Back to walking

(I guess my having to reschedule my trip was fortuitous; the doctor is now saying my dad will get home Monday or Tuesday, and if it was Tuesday - well, the way hospitals operate, I could see them STILL being in the process of discharging him when I needed to be down at the station.

I guess it's a good thing I'm fairly resourceful and independent, but....sometimes I wish I were less resourceful and independent and once in a while had someone taking care of stuff like this FOR me, but...I guess that's not my lot in life)

This morning, I went out and walked again. (The last day I did this was Tuesday, though I did mow the lawn Wednesday). I could tell the hip in which I had had bursitis was stiffening up, and also my bad ankle (have sprained it several times in the past five or so years) was starting to get stiff and hurt, so I decided I needed to get some exercise. So I set off, this time with a house key in addition to my cell phone (and I had the phone number of neighbors in case I got hurt on the way or something).

It's good to be back out walking. I needed the fresh air. Saw a few dog-walkers (including running into one set of neighbors with their little Shih Tzu). I saw a pickup truck with two yellow labs sitting in the backseat and sticking their heads out the window (I know, not real safe for the dogs, but dogs like that and also the speed limit on that road is 30).

I also saw something that surprised me: I heard grackles and I heard a robin making its alarm call, and I assumed the grackles were trying to get the robin's eggs or baby robins. But then I saw a dark shape in a tree (I thought "cat" at first, but it wasn't) and then suddenly a crow flew out of the tree, pursued by the grackles and a robin. It sure looked like the two species were working together to "mob" the crow. (Mobbing behavior is pretty common: birds will chase other species that might be a threat to them or their nests. Hawks get mobbed fairly frequently, for example).

I know most of the main streets (the ones that continue through) that have sidewalks now. (And I tried looking up on Google Maps for a large field area that is on Grove Street; I wanted to know if it was a municipal facility or a private club, but nothing is noted on it, so I don't know. Big open fields with soccer goals and then there's a building that I can't see very well from the street). I've also walked as far as the Carl's Ice Cream (but didn't get any: I didn't have money on me and also it was very early in the day).

Lots of people here have nice gardens or landscaping. I don't know if the climate here is better for it (there's more rain, summer droughts like we get in Oklahoma are not as common, it's less hot) or if more people hire landscapers (it's a more prosperous area). It's nice to see the different things people do. Lots of people have peonies, which I really like (I think it's a little hot where I live for peonies to be very successful).

I will say I noticed haze - from the fires in Alberta, Canada, which I JUST heard about yesterday (the local news here has been very much focused on US weather, understandably, and also the Illinois news has been focused on the legislative wrap-up of the year, ESPECIALLY the push for legalizing recreational pot and the arguments over who among those imprisoned for possession (and maybe intend to distribute?) in the past should get their records expunged... I wonder if people who were fined will try to request that money back?).

But yes, I can see the haze now. I guess before I just assumed it was humidity.