Who knew there was so much life in a cemetery?
My home inspection yesterday was across the street from a huge cemetery. Cemeteries are rare here in San Diego, certainly much rarer than in my home state of Texas where I think there were just as many cemeteries as there were churches.
Although we used to play in the cemeteries in Kingsville, Texas, when I was growing up, and they have tours of cemeteries in New Orleans, I had not been in a cemetery in 20 or 25 years.
I took 357 pictures in the cemetery in a little over two hours. Here are fourteen of my favorites:
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
How long you gonna watch me?
I wonder if he has friends. Better check over here....
....and over here....
....and behind me.
Now that nobody's looking
Let it all hang out
See ya later!
The cemetery was actually quite relaxing, and I wasn’t the only one who thought that:
Mallards, a snow goose, and turtles
Squirrels were frolicking everywhere but were wary of me:
Where'd you come from?
Squirrel on a eucalyptus tree
I saved the best for last. I don’t know if the gal in this picture is a coyote or fox. I’m thinking it’s too big and too light to be a fox. Anyone?
Coyote or fox?
I was at Mt. Hope Cemetery, a municipal cemetery for the City of San Diego. Two other cemeteries are nearby: Holy Cross Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery; and Greenwood Memorial Park, an endowed care cemetery, which means you have to pay big bucks to be buried there.
Me?
Cremate me, scatter my ashes one-third at Blacks Beach in San Diego; one-third under the Century Oak at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas; and one-third on the railroad tracks at the Union Pacific Railroad yard in Omaha, Nebraska. Then forget about me and get back to enjoying life.
Oh, by the way. Ask me how many living people I saw in the cemetery in two hours.
YOU: Russel, how many living people did you see in the cemetery while you were there?
ME: Three. A San Diego Gas & Electric employee was hiding out in his company truck parked under a tree. He was sleeping. Probably wore himself out at the Padres game the day before when we beat the dastardly Dodgers 8-4. A groundskeeper was mowing the lawns. A lady was pulling weeds from around the headstone at the grave she was visiting, obviously not happy with the job the cemetery was doing.
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Posted on April 11, 2012, in Mother & Father Nature, Out & About, Photos and tagged black phoebe, blacks beach, cemeteries, cemetery, college station, coyotes, foxes, greenwood memorial park, Holy cross cemetery, mallards, mt. hope cemetery, nebraska, omaha, sayornis nigricans, sialia mexidana, snow goose, squirrels, Texas, texas a&m university, turtles, union pacific railroad, western bluebird. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
Very nice series you have there Russ!
Thanks. By the way, I tentatively identified the first bird as a Black Phoebe but I’m not sure. Are you?
You’re correct Russ!
Thanks. I figured if anyone knew for sure, it would be you.
Incredible! I love this post
great q&a session.
That was a short one. You should see some of my longer ones! lol
Hello there! Wanted to let you know I’ve nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. My post will go live tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. CST. Enjoyed the cemetary photos!
Thanks!
Sure thing.
I love cemetery photos! My favorite is the squirrel with the headstone in the background. Great angle
One of the squirrels was totally uncooperative. Every time I moved to get a better background to the picture, he moved, too. I finally gave up on him but got this one a short time later.
From one who knows–she informed me it was a cayote !!!