Thrown Wide Open

You'll know it by the bald stripe running up its back. There are a lot of rabbits out there, and there were even more last night; for some reason they were lined up against the chainlink fence along the channel. I don't know why. It leaves them with one less avenue of escape; I suppose rabbits don't think about things like that. Anyway, there they were, lined up, perhaps waiting for the orange moon to arise, and Mars right next to it. I was hoping I would get to see that too. Mind you, they only do this on the downhill side where riders tend to go full-bore. After riding down along the "interior" roads (which are much more fun) I cut over to the channel at the usual place and, as I just mentioned, was going full-bore. Most all the other rabbits scurried out of the way well before I reached their settin' spots - all but the one that didn't, probably being too preoccupied with anticipation at the risin' o' the moon. Anyway, this one waited way too long; those knobs on my front wheel are still pretty sharp and were a spinnin' like a buzz saw. I have never seen a rabbit sprint so fast. But not fast enough. I seem to remember some old Saturday morning cartoons with similar anecdotes - back arched to an unnatural degree, that buzz saw gettin' closer, and then bzzzzzzt, off comes a strip of fur. I looked strait down and swore it was going to go under my wheel but for some last fraction of a second spurt of energy. Don't worry though, that rabbit got away alright, and you'll know it by the bald stripe running up its back.

it took getting all the way back home before the moon made its rise; there it is, down at the end of the street.

The other "big" news of last night involves the reopening of the gate. You might remember the gate with its big chain and great multitude of locks. Those locks kept things shut up tight for a number of weeks, allowing neither man nor beast to pass through. Well, news along the grapevine this morning told of the gate being open again. I had to check it out, expecting that some heavy duty bolt cutters had made short work of either the chain or the locks. But no, those things were not in the least disturbed; instead someone had, apparently, taken a sledge hammer to the hinges and busted them clean apart. Personally, my money is on the deer for doing the deed since the gate cut off their daily north to south migration. Now they can get back to doing whatever nefarious exercises they were engage in down at the quarries.

thrown wide open

Hang in there, the weekend is gettin' close now.