Today's walk report: 061122

 Out a little earlier this Saturday since last week I seemed to be right on the fringe of students swarming the campus. Three is a swarm. Besides, yesterday it hit 102º F here and these days I don't care to entertain 82º. So, the prospect of people and high temps pushed me out the door at 7:20 AM and 67º. 

It was real quiet at the local botanical garden and the only campus activity I saw were the occasional jogger/walker who presumably were also trying to beat the heat. On the photo front it was a another day for male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty. He was once again engaged in chasing intruders from his domain. Docken was on the phone with me again. Thanks Docken!

Here are some pictures.

The same flowers with me creating a shadow to circumvent the bright sunlight.

Onto Dusty's territory...

I looped around the garden a couple of times but wasn't seeing much to move me into raising the camera. This ground squirrel reminded me of the one on May 29th pretty much in this same exact spot. It's not the same squirrel though unless there was some sort of battle since then. Notice the damage to the left ear.

Back to Dusty. He often took breaks from all of the chasing going on.

See? He's tired.

The Agave americana is still working on those flowers but the basal rosette at the base of the plant is starting to look a little sorry. The combination of the position of the sun and my not having the best choice of lenses precluded a photo, maybe next time. The plant, in flowering, is dying and I wonder how long it will be before this stalk becomes a liability.

On my way back to the car to head up the hill... It's often the case that the most creative and talented students are not the ones who do best in school. Unfortunately, we pigeonhole students with certain learning styles. We tend to tear children from self-expression and kill their motivation. To top things off now kids in the U.S. need to fear for their lives to get an education and socialize with friends.

Up the hill. In general, there's a lot of construction going on or about to take place on this campus so a whole bunch of where I'd normally walk around has been fenced off. I had a feeling these crows were going to take off before I got to the spot I really wanted to take a picture from and they did, one more step past this spot, they were off.

Still, I reflect,
This nervous wreck who stands before me
Can see as well,
Can surely tell that he's not yet free;
He can turn aside, but can no more ignore me
Than know which one of us is he,
Than tell what we are going to be,
Than know which one of us is me.*

* Mirror Images, Song by Peter Hammill