Sunday, June 10, 2012

True Life Nature Adventures

This morning I biked Keene Rd through Troy to Paul's Mill Rd. I came back in Delaney Ferry. 2h20m 30.2 miles. Overcast, a little breeze, not too hot.

On Keene Rd just before the Jessamine Co line, a mole ran into the road in front of me. At first I thought it was a leaf blowing, but it was a mole, around 2.5 inches long.

At the small pond (eutrophication experiment #1) on the left of Keene Rd just after Delaney Ferry splits off, a turtle was sunning itself on a rock in the middle of the pond. Not a snapper, shell maybe 10 inches long.

Just past Keene, I spooked a bunch of turkey buzzards feeding on a dead deer. 3-4 of them flew right in front of me, I'm like "Oh crap, I hope I don't hit one." They were full grown, 4-5 ft wingspan, probably weighed 20-30 pounds each. But I was on a slight uphill, probably doing below 10 mph, so I didn't get within 5 feet of one.

There was a man and a woman fishing in the creek that runs next to Paul's Mill Rd -- my map says that is the East Fork Clear Creek. Just past them were two swans swimming. I think the horse farm there on the left keeps the swans.

Yesterday I finished reading "The Drowned Cities", by Paolo Bacigalupi, on an ebook purchased from Carmichael's Book Store. He won some awards last year for "The Windup Girl". This one was short, 286 pages. Post-apocalyptic, or post global-warming ocean rise, survivor/refugee story. Child soldiers like in Africa now. Kind of an ensemble cast of characters, including a war machine "half-man", 400-500 pounds of human/tiger/dog/hyena/wolf hybrid bred for war -- a good character. The main "Drowned City" is Washington D.C. Strangely bothersome are images of warlords shelling the capitol building, etc. An OK read, 3 stars.

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