more hints of a less gentle way of life

Actually, there was a significant amount of blood evident on the east island during walk described with previous post, nearby the wine bottles, a shattered beer bottle, and mackeral remains affixed with old fishing-line near two strategically-placed open zip-top baggies.

Flashback to 10/31/2009 walk to find closest Wachovia/WellsFargoBank-linked ATM, addressed on Hospital Avenue here in Stuart, FL (according to ISP entry following the merger of the two banks), and found to be located inside Martin Memorial Hospital itself, in a first-floor hallway amid concerned hospital staff members who necessarily monitored activity directed towards the hospital anyway. Why the ATM isn't located outside the premises is anyone's guess.

The walk to that ATM passed by the Possum Long Memory Garden with its (very) small benches both wooden and stone, many lizards, some squirrels and plant-identification signs. The Hibiscus Avenue entrance is addressed quite close to Palm Beach Road; after removing a number of rusting screws and nails, two broken pieces of auto glass, and a rusted sparkplug from SE Ocean Boulevard some days earlier (10/23/2009) near the Lambert and Rheta Gross Heart Center (and its new 'for sale' sign) those dumped at Greco's Sunoco station, the walk to Osceola Street's intersection with Hospital Avenue seemed to be a breeze.

However, a handful of brown broken beer-bottle glass lay scattered on SE Ocean at its intersection with Dunscombe Street; a dead baby bird had again drifted into the roadway not far from where the dead adult bird still lie beneath a transplanted tree. The short walk on Palm Beach Road to Osceola Street revealed a dead black snake about two-feet long lying flattened and bloody in the middle of the roadway; and further along a dead squirrel also lay bloody in the street (both southside), the creature's head and throat twisted and torn open -- a telling scene for those who know that a much larger mama or papa indigo snake might be lolling not far away in the creek or river.  Below:  young indigo snake slain beneath a very-low compact-car chassis, at the entry/exitway to/from Kingswood Terrace Road to/from Kingswood condo complex, near slough, retention pond and St Lucie River environs.

Nutlike berries gathered up from the SE Ocean sidewalk in front of a business-building complex were conveniently tossed into Krueger Creek during the return walk from the ATM together with a few palm nuts already carrried into the hospital complex.

And that's the way it was, Halloween Day in Stuart, FL. Both squirrel and snake were removed from the roadway, but some squirrel internal organs were not expeditiously carried from the street and were swarming with small red ants as a horrified squirrel-mate looked on. The next time I use a Wachovia/WFB ATM, I will walk further into 'Historic Downtown Stuart" to the bank-premises proper.