(no subject)

[felicula]

This morning's dream has tried valiantly to escape my grasp. I remember it being in a small town. I remember being on the run from something. I remember hanging around with mechanchaos, dawnstar, and kolys. We were in some sort of room, possibly one of those conference / banquet rooms in a rather plain hotel, the lobby of a hotel, or a somewhat large but sparsely furnished hotel room. For some reason I was trying to decide whether to get a tattoo. With us we had this unwieldy stainless steel gun-like apparatus that to me was some sort of portable tattooing equipment. I was afraid I would chicken out and wouldn't be able to operate the thing on myself. Somehow, we decided that kolys would be the one using the tattoo equipment. To see where would hurt less, he started with just a small dot on my right forearm. I decided that that wasn't so bad a pain, but that it would be even better on the outer side of my left forearm. My left forearm is typically less sensitive to pain. That decided, he began to tattoo a cat on my left forearm. He managed to do it freehand. Then I woke up.

Since I had a lot of time on my hands today, I decided that a quick walk to Tops just wouldn't be enough. I started out the opposite direction. Near the end of my street, there was a skunk wandering around within 20 feet of the road. It toddled as if it was hurt, but it was successfully foraging for food. It let me come relatively close and watch for a time.

I spent some time exploring the wooded land caught in between where Maplewood Dr. circles around onto 104. There were more sets of deer tracks than I could count, and likely many more that I didn't see. There wasn't a single deer in sight though! I'm intensely curious as to where they all disappear to!

I headed over to the Maplewood playground, then past that to the pond near the police station. I did one circuit of the pond, saying hello to a robin and a pair of red-wing blackbirds on the way, then crossed the street and headed down the ramp to the footbridge. When I got to the footbridge, I saw a deer far below, lying down. I could see it sniffing around and watching. I spent some time watching it too. Other than that one, there wasn't another deer to be seen along the gorge.

I dawdled in crossing the bridge. Despite the Kodak wastewater treatment plant below, I've always liked that bridge. I like the way the 104 bridge looks like part of a castle from there. I enjoy looking out over the river. The way the rails to the bridge and ramp were designed, it feels almost like a tunnel if I dim my peripheral vision.

As I ascended the ramp up the other side of the gorge and encountered a rabbit foraging along the wall of the gorge. It stood absolutely still for awhile, and so did I, watching. It must have decided I was OK. It went back to nibbling on bits of plants.

I followed the rim of the gorge southward, crossing the bridge where St. Paul goes over 104, continuing down to the Driving Park bridge. I was misted by the waterfall before reaching the other side and finally making my trip to Tops. I'm surprised at how many animals I saw over the course of the walk. I still want to know where all the rest of the deer go, though. Many of the tracks I saw were quite fresh.