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Standoff At 58th and Whitney


I have spoken many times of the morning walks that my dog and I take.  There are a number of obstacles that sometimes get in the way.  Climbing out of a warm cozy bed is the first one.  I set the alarm for 3:30 am and will do a snooze or two before crawling out.  Somewhere in those two snoozes I'll do a scan of my body starting at the toes and working up.  If anything seems out of order I'll push the "Stop" button and head back to Slumberland.  

 Then I'll do a radar scan on my phone to see if there are any clouds approaching that may contain moisture.  If there are any within a 300 mile radius I'll push the "Stop" button and go back to sleep.  

 If there are no body parts out of whack, rain clouds approaching, and I haven't slept past 4 o'clock, then I have no other excuse to use so I climb out of my horizontal sanctuary.  We slip on our high-viz shirts and off we go toward Roosevelt.  This first half is the urban portion of the walk.  Main artery traffic, homeless army wandering around, 7-11 and a short chat with Bruce, the security guard at Empath Health complex.

 After that it is the wild and woolly.  The last half is through some more undeveloped areas that contain lions, tigers and bears.  Well, maybe not those, but other critters are on the prowl.  

 A few months ago I spotted a dog/wolf/coyote walking down 58th to Whitney and over to a pond for a drink.  As we approached the edge of the high hedgerow that hides the pond, we saw a brown dog/wolf/coyote drinking some water.  I tried getting a picture but they didn't come out well in the dark.    


Then, a couple weeks ago, as we were walking on the sidewalk at the T where Whitney and 58th join, I spotted this.


(Cue The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly soundtrack music.)

 It was a standoff.  Whatever was in the middle of the road - and us. I'm no wolf wrangler, and I was standing where it wanted to go so we started walking along, and away.  

 


Here is a still taken from my iPhone.

 And as we walked on, giving the thing its space, it moved across the road. 



        


Luckily, it was not hit by the approaching car.  It didn't seem too upset by the car and dashed across in a kind of non-chalant fashion.  The standoff ended.  We proceeded down the sidewalk, and it was heading over to its pond, and presumably home before sun-up.  

 This area is soon to be developed.  New condos are on the way and this aspect of the walk will be changed.  Not for the better.  I don't know where this guy, or girl, lives but its habitat is clearly in this section of the city.  When they start bulldozing, and clearing the land, it will lose.  Its called progress.  I've got other words for it.  
And before I let you go, here is a video of my trip up North.  Aquaman and I, Big Drip, were out at the treatment plant and I saw this.  


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