Fauna

While I've written a fair amount about local foliage, I haven't said much about animal life around here. That's because there isn't much of it.

Loma Linda Springs has so many trees, bushes, and lawns and is so near to undeveloped hillsides that it seems a perfect place for animals. More the wonder there are so few.

But there are some. Let's start with the domesticated varieties. Although I occasionally hear dogs barking in the distance, I've only seen one on the property. This dog was leashed to a woman who was wearing something like a security guard's uniform, and her youth suggested she wasn't a resident, so maybe she was indeed a staff security person. This description may conjure up mental pictures of a rottweiler or one of those big, black German police dogs, but strangely enough, her K-9 assistant was a little white fur ball—maybe a toy poodle. Must be a pretty boring place to be a security guard.

The absence of dogs is no doubt due to LLS's community rules which state that residents may have indoor cats, one to an apartment. I've seen two of these, both in the evening and both on leashes. One had on a jacket with flashing red lights all over it. No doubt a jogger cat.

Midway between domesticated and wild: the gold fish in the water fall pond just outside the entrance to my building.

And then the wild ones. I haven't heard any coyotes howling, something of a surprise given the proximity of open hills. Patti's handouts (see "Orientation") said that the Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside Counties) have more rattlesnake bites than any other region of the country and that LLUCM has treated over 50 snake bite victims in each of the past 2 years. But if rattlesnakes slither around The Springs, I have yet to see them. Last evening, I thought I smelled a skunk, and I'm sure there are some in the area. However, on further consideration, I wondered if I was actually smelling a neighbor's pipe. Amazing that the two odors have so much in common. I used to smoke a pipe, and it never occurred to me that the aroma I so savored might have been confused for essence de skunk. That inventory leaves 2 more wild beasts to be mentioned: lizards, of which I've seen several, and birds. In particular, hummingbirds, which I rarely find in Lubbock. Each morning, as I sit on the balcony with my coffee visiting on the phone with Amy, I watch a couple of these weird little birds. So tonight I bought and deployed a hummingbird feeder. We'll see if it attracts more. The weather's cooling off, though, and I don't know whether or not hummers are year-round residents. Again, we'll see.

On the medical scene, no change. No word from the doctors who, I'm sure, are scrutinizing my bone scan and MRI images around the clock. The back pain—more accurately the side pain, since my back itself has no discomfort—seems to be moderating. So I'll keep on waiting and hanging out. And watching for those creepers, crawlers, jogging cats, and hummers.