Double duty

Actually I rode yesterday too but it was dark and ugly, no photos were taken.  Without photos great inspiration would have been required to write but see above, it was dark and ugly.  The rare occurrence of I rode my bicycle but did not blog about it on this, my bicycle blog, happened again.  That pretty much means that the next time I blog has to be twice as good.

Today sunny and pleasant.  I got kind of a late start but the coast was clear, it seemed like a good day to break out of the recent pattern of riding loops relatively near home and to go ahead and try for a destination again.

I have opined in the past that with the new trail configuration out there that Vadnais is an unwise destination on a weekend.  Well, today there were like three classic fusterclucks with totally clueless pedestrians on the ride through Sucker Lake and down past Vadnais.  It's okay, it is a multi-use trail.  Everyone should just try to share.

Additionally, fishing season has opened and that whole subset of users was out, although not really in force, only three or four fishing groups.  That was a little bit interesting though as one member of one of the groups announced his intention to break the law right in front of me.  Fishing is prohibited on the far shoreline, he knew this, he informed his buddy that this was true.  Then he said that he intended to come back some night to fish for walleye from the far shore.  I mean, I could just as well be an off duty DNR conservation officer (sometimes referred to as game warden)  instead of a retired DNR bureaucrat.  He could have gotten himself on that dumbest criminals show.

I had a couple of nice wildlife moments.  The hooded merganser family is back this year.  That wildlife though, he be very shy, he no pose for photo.  Even without a photo it is fun to see them again, a very distinctive looking duck.

Then as I was leaving the area on the part of the road that runs very close to the western (and rarely pictured here) half of the lake I rode within 5 or so feet of one of those big white birds.  They are usually just as shy as the mergansers and always, ALWAYS fly away whenever you come near them.  This one sat right there, head up, looking wild and gorgeous as I passed.  It was fun.

It must be one of those big white birds that wintered in Floridia where it became inured to the presence of humans.

I also came across this on the path.  Working with sidewalk chalk someone produced a reasonably accurate map of the USA.

Scale is off in some places, most notably with Hawaii being about the size of Alaska (and Alaska being WAY smaller than Texas) but this is pretty good work.  Florida seems a bit oversized as well.

Finally, we have been a tiny bit worried about the big new tree.  It was a hard winter.  We both kept comparing how BNT was doing compared to other white pines in the immediate vicinity.  The health of BNT's needles seemed roughly comparable to all of the others but none of the others is in our front yard.  We have been a tiny bit worried.

Checking how many no longer green needles we have you can probably see why we have been a tiny bit worried.  But, look closely, we have new growth.  BNT lives.  We made it through the first winter now if we can make it through the first summer we should be good.