In Which A Rodent Contemplates Anti-Bike Violence

I'm watching you.

As the late afternoon light was just starting to turn the world a little shadowy, I was getting ready to ride away from Mount Mercy this afternoon.

Some people on campus asked me if I had ridden today, and then acted faux surprised when I said “yes.” I think it’s a game they play on cold days. Honestly, although the temperature was colder this morning, it actually felt better today than yesterday. I’ll take 10 with little wind over teens and windy, which was the difference between today and yesterday.

Anyway, a bit after 4 I was ready to head home. I packed my stuff and headed out to the bike rack. As I loaded my things on Francis—it took a few minutes because I had so much stuff in my briefcase there was some bungee cord readjusting required—when I noticed it watching me. A squirrel was in the redbud tree by Warde Hall, giving me a disapproving stare.

As I unlocked Francis, it climbed from the redbud into the branches of an overhanging ash tree, directly overhead. Another employee was leaving work and spied the squirrel, which was still intensely eying me.

“It looks like it might jump you,” she said.

I took out my camera and snapped its picture. It never made angry squirrel noises, but was clearly stalking me.

Well, luckily I didn’t feel any little tree rat paws on me before leaving campus. Despite a squirrel stare of doom, it was a pretty pleasant ride home.

Ice on Dry Creek. Mid-November is a bit early. Temperatures have been more January than November lately.

In Which Spring Comes As Team Joe Grows

Ice on my driveway is divided by streamlet of melting.

Friday afternoon on the way home--crossing Dry Creek on C Avenue. It's been iced over, a walkway for deer, and now the deer will have either dip their hooves or find a new route. Water! Spring!

Well, our merry band is up to five. A sister-in-law on my wife’s side from Florida will be riding the whole week of RAGBRAI on Team Joe.

And, the weather is finally taking a turn for the seasonal. There is still a snow pack over most of the ground, it’s below freezing at night—but the March sun has been aided by slightly warmer afternoon temperatures, and we are seeing some melt.

March 6, squirrel on Mount Mercy University campus. Receding snow.

That made biking on Thursday and Friday a bit dicey. The ride Thursday night was a bit tense because I have a late afternoon class and can’t leave until 7 or so. By then, it had been dark for an hour and what had been wet on the streets was starting to freeze.

Still, although I definitely rode over lots of ice, no spills.

This morning, it felt like spring. There was a warm sun shining, even if the air was still in the 20s. I didn’t even put my hood up at first, but when I went around the first corner and faced into a stiff southern wind, that changed pretty quickly. Still, I wore my light gloves and only one pair of socks.

The afternoon ride, in which I took the longer trail route, was wet. Today was a cloudy day of thawing, with more melting weather coming this weekend.

It will cool off again next week, but there aren't the bitter cold temperatures in the forecast that we had to start March. And this weekend we turn our clocks forward—it won’t be full dark at 7 anymore when I have to bike home.

That will be nice. In fact, I’m pretty confident that overall, things are getting nicer for biking weather in this cold corner of the globe. It’s not over yet—we sure could still see some early spring snows—but winter is waning, and aren't we grateful.

Coneflower seed head in side garden. I'll have to cut it off and toss it behind the fence in hopes of starting some coneflowers there.

In Which A Rodent Runs Amok

Frosty MMU campus Oct. 25. Lots of trees. And squirrels are mammals who are active all winter too. As I'm taking this frosty photo, one could be nibbling on my bicycle ...

Chilling news form Sioux City, blog friends, chilling news indeed.

It seems that squirrels have joined the ranks of the anti-biking crowd. See this story from the Sioux City Journal, which I saw because RAGBRAI posted it on Facebook. (How is that for social media sounding the alarm?)

Photo from Iowa Lakes Community College via Journal.

I’m lucky nothing like this has happened to Francis. At Mount Mercy University and elsewhere, I always lock my bike up—not in the serious, everything snapped down way one would have to in a major urban area—someone could make off with my front basket or my front wheel sometimes, for instance—but nobody would be able to hop on Francis and pedal away. I've always figured the greatest risk to Francis comes from errant bipeds who long ago gave up the tree climbing way of life. Little did I suspect that demons still lurk in the leaves.

I've done nothing to protect my bike from squirrels. In my experience as a gardener, there is almost nothing a human can do short of actual weaponry that would discourage a squirrel. I guess if one started to lunch on Francis, I would just park my bike inside. There used to be an art professor at MMU, Bob Naujoks, who routinely wheeled his bike onto the elevator in Warde Hall and parked it by his 4th floor office. I do sometimes lock Francis to a small wooden table right outside my first floor office door, whenever it’s likely that the bike would otherwise get rained on or snowed on, so there is what I hope would be a squirrel-safe haven should the need ever arise. Then again, squirrels chew through wood. If they became determined, the inside of a building may not be 100 percent secure.

Darn.

Let’s hope the need never arises, even though squirrels at MMU are known to be a bit aggressive and a bit too “friendly.” That’s probably a tree rodent condition on virtually every North American college campus—too much human-produced spare food and too many young, friendly humans. I just never suspected bikes would fit into the “spare food” category.

Be warned, tree rats. I would not be friendly at all if I found you gnawing through a tire. I would shriek and holler like a girl (a very deep-voiced, loud girl), and maybe even swing my briefcase at you.

I carry lots of stuff in my briefcase, including bike tools, a spare inner tube, a flashlight, lots of heavy paper files … it’s not a trivial weapon. Then again, an arboreal beast that chews through rubber would probably just think it’s not a trivial snack, either.

Hmmm.

Another MMU frost photo from Oct. 25. Here, tree rats, it's crunchy, it's cool, it's more nutritious than rubber, chew on this.

A sunny, warm Feb. 13 ride

On Sunday, Feb. 13, I had to do some afternoon work at Mount Mercy University, and I decided to bike.

Other than a long wait at F and Collins Road for a car to trigger the light, the ride was as expected--a bit sloshy, my butt got a bit damp--but, dang, it felt good to travel by bike again and feel a bit springy!

I present one random squirrel photo and three other images that day. The first images is , obviously, the tree rat enjoying birdseed on my deck--my dog Zoe lives there most of the time, and you can sense how intimidating she is to squirrels. As in, not at all.

The next is "snow mountains" in a Rockwell Collins Parking Lot. I like a "thaw," but to me, spring won't be here until the 12-foot tall hills of snow are gone, and they're still here.

Third is the moon in the blue afternoon sky, just looks cool to me (and I had time to kill, this is taken at the F and Collins corner while I was waiting for a car to trigger the light).

Finally, just to show the kind of day it was, a spring of water flowing down the steps of Lundy Commons after I had arrived.

Sadly, due to late night grading and time limits, I did not ride on Monday, Feb. 14, which feels a bit wrong since I love biking, it was Valentine's Day, and biking weather for sure. Well, I did ride today, Feb. 15, although it's a bit grey this afternoon. I am hoping it's not too wet or icy on the ride home tonight!