7:50 a.m. Mamie and I went sleepily outside for her
morning pee. After she finished, we walked back to the house and a movement
above caught my attention. A largish black bird was flying away from a hole birds had drilled into a piece of trim on our
building with something in its talons. It was followed by several small brown
birds who were shrieking and diving at it. They all landed on a garage roof,
the object in question turning out to be a small bird that slid away down the
tiles as the bigger bird tried to recapture it. He must have raided a nest
secreted into one of the decorative supports.
8:00 a.m. I put on sneakers for a longer walk without
my slowpoke dog and went back outside. Just as I was firing up my audio book a
thin woman who I’ve seen walking every morning came up to me. She was worried that
the sprinklers on one side of the complex had been running since 6 a.m. and who should she call?
Had she been
walking the loop to nowhere around our complex for two hours?
8:10 I turned on David Sedaris’ Theft by
Finding and began my walk, first through our complex, where the magnolias
are just beginning to bloom. Magnolia blooms are probably my favorite smell in
the entire world, all lemony and pure. My grandmother in Oklahoma
used to float a flower in her big silver bowl on top of the cherry gate leg
dining table and the smell would work its way all the way into the front
hall and almost into the living room.
8:40 Home, bathed in sweat. It’s already over
75 out and humid. With my big cup of tea (Red Rose, my favorite brand) I
settled in front of my laptop and watched John Oliver describe the latest
phenomenon in trailer homes, aka manufactured homes, a popular choice here in Florida The residents own their
homes but not the land on it, and are usually on limited or fixed incomes. Now
huge corporations, one in fact, that Warren Buffett owns, are buying up these
trailer parks and raising the rents as much as 60%.
I'm surprised Warren is doing that, actually. He's always seemed a pretty reasonable guy. I wonder if he's aware of it? I loved "Theft By Finding"! Glad the bird got away -- hope it survived. It's hard being a baby bird.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovey morning routine. And shame on Warren Buffett and all those other people who are pricing older people right out of their homes! :-(
ReplyDeleteI hope that small bird survived. I really hope it.
ReplyDeleteSigh on the rich determined to get richer, at the expense of those with much less.
No fun big birds gobbling up small birds...or people either:(
ReplyDeleteAnd we get 1% closer to the end of the rope.
ReplyDeleteSeems we aren't much better than the birds. Boy what a cruel way to take the ease out of retirement. How do these rich guys sleep at night.
ReplyDeleteRaising the rents by 60%?? That's outrageous! How do they expect people on limited incomes to cope?
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