Our sad oak tree

Exhausted (yesterday was a long day), we arose and made ourselves walk the dogs.

I turned the corner from the side street to the busy road that passes the front of our house to discover an enormous tree limb had fallen from the big red oak that once graced the front yard. I say it once graced the front of the house because limbs have fallen and the utility companies have "gotched" it up by cutting limbs back.* There's also a scar from the day the police officer shot a raccoon that had terrorized the children (he mostly hit the tree the first time and had to shoot the poor raccoon** twice). This should have been the best "climbing tree" ever. It never was.

The limb isn't completely down. It hangs down waiting for us to call a tree person. We no longer climb up to saw things down. We leave it to the professionals. But it is another thing on the list of yard work. I already knew I had mowing ahead - and planting - and throwing stuff away.

This is the bottom part.

Limb is still connected about 20 feet up.

Putting the waiting work behind us (DH and the dogs didn't even notice the tree limb), we pressed on towards the park. First the dogs alerted on a yellow cat*** prowling in the next block. Scruffy was especially excited as he is the hunter. We walked on.

Our neighbor down the way (she generally has the beautiful flowers in spring and summer) had come out to pick up her paper and waited to talk to us. She had wondered where we were. We explained that the time change and our schedules didn't always allow morning dog-walks. She agreed that the time change always played havoc with her wake-sleep cycles. I am always happy to visit with our neighbors. We don't have many "permanent" folks. The neighborhood is becoming more and more a rental neighborhood.

At the park we encountered running man. He spoke about the construction blocking the park running/walking path.

Even though we were late starting (and finishing) it was good to see some neighbors. It made us wonder what has happened to all the park walkers. We have not seen Banana man David or any of the walkers who shared the park when we started walking there. We also have not seen the robot dogs, Dewayne, or Sissie in a while either.

Perhaps they walk at different time. And they may have wondered what has happened to us. I miss them. And I will have to change my walking goals as I do not enter the park unless someone I "recognize" is there.



*They utility crews have no clue what they are doing and leave horrors in their wake. My blood pressure rises just thinking about it.

**It turned out the raccoon was not "rabid." We had been concerned because the nocturnal raccoon was out in the middle of the day, chasing children in the yard. I managed to gather all of the children (mine and neighborhood kiddos) into the house (there was a Patton saber involved, but that is another story). The raccoon charged down the tree at the police officer and the oak tree received  its scar.

***We believe that most yellow cats in the neighborhood are relatives of Hobbes as he wandered into our lives after a walk 14 years ago. In any case, we believe chasing yellow neighborhood cats would be improper behavior - seeing that they are kin.