Wednesday

The day after Tuesday, obviously. And here we are, still in Ridgecrest. OK, so on to the continuing saga of the misuse of the bike/pedestrian path. Today I brought my personal cell phone with me and the non-emergency phone number of the police department, and wouldn't you know it, right after I got on the path, my cell phone died. I'm not good about remembering to charge it. But it was OK -- no path misusers today, though some kids on dirt bikes looked like they were about to misuse it -- but they didn't, at the last moment they veered off into the dirt. Off to disturb the lizards, but that's a whole nother topic, and one that would not be popular in this town.

I almost missed seeing Sentry Quail -- he and the gang were in a different place than they usually are. I looked up quail behavior on a birding website and learned that Sentry Quail is undoubtedly a male, because that's what they do, they act as sentries. Also, if I could ever remember to bring my binoculars along, I could tell that it's a male because there are obvious difference between male and female quail, they're just not obvious at long distances if you don't have your binoculars with you. OK, they're just not obvious TO ME, because I am a lousy birder. Must remember to bring the binocs!

Not much else happened today. I got some (paid) work done, and some housework. Dinner was "rockfish snapper" (whatever that is -- red snapper?), couscous, and broccoli/cauliflower. I sometimes wonder how my mother and the rest of the women of the 1960s, not to mention my grandmother and the rest of the women of the 1930s, not to mention... ever managed to make dinner. It is so easy for me. The couscous comes in a little box. The broccoli/cauliflower comes in a bag that I can steam in the microwave. The fish is cleaned, scaled, deboned, and cut into nice little filets at the grocery store. The only "work" I had to do was to wash the fish, cut off a few questionable bits, and cook it in a pan. Still, it seems like an effort. What a lazy person I am. Of course, quail don't have to cook anything, they just scratch around in the dirt for seeds. But quail have other issues, such as no houses to take shelter in, and no medical care if they get sick. I must not start wishing to be a quail, that would be the wrong path to go down. Another thing I read on a birding website was that "between 800,000 and 1.2 million are shot each year in California alone" and this does not seem to affect the population (quail are not at all endangered). Huh, I'll bet Sentry Quail's family would be affected if he were shot. If I see anyone going after my quail with a gun, I am calling that non-emergency police number, I don't care if they laugh at me.

And thus another day in Ridgecrest comes to an end.