PHANTOM DEVELOPMENT, RIO VISTA
One of our favorite places in Rio Vista is the surreal remnants of a failed housing development, which I have heard is the largest such disaster in Northern California. What remains are 13 boarded up houses amid acres and acres of completely installed streets, wires and pipes for utilities, sidewalks and curbs and potential driveway entrances, stop signs, street signs, bike lanes, street lights--all in readiness for the hundreds and hundreds of houses that never happened. The only inhabitants, and there are plenty, are jack rabbits, ticks, and sundry birds.
Our main interest is the jack rabbits.
I have stowed my bike in a covered area under a flight of outside stairs on the rear of one of the abandoned houses. Since the blocks and blocks of streets are flat, the area is great for cycling, and I can keep up with, or at least keep track of, Amber as she pursues rabbits, in full cry, until she is so exhausted she can barely stagger back to the housing area to find some shade to collapse in. After catching her breath she is off again in search of more rabbits. She is not a particularly good tracker. She's as likely to hit a trail and take off eagerly in the opposite direction from that taken by the rabbit, but what she lacks in talent she more than makes up for in enthusiasm.
On the outskirts of the acres of phantom city blocks are open fields and occasional sloughs drying in the increasing heat. A week or so ago I saw an American Avocet in one of the larger ponds. My Audubon Field Guide says this bird is becoming rare. It is certainly beautiful with a russet colored head, flashing black and white on wings and body, long curved bill.
I am going to try to find out some more about the history of the phantom development. Chances are the city of Rio Vista took a bath along with (or perhaps independent of) the developer, which was the ubiquitous Shea Homes. It is clearly a symptom of the larger pattern of economic collapse. Meanwhile, rabbits and beagles prosper.
Our main interest is the jack rabbits.
I have stowed my bike in a covered area under a flight of outside stairs on the rear of one of the abandoned houses. Since the blocks and blocks of streets are flat, the area is great for cycling, and I can keep up with, or at least keep track of, Amber as she pursues rabbits, in full cry, until she is so exhausted she can barely stagger back to the housing area to find some shade to collapse in. After catching her breath she is off again in search of more rabbits. She is not a particularly good tracker. She's as likely to hit a trail and take off eagerly in the opposite direction from that taken by the rabbit, but what she lacks in talent she more than makes up for in enthusiasm.
On the outskirts of the acres of phantom city blocks are open fields and occasional sloughs drying in the increasing heat. A week or so ago I saw an American Avocet in one of the larger ponds. My Audubon Field Guide says this bird is becoming rare. It is certainly beautiful with a russet colored head, flashing black and white on wings and body, long curved bill.
I am going to try to find out some more about the history of the phantom development. Chances are the city of Rio Vista took a bath along with (or perhaps independent of) the developer, which was the ubiquitous Shea Homes. It is clearly a symptom of the larger pattern of economic collapse. Meanwhile, rabbits and beagles prosper.
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