almost tripped on this one walking down the path. hey, it's not a nature path, it's a human path, dude. 
then a smug sanctimonious rulist tried to school me about dogs and gardens. i'm just trying to inform you he said. i'm trying to inform you, i said, this dog has been coming here for 8 years and disturbed no one. he said the garden has been lovingly cared for and maintained and a dog just destroys. this dog has been coming here to meet with the audubon birders, and never bothered anybody. he said it's hard to tell. hard to tell? why? 
i said he was an asshole. he said, you know what that is? an asshole? yes, i know what it is. he said don't come any closer, wielding his supertelephoto lens like a nightstick. he said, you're shaking, see? you're scared. don't come any closer. i left and he talked to the head birder, then resumed his solitary peregrinations. now that i'm recalling, i feel that cortisol flush, and the craziness of the encounter, and the sick normalcy of it all. everyone is a little disjointed and fearing the threat of the barak obomba center and the tiger woods pro golf course on this little nature sanctuary and emotions are high even in sane and commonsensical people. so let the smug sanctimonious ones roll on, unless they come for you. they are feeling the fear, they are feeling the impact, the death of nature is theirs too.