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leaving Clarence treed
Tuesday, October 1 2013
This morning as I set off down the Farm Road with the dogs, I heard a cat meowing at me. I turned around to see Clarence was rushing towards us. Evidently he had decided to join the walk. This is something he used to do all the time but hasn't done in years. As I've written before, Clarence is not a fun cat to walk with. He tends to go slowly and in fits and starts, and when he is walking at the speed I am walking, it's often in a form that has him darting from one of my ankles to the next in hopes of rubbing them against the top of his head with each step. In the past this has been irritating enough that I've simply given up and started carrying him. But today he gave me an out. At the end of one of his mad dashes, he climbed a juniper tree and stood like a proud hunter in its lower branches. I took some photographs and admired him for a bit, but then I headed off with the dogs at a brisk pace, knowing it would take him awhile to get down from that tree and it would give us a chance to make our getaway and have a proper walk.
About a half hour after I got back to the house, I was little worried about whether or not Clarence got lost or treed by a pack of coyotes, and I was just about to take the dogs with me as a search party when he suddenly appeared (as he often does), running into the house at a full gallop from wherever he had last been.
This afternoon and getting the chainsaw in good working order, I took it down the Gulleys trail to do some trail maintenance. I did not take the dogs, who were napping. (They have a knack for standing around under trees I am trying to cut down.) On the Gulleys trail, I cleared a tree fall that had been blocking the path for months. Next I went down the trail that follows the Chamomile to the bus turn around, and along the way I cleared one tree fall and partially-cleared another. I would have done more (there are three tree falls) but I saw someone was parked at the bus turnaround I didn't want to make too much commotion in case it was a park employee; I'm not sure what the rules are for clearing trails in constitutionally-protected "wild forest." (Our mountain-biking neighbor Tom once indicated to me that it was best to clear trails through the park on the down low.) By the time I was done, I was drenched in sweat. The weather had started to take a turn for the warm.
Clarence in the juniper tree. Click for a wider angle.
(Click to enlarge.)
Another of Clarence in the tree. (Click to enlarge.)
Looking into the Valley of the Beasts (to the east) from the Stick Trail near 41.920034N, 74.103642W.
(Click to enlarge.)
Soon after Clarence returned from his morning adventure, Eleanor gave him an enthusiastic greeting that included some humping (which Clarence likes). Thanks, gay marriage!
(Click to enlarge.)
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