My cheap bungee chord that can hold a water bottle in my front basket is one of the most important changes to my commuting bike this summer.
It's been hot, and wet when it's not hot. For a man of my years and size, that makes bike commuting a bit of a challenge. I'm sure, for the obvious reason, it's a challenge for all those near me, too.
Anyway, that doesn't keep me from riding. Heat is better than really several cold, particulary if the cold is combined with snow and ice (I took a nasty fall in January).
The other odd thing this summer has been the "music" of the cicadas. They are not seen and often heard. The buzz is so loud, if Cedar Rapids were a factory, ear plugs might be required.
The sound is not really too loud or unpleasant, but just very constant in any tree-lined area.
I guess it's an exageration to say the cicadas are heard but not seen, because yesterday while pruning a storm-damaged tuplip tree, I indeed did see a living one up close. Freaky looking thing, a more improbably flyer than a bumblee--but for all its primitive ugly looks, who has ever been hurt by a cicada? The leftover skins are a common and happy find for generations of Iowa kids.
Anyway, I love the outdoors, seeing the black-eyed susan and purple and yellow coneflowers in bloom, the songs of the birds, the croak of the frog ...
But, I look forward to the cooler days of fall, too. After the first hard frost. The buzz of the cicada will die down. A bike ride will become silent. Yes, I will miss the life (latelely, as you can see on my other blog, I've been getting into bug photos), but I won't miss the incesant buzz.
No comments:
Post a Comment