Of Flies, Snakes, Swallows and Carpets of Blue

 "Masters of decay." I was reading an essay in one of my favorite magazines. It was an essay about flies, you know, those things that, if we think about them at all, our thoughts are of disdain, disgust, often while words like, get lost you damn flucking fly, accompany a waving of arms around in a futile attempt to coerce them into doing just that. "Years ago, on a hot summer afternoon, I was sitting on my front porch when a housefly took a liking to me. I swatted, but it kept returning, landing on my arm, my leg, my face, my knee. I simmered with agitation.."  

Here I was reading about flies, but the picture I was drawing in my head was one of an entirely different pest. "Our relationship with these buzzy insects has often been conflicted: Flies carry disease, contaminate food, sometimes bite, and tend to make sound in frequencies we find irksome." That last part sealed the deal, the picture was completed - the monotonous, emotionless, droning voice of this particular pest, who could easily be given the title "master of decay," popped in, fully and grotesquely formed. Yuck.

Anyway... the swallows are back and, looking back, I guess it has been about a year since i last stopped my ride through the wash to watch their acrobatic maneuvers - climbing up, diving down low to the water flowing though the concrete channel, swerving suddenly in pursuit of some pesky fly. Today I had stopped at the midway bridge to watch, a couple crows up on the nearby solar panel and antenna making their own, similar observations. Earlier on, i passed rattlesnake on the trail, though he seemed pretty unconcerned by my sudden appearance - no shaking of rattles, not even drawing up into that familiar defensive posture; he simply waited a moment or two, making sure i wasn't going to try anything stupid, before continuing on in search of some shade. After all, by then, the direct sun was getting pretty warm, and he with no access to that thing we cyclists call natural air conditioning, aka speed of descending. 

What else can i say about the morning ride? It was blue, very blue - the sky, and the ground both competing for top honors. Sometimes the wash has great carpets of red, magenta, of pink. Right now it is the blue of Sapphire Woolystar (Eriastrum sapphirinum). It is everywhere along the roads, and even some trails. Hope ya'll got out to ride some rides and see some sights this weekend.

no shake, no rattle, just rolling on by buddy

They're tiny little things, aren't they? Fitting in the openings of chain link fabric like that! 😒

unimpressed

Incidentally, I am not making any assumption that the author of the above quotes about flies was making, or attempting to make, any kind of metaphorical picture connecting pestilential flies to any president current or past. That is entirely mine. Though shared by millions of others, or course.

Incidentally the second: Did you know there are certain species of flies that can beat their wings more than 1000 times a second? It is, partly, how they can be so maneuverable.