Without much fuss, I went out, took it easy and did one of my shorter campus walks. 7.39 km. There was a little productive coughing and spitting out the yuck. I stopped twice to rest and take physical inventory but also to look around for photo ops. I was windy to very windy and I guess we have a few more days of that to look forward to. Unfortunately those winds and low humidity mean red flag warnings of hazardous fire conditions. We are locked in tight with record drought conditions here in SoCal, which also has me a little concerned about how the garden might fair come spring because it sure doesn't appear as though it's getting supplemented much with waterings.
Here's the stretch of road I skipped. I didn't skip it because I was concerned about overdoing things while still under the influence of a cold virus, I skipped it when I saw all of that dust blowing across the road. Up and back on that street is 1.4 km. That's what makes the regular 8.79 km walk.
Not a great shot but it was fun to watch. This turkey vulture took such a fine command of the wind I was absolutely amazed. Within seconds the bird went from being a few 100 meters in front of me to a small dot in the sky way behind me. All with this very subtle maneuvering of it wing position, letting the wind do all the work. I never saw a flap.
I also got a couple of miserable shots off of what I believe was the prairie falcon noted here but they aren't worth posting. That bird too, I think flapped it's wings once launching high off a pine tree and then let the wind do it's bidding. We had gusts as high as 30 mph today and they continue now into the night.
Next I stopped for a Dr. Browns Creme Soda. Some of the vending machines got broken into over Christmas. For the most part it looks as though the jerks simply mangled the machines trying to get to the units that take the cash, to me it didn't appear the jerks were successful. Anyway, they got replacement machines last week and the contents seem a little more upscale. Dr. Brown's was priced at $1.50 last week which I thought was a decent vending machine price. Today it was $1.75. We gotta pay for the vandalism, I guess. While I'm at it, I contest the use of the word "original." There was no high fructose corn syrup in the original. The bottle now states, sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup but I can promise it's high fructose corn syrup or predominately so. Despite my viral condition that shit causes mucous, right after finishing a beverage with high fructose corn syrup I know it.
Coming down off the hill and heading home, the hillside is now covered in Black-eyed Susans. It's the only time it looks decent and it doesn't last very long.
That's it. I was really glad to be able to go out and walk today after missing yesterday's walk.
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