It was a dark damp morning when I turned the corner, never suspecting that I would be…
The truth is, I am always cautious when walking through this street, in pre-dawn hours. There is a street light at the west end of the street but the light is mostly blocked by a live oak tree. Live oak trees, for those of you who do not know, have leaves all year round, thus they can block light year round. This street is one block long, and there are wood fences (6 foot tall) on both sides of the street.
On one side of the street there are huge bushes easily 20 foot tall. These were planted there many years ago by a previous owner of the house. These unsightly bushes are not only ugly, with a couple dead, they seem to be a repository for trash such as beer cans that need to be disposed of as people drive by.
These bushes also present a couple safety hazards to anyone walking on the street.
First, when one is walking on the north side of the street, which is proper as a pedestrian should walk facing traffic, they would be unable to step off the street upon the curb, due to the bushes which hang over the curb. In this situation the pedestrian would be in front of oncoming traffic.
Second, it would be easy for someone to hide in these bushes, and there in lies part of my concern for a morning walk. The cane I carry is not only for protection from a stray dog, but could also be used against a bad person. To say it is dark and scary on this street prior to dawn, would be an understatement. Yes, when walking in pre-dawn hours I usually carry a flash light.
I believe I had noted earlier that it was a damp morning, even though it had not rained. The wind was blowing at least 20 mph, gusting to 30 mph causing leaves and small trash like paper to blow everywhere.
This morning as I was walking along this street for the second time, I heard a noise! It was coming from the right side of the street and it sounded as if someone was climbing over the wooden fence. I could see something large, even though it was dark, at the top of the fence. It was way too large to be an animal! In one hand I secured the cane as a defensive weapon and at the same time I activated the flash light.
It was a trash bag that was caught on a tree limb and the wind was moving it around rubbing it on the fence, which made the sound of someone or something crossing the fence. See photo below, click to enlarge.
I had to wait until there was enough light to get the photo, it was very dark when the event occurred!
No, I am not a chicken, but I am careful!
Be prepared, I was a boy scout! The motto of the boy scouts is, “be Prepared”.
Different subject: our youngest son has a birthday today! He must be 21 years old! He can’t be any older as that would make his mother and me older, and we are not! I guess he could be a little older than 21, maybe if you double that amount you might guess his age.
Happy Birthday Dave!
Don Ford
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