Riding the alleys

We went alley-riding on Sunday. It was a very hot day but it clouded over toward early evening and was perfect for a ride. Alley-riding means taking our bikes to the older parts of town and going up and down any alley we come across. You can see a lot of interesting things in alleys. The first clues to any ongoing renovation can be seen there, with the big construction bins and debris strewn about. Brand new garages are next to decrepit ones that look like they were built with the first pioneer households, sagging wood roofs, weathered lumber, hundred-year-old doors. You get glimpses of houses with gorgeous back yard gardens and others filled with wrecked junker cars. There's a lot of trash in those alleys too which surprises me. The houses are fairly nice out front.

There's always a stray beast or two or three roaming about and lots of cats that duck over or under fences as you approach. And of course you get barked at. Sometimes you even see a fox. Speaking of foxes, there are three adjacent large empty lots behind one of the streets. There is an old junk car in the far lot next to a row of trees. Someone said it's an old Ford Fairlane. A family of foxes lives under the car. Lately we have been going down on bikes to watch them. Often a parent fox stands guard on top of the car, or sleeps curled up on the trunk and if you are lucky you can see two or three or four other foxes pouncing and playing and meandering around in the far fields. At one point we saw six of them but only three looked like pups. They are getting bigger now and are almost adult sized. People come to the car wash across the street with binoculars to watch sometimes.