Warehouse bandit!

Last night, I got a call in my radio, and I suddenly realized that I'd have to be awake at 4:30 AM in order to be at a warehouse on time.

This, of course, did not thrill me, as I didn't find this out in time to eat dinner early so that I could get my after dinner walk done and into bed early... So I had to skip my walk. Now, I like my walk. I get to talk to all the dog-walkers in the neighborhood, and, despite the fact that my job involves jumping from the truck bed onto docks and throwing heavy boxes around all day, I don't get steady exercise, it just happens if fits and spurts. The walk keeps my trick knee strong, and compensates for the sitting in a truck seat all day part of my job.

So I was up bright and early this morning, and in a part of town that's covered in warehouses, before most of the warehouses are open...

Now, you don't really realize it, but warehouse districts are entirely different worlds at night than they are during the day... During the day they are loud, unpleasant places, full of rumbling truck engines, banging metal doors and reeking of exhaust fumes.

At night, when the workers have gone home, an almost unnatural quiet envelops them, and as the sun sets, you can hear crickets, and see the quick shadows of feral cats stalking rodents. The pavement glows yellow under the lights, and each light swirls with insects. If you're lucky, and take the time to notice, you can watch the bats swoop in and pick off their dinner...

This morning I was at the warehouse when the night and it's creatures hadn't quite yet surrendered to the day. It's a pleasant enough time, not cool, but the heat of the day hasn't yet begun to bake the pavement. I saw this guy, looking a little scared and confused...

Normally, seeing raccoons, opossums or skunks in the daylight is a cause for concern, as it may mean rabies... but this is a juvenile, and most likely he went wandering last night, became separated from his mother, and couldn't find his way home. Left on his own, he will probably find a hole to crawl into and spend a nervous sleep waiting until his mother finds him tomorrow, or he learns to salvage through the dumpsters on his own.

They're cute as all git-out of course. Many people have succumbed to trying to tame them, with painful consequences later. When Raccoons, no matter how tame they've become, reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 years, hormones take over and they revert back to wild behaviour. I personally know one person who had to have over 100 stitches from the wounds inflicted by a much loved 'pet.'

When things like this happen, the animal, acclimatized as it is to humans, becomes a hazard to anyone around it, and it usually has to be destroyed, a hideous end that could have been avoided by just letting nature take it's course.

I took this pic, then I drove away. No matter what happens to this adorable little bandit, whether it finds it's mother, learns to support itself, or if it dies, it won't be because I interfered in any way.

A for Effort! but the execution... well...

Today, I was confronted with a couple of landscaping situations... I have to give the people an A for effort. They definitely got the right idea... it's the execution that's indifferent.

First, this is outside a fast-food chain restaraunt. I had pulled in to get coffee... Now, there's nothing really wrong with this planting. You got agaves, you got red yuccas (hesperaloe) and you got maiden grass. And rocks.

And as nice as it is to see a chain restaraunt going for a more water-wise, enviormentally friendly planting, I have to say that it looks almost exactly like every other water-wise, enviormentally friendly planting that you see in the area. With one important exception. The little silvery shrubs. All have been allowed to grow into a natural shape, except one. One has been trimmed into a round pom-pom thing. Now, you can have them all natural, or you can have them all trimmed, but you cannot have both. That don't work. You could, I suppose, have trimmed, natural, trimmed, natural, and so on and so forth... although I have no idea why you would do such a thing... but this just looks lame. That, plus there's nothing special about the planting to begin with...

Then I went inside to buy a cup of coffee and was treated very rudely by the employees, so any points they'd gained are long gone. (I never claimed to be fair in my judgements.)

This next plant is in a suburban neighborhood... every house in this area has a brick pillar mailbox, with a decorative lighting fixture on top of it. The house in question obviously had their lighting fixture damaged in some way... and they very cleverly put a potted cactus, a Mammillaria of some sort if I'm not mistaken, in the remains of the fixture.

Well, Kudos to them! I'm proud of them. It's an absolutely excellent idea. It's not wasting electricity on unnecesary outdoor lighting, and it's a plant that's perfectly suited to this kind of growing. Really, there's not any other options for this kind of location exposed as it is to heat and sun...
My only criticism is that little white flower pot... Personally, I don't think that the gleaming white porcelain looks quite right on that patinaed metal remains of the light fixture, or with the red brick. And, if it was me, I would have been a little bolder... maybe mixed some sedums or such up there to wander over the edge and make a real show of it. Of course, a big ole urn shaped agave would look best, but it would no doubt attack the mailman so that's not really an option... But, judging from the rest of the yard, this is probably the most daring garden design choice that this person has ever made and I absolutely think they deserve a round of applause.

And now, I'm through being all high and mighty.

For the moment.

found some mushrooms growing today, in a vacant lot beside one of my deliveries. It was the only bright spot of the day!

Seriously, there's nothing to put me in a good mood like driving 200 lbs. of auto parts to a mechanic 60 miles away, only to have them refuse the order when I get there because they cancelled the order yesterday and the seller evidently forgot to type that info into the computer... so I have to drive it 60 miles back, only to have the origional warehouse guy try to wiggle out of taking it back, so I have to go into the office and explain everything to the customer service guys, who evidently don't believe me because they have to make 6 phone calls and eventually I was quite willing to tell them that they wanted their overpriced piece of crap, they could drag the river. All this before 10 AM.

Anyway... they took it eventually, and dispatch is making sure that they are being charged for the trip out, and the trip back, so it at least paid well, but dang...

Probably not going to have any pics tomorrow... Friday is really the busiest day. Our summer heat hit this week, so it's about 102 out there on the road... not a whole lot of fun...

Dang, I'm a bit of a downer, aren't I?

All sorts of stuff...

When I'm working... I supposed to be chock full of all sorts of customer service skills...

And, I'm usually pretty good about it... I smile alot, I'm chock full of yes ma'ams and yes sirs, and I even laugh at tired one liners... but today for some reason I wasn't quite able to muster it up. I tried. I kept telling myself to just smile and get on with it... but I'm afraid all I was able to manage today was a semi-polite indifference.

We all have bad days I guess...

Part of the reason is that the summer heat is starting to hit right after 2 really wet weeks and it's humid out there... I felt like I was walking through soup. But I did manage to stop by the side of the road for some wildflower pics... I thought it might cheer me up a little. Didn't really work, but it was a nice break...

Here's some Indian Blanket, or Galliarda. It always amazes me when I see these in seed catalogs.

And the next two are Yucca filamentosa blooming in a field of Coreopsis...

I also stopped in a city park and saw a Duck and ducklings...

And when I got home, the Prickly Pear had it's first bloom open today... of course it was closing up by the time I got here, but you get the idea...

And really that's about it....

later!

What I saw meandering around...

A better pic of the cactus flowers... got this pic when I got home at 6:30 pm yesterday.

and now that I've softened you up with a pretty flower pic... here's something that isn't quite so pretty... Black Vultures. If you can get past their dining habits, they're actually fascinating animals...

And if that isn't creepy enough, they're dining outside the Rehoboth cemetery...

The Black Vulture isn't quite as shy as the larger Turkey Vulture. We do see these a bit further in town.

Vultures are gregarious birds, often nesting in groups of up to a hundred, which split off in pairs to look for food during the day. Often Turkey vultures and Black vultures will share the same nesting areas. They're very clumsy on the ground, but are fantastic flyer's. While they prefer fresh meat, they can eat meat that has started to decompose... primarily because there is not a single known microbe that can survive their digestive tract. There is enough remaining stomach acid in their droppings that it is antiseptic... and if they do get a scratch or cut on their faces or feet while digging through a carcass, they use their own droppings to sanitise it... Other than this habit, they're actually very clean birds, spending much time grooming their glossy feathers.

All rather gross, I know, but they are rather interesting birds which perform a very neccesary function in the wild.

And extremely hard to photograph... they're smarter than you'd think. These were fine as long as I stayed in my truck, but the minute I pulled my door handle they recognised the sound and took off. I'm on the Northern edge of the Black vultures territory, the Turkey Vulture, with dark brown plumage and a red neck and head is larger, shyer of humans, and also common here.

There are some people who can't get past the bias against their dining habits, and sometimes shoot vultures on sight, only to find out that these species are protected under the migratory bird laws, and that they can be fined up to $1500 per bird.

Meandering around, and a surprise at home...

Had a long drive out today... all the way to Bridgeport Texas... I don't know why they call it Bridgeport... I didn't see a bridge, and there's definitely no port... but there we are...

I saw this rather magnificent stand of Optunia... I wish I could say it was natural, but it's a deliberately planted security barrier... unless you're driving a tank, I seriously wouldn't recommend trying to get through this...

And here's a rather magnificent scrub oak... I've always loved the meandering twisted branches on these things...

And fairly close to my house, there's a cemetary that I realized I'd never visitited... of course, I looked for cactus... But I think that other cemetary I saw them in is an exception to the norm... there's no cactus here at the Rehoboth Cemetery... I intend to look up the word Rehoboth, because I have no idea what it could possibly be referring to...

Thsi is the grave of Mary Miller... the first grave at this site...

And this is the grave of Clara Bell and Cora Lee Whitehead... twins who were born and died within a month.

And here's a distant shot of the cemetary... You can't tell from the pic, but the grounds are dotted with small wildflowers... which is really kind of a relief... I get tired of cemetaries that are maintained like golf courses. A more natural look is far more fitting to these historical sites...

And this was blooming it's fool head off when I got home... My Parodia werneri was blooming! I thought the buds were a couple days away from opening, but the heat over the last couple of days must have spurred them on... These pics don't show the colors well... the blooms are actually darker, almost royal purple...

UPDATE: The name Rehoboth is biblical...

And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." (Genesis 26:22 ESV)

I'm still not sure that I totally understand the reference, but there it is...