High Winds and Cough Syrup

Glistening inkcap (Coprinellus micaceus) at the cemetery

The weather freshened up yesterday, with clear skies, cool temperatures and lots of wind. I got out in the garden early in the morning with my metal detector, trying to find a piece of the bird feeders that got knocked off by the tree crew. I was afraid it had been swept up and carried off with all of the tree debris, but eventually I found it and reattached it to the feeder. What a bizarre task!

I also got a mysteriously strong reading in one of the flower beds and decided to dig there. A coin? Jewelry? No -- it was one of our missing copper slug rings. Somehow it had become buried and forgotten. It's now back in the shed with its slug-deterring companions.

I haven't used that metal detector in years but I must admit it was kind of fun to scan the ground and see what's what. I also found a weird strip of aluminum, and I got countless readings for iron -- no doubt old nails and screws. Our garden is full of construction debris. (I didn't bother trying to dig any of them up.)

In the afternoon I took a walk with Bailey to the cemetery. I was trying to capture the autumnal foliage in the photo above but somehow it doesn't look very bright. It seemed more yellowy in real life.

On the far side of the cemetery, an automated voice rang out from the driveway of a house as we passed: "Hi. You are being recorded." I instinctively responded, "Oh, f*ck off!" I mean, I wasn't in their driveway or tampering with their cars -- I was on the public sidewalk! Sure enough there was a camera attached to the corner of the roof. I don't mind being recorded, but I've never seen CCTV that comes with a vocal warning, clearly meant to intimidate passers-by. It annoyed me.

I also saw a woman wearing a hoodie that said on the back, in big letters, "THAT'S A AWFUL LOT OF COUGH SYRUP." I wondered what on earth it could possibly mean. It sounded like some kind of drug reference -- like, can you make recreational drugs from cough syrup? Turns out it's a brand of clothing owned by an LA rapper.

Bailey, as usual, was on red-alert for squirrels and straining at her lead. She's off this morning to the vet -- we're going to try spaying once again. Fingers crossed this fifth attempt will do the trick.

Here's a video to give you a sense of how windy it was yesterday. From inside the house I watched our poor avocado cope with the gusts, which were said to be up to about 40 mph. For a plant that lived its early years entirely indoors, it did well!