Semi-Daily Scribbles

They’re usually ground carcasses on the blacktop. Skunks, voles, geckos, squirrels, rabbits, snakes, armadillos. Poor Armadillo. A coyote or two. Having been told that a few years ago the current site of my neighborhood was scrub brush, tall grass, and wildflowers, I’m riddled with guilt. Though I may not have bulldozed over critter dens and native flora, I am a usurper and destroyer in my own little HOA way. The street down yonder is named Hawks Nest. Too bad most of that bird of prey’s habitat has been taken up by the ubiquitous triumvirate of Donut Shop/Nail Salon/Dry Cleaners. As I bake and broil in our summer of drought, I curse the lawn that some out-of-touch committee forces me to maintain. Water wasted in the name of uniformity. Conformity. Displacement of wildlife living under my deck.