Earworms on a Tuesday Morning

When biking into work yesterday, Tuesday, for some reason I wasn’t as tuned into the world around me as usual.

Not that the world wasn’t nice. A substantial rain had fallen overnight, and by the time I was riding in to work at midday, the world was a newer, greener place.

But ZZ Top didn’t care. I think I was randomly remembering the visit by my granddaughter Elizabeth, a cute 21-month-old who pronounces her own name “ZZ.” She’s certainly the best, or top, ZZ I know—the ZZ top.

So that’s why a short snatch of “Sharp Dressed Man,” which to me sounds like every ZZ Top song of the early 1980s, was running through my mind. Have you ever noticed with earworms how your internal brain radio can play a tape of 15 seconds of an obscure pop song for, I don’t know, 4 hours? I don’t know the lyrics to “Sharp Dressed Man,” but then again, who does? “Da, da, da, dah dah da, da, … every girl’s crazy for a sharp dressed man.”

It went on for the first 15 minutes of my commute, but I must have subconsciously been noting the greener conditions due to the recent rain, because after I crossed Collins Road on F Avenue, I started to hear a rain-related earworm.

It made me wonder, ala CCR, who’ll stop the rain?

Not that I know those lyrics either. But it was a more pleasant earworm. Still, at the corner of Zach Johnson Drive and 35^th Street, I almost didn’t see that truck.

Beware, bikers. A CCR earworm will absorb too much of your attention, if you’re not wary.

Anyway, what earworms form the soundtrack of your biking commutes?

A Feathered Flock Blocks F Avenue

I was working at MMU for a while Sunday afternoon—the “school” life is starting to take hold. Note to those who envy Professor’s schedules—sure, June, July and August are three good reasons to be a teacher, but for most of us 60-hour weeks aren’t unusual the rest of the year—anyway, on the way home a bunch of turkeys were crossing F Avenue just a little south of Old Marion Road.

A young lady in a sedan headed the other way stopped and asked if the birds were turkeys. Indeed they were.

“Are they all hens?” she asked.

I’m no turkey expert, but I think so. In fact, one bird was bigger than the others, while the rest, while they appeared to be adult sized, looked younger and smaller. I speculate that mom may have been walking with her now grown chicks, though that it speculation.

Snapped a few photos. They all show birds after they crossed, all in the front yard of a home on the west side of F, while I'm shooting from the east side--I was headed north. One is a bird at the top of stairs, the other is a squirrel and turkey.

It’s very normal to see turkeys in Cedar Rapids, but I usually see them near C Avenue or along Brentwood Drive—along streets that are adjacent to woods and a stream bed. These F Avenue birds were not terribly near any such “wild” area.

But, they’re big birds and I assume they can move some distance.

The rest of the ride was not so eventful. It was just a bit of fun to see these birds.

First Commute of the Season

Well, I went in to the office to meet with a student at 8:30 a.m.

That, my blog friends, was enough to make summer seem over. 8:30 a.m.—and the day was off and running. The meeting went well, the student’s questions were answered, the day was semi productive. Had an impromptu meeting with the student newspaper editor, toured campus with reps from a committee who are placing racks for the paper around, copied old syllabi to update. I’ll be working pretty much full time from now on, and when the semester gets going, that means 60 plus hours a week.

But today, I also measured my futon. It’s still six feet long. Please ignore the deep rumbling sounds from the foundations of Warde Hall, they are signs that a biker is snoozing, not that ghosts of nuns are restless nor that there is a 6.0 quake event.

On the way home, I diverted to use the longer trail route. It looked warm and dry out there, a shiny late summer sun making the plants practically pant. Well, here’s hoping the scattered showers that are possible tonight will scatter on the city of dry seasons.

It did feel good to commute again on my now tuned bike. On the way home, I had several books in my bag, which made it a bit heavy. The basket was damaged during RAGBRAI and repaired with a bit of wire, and the repair job seemed to pass a pretty hefty textbook test.

Well, central Mount Mercy is looking greener with new turf down. I was itching to plant some trees, but I don’t mind some open area, too. The route to and from felt good to ride today.

Let the annual commute begin!

Two Rides As the Sumac Changes

Just in time for the rush before school, my bike is out of the shop.

When I took it out for a short ride after picking it up, it was obvious that “high summer,” the dry pre-fall season of big grasshoppers, browning grass, high corn and early turning leaves is underway along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. I only went north a few miles along the paved stretch of the trail, but saw several stands of sumac red with the first turning leaves of the season.

Those early sumac are responding more to dry conditions, but the lush green of the Iowa summers are giving way slowly to more muted yellowish and brownish greens, and many roadside weeds are drying out to go to seed and get ready for the next year. I wrote about the change on my garden blog.

It was good to be back on the bike, sad to think I have little time for any rides before the school year is underway—but at least I will have the bike to commute on.

After my short ride, I borrowed my wife’s bike to take grandkids Nikayla and Tristan on a short neighborhood tour. I had removed the trailer hitch from my bike prior to RAGBRAI and put it on hers. I am not sure if I will move it—it’s a Schwinn trailer, she has a Schwinn bike, and it seems to fit on her rear axle better than mine. But I do feel very silly riding a bike that is way too small for me, so we’ll see.

Anyway, CR Biker is back on the roads of Iowa’s second city, so drivers beware!

Baby in Borrowed Bike Trailer

Old blackie is still in the shop and the biking weather is beautiful—much better then when I was on RAGBRAI. Sigh.

Still, I got a brief bike ride in today. We purchased a kiddie trailer, which I had attached to my bike, but removed for RAGBRAI. I hooked it up to my wife’s mountain-style 10 speed, and peddled off, granddaughter Lizzie in tow.

It was a short ride. I felt a bit like a clown—I’m way too big for my wife’s bike—but Lizzie balked at being away from her mom and we turned back home. Ironically, when she got there, Lizzie just wanted to play with grandpa in the back yard. I guess a sudden desire for maternal love must be a reflection on my “wild” biking style, or maybe Lizzie, who has a kid seat on her dad’s bike, can’t stand to move that slowly.

Whatever. At least for a few minutes and few blocks, I got to bike a bit today.

Aug 6 2011_Monarch in my yard

Aug 6 2011_Monarch in my yard, a set on Flickr.

While I'm off my wheels, some random other posts. Saw lots of Monarchs on RAGBRAI, and today one was visiting the butterfly bush in our front yard. Made me think of all the ones I had seen while crossing Iowa--and being able to notice something like the butterflies is one reason to ride a bike!

RAGBRAI 2011-The full set

RAGBRAI 2011, a set on Flickr.

Many of these were posted earlier from Des Moines, but here is the final update from Flickr of my RAGBRAI set of photos.