Day Eleven

I have definitely got to find myself a new 2 mile path. Through the fog, I saw my life flash before my eyes today.

Today's instructions were "walking, easy, 2 miles". Now less than two weeks ago I would have laughed at the thought of 2 miles at any pace being easy. Since then, 2 miles has become a breeze. Even the hills in my neighborhood aren't quiet as scary. I headed out and decided that today would be a good day to observe spider webs. The fog had settled on them and they were so brilliant in the early morning. I have this huge one at the corner of my house with a giant orange spider. I named her Napoleon. I hope she captures all my mosquitoes. Anyway, walking up my street I noticed lots of webs and it was my goal to figure out what shape they were. For example, the one on lot 72 was the shape of Wyoming and the one on the adjacent lot was the shape of a foot. I noticed several others on my journey and was really relaxing and enjoying my walk. Not a single car passed and the only sound I remember hearing was a car back fire in the distance. (Or what I thought was a car back firing.)

Before I knew it, I was crossing over Fulton and heading down Big Black Dog/Carseat Street. There is a hedge or something that hides Mr. Toothless Grinning man's house. When you pass that hedge, you are right at his little shed. In said shed he has a boat and an old car and usually, he has been sitting in that shed or tinkering with various things. Well today as soon as I passed the hedge, he was standing there with something in his hand and I thought oh, he has a fishing rod. He most be going fishing. Now remember, I do have and eye doctor appointment on Monday. What I first thought was a fishing rod turned out to be a shot gun and about the time I figured that out, he must have seen me sneaking around the hedge because he dropped said shot gun and jump two feet in the air. This caused me to jump and scream. I just stood there a minute trying to regroup. "wha...you...a...do...ARE YOU CRAZY? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? DID THEY JUST LET YOU OUT OF THE LOONY BIND? IS THAT THING LOADED?" Well, yeah, it was loaded. These are the things I wanted to ask but all I said after I started breathing again and after noticing a dead squirrel laying there was, "Gettin' rid of squirrels, are ya?" He just nodded and I kept on moving.

Needless to say, I was a bit nervous as I circled around that area and headed home.

Now I believe that people, sane people, should be able to own a gun. But I don't really think it is a good idea to let people get out in their yard and shot squirrels. Not in the city limits. Not when innocent people, like me, may come strolling by. Not when a kid on a bicycle might come by. Is there not a law against this? Oh well.

After escaping near death, I continued back toward my home and decided to add a few extra blocks to my walk. I wanted to be sure and get in at least two miles, plus, I needed to recover from my shock.