First
thing on my mind this morning was getting over to the train tracks to check out
my coins. Not only did I hear multiple trains out running last evening but as I
pulled up to the designated spot I had to wait for a 74 car train to pass out
of sight. (Yes, I counted.) Didn’t
find my pennies and nickels but the residue from the tape was on the rail. I searched 5 feet in either direction and
couldn’t find any sign of the coins.
Next time I’m waiting...I’ll put the pennies on the track, wait for a
train to pass and jump out to look.
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Continuing west into Eloy I passed a long train that was stopped on the
tracks; the engine wasn’t on the east end of the train and I couldn’t see the
other end of it. It prevented vehicles from crossing at the Picacho Boulevard
intersection. I could see the tires of 4 vehicles waiting on the other side of
the tracks for the train to start moving.
Anybody’s guess as to how long that would take. It seemed to be the equivalent of waiting for
the Charlevoix Bridge to go down during the summer.
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Walked
the frontage road today. It’s my
tendency to look up and out when I walk; however I’ve learned to keep an eye on
the road surface up ahead so I don’t fall off the road again. And the only
thing that will stop me quicker than seeing a dead animal up ahead is realizing
it’s a dead mouse. Don’t like
mice...never have, never will. They are
twitchy, sneaky and poop all over everything. I really don’t understand God’s purpose for
putting them on this earth. Humans have come with an alternative for cats so they don't really need mice and God could have come up with a different food source for snakes, too. Just sayin’....
I’ve
never seen a mouse in Arizona...until today...on my walk. It was tiny, it was dead and it stopped me in
my tracks when I was still several feet from it. I was repulsed and intrigued at the same time
by its size, figuring it to be a baby...and the fact it was tiny and dead made
me bold. It was about an inch long and I
wanted to take a picture of it to show Kim but I needed size perspective. I had my phone but needed that to take the
picture. After searching my pockets and
coming up empty, I took off my glasses and cautiously reached out to lay them
near. Near is really a relative
term...my glasses were about 8 inches away.
Quickly took a picture, again cautiously reached out to grab my glasses
and then gave it a wide berth as I continued on my walk.
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After
lunch we planned a route and set out to make a big loop: head over to 86 via
Sandario Rd which goes through Saguaro Nat’l Park. Then head west on 86 to IR 15 which would
take us through the Tohono reservation.
About 185 miles but we had the time and the day was beautiful for
riding.
Only
about 15 miles into the ride we have this conversation through the headset:
Kim: “I want to buy a cheap trail cam.”
Me: “O-kay...why?”
Kim: “There’s this culvert down on Picacho
Highway with lots of game tracks.....”
Me, in my best Renee Zellweger voice: “Stop...just stop...you had me at culvert.”
The Jerry Maguire reference was lost on Kim but the upshot was that we were of a like mind that it would be fun to set up a trail camera to see what passes through the culvert. Our ride plans changed immediately.
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As it
turns out Kim pointed the camera at the trail not the culvert but the outcome
is the same. While we dream of javelinas,
bobcats, or coyotes it would also be fun to see a possum or a pack rat. Don’t know what other animals are out and
about at night but we hope to find out. Wouldn’t be as fun to see a dog but at least
the mystery of what’s using the culvert as a passageway would be solved. We’ve got almost 3 weeks to see what shows
and, if by chance nothing shows up, Kim has an extra camera to use for deer
hunting.
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My
new Fitbit arrived today; I can now see my progress without needing to be in
a dark room. Yay!!
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