Thwarted

Oh Mondays!

 

This morning as I lazily got myself ready to leave for work, I realized that school is back in session.  Yes, there would be a bus, and if I didn't leave immediately, I was sure to be stuck behind it.  Even if it had already left, the sooner I got moving, the better chance I had of being able to pass it before it began making stops to pick up kids again. 

 

As if the animal kingdom knew what was up, my expeditious leaving was thwarted repeatedly. 

 

The steer taking residence again at the Vallejo Polo Ranch must all be brothers the way they were butting heads this morning.  Very literally as I slowed down for the herd hovering on and around the highway, pairs of steer were butting heads and jumping about like they were going to stand up and start wrestling.  A couple stood in the middle of the road and a few even came charging towards the road as I pulled up.  Clearly these beasts were taken from their mamas too soon, who surely would have taught their young'uns not to play in the street.  What a bother!  I came to a full stop before I was able to inch my way through, hesitant that they might want to butt heads with me.

 

Next, not more than two miles down the highway, four young does couldn't decide whether they were running away from the highway, whether the one separated was joining her girlfriends, or whether they were completely helpless to the desire to keep me from advancing on my journey past the bus stop.  Aargh!

 

Lo & behold, the bus got away.  It wasn't far ahead, and I knew I could pass it before the next stop.  The bus was going particularly slow because it snowed in the night, and there were shaded places where it was unclear if the road was slick or not.  It dropped into the teens at night, so there really is no telling.  Gratefully, we rounded a corner into a passing lane.  As soon as I pulled in front of a bus, I noticed a herd of large elk near the edge of the road.  Gratefully, they turned away into the pasture, aware, maybe, that I had already gotten ahead of the bus and there was no more use in trying to slow me up. 

 

A gauntlet of stop lights, school crossings and slow zones, four way stops, and crossing oncoming traffic used to slow me down on my way to work.  Now it's the wild kingdom.