LOOKING FOR A FREE MEAL

The eastern edge of my Texas Hood is on the edge of downtown and the hospital district.  I am not exactly sure why several of the mega hospitals are clustered within a few blocks of each other, but they are.  One of the largest is within easy walking distance from my abode.  The western edge of this Texas Hood is on a bluff which overlooks the Trinity River, its walking trail, the mini train, the zoo---and is very exclusive.  There is a nice buffer of trees between these houses on the top of the cliff and all the activity of the city.  Those houses are Texas top dollar and all in the same hood where I live.  (I am on the relative poor side of the street-unless you are the one paying and I am real estate poor)  This neighborhood is a microcosm  of everything contained in a huge city.  There is a small strip shopping center, two convenience stores, an attorney office, a dentist, a few restaurants---pretty much everything you would see in a small town.  The houses range from apartments--mega complexes to duplexes- to the mega mansions on the cliff and every size and shape in between.  The Hood is a designated historic area and the style of houses range from craftsman bungalows such as mine to mid century modern in all sizes and shapes.   One of the things I like most about the hood is the variety of architecture.  My favorite---the front porch craftsman--is a throwback to Mama & Papa James and the memories of my childhood.

As Hero and I took our early morning walk today in the twilight, he began prancing and huffing and puffing which is his way of saying I smell a varmint (varmints range from lizard and cats all the way to the local wildlife).  OH--how he wants me to let him go so he can chase some unimpressed creature when they spot his size.  My question to him is always---what would you do if I let you go and they turned on you.  He might become a "fainting goat".  This morning we were over in front of the mansions on the bluff when he began prancing around like an angry bull.  He always catches their scent before he sees them---but soon we both saw the object of his hate---one of the objects of my hate---(don't waste your breath defending them to me--it's a lost cause)

The foe of every gardener was snout deep in the beautifully manicured lawn of a mega mansion.  NOW--if they would let me shoot a gun in the city, I could make a fortune hunting these lawn and flower bed destroyers.  (BUT we also know from the past--at times I get carried away and shoot the house by mistake)  Yes, I live in the city, but on the edge of the Trinity river and LOTS of park land.  We HAVE VARMINTS!   The armadillo is NOT impressed by the size of the house---he probably IS impressed by the care of the lawn--better hunting grounds are found in moist soft soil.  SO---though there are several hundred houses in the hood ---he is choosing to dig where the pickings are the easiest.  He is unimpressed by the signs warning to keep off the lawn--he is hungry--PERIOD.

Where could I be going (beyond my disdain for this evil creature)?  The armadillo destroys the lawns of the richest of the rich as well as those of the two bedroom-one bath rectangle in poor repair.  He pays no attention to the size and grandeur of the house or the lack thereof.  He is hungry and looking for a meal and is not impressed with your wealth or lack thereof--but  only in the pickings in your yard.  Exactly as the armadillo digs in the poor man's small yard---he also digs in the rich man's well tended garden.  It happens to all of us---the varmint is no snob when it comes to eating.  So we are told in The Word--the rain falls on us all---bad things happen to the righteous and the evil.  The world is ruled, by God's command, by Satan---BUT THE DAY IS COMING---when all that will change--PRAISE GOD!

"For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,

and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

Matthew 5:45