Call of The Wild

Now that summer is here and things are in full bloom (pretty much), I've come to realize something; I live in the flippin' woods! No, I do not have a gunrack; no I do not need to drive 20 minutes to see "civilization"; no I do not hear owls at night when I go to sleep. But still when I walk outside, it smells like..."green stuff" (well either that or sulfur...depending on which way the wind is blowing). I thank G-d quite often in fact that I did not inherit the "allergy genes" that plague my mother and my sister from the spring until the fall.

I was on my way home from class light night; it was 8pm, so it was still daylight outside. Lo and behold there was a raccoon in the road that looked pretty "messed up". As I drove up to him, he just half-shuffled towards the center of the road...but not enough to let my car by. So I just stopped and watched him arch his back and sort of look at me (I truly wondered if this raccoon didn't ingest some leftover crystal meth that someone threw away). "Ok, whenever you're ready", I thought...and he finally moved over enough where I could go on without straddling him or hitting him with my front left tire. Combine that with the deer problem, and you get the feeling that the local wildlife here are really the ones that call the shots. Then again, I do remember when I was driving on the FL turnpike and I saw a huge turtle crossing the road. Thing scared the daylights out of me...not because I felt threatened...but because I did not want to witness the scene of an 18-wheeler rolling over that thing!

Somewhere in my readings, I came across someone pointing out the shortage of trees in South Florida, especially since the hurricanes. Then I realized...other than the natural cycle of life, lightening, and the occasional plant canker, there is no real threat to the trees up in Pennsylvania. And especially around here...where there is no new construction and really...we tear more buildings down than anything...the foliage just seems to be taking over. I think about the house I grew up in. Our house (address was 140 Spruce St.) was never a paved road...more like a wide alley. Today, the street is barely passable (and I wouldn't even attempt to drive through it with my car). In fact, I can barely recognize the neighborhood I grew up in; almost all of the homes have been torn down. The most prominent thing you notice now is the topography of the shallow hillsides.

It really makes me wonder; is it possible to go from rural...to small town...back to rural again? It's funny because when you think of "Ghost Towns" you think of those town in the American West...with tumbleweed flying around. Truth of the matter is, there are "Ghost Towns" here as well. You just don't notice them because of all the tall grass and trees.