The Burrowing Owl And I Stay At The Same Hotel

 I discovered this creature sitting on top of the fence that surrounds the pool at the Holiday Inn Express in Calexico. He's a burrowing owl; yes he burrows in the ground and doesn't live in trees. He's only about 9-11 inches tall, which is pretty short for an owl. They live in lots of places in Calexico including the grounds of the Chamber of Commerce. But the night clerk at the hotel said that he seems to like the bugs that come to the big light over the hotel entrance. She sees him all the time but didn't know his name.

Right now I'm traveling a lot. I flew roundtrip from Sacramento to San Diego twice last week. Tomorrow morning I fly to Phoenix and then drive to Yuma. On Thursday I will fly back from LAX after a morning meeting. Because I'm so prone to respiratory ailments I am taking really good care of myself. Generally I got to bed for a day after one of these trips and drink lots of fluids. I just cannot get sick. This schedule will keep up until mid-December.

As much as the traveling is wearing on my body, I have to say that every time I go to the project area I learn something new about the people with whom I'm working or I find something very interesting like the owl. Strangely, I will miss the people and the area when I'm done with the project.

My client, Henry, and I are busy asking for letters of support for the natural gas pipeline he wants to permit and build. We want letters from city councils, chambers of commerce, the farm bureau, the realtors association, the vegetable growers, the building industry association and anyone else who likes us.

One good part of this is all the books I'm listening to on tape or CD. When you have to drive two hours from an airport to the city where you are working, you need something. The drive from San Diego to El Centro and the drive from Phoenix to Yuma have terrible radio reception so I listen to some of my favorite mystery writers.

I dreamt about Reginald Roomba, my robotic vacuum clearn, last night. First time I've ever dreamt about a machine.