Spring Blooms

Tulips are beginning to show up in flower gardens along my usual bike routes. These are in the Beech Woods. I don't know what these are, but they seem to be everywhere, over the course of just a few days.

Tomorrow is the last day of April, and another all day rain is in the forecast. So be it.

Prairie Buttercups

It was a later start than usual for a couple of reasons. First, it was (still) raining this morning. Notice the wet parking lot -- taken about 10:00 am. We also had some refinancing business to take care of, which used up the rest of the morning. By then it had finally stopped raining. Standing water is an unavoidable fact of life around here at this point. There was just one road with water over it on today's route, and it only covered half the road. Continuing on was possible, and I did. Much of the bike path was unusable, however.

I rode down the road where we have seen the Cardinal flowers in prior years, in August. I was rewarded with a sighting of these prairie buttercups. After I took this picture and continued on about 100 feet, there was a large patch of them, but one photo seemed like enough. If I keep stopping, my two hour rides become two and a half hour rides very quickly.

It was my first time to ride beyond the PSPS this year. And my first photo of the power plant and Pigeon Lake. There will likely be more.

I was overdressed -- it was 51 when I left, and 60 when I returned. I dressed for 51. It has been a while since I've ridden more than 20 miles, so I was glad for the return of easier weather to ride in. I'm working on being less grumpy.

Abysmal Weekend

This past weekend was a washout, followed by a high wind advisory today. I guess you'd call that a blowout. (A little bike tire humor.) I managed to ride a few miles here and there -- doctor's orders. Keep biking, she said. So I have to, right? (Though I'm not going to wear a heart rate monitor to be sure I'm riding hard enough. Sorry, Dr. Peter.) I rode last night after supper, but the all day rain that dumped 4 inches of rain between here and Grand Haven yesterday made it hard to find a dry stretch of pavement. I gave up after riding down a street and having to turn around before it went all the way through because of water over the road. The light was too icky to take a picture, but I assume you've all seen high water. I got up early this morning to try again, to find that we were under a high wind advisory until after the cold front goes through -- again. Gusts were 'only' in the 30's according to the weather channel when I left the garage, though I stopped once to wipe off some gravel that was stuck in the grooves in my tire, and nearly got blown over. My turn around spot was Tunnel Park, where the dunes provided some temporary shelter from the SSW wind. Ruby and I were the only ones there.

This afternoon my next door neighbor brought over this vase of spring flowers. She does it every year, and it is always a day brightener. The month is drawing to a close, and as usual, I find myself quite a bit short of several of my goals. Today I passed the total miles ridden in April of 2007, putting me 4th from the bottom, 5th from the top for all Aprils recorded. One more is within my reach, weather permitting, so it is fair to say that it is an average April. I am, however, feeling extraordinarily grumpy.

A Change in the Weather

The warmer weather blew in here yesterday and is being chased out today by thunderstorms. Again, I had only a small window of opportunity today for a bike ride, and in spite of some blustery winds I got in over an hour of riding today by heading out early this morning. The willow trees along Lake Mac display wind blowing almost as well as a flag does. None of our spring flowering shrubs are flowering much yet, except the forsythia. The tree below was further along than most of those of this variety. I call it a tulip tree, but it almost certainly has another name.

The blossoms are very delicate, and a strong wind tears them apart. With wind gusts around 40 reported at the Tulip City Airport later this morning, it is a good thing that so few of them are blooming.

TT expressed doubt that the two photos I posted yesterday were of the same flower. So for his benefit, I took a short video of it so you can see both the reddish color on the outside and the yellow on the inside. There are very few tulips blooming yet that I have seen, and Tulip Time is upon us. It will be a bud festival this year, courtesy of our late, cold spring. Fortunately they will bloom eventually, and as I live here, I will be able to enjoy them after the tourists have gone home.

Three Days Later

I posted the bottom picture three days ago, when I went out for my ride in the rain. The top photo is of the same flower, taken today as I left the garage. Three days in the life of a tulip is apparently a lot.

Today's ride was about an hour and a half -- there was rain moving across the lake and I had done enough riding in the rain for one week. Some rides just turn out to be more fun than I expect when I leave the house, and this was one of those rides. With a wind from the south, my choices are limited, so I cheated. I headed north with a tailwind for a couple of miles, eventually heading west towards the lake. I have two tricks that work for southerly breezes -- I ride south on 160th from Riley to James because it is slightly down hill, thus cancelling out some of the effects of the headwind. Then west again towards the lake before heading south again, since the lake breeze from the west cancels out some of the south wind. If I work it right, I never have a direct headwind, even though I ride all four compass points. A wind shift robbed me of a little bit, but mostly the plan worked. I felt strong, I felt fast.

Need More Green

My average ride right now is between 15 and 16 miles, a ride of about an hour and a half. Today's ride was a little longer, about an hour and 45 minutes. After three days of rain and cold, it was nice to see the sun. The sun couldn't seem to overcome the cold air still hanging around -- 52 was as warm as it got. Warmer tomorrow, maybe? Still, I appreciated the Ruby after my rainy day ride on my winter bike, and I rode a nice loop including a couple of miles along the lakeshore -- something I've been avoiding because it's just been too dang cold near the lake. The COTU seem to think that it is time to begin the move to the beach. I'm not so sure -- cooler near the lake is great in August, but not so much in April. There is a lot less green along the lakeshore as well -- I was a little surprised by the extent to which brown is still the dominate color of the landscape at Tunnel Park.

Another Choice

I rode fairly aggressively on Friday, with the predictable result that my legs hurt on Saturday. Plus I had Granny Duty while OSLO took baby steps towards having a social life. Sunday? Cold and rain settled in for an extended visit. So today I was looking at three days in a row with no ride -- which for me means no exercise. I have rain gear, and a bicycle with fenders, so when the rain tapered off to a fine mist, I headed out for an hour or so. My outer layers got wet, but I stayed dry and warm enough. I love that my pumpkin head helmet cover matches my jacket. Which is water resistant, but not water proof. A fact I first learned on TRAM I, to my chagrin. I was immediately rewarded for my decision by my first sighting of a tulip in my front yard. Maybe there's something to that whole April showers bring May flowers deal.

An hour or so of riding in the rain seemed like plenty. The turn around spot was Tunnel Park -- when it's 39 degrees inland, it isn't really any colder near the lake. And with a WNW wind, I felt fairly strong and fast on my way back.

The forsythia have begun to bloom back in the beech woods neighborhoods. I seemed to be the only one who'd chosen to spend this afternoon on a bicycle looking for signs of spring.

Spyglass, 45

There was very little wind this morning. This is smoke hanging over Pine Creek Bay just after sunrise. It warmed up here quickly, and it was 62 degrees when I left. A WNW wind had picked up by then. The plan was to ride to the PSPS. I rode north to Blair before turning west. It was obvious fairly quickly that I wasn't dressed warmly enough to ride near the big lake, so I changed my plans and retreated from the cold envelope of air overhanging the lake shore. When I got home and checked the weather station at Spyglass, it said 45 degrees --it was 64 here. So my bike log says "not PSPS." The yellow flowers below were a vivid contrast to the rest of the foliage in the woods along the Pigeon River. A little bit of green pokes through here and there as well.

Ottawa County is currently under a moderate fire danger warning. Just north of here the danger of brush fires is considered to be high. It has only been a short time since we were under flood watches and warnings. That seems like a big swing in a short time to me.

I do think that it would be hard to burn this area, but there was a big brush fire north of Grand Rapids yesterday -- big enough that it showed up on the weather radar. I've gotten in some good rides during this stretch of warmer weather, and I'm not ready for the 50's to return on Sunday.

Tea Party

As you may have noticed, I normally totally avoid any form of political commentary on my blog. Primarily because I was raised with the rule that there are three things that are just never discussed in polite company. Politics, religion and that other thing that we never discuss. So fair warning, though I have no plans to actually discuss any of this. I am way too polite, you know. So I offer up these few photos today not so much as political commentary, but as something interesting I saw on my bike ride today. And also to document that that there was a political rally in Holland today. Something I personally have never seen in the 26 years I have lived here. It was a really nice sunny day, and quite a few people showed up in Centennial Park over the noon hour. (If you want to read the signs, click on the picture.)

There were a few college age people in attendance -- the college is literally across the street from Centennial Park. But mostly the crowd consisted of grown ups, with quite a few gray heads in the mix.

I listened to a couple of speakers, but avoided drinking any kool aid. I didn't see any media outlets represented in the crowd, though there were a few people besides me that had cameras with them. (I was the only one wearing a bike helmet, I think.)

I continued on my way after the singing of "God Bless America." I rode through campus where I only found one lonely co-ed sunning herself in the Pine Grove. Today was also my first ride through Windmill Island -- I'll post those pictures some other time. It was 63 degrees by the time I got home. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, as well as for a tea party.

The Rest of the Story

I quoted a partial paragraph from Arctic Glass in yesterday's post. Jill wrote this bit before she wrote that, though. (Sometimes context is everything.) "There's just this thing about me ... I can't really explain it ... I just really like riding my bike. People pass me on the street and later tell me I seemed to be smiling. Everyone tells me this. Do I smile every second that I'm on my bike? I don't know. That's what people say." I can relate to that.

Today was not really a 'ride my bike and smile' kind of day. It hasn't warmed up -- only in the mid forties, rain was on the southern horizon and it was too windy to ride -- again. Warmer, sunnier weather is predicted for later this week, so I felt free to give up and come home after a very short ride this afternoon. My turn around point is pictured above. Not exactly Paris-Roubaix cobblestones, but that was what went through my head when I took the photo. Fat Cyclist recently called P-R a mountain bike race ridden on road bikes. He's not far off. I tested out the road bike on a dirt road theory by riding down this rocky alley on my Ruby. It seemed at the time to be a good idea for a photo. GZ has photographed a fair amount of dirt/road conditions lately, so it seemed to fit in with that theme.

A flash of yellow caught my eye as I was putting my bike away, so I wandered down to the water's edge to admire my neighbor's daffodils. She has them all along the edge of her bank. More harbingers. (They aren't as pretty as the ones I got for Easter from OSLO and the COTU, of course.)

I walked out to the end of her dock and took this one. It's too gray a day for photography, but I'm seeing some serious signs of spring here and there.

Dear Jill

There is a link on my side bar to a blog called Arctic Glass, also known as Jill in Alaska, that I read fairly regularly. I don't have much in common with Jill, except that we both ride bikes. But I mostly enjoy following her biking obsession, and she recently wrote something that struck a chord with me. She said, "It's just that biking is so monotonous and repetitive and sort of pointless. I go out to a random point and then I return to my home. The next day, I go to another random point and then come home. ..... Then I go out to the first random point that I rode to earlier in the week, and come home. Day after day after day. What's wrong with me? " I feel like that sometimes. It usually just means that it is time to expand my riding range. My early season riding is mostly done between the lakeshore and the highway on the west and east, and Lake Mac and the Pigeon River to the south and north. Typically my first foray out of this box is to the north, across the Pigeon River, either on Lakeshore or past Hemlock Crossing and the PPS along the highway. So it is a bit unusual that this year my first miles ridden outside of my 'home turf' were to the east, across the highway. Why? Wind from the east. I'm pretty predictable. It was 48 degrees (yes, really) when I left, just after the end of the Paris-Roubaix race.

Here's the picture I took at the Port Sheldon gas station, not to be confused with the Port Sheldon Party store. East of the highway, so something new to look at.

It was a really nice day, and the road north from there was paved for another mile, so I took it. I didn't feel like riding Ruby on gravel, so I turned back to the west at the intersection shown above. It wasn't a long, long ride, but it did have what TOPWLH calls 'a two handle' -- and I enjoyed the change of scenery. Okay, so it is just a different blueberry farm, so it was not that big a change. It didn't seem at all pointless or monotonous or repetitive. Sorry, Jill. I have no advice to give you.

More Harbingers

It seemed like 50 degrees should feel warm. I wore lighter gloves because my hands got sweaty on yesterday's ride at 43 degrees, and a lighter jacket. That worked, mostly, but it was the first ride I'd taken in a while without a balaclava. My face felt chilled early in the ride, and though I got used to it, I never stopped wishing that I'd worn my nice fuzzy face mask.I rode north and east to Quincy Park, then west through the golf course. That first turn to the west straight into the wind demonstrated just how cold it can feel at 50 degrees when the wind is coming across cold lake water and is blowing into a bare face. I eventually stopped for a photo op at Anchorage Marina, to record my first sighting of a sailboat moored to a pier. A harbinger?

When I got home, a pair of mourning doves were settled in on my deck, admiring the view. They were smart enough to be on the east side of the house, sheltered from the breeze. The last time I saw a pair of mourning doves, I was in Florida. Another harbinger of spring? Check out OSLO's blog for yet another one. (Full credit for the title of this post goes to this guy.)

Herd at Dawn

This photo looks like just another sunrise on the frozen tundra. Pretty, but unremarkable. Maybe a reminder that there are benefits to being an early to bed, early to rise type of person. There are limits to my point and click camera. The zoom feature doesn't really work very well -- I get a better picture if I don't use the zoom, and then crop the picture. In the photo below you can begin to see that there may be some kind of animals crossing the creek in the middle of the flood plain.

One more crop, and you can almost tell that it was a herd of deer. TOPWLH tried to count them as they chased each other around on the frozen swamp. We think about 10. It was so much cooler to the naked eye.

Forecasts

The original weekend weather forecast was for rain on Sunday, changing over to snow late in the day, with 6 to 10 inches of snow accumulation by Monday morning. The amount of snowfall expected got scaled back as the weekend neared, but we were "guaranteed" enough snow to shovel before it was over. When I went to bed last night, the expectation was 1-3 inches here, with 3-6 inches further south. It didn't rain Sunday as predicted, so I took a bike ride -- it was cold and they were hard miles, but with measurable snow on the way, I wanted to get in a ride before it hit. I'd planned a rest day for today, so imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to dry streets and no snow -- none, not even a trace. When Mother Nature hands you a gift like that, it would be rude not to accept it. As it turned out, a rest day would probably have been a better idea. The wind from the north was too strong for me to ride north, so I settled for the crosswind and rode west to Tunnel Park. The gates were open, but the sand was still blocking the tunnel. Spring, but not spring.

No lake views were available from Tunnel Park, so I rode up the Idlewood hill for the first time this season, and took this picture of the waves on the big lake from the side yard. I checked the Weather Channel when I got home. Winds were NW at 19, gusting to 30. It was a nice ride home.

Let Them Eat Cake

Although her Mother would prefer that she return to the age of 5 or 6, the oldest Center of the Universe turned 14 today. A large number of people gathered at her house this evening to help her celebrate. She was showered with gifts, teased and hugged. The cake was chocolate, as was the frosting. Just the way she likes it. With a scoop of chocolate ice cream on the side. 14. It seems like just yesterday when she was a little 2 year old sweetie announcing to the world about "men wohkin' onna wee wall." (Men working on the sea wall.)



Earlier today I took a preemptive bike ride to burn off some of the calories that I was destined to eat at the party. I'm not sure that works, by the way. It was a little cool, but I got the layers right and was mostly comfortable. It was windy enough that a planned 20 mile ride ended up at 18 -- close enough. It was sunny and dry, unlike the day 14 years ago when the oldest COTU arrived to brighten our lives. There were snow flurries that day -- I remember it well. This year they held off a day, but will almost certainly be here tomorrow. And Monday, and Tuesday, and .........

Colour Yellow

I haven't participated in Theme Day for a while, and had not even thought about it until TT's 'egg' post yesterday. His yellow flowers inside a conservatory surrounded by snow was a tough act to follow, but I was willing to give it a try. Today was the nicest weather we've seen in a while, and probably for a while -- we have accumulating snow on the way, I've been told. Not today, though. It was 55 when I left and 61 when I returned home. Light winds, a little bit of rain mid-ride, and sun again on the return trip. Do you recognize the spot reflected in the photo below? Hint: today was my 'long ride' for the week. Yellow vase, yellow art, yellow vest. This might be even more helpful -- if you've been there, you've likely seen this sign. And maybe even had a pig. More yellow.

I was looking for yellow crocuses and/or yellow daffodils along the route, and found very few. These crocuses were in the yard of the house that Lynne used to own, in Waukazoo Woods.

I did not find any daffodils in bloom yet, though there are quite a few that are close. It looks to me like they will be blooming through the snow next week.