Yesterday, I met up with my mail carrier at the mailbox and traded the outgoing mail for the incoming mail. I was distracted, and on my way out to pick-up the Boy from camp.
That’s my rationalization, and I’m sticking to it.
MC (mail carrier): Wow, there’s an alpaca farm up there (indicating further ahead of him) and a flamingo farm down the street (indicating behind him).
Me: Really? Somebody’s raising flamingos?
MC: Yup.
Me: On our street?
MC: Yup.
Me: Wow. Alpacas, chickens, and now flamingos.
MC: Yup.
Me: Seems like the wrong kind of climate for flamingos.
MC: Gestures toward the flock of flamingos in my front yard.
Me: Oh, you mean those! I thought you meant there really was somebody farming flamingos.
MC: So that comment really did fly right past you.
Me: Yep *nervous laughter*
Sigh.
The thing is, when something has been occupying visual space in your life for a while, you kind of stop seeing it.
What are you looking at?
I had completely forgotten about the flamingos. Which is pretty remarkable as they are quite pink and bright, numerous, and spread out in front of the house. There’s something like sixteen of them. They’re hard to miss.
If you drove past our house- doing the 25 mph speed limit like you’re supposed to -undoubtedly you would see them. Unless, like me, you were standing with your back to them while talking to the mailman. The same mailman who is now probably hoping I won’t appear at the mailbox again anytime soon, wondering why I went off my medication, and if I should really be allowed to drive.
A suggestion of what it looked like “before” – this is just to the right of the cleared area
Which leads me back to visual clutter. The back third of our property, is lightly wooded and overgrown with brush. Similar to the picture above. Or, more accurately, was lightly wooded, etc., etc. When I got home from errands, about a third of what we affectionately call “the back 40″ had been cleared of said brush and small trees. It’s naked back there. I can’t remember what it looked like this morning before I left. And now I’ll never know because I didn’t take a picture of it before I left. So, too late for comparisons, I took this:
After. The deer are not going to like this at all.
I feel denuded.
Here’s some of the brush.
It doesn’t look like much, but the car should give you a sense of scale.
The flamingos are having none of this disruption and are leaving.
Except for the one on the right who seems to have lost his sense of direction.
Maybe he’s looking for the farm.
p.s. – I’d appreciate some feedback on the size of the pictures. Is bigger better, or just too big? Is there such a thing as too big? Is it possible to farm flamingos? Discuss.
p.p.s – I’m not really on medication.
