Greetings! Another day in paradise. Regular readers, if there are any, might recognize my “tree spirit.” I have the luxury of doing similar things over and over again. Currently, my routine is to walk over four miles every morning, except for Friday mornings. On Friday, I lead a hiking group from the Tucson Hiking Meetup Group up Sabino Canyon at 7 P.M. It’s a fixed routine. But on occasion, I get to mix it up a bit. Walking on the Tucson Bike Loop has been going on for a while. I have been walking the Tucson Loop for over 15 years. It is my effort to “stick it to the man.” You see, as long as I’m alive, I get three retirement checks each month. Walking four miles a day may help me live longer–so–it’s my way of “sticking it to the man.”

I listen to podcasts and pick up all the trash that I see along the way. Today it was a warm but pleasant. In times past, I would decorate my “turn-around” tree with bits and baubles I would find along the path. The tree had quite a bit of stuff attached to it until someone told me that they considered the decorations as littering. Apparently, art is in the eye of the beholder. I’m not an expert in art. As an engineer, art is an anti-skill for me. My feelings weren’t hurt at all. I took most of the stuff down, packed it in the reused Safeway grocery bag, and dropped it in the trash barrel.

However, I did leave the “tree spirit” up.

The “tree spirit” started out as a pair of water bottle lids and the rubber part of a bicycle brake caliper. Later, I moved him to a more prominent position on the stump and added a few more details. The brake part became his(?) hair and a dropped bicycle reflector became his mouth. His nose was a paper binder clip.

Then, the “tree spirit” got a nose. The one shown was temporary. The current nose is the bottle top off of a small Fireball bottle.

As you can see, the “tree spirit” got a bit darker. The Loop maintenance workers refinished the benches located near my turn around tree. Apparently, they had a bit of brown stain left over and gave my “tree spirit” a darker complexion.

Finally, the “tree spirit” got a mission in life. He was to wear the “No Kings” badge on his head.

Nobody bothered my “tree spirit” for quite a while. Then, some moron didn’t like the “No Kings” message. They broke it off one day. That’s when I had to make sure that the badge was mounted a bit more robust. I could see that the moron still didn’t like the message. Every day the badge sustained a bit more damage until…The moron finally succeeded in removing the badge entirely.

Never fear! I have patience and tools. Now, my “tree spirit” is as you see it at the top of this blog. The badge is inset and there are four long screws and Gorilla Glue holding it in place. Let’s see how long this configuration lasts…