Ruminations
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
“Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.”
Phase 1: Shanahan
With cloudy skies providing welcome relief from the recent heat wave, S and D headed up Shanahan Ridge for what we officially designated “HNO,” or “Hot Night Out.”
Following closely behind us, a pair of hikers, complaining about something, in some other language. We paused at the cattle gate to let them pass. They seemed hesitant, but we politely insisted, and then waited for them to wander a goodly distance ahead.
But of course, we caught up to them. They had stopped to examine the signpost at the crossroads where one chooses the Mesa Trail or the South Shanahan return. Not surprisingly, they were arguing about it. As we approached, we agreed (sotto vocé) to take the opposite fork.
Eventually they noticed us waiting, argued a little more, and then proceeded up the Mesa Trail fork.
We took the South Shanahan.
Shortly afterwards we encountered a second cattle gate; and behind it, actual cattle! These were considerably more zen-like than the couple we’d just escaped. However, among the herd stood a rather large longhorn bull. Thankfully, it maintained a very zen-like focus—on the grass.
We gave them plenty of room, and continued down the trail without incident.
[Aside: I just noticed that “om” is the opposite of “moo.” Hmm.]
Suddenly, the arguing couple reappeared! Hiking the same direction as us! What the…? Clearly they had doubled back but… I have no idea how.
We stepped aside again, and let them pass again. Still arguing about something, in whatever language that was.
Phase 2, 3: Yes, that Park on Yale
There was a kid shooting hoops. Or rather, shooting at the hoop, with accuracy that suggested he might be better off at programming in C++.
S and D recalled no Questions of the Night (except maybe, what language was that?); we decided to look up the potential salary of a prospective Fortran programmer, and whether any such job openings existed. Let’s just say we might be better off programming in C++.
