Catching up...

It's been a while since I've regaled you all about the latest adventures of Scrappy and I in the great outdoors.  Basically, that's because there hasn't been a lot to say.  March was pretty much a waste because of bad weather, good weather combined with illness, and all the stuff with Laurie's dad.  Things have begun to look up in April, but the stories are few because we've not had much luck at running into the neighborhood animals thus far.  Haven't seen any of the deer since about six of 'em showed up out the crow's nest window about 12:30 am one night in late February.  The only skunk discussed lately is the one KC told me showed up in the warehouse about 3:30 am one night at work.  (Apparently he and the maintenance guy were sent out hunting the darling for about an hour - fortunately to no avail.)

What we have run into is plenty of geese and ducks.  Last week one day, we came upon a group in the feeder. One male sitting far south of the group, obviously the lowest man on the totem pole.  Then came the hen; followed by two drakes, apparently the top ranked contenders, sat arguing with each other, then one began nipping at the other's feathery butt.  They noticed us just enough to take off, continuing their discussion elsewhere.  The hen was oblivious to any of the trio and only mildly concerned with us.  Scrappy, of course, was likewise oblivious; the only way he'd notice a duck is if it was hiding in a groundhog hole.

Last Saturday we made the discovery that IPFW had finished paving the path that leads under colisseum Blvd. and on around to North Anthony and Johnny Appleseed.  We decided to try the Anthony route; but other than a really good view of the dam (and the enormous tree trunks hung up on the west spillway) and a loop-de-loop around Concordia High School (and their delightful 'Our Creator's Garden') it was not a remarkable choice.

We've decided to pick up orphaned golf balls we find along the way; we have six so far.  Not bad for no course in the neighborhood.  Also, I've been working once again on my long ignored beer bottle cap collection.  I've never been a drinker of odd beers myself, and nowadays I don't drink at all, so 90% + are found-along-the-road specimens.  The last one ( a Mickey's M.L. found in our neighbor's front yard) gets us up to 293.

Tonight we did the long loop around the east fields of the Plex and along the river.  Near where Stony Run enters the river's mudplain, a bunch of geese were in a violent argument that you could hear all over.  We tried to check it out; seemed to be an intramural affair.  We did scare up a couple of ducks in the woods- which is better than yesterday, when we discovered that the reason that a seldom used trail suddenly looked worn was a couple of teenagers using it for lover's lane.

Part of the problem is that it seems that joggers, runners, and hikers have all discovered how much fun the area is.  You can't get up early enough to avoid them anymore.  Also, Scrappy is changing as he gets older.  It used to be that the weekend morning routine was him waking me up at first light to go a walking.  Now, first light just sends him under the covers; and if I don't make him follow me, he'll sleep for another hour after I get up, and then will ignore his breakfast until Laurie gets up.  In other words, he's beginning to take after mom.:)

Well, that about covers it for now... told you the stories were few and far between.  Maybe it will get better when we get to that trip to Appleseed.