe? Could he hear my thoughts? Was I mocking his choise of lawn ornaments simply because they were so large and belonged inside a house rather than outside? Something huge was moving rather quickly. The dog pulled in the direction of the noise as I tried my best to move away from the noise rather quickly. I saw this big brown coat leap maybe higher than I stood. Thank goodness it was headed deeper in the woods. That's when I realized it was a big deer. I'm talking the mother of all deer. It was a deer that looked like it eats bear meat. Well maybe not that big but it was the biggest deer I ever saw that wasn't lying dead on the side of a highway. He stopped. Then I saw her friend. Another big one. Just as tall. This one just watched me watching it. She slowly walked back to the wild shrub she was eating. I just stood there. It was so cool. The dog was quieter than I was. Since we were not moving I figured they could not see us through the trees. They just kept doing whatever it is that deer do. We were lucky enough to be there to watch. Occasionally I'd see them put their fluffy white tails up in the air and along with thier noses and sniff around as if they were getting a whiff of the sweat I had worked up. But they still didn't see me so I kept watching. That's when I got to see one of the deer take a dump. I had never seen that before. Well maybe once on one of those nature shows. But this was live. The deer took a dump right infront of me without knowing I was there. But then I thought to myself, well maybe he does know I'm there and it was his way of telling me to go eat shit and mind my own business. We walked on. Eventually we got to the lake. It was so nice. The water was still with a slight ripple from the breeze coming towards us. The birds were jsut everywhere. Every type of bird that I normally saw at my birdfeeders was here but it was like a huge convention. Hundreds and hundreds of them singing and stirring about. Flying from branch to branch. Then I heard a mallard. It was apparently quacking to his wife that we had arrived and that she might want to join him in the water before the dog sees where the nest is. We walked clockwise looking to the right as the soft white- yellow sun reflected in the water. Two geese took off and flew directly over our head. I felt blessed. But then I wondered if they were going to do what the deer did so we took the hint walked a little quicker. We noticed a third goose trying to catch up. He was gaining speed at two feet above the water flapping faster and faster as he tried to gain lift to make it over the trees rapidly approaching. It started climbing, climbing, climbing and I began to doubt he was going to make it over them. It was like a Cesna flying along and suddenly realizing there was a mountain in front of him. You heat the engine rev way up giving all the gas he's got as the plane ascent grows slower and slower as it just barely clears the jagged peak. Well that was like this goose without the propeller. He just made it over the trees and tried his best to catch up the rest of the lowercase letter "v" that was forming. I figure many of these homes were owned by the various trades people as indicated by the vans with ladders on the racks and pick up trucks. Their properties may not be as nice at the homes they do work on but they really do have a well kept secret living along this lake. It's abound with nature. It's all around them. They probably know everyone in their area. Seeing how the homes are closer to each other its easier to know your neighbors. They don't just greet the neighbors like I do during passes on the lawn tractor. It seems like a nice place to live if you can get past the non-coordinating exterior siding on each part of the expanded mini homes. Some houses were nicer than others. We walked on. We accidentally woke up a old black lab-mix from his outside kennel. I figured he was going to bark his head off thus waking up everyone else in the area. He tried to. But the cool damp air must have made him a big congested. As he would try to bark he'd realize he didn't have a voice yet. I could here him trying to clear his throat to get out a good one before I was too far away to hear it. We eventually came to a road that took us to that town road where the cars zip by at 45 mph. We crossed it and walked along the edge of a gentleman's farm. I really like this farm. The person who bought it six years ago has invested a lot of money and work into making it nice. It has a white fence to keep the cows off the road. It must run at least a half mile long. We watched them eating from a trough of some sort until the grass gets taller I presume. We walked and walked staring out where the farmer had cleared a few trees and was burning them in a big pile in the middle of one of the dirt fields. At the end of the long white fence we turned right and entered back into out community. It was a rejuvinating walk. We really enjoyed this exploration. I plan to return to that one again next week and hopefully find new places to explore as well. -MagellansPooperScooper

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