Monday,
seen on the central campus plaza. A student activities group had
pumpkin painting over the weekend, and I assumed these were leftovers. My
cute fall image of the morning ride.
Five hours later, early afternoon, walking back across campus to the library. Carefully walking. It's slick out here!
The
weather in Iowa, as it can in fall, has taken a sudden turn. The month
began unusually warm, and it felt like one of those lingering summers
where we had to wait until November to finally put the hammer down and
get rid of the bugs.
In fall, the tiny ones you can’t see start to
bite. Called minute pirate bugs, as cooler weather comes on and their normal
prey get scarce, they start to wander and probe with their
egg-crushing beaks, which frankly don’t help them get much of a meal.
They don’t really benefit from hurting us, and we sure don’t benefit
from being hurt by them.
It was just a week or so ago that the local paper ran a feature
on those fierce fiends. Ah, Oct. 13—back when it seemed the warm fall
would prolong that awkward time of year when the insects get desperate
and more than a little crazy. That time of year when sweat bees brazenly
attack picnics and the last mosquitoes of the year are desperately
trying.
And those pirates. Dang, they were fierce this year.
And
then, Sunday morning, it was all different. The grass was coated in a
thin white slushy mix, as temperatures dipped into the upper 30s and wet
snow fell. It lasted only a few hours and the day cleared up. I rode to
campus Sunday.
Well, Monday dawned rather cold. I had to put my
hood up and wear gloves, and I thought the theme of my next bike blog
post would be the start of cold weather gear wearing.
There was a
change of a bit of stuff—mixed rain and snow—in the middle of the day.
It wasn’t expected to be much, nor to last long, so I rode my mountain
bike and parked it inside. I knew I was working late Monday.
Monday
morning--wearing hood and gloves, bike in the background. I thought of
parking it by the library when I got co campus, but knew there was a 40
percent chance of a bit of rain-snow, so luckily I put the bike inside
for the day. Turned out to be a good move ...
Walking
across campus early afternoon Monday. There are tunnels, which is why
mine are the only footprints. Even if I get a bit wet and cold, I choose
not to be in an enclosed space to transit campus these days. Pirate
bugs may bite, but a virus can kill.
What
I did not know was that Mother Nature had given us just a brief
appetizer of snow Sunday and had the full meal bubbling away for Monday
afternoon. It wasn’t a rain-snow mix, but full on wet snow, and not just
a grass-covering icing, but full on coat the world inches of heavy,
wet, white.
The good news is that the pavement is still so warm
that it was mostly dry that cold night as I biked home. But what a
change a few days make. Pirate bugs? Goodbye.
A
morning last week, C Avenue Pond. Back when October was unusually warm.
We skipped the "normal" part and went straight for early winter.
Bikers and geese enjoy the morning light at C Avenue pond Oct. 5.
Tuesday sunrise at Blairs Ferry Road.
The biggest news this week is that the branch trucks came Wednesday morning to take the brush away from C Avenue. So, there are not tree trunks blocking the bike lane anymore.
Which is a mixed blessing, because the trucks leave plenty of small sticks behind. Still, it’s an important step forward, and I’ll appreciate it.
It has been a dry and cool week in Cedar Rapids, great biking weather even as the light fades. The mornings are dim now, and it’s not unusual to have my lights on for either the evening commute or the morning commute or both.
Clocks change this weekend and suddenly it will be dark for the ride home. Well, that’s why I have lights.
And this week has been full of pretty views!
Above and below--crew at work removing tree debris on C Avenue. Went down Old Marion Road for a block--thankful they have added new bike lanes there.
Above and below--Sunrise during Wednesday morning ride.
Looking east at Blairs Ferry Road Wednesday morning, Sept. 30. Rain has been falling, and the pavement is a bit damp, but despite droplets in the air, it didn't rain on me on the way in.
I’ve been riding a fair amount this week—even Wednesday morning, when it rained, because the rain was mostly over by the time I left for work and I figured why have the Fancy Beast mountain bike for poor weather if I don’t sometimes ride it in iffy weather?
The equinox was back in September and now fall is for sure upon us. It may frost tonight, even though the prognosis for the month of October overall is warmer than average temperatures. I may have to dig out my biking jacket for my Friday ride. In cold weather, I layer up and I can keep biking down to about zero, as long as it’s not too windy.
Zero, by the way, means ’merican zero, not wimpy euro zero.
The dark is now longer than the light, and I have needed morning lights. But the clouds this week made the sky very attractive, and I haven’t minded the dark. The streets are getting slowly clearer, although the bike lanes on C Avenue are still clogged when I head south (heading north, I can use more of the C Avenue route now).
As noted, rain fell in the night before Wednesday morning’s ride, and the air was still damp. But it was not actively raining, and I decided to chance it on the mountain bike. It turned out to be a good gamble.
My wife and I drove Tuesday morning because we had to go to a credit union to sign some financial documents. After lunch, I biked to campus. Flower at the edge of campus--dandelions are among the first flowers of spring and the last flowers of fall.
The Fancy Beast at the Warde Hall bike rack--I think this is a Wednesday image, although I rode this backup bike three days this week. It just seemed like a fun bike to ride.
On the way to work, I paused at the corner of Collins and C Avenue. I’ve given up being a good boy and walking across that street as new, inexplicable city signs instruct, because the signs make no sense at all. It is hard for an old man pushing a bicycle to get across that busy four-lane road in the 10 seconds or so the walk sign is on. But I can bike it easily, so I do.
It was while I was waiting on my bike for the light at that corner, making images of the sky, that I saw the butt.
What have we here?
And I wondered. A pandemic doesn’t seem like a great time to take dried leaves and burn them in your face, although I suppose there isn’t really any good time. The butt bothered me for many reasons. Besides indicating a delusional pandemic smoker, there was the littering aspect. Cigarette butts are a particularly nasty kind of garbage to toss out, something with toxic chemicals that used to be in your mouth. It’s hard to think charitable thoughts about whoever tossed their butt at this busy intersection. And then the butt itself. It was a big butt, which I don’t like, I cannot lie. Our pandemic delusion litterbug was also an inefficient smoker. Trying to cut down by tossing out half-smoked coffin nails? And with all the combustible timber laying around town, it seems like a particularly contemptible time to be a butt chucker.
Collins Road is a very busy street, one of the main traffic arteries in Cedar Rapids, and despite C Avenue also being busy, it does not compare to Collins. Which means that when your biker correspondent has to stop for a red light at this corner, he often has time to think. Perhaps too much time.
Anyway, the light eventually changed, and despite my evil thoughts about a scofflaw, I did my outlaw, scofflaw biker thing. I biked my butt across that intersection.
Walk, says the man? I don’t think so. Take that, the man.
Thursday was a nicer, if cooler and windier, day with a still partly cloudy sky. And after images, the song that seems appropriate for this post, which was partly about rain and partly about garbage.
Wednesday morning. When I wasn't making images of trash, I turned my little point-and-shoot camera towards the eastern sky. Yes, this is trash corner.
By the time I got to campus Wednesday morning, the sky was clearing although the Rohde Family Plaza is a bit damp.
Waiting for light to change at Blair's Ferry on the way home Wednesday--looking west. I made it home just in time for a 5 p.m. zoom meeting, so this is probably 4:50 or so.
Thursday morning, pretty sunrise at C Avenue pond.
Pretty sky at corner of Colllins Road and C Avenue Thursday morning. No trashy images today.
When it is damp, I park my bike inside. This is my view as I've just exited Warde Hall Thursday afternoon for the ride home.
