Down on the farm

North of 3rd, west of Fox Hill golf course, south of 9th, east of Pace

I had about a 30 minute walk getting to my starting point, and perhaps 45 minute walk getting back from 3rd and Pace coming back.  I was going to walk along the Oligarchy ditch coming back, but there was construction work going on, which required me to detour a bit on the way back.  This area is west of Pace, so outside the main area of was covering today.  They had the ditch dammed up at one point, and there were at least 6 or 8 workers out there on a Saturday morning.

Why do they call it Oligarchy ditch???  From Wikipedia….

Oligarchy (from Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía); from ὀλίγος (olígos), meaning “few”, and ἄρχω (archo), meaning “to rule or to command”)^[1][2][3] is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who pass their influence from one generation to the next.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout history, oligarchies have been tyrannical (relying on public servitude to exist) or relatively benign. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as a synonym for rule by the rich,^[4] for which the exact term is plutocracy, but oligarchy is not always a rule by wealth, as oligarchs can simply be a privileged group, and do not have to be connected by bloodlines as in a monarchy.

So why do they call it Oligarchy ditch??? Beats me.

Back to Fox Hill.   At the start of my walk, I saw a hot air balloon being inflated about a mile off on north Pace.  I kept seeing it every now and then during my walk, so I thought that was kind of cool.  Jennifer and I went on a hot air balloon ride on our 8th wedding anniversary, which was fun.  I do remember that I expected it to be very quiet and serene, floating over the countryside.  But the hot-air burner turning on every now and then was rather noisy.

Fox Hill has always been one of the ‘upper-crust’ neighborhoods of Longmont.  There are some very nice homes there, and it’s right west of the Fox Hill golf course.  I thought I might walk some of the golf courses areas as part of my 2013 goal, but (apparently since it’s not a city course), there were signs that made it clear that non-member trespassing would not be approved.

Fox Hill had many more U.S. flags out on display than I’ve seen elsewhere in Longmont.  And it’s not 4th of July, or Veteran’s Day, or anything like that, so I imagine they’re out year round!

The power utility box on my way there appears to be covered with Monarch butterflies.  For some reason it reminded me of the book “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie.  I read this a few years ago, mostly because of the controversy about it in the Muslim world.  I found it to be a bit of a struggle to read, with a lot of depth and references I wasn’t familiar with.  But I did feel it might be worth a second read.  A  memorable part of it was the story of a woman walking to the sea surrounded by butterflies.  And this power utility box brought that to mind, for me.

Once again, from Wikipedia… The second sequence [of The Satanic Verses] tells the story of Ayesha, an Indian peasant girl who claims to be receiving revelations from the Archangel Gibreel. She entices all her village community to embark on a foot pilgrimage to Mecca, claiming that they will be able to walk across the Arabian Sea. The pilgrimage ends in a catastrophic climax as the believers all walk into the water and disappear, amid disturbingly conflicting testimonies from observers about whether they just drowned or were in fact miraculously able to cross the sea.

On MY walk, I came across a man with an open garage, which had shelves filled with books.  His dog came out and was upset with my presence, but he managed to calm him down.  Jennifer and I have a lot of books… perhaps around 3,000 or so.  But we haven’t overflowed into the garage yet.   I was curious if there were as many books inside the house, or if his wife just made him keep all of them out in the garage!

Total for today:  18,260 steps, 3:31 time

What’s going on at Skyline High School

On the way — School Art / Satanic Verses butterflies

… I just can’t figure out why the livestock keeps getting out!?!

Hot air balloon off in the distance

Mailbox of the day — looked a bit like the house it belongs to

some nice brick-work

Portal of the day

 

Nice front yard art (the lighting is a little dim)

Street number signs throughout the neighborhood

I found the hide-out of the Anvil-in-the-Wall gang

A nicely furnished round-about

 

These signs were posted , but….

Even in the nicest neighborhoods….

Fair warning

Vegetation of the day (do you know what bush this is? let me know…)

Fox Hill Golf Course

The old Sugar Mill off in the distance

The astroturf is always greener on the other side of the fence

Walking back along Oligarchy ditch # 1

Walking back along Oligarchy ditch # 2

Walking back along Oligarchy ditch # 3 — Men at Work