Growling

Posted on June 12, 2004 in Creatures Hikes and Trails Nature

I was disobeying doctor’s orders* and walking alone down the Sleepy Hollow Trail in Whiting. After passing under some low branches, I stood next to a patch of scrub near the Lower Pond. A few dead manroot vines trailed from overhead. A cluster of monkeyflowers hustled into a patch of sunlight. I ambled past, sweeping my walking stick in front of me.

A low growl burbled behind me. I froze and turned slowly, raising my pole as I bared my teeth and returned the snarl. Was this my day? Would I have to beat off a mountain lion?

I loosed my eyes in a hunt for signs in the scrub. Then, hovering overhead, a female hummingbird beat her wings. Hrrrrrr! Hrrrrrr! Hrrrrrr!

“Good grief!” I exclaimed. “Could you not sneak up on me like that?”

---

*An internist worried that I might pass out on the trail, so he doesn’t want me walking on the less-traveled roads. A treadmill test turned up nothing, but I have a more sensitive one scheduled.