Visiting A Big Village Creek Turtle After Zelda Del West Gave Me An Armadillo Leprosy Warning

Today I was visiting the Indian Ghosts who haunt Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area, blissfully enjoying the peaceful serenity I get from gazing out at the Village Creek Blue Bayou, when I looked down to be startled by the big turtle you see in the picture, looking up at me.

This turtle was unusually un-skittish. The big guy just sat there winking at me.

Last Sunday I mentioned that I was hunting for an armadillo in the Village Creek zone, for lunch, after having read that armadillos were considered a delicacy, by some, in Texas, back during the Great Depression, calling the cute critters Hoover Hogs.

I then heard from Zelda del West, who recently escaped Texas, after a multi-year exile, to now reside in Walla Walla, Washington, from whence she informed me that "...you can make an armadillo into stew using it's own armor as the pot. You should be nice to armadillos. They can also give you leprosy."

If I felt the need to be nice to all the various things from which I might catch leprosy I would exhaust myself, daily, from excessive niceness.

As for the Village Creek NHA armadillos,  I saw nary a one, again, today. Where have all the armadillos gone?

I did see an Arlington animal control officer releasing some possums from his animal control truck. I have seen this multiple times at this location. He picks the possums up by their tails, places them on the ground,  where they quickly scurry away, never to be seen, by me, again.

The closest I think I've come to a heart attack was years ago, in Mount Vernon, a town on the other side of the Cascade Mountains from Walla Walla, where a possum jumped out of my garbage can whilst I was depositing some garbage.

I know someone in Tacoma who had a horrible possum infestation in her basement. The possum infestation was so insidious that the lady moved to a new possum free location. It would not shock me to learn that the possums followed her there. Because it is well know that possums love chocolate...

A Shady Walk Today With The Indian Ghosts Of The Anadarko, Bidais, Caddo, Heechi, Kickapoo, Tawakoni, Tonkawa, Waco, Waxahachie and Wichita Tribes

Village Creek Indian Path

I was in no mood to overheat during my regular midday endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation today, what with the temperature approaching 90, not a lot of wind blowing and me already overheated due to having my phone against my ear for way too long this morning dealing with some ridiculousness that I later figured out was caused by something called Facebook.

It really is time for the next big thing to come along and replace Facebook, like Facebook replaced MySpace.

I digress.

So, with me in no mood to overheat, I opted to walk in the shade in the Village Creek Natural Historical Area with the Native American Ghosts of the Caddoan Confederacy, with that particular confederacy made up of tribes like the Anadarko, Bidais, Caddo, Heechi, Kickapoo, Tawakoni, Tonkawa, Waco, Waxahachie and Wichita.

I think only one state, that being my old home state of Washington, has more place names named after Native Americans than the current state I am located in, that being Texas. Washington is way smaller in size than Texas, so you would think Washington would have fewer Native American place names.

But, Washingtonians got along with Native Americans better than the Texans did. Which has towns in Washington, like Seattle, named after a well liked chief. While the biggest town in Texas is named after some white guy with the last name of Houston.

I decided to leave the paved trail today and take the old Indian Path that leads through the woods. This proved to be a bit of a mistake. All the excess precipitation has the old Indian Path a bit over grown. I was glad I had my trusty snake/spider web whacking stick with me.

I whacked no snakes, but I did do some spider web whacking.