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Oh look, KITTY!
Jun. 22nd, 2006 06:26 pmWell, today was a day of Minor Progress (yay). After spending most of the afternoon in the Starbucks Where I Also Live, I took the bus up to my former workplace, to return my key (which my boss had very briefly thought he would let me keep for a week or two of consideration, but then reconsidered out of immediate paranoia) and to see if he might have a copy of my old demo reel on CD. Since I had taken the bus there, I thought I would walk back into town to get my now-customary thirty minutes of activity for the day.
I've walked the same route several times--during the bus strike earlier this year, I walked it twice a day. It takes me through residential areas a bit outside of town, and alongside what I think is the Jefferson County horse rescue facility. At the moment the organization may be defunct; for some months I haven't seen any horses. In any case, there's a paved trail that runs perpendicular to the street I usually walk on, and I know my boss has mentioned that it also goes down into Golden, but along the foot of Table Mountain. Since I had some extra time, I thought I would have An Adventure, so I crossed the street and went walking down the trail instead. The sun came out from behind the clouds, tall trees framed the path, and squirrels jumped from branch to branch and twitched their noses at me. I was having a fairly lovely time, watching the squirrels and the birds and peering through the trees into the back yards of near houses...until I happened to notice the sign.
It happened to say
It then continued to say What To Do In Case You See A Mountain Lion, Why You Should Hike In Groups, and How To Protect Your Pets By Keeping Them On Leashes (It's The Law).
Well. Not being a complete idiot, I know that there is always some minor danger, this close to the front range. Boulder is only twenty miles away, and a couple of people have been killed by cougars, near Boulder. Last year, a cougar wandered into the downtown area of Golden, sprawled herself along a high tree branch for a few hours and watched the people passing below flail at her, then calmly leaped down again and went back to wherever she had come from in the first place. Obviously, there are cougars nearby.
However, I've never actually seen a sign before. I stopped to consider the matter for perhaps a minute or two. The danger was low. But I was not much of a group, all by myself, and I am hardly threatening, at just over five feet. I am significantly less threatening when wearing a skirt, a tank top, and sandals. I turned around, went back under the squirrels and through the long leaves of grass, and took my usual path home, deciding to have my adventure Another Time, preferably not at twilight, when large predators with little hungry kittens are just waking up and wondering what to feed them (Ooh, Lyric looks tasty!). I think I'll try the path tomorrow, instead, probably at midday and from the back of my bike. Still a risk, but a significantly less stupid one.
I would love to see a mountain lion, but preferably from a distance. ♥
I've walked the same route several times--during the bus strike earlier this year, I walked it twice a day. It takes me through residential areas a bit outside of town, and alongside what I think is the Jefferson County horse rescue facility. At the moment the organization may be defunct; for some months I haven't seen any horses. In any case, there's a paved trail that runs perpendicular to the street I usually walk on, and I know my boss has mentioned that it also goes down into Golden, but along the foot of Table Mountain. Since I had some extra time, I thought I would have An Adventure, so I crossed the street and went walking down the trail instead. The sun came out from behind the clouds, tall trees framed the path, and squirrels jumped from branch to branch and twitched their noses at me. I was having a fairly lovely time, watching the squirrels and the birds and peering through the trees into the back yards of near houses...until I happened to notice the sign.
It happened to say
It then continued to say What To Do In Case You See A Mountain Lion, Why You Should Hike In Groups, and How To Protect Your Pets By Keeping Them On Leashes (It's The Law).
Well. Not being a complete idiot, I know that there is always some minor danger, this close to the front range. Boulder is only twenty miles away, and a couple of people have been killed by cougars, near Boulder. Last year, a cougar wandered into the downtown area of Golden, sprawled herself along a high tree branch for a few hours and watched the people passing below flail at her, then calmly leaped down again and went back to wherever she had come from in the first place. Obviously, there are cougars nearby.
However, I've never actually seen a sign before. I stopped to consider the matter for perhaps a minute or two. The danger was low. But I was not much of a group, all by myself, and I am hardly threatening, at just over five feet. I am significantly less threatening when wearing a skirt, a tank top, and sandals. I turned around, went back under the squirrels and through the long leaves of grass, and took my usual path home, deciding to have my adventure Another Time, preferably not at twilight, when large predators with little hungry kittens are just waking up and wondering what to feed them (Ooh, Lyric looks tasty!). I think I'll try the path tomorrow, instead, probably at midday and from the back of my bike. Still a risk, but a significantly less stupid one.
I would love to see a mountain lion, but preferably from a distance. ♥
