Juvenille Red-tailed Hawk

We got out early today to beat the heat and walk in Tower Grove Park. Much to our surprise, the city had reopened the park’s roads to automobile traffic, since yesterday. It being the first day, there still wasn’t all that much traffic, but it is a sad development. During our circuit we saw two Red-tailed hawk fledglings. A knowledgeable walker knew that their nest was nearby. They hung around longer than we cared to, seemingly oblivious to us and the other people there.

Earlier this week, we witnessed the Christopher Columbus statue removal from Tower Grove Park. On the news last night was talk about removing the statue of St. Louis (Louis IX) that is in front of the art museum. Apparently, Louis was no saint, he wasn’t even that nice a man. Groan all you want, but I look at this as an opportunity. Saint Louis always gets a bad rap for its crime or race problems, I say why don’t we own it. Instead of Saint Louis, let’s rename the town Sinner Louis—Bad to the Bone. Let’s own our bad boy status. Too much? How about Arch City—Just Stick an Arch on it? There is also our old reliable nickname, Mound City, for all the Native American burial mounds that used to be here. Anyway, this is a rebranding chance that doesn’t come around every day. I don’t think that we should just willy-nilly dismiss it out of hand.