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A quiet life

Well it seems I traded in the wild life for wildlife. It was a beautiful afternoon so I played outside for a while. I finally checked out the little road behind the house. It's an actual city street, it has a name but it's not paved. It was a short walk but an exciting one.

I've been wondering what the white stuff was on the fallen tree in the woods I can see from my kitchen window. On close inspection it turned out to be some kind of oyster shelf mushroom. It looked sort of like this only larger and much whiter even as it's aging into that sort of melted state. Very impressive fungi.

The road deadends just up over the top of the hill but there's four houses on it, actually two really fancy homes and two trailers. The house at the end is a huge brick affair with a really long driveway. The other one is very modern and made entirely of wood which is rare in these parts. It has sort of chalet feel to it and it's so beautifully landscaped with much statuary - all angels. It has a name, The House of Love and the mailbox is decorated with hearts and fluttery red things.

The next one up is a really junky trailer that looks abandoned until you see the car in the drive which you can't see until you get close because their yard has no lawn and their woods are littered with downed trees and brush. They also have a chicken coop made of scrap wood which explains the rooster I've been hearing. The other trailer was tidy and nondescript.

The best part of the walk was the butterfly. He came roaring out the woods and landed right in front of me on the road. He let me get me pretty close but took off before I could get a good look at his markings. I watched him fly away back down the road until he was out of sight and started walking up the hill again. Moments later he came hurtling by, not two inches from my shoulder and started flying around my head. For a second I thought he might land on me but he looped from one side to the other just out of reach. It was like being buzzed by a little acrobatic airplane. Finally he landed right in front of me again in the middle of the road. This time he let me crouch down and opened his wings so I could identify him. I had never seen one before so I had to look him up. He's a Mourning cloak.

Mindful of my new responsibilities of home rentership I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon raking the lawn. I like the raking thing, it has this Zen rhythm to it but picking up the stuff kind of creeps me out. Who knows what kind of bugs are in those leaves you know. A problem I could put off for today since it's a big yard and I'm no where near finished. But I can't just leave the piles there forever. What's the yellow page listing for guy who will pick up yucky yard stuff and take it away in his pickup truck anyway?

On the bright side, I have another daffodil plant blooming and I discovered that my yard is full of bluets of both varieties. One of my favorite flowers. I didn't know they were called Quaker Ladies. I like that name but I always called them star grass.