To have a place to walk, we have to get up very early, or go out very late. We like to be the only ones there.
This is important to all of us.
We think that sometimes, the puma might be out there with us. Puma is who also likes to walk early and late. They walk a lot farther than we do, but cover some of the same ranges as us. We know this because their data is carefully monitored and hoarded, just like mine is. I’m being watched, you’re being watched, puma’s being watched, and puma might be watching us.
Everybody knows where everybody is, all the time. Even in the forest, you can’t avoid surveillance. Me and the puma, another thing we have in common. Sometimes we like to be off the radar. Puma has on a tracking collar, I think he’s trying to get it off. I just leave my phone at home. Please leave a message at the beep. The data collectors will pick it up at their convenience.
90 percent of the data that now exists has been created in the last two year. More data, fewer trees. A richness for the data miners. Look, I’m leaving you a trail right now.
Here is where we sat and took a rest. Not Gustavo, he doesn’t believe in taking a rest and stands guard against the potential of puma until we move on. Or else he’s viewing invisible butterflies. It’s hard to know. I have been advised that attack is unlikely, but if it does occur, to fight back. Of pumas, not butterflies. The last reported attack near here was in 1909 when a rabid mountain lion attacked a woman and her child, on a mountain to our east. The odds are good that we can easily share, if indeed we’re both out there very early.
I came across a mountain lion on one of our hikes last year, nothing happened, we were all okay. Mountain lion went his way we went home. I have not been back to that trail since. I'm not sure if was the mountain lion encounter or the memory of Freddie's lunch of human feces that keeps me from returning.
I guess I did not realize that there were mountain lions in your area. I thought the only predators you would have to worry about would be street punks wearing Daft Punk t-shirts asking for bus fare. Now I will worry about TSD being stalked by big cats in the woods.
Yikes. I have seen only 1 puma, very far in the distance through binoculars. They are big. We recently ventured back on the freaky trail and it seems less freaky so we hope the puma has ventured deeper into the mountains.
We also have coyotes, deer and squirrels! And something that sounds like monkeys. And a bear was caught down near Monterey recently in someone's yard. I don't think the bears are in our mountains anymore. They are tracking the pumas so we know they are there….somewhere. Their data shows their every move and is public domain.
When the freight train to the north used to pass by my neighborhood, I had to worry about that the street kids hopping the train might steal Gustavo due to his cuteness. Now the rain don't run there anymore, and they hitchhike up highway 1 on their way to….Portland! And little dogs are out, pitbulls are in with the street punks so tsd is safe.
I like to out very early, and having an elderly dog with a very small bladder means I go out very early and very late whether I want to or not. The other creature who keeps those same hours in my neighborhood is the Skunk. Our yard is apparently a skunk highway. I always have to look both ways before venturing out when it is dark.
Love the photos. That is a very special forest and I wish I had one near me.