Spring Fever in New York

I didn’t write yesterday. I didn’t have anything to say. I recently developed typing dyslexia, it must be a subconscious thing, because I can type like crazy normally, but now whenever I attempt to type, whether it be email or something for work. I screw up the words. They come out all backwards. It’s incredibly frustrating. So yesterday I sat around thinking about what I should write when all I was itching to do was go for a walk. By 5:30 I had my sneakers on. This sent my dog into a spin, literally. See she has this habit of running in a circle right in front of me every time I put on a pair of shoes. For her putting on shoes equals going for a walk, and that is her favorite pleasure. Next on her list of self indulgence is snapping at flies, and she catches them too. For her it must be like snacking. It’s hilarious to watch. Either way in between her adventures in snapping she noticed I was putting on shoes and started circling like a mad hatter. I decided we would take a chance and walk on the rail trail. New York State has turned all of it’s old rail lines into trails for hikers and mountain bikers and there are several trails in my area, an area so boring that your 2 choices for fun are hiking or shopping. Several years ago someone with money decided to develop this area and now you can’t swing a dead horse without hitting a strip mall, cellular phone store or a fancy car lot. And people shop and I mean shop all day! I often wonder where they come from or how they have acquired their wealth, since they aren’t working and they are spending. Spending ~ the new American pastime!

The reason I say I decided to take a chance on the rail trail is because it is as crowded as the Barnes and Noble parking lot and often there are people whizzing by you on bikes or running by you in pairs chattering away and it is not a peaceful experience, especially when you have a dog who thinks every new person going by is a potential threat to your safety. I’ll sum it up by saying she is very skittish! I will let her run off leash if no one is around, but yesterday something told me it was going to be one of those days when she would be leash bound and it was. Not only was she tied to me we both had to endure a cloud of mosquitos that attacked whenever you stopped moving. I will stop moving a lot to snap pictures. The rail trail I choose has a lovely, photo worthy bog so I grabbed my camera and took some photos in between mosquito bites. I thought I might share some with you.

Now that last one, let me magnify it for you!

was decidedly the one that caused a lot of disorderly conduct in the animal kingdom. At first I could not figure out what all the trouble was, because every dog and every dog owner was stopping at the side of the trail to take a good look. But when I came upon it I understood all the fuss! So I had to snap a picture. I actually took 2 shots, but I thought I would save you the pain of looking at both of them. I have a strange habit of photographing dead things. In my collection are several different models of fish, a crab, a snake, a bat, and now this. The only trouble is I cannot identify this animal, and no one was around by the time I discovered it to tell me what it is.

So therein lies my dilemma! If you know please do tell!

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