Another slow walk this morning as I continue to recuperate.
Thirteen crows.
Thirteen…
And the skies just a wee bit ominous.
Didn’t take a lot of photos as I’m still pretty low energy.
Only one of the flower photos was in focus.
And on top of the thieving bastard, we also crossed paths with … a black cat!
Dum dum dum!
Fortunately, we survived the encounter, and I was able to partake of my morning coffee ritual.
Up late, so late, late start.
Still had three crows waiting out front when we left.
Rain and wind last night, but cloudy blue skies this morning.
This made for some shots of the crows that, absent this dramatic sky, would have been mid.
But the sky is a ham and a scene-stealer.
Did I mention there was a rainbow?
A double rainbow?
Also, there were gulls.
Being dramatic.
And random junk.
And flowers.
Lots and lots of flowers.
And a thieving bastard or two.
But most importantly, there was coffee.
Literally at the end of the rainbow…
Just under twenty crows this morning.
We got out quite a bit earlier than usual, so no murder waiting for us.
No rush today, so we took our time, walking slow, listening, Doggo sniffing at a leisurely pace.
The crows watched, waited, followed, but never got too close.
The thieving bastard made an appearance, and in the ultimate show of disrespect, after stealing a peanut, mooned me!
There were flowers galore, but also reminders of the winter of my life, the slow, inexorable descent towards death.
And there was light, lemons, and simply interesting things.
(I can only photograph the same flowers over and over again so many times…)
And then, at last, the morning coffee ritual.
Stepping outside was like stepping out of a tent on a camping trip first thing in the morning.
There was a profound stillness and a chill that bit.
It was also overcast.
Despite this, we encountered twenty-five to thirty crows.
With three gulls circling off in the distance.
The lighting was gloomy, almost otherworldly at first.
Golden hour? Didn’t feel like it.
It felt more … apocalyptic.
But it soon, well, not exactly brightened up, but turned less … doomsday?
Every time the peanuts went down, the crowd went wild and screamed.
And flapped.
I really hope the recording turns out.
The flowers were far more sedate.
Audibly, anyway.
And then my morning coffee ritual.
Followed by a Mexican standoff that I did not expect.
Up early … for the weekend.
So plenty of light by the time we hit the pavement.
Seventeen crows. At one point, a line of them on a power line just perched there, watching me.
It was like a bad CGI scene in a movie where someone had copied and pasted the model of the crow on a neat line, all of them moving in (im)perfect unison.
Creepy.
No picture of that, sadly.
And flowers, naturally.
And, of course, it isn’t a morning full of tyranny without at least one thieving bastard.
After caging and skinning the thieving bastard, time for the blessed morning coffee ritual!
Later walk than usual this morning, given it is a weekend day.
Fifteen crows all told, which isn’t bad.
I also took pictures of flowers while dodging other dog walkers.
That’s the drawback to later walks on the weekend: all these entitled dog owners ruining our excursion with their presence.
And, of course, thieving bastards galore.
It was after I returned home and partook of my morning coffee ritual that work called.
Sigh. I can’t escape it…
Cold and gray this morning, plus some drizzle.
No crows at first.
Lots of flowers, most of them tiny.
And then, just past the halfway point, some crows finally noticed me.
About eleven all told.
Not an impressive turnout, but not the worst.
And then my morning coffee ritual. Drank the coffee at home, wrote this post during the fading remnants of my lunch.
While the Rat-X remains untouched, the faint aroma of death I noted this morning has, by all reports, intensified. So, a form of progress on the pest front.
I know what I’m doing when I get home…
Work has been extremely stressful again today. A consequence of being stuck in an all-day off-site meeting while one of your critical tools is down…
My plan this morning was to walk amongst the crows, take my pictures, and have my coffee ritual.
To get out of the house and to work on time, the writing of this post was going to wait for lunchtime, where I’d go through my images and come up with a thoughtful take on the morning.
Work had other ideas, so I’m just now getting to this.
About twenty crows on our walk. I recorded audio again, and I hope it came out, but I haven’t even reviewed yesterday’s recording yet to confirm the settings are good.
Did get a bit of a swarm going.
I also took pictures of flowers, or what remained of them.
Plus a thieving bastard or two.
The morning coffee ritual was also disrupted. Instead of sitting quietly to do it, I had to drink most of it in the car on the way to work.
Not nearly as relaxing. 
My mornings do not look like they’ll be slowing down any time soon.
I have a dilemma.
If I want to get to work on time, we need to take our walk earlier.
If we take our walk earlier, it’s dark and far less likely crows will show up.
That’s what happened this morning. Got my recorder ready, having made a volume adjustment after listening to yesterday’s attempt, hoped for 30+ crows again, and headed out.
Early.
And dark.
Three crows near the end, but two scared off the third.
None came down from the trees for peanuts.
Then, a bit later, four who followed me home but didn’t come down to the ground until I went into the house.
So mostly I photographed other things.
One house I regularly pass has a row of rose bushes along the front yard.
Had.
Discovered this morning, they had pruned them all down to stumps.
I hope that’s what you’re supposed to do during winter…
And as always, I end with my morning coffee ritual.
That about sums it up…
ian m dudley 