Round About Blues

There is a new configuration that traffic engineers are using to manage vehicles.    It is a round about and that pretty much is all the description that you need.   Why would a country boy walking back roads care about a round about?    I hope the answer surprises you.   It irritates me.

Before most of us ever heard of a round about, one existed in Dallas County, Iowa.   Actually, before there were cars and trucks there was a round about 3 miles from my house.   Some folks tell the story that as a group of settlers were moving across Iowa in covered wagons, several became ill and died.   They started a little cemetery right on the spot.   Eventually the dirt roads, then the gravel roads, and now the slightly paved roads from four directions all met at that cemetery.

No matter where you are coming from or where you are headed, you must go around the little cemetery.   Thus, Dallas County's first round about.

What irritates me?   This weekend a police officer was parked just off the cemetery trying to catch cars that short cut their left turn and don't travel all the way around to the right.    We have been managing that spot for 150 years with no additions to the cemetery.   Now we need the help of traffic cops. 

Surely they could be put to better use adjusting those red light cameras.

Good Bye Joe

I've changed my mind.   I will walk beside anyone who has made a mistake.   I will walk beside anyone who tries to do good and sometimes falls short.   I will walk beside anyone who took his father's advice to heart and tried to make an impact.

Growing up my father always made us excited and proud about Italian heroes.   DiMaggio, Marciano, Marconi, DaVinci,and later, Paterno.    My High school coach was a Bruno and I was recruited to college by a Paterno.
 
The circumstances of my life are such that for a short period of time I was a small part of the Paterno "family".   Recently, I thought I was moving on...I didn't.    Joe Paterno wasn't a Deity.    He was a man who tried hard and sometimes failed.   He tried hard longer than most, succeeded more often than most and failed a little less than most.

Those that need to judge and criticize him can walk by themselves.

Profile of a Trasher

When I combine my love of walking with my love of TV crime shows, I become a profiler of litterbugs.   I hate the amount of trash folks leave along the roads in Dallas county.   Here are some of the profiles:

City Dribbler - An over-21 year old male or female that carelessly throws the wrapper from a Big Mac out the window.   Somehow when they are out in the "great outdoors", they don't see it as a large intrusive.   My dogs like a Big Mac wrapper about as much as a Big Mac.

City Planner - This is the true criminal.   Broken TV's, washers, dryers, rolls of carpet, bags of yard waste and much more are are placed in a car trunk or the back of a pickup.   The City Planner then drives almost a whole mile on gravel and dumps the trash in a road border.   I assume this happens after midnight and before 4:00 AM.   I think an appropriate punishment for these criminals should be dropping all road kill on their front porch.   My dogs are curious about these huge mounds of junk that suddenly appear.

The Young and Impulsive - They participate in unplanned littering events.     Cartons, cans, bottles, bags, or whatever are thoughtlessly thrown out the window or on the floor board of their cars.   I hate seeing this trash littering the countryside but wow...you should see their cars!   My dogs are young and impulsive and tend to ignore anything pitched by this genre of Trashers.

Winter Wonderland

It is January 16 and I have not yet pushed snow off of my lane.   I want to say that this is so exciting it makes me chuckle but Larry the Communicator does not want me to use that word in anymore blogs.   Chuckle reminds him of a bad time earlier in our lives.

If you live a mile and a half from hard surface, not having to push snow during the last 10 months is amazing.   If you sell snow removal equipment or move snow for a living, it's not so amazing.   If you sell snow removal equipment or move snow for a living and live a mile and a half from hard surface, I suppose you are conflicted.    I'm not conflicted.

If you live a mile and a half from hard surface, not having to push snow during the last 10 months is amazing.   If you  are raising row crop and need moisture, it's not so amazing.   If you have a garden and need spring moisture, it's not so amazing.

I'm going to water my garden a lot while I chuckle.

Shooting Stars

I've been watching the light show of shooting stars for many years.   Lately, I've paid more attention to these meteorites as the burn out entering our atmosphere.   Here are some observations.

The ones with the longest tails remind me of the huge spreading flumes during a fireworks display.   The short dashes of light, which take only a millisecond, make me think that someone is sending a message from beyond.

I thought all stars were shooting in straight lines or arcs but recently realized that some zig zag.  Caring Kim believes they don't really zig zag and that it just looks that way to me because I'm bouncing along the road with the dogs.   She has been wrong before.

My biggest revelation about shooting stars is that every time I see one it produces a sense of excitement that almost makes me gasp...or even chuckle.   Somethings in nature occur merely for pleasure.

Yellow Cat

Yellow Cat has gone away.   She was possibly the greatest survival expert in Dallas County.    She was the master of survival.  My neighbors with whom I share a quarter mile lane moved away after 15 years.   They took everything...except Yellow Cat.  

Caring Kim, Granddaughter #1, and I were driving down the lane when we discovered that cat was still hanging out.   The girls stopped, picked up the yellow fur ball and brought her into the house.   Ten minutes and one bowel movement later she was back at her old stomping ground with a container of lunch meat.

My dogs and I walked past her protected area each day.   My dogs wanted to eat Yellow Cat but she never even offered a flinch.   She fears no dog.   Each day for over a year she somehow found food, water and shelter.   She was amazing.

Without fanfare new neighbors moved into the remolded farm house (another blog or two).   I didn't necessarily react to new folks living at the end of the lane but I noticed our furry friend was gone.

When new folks move in I must adjust.    Yellow Cat just moves on and chooses different neighbors.

Walkington, DC

I walked nine hours in Washington, DC...mostly in and around the National Mall.   I was struck by several things.   I now get that DC is the center of the organization it takes to operate an entire nation.   It is even more clear when you walk next to it all.

One of the things I was struck by was the lack of diversity in the capitol of the most diverse country on Earth.   I didn't see a lot of grey, black or brown...mostly young white folks.   I'm not sure what that means or even if it is significant.

Mostly I was struck by the simple fact that the area in and around the National Mall is all about memories.   Lincoln memorial reminds us not so much of Lincoln but of a time in our history when we were two.   I watched the young soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier go through his exact paces and a remembrance.   I was surrounded by museums holding many artifacts to to help us remember and mark time.

The war memorials were my favorite.   My parents generation lived through and often discussed WWII.   I could relate to the two theaters.   My generation was Vietnam.   Our friends and relatives are on the wall.   However, the most moving for me was the Korean War Memorial.   The statues of the soldiers advancing in a field seemed all too real to me.   They each peered in to my heart.

Walking in Washington was worth the nine hours.

Bloggus Interuptus

I guess this title either sounds like something from a Road Runner cartoon or the Kinsey Report.   If you are old enough to appreciate a reference to the Kinsey Report you may enjoy reading other posts in this blog series.   If not, Google it.

I have not posted for a while.   I had to put the blog in the back seat while other parts of my life rode in the front.   Larry the Communicator scolded me for not writing...right after his plumber fixed my bathroom.   Anyway, Walking Wild is back.

I have missed writing.   I have missed telling everyone about the family of six doe and a buck  that have wintered north of our house   I've missed  describing how my dogs interact with our deer family.   I haven't had the chance to talk about the new neighbors that moved in at the end of the lane or walking around Washington, DC.   I haven't yet reflected on what is clearly the mildest winter ( so far) that I can remember.  

Tomorrow's blog will begin the process of catching up on all the stuff I have been waiting to share.

Bloggus Continuadiam