End of Month Wrap Up

I have taken a few photos, a few walks and a few rides since I last put something up here.  This unidentified flying insect looks unfamiliar to me.  Taken on a walk with the other Retired Professor sometime last week.

This was the last sunset of the summer, taken on a walk around the neighborhood on the 21st.  Sunsets have been spectacular this week -- lots of pinks and oranges.  They have also been early -- we're losing daylight fast.

These funky looking mushrooms are growing on the beach of the California people next door.

 I like these light at the end of the tunnel shots.  It was a pretty calm day, a good day for a beach walk.

 I rode on this for about a half mile before finding a different way to get where I wanted to go.  Or maybe I just gave up and headed for home -- I don't remember exactly.  Either way, it was a nice ride.  Except for that half mile.

Winds have been from the south a lot lately, and this is part of my favorite short loop that goes along the shore of Lake Mac -- south of here.  It is the connector trail between the beech woods and the fairgrounds.

There are a few man made lakes near here -- something I've never understood, given the abundance of the natural stuff.

Today's ride was just long enough to stretch my legs after a weekend spent hanging out with the grands.  We took our traditional walk on Saturday where they introduced me to these two videos, that I thoroughly enjoyed and thought I'd share.  Enjoy.  The first one is here:   What Does the Fox Say?   The second one is here:  First World Problems.

Last Day of Summer

Fall arrives here around 4 pm tomorrow, making this the last full day of summer.  It felt a lot more like fall, with winds gusting around 25 from the north-ish, and temperatures topping out in the mid 60's.  The limited amount of exercise that I've been doing lately has mostly involved walks around the neighborhood, but today I decided to ride out to Quincy Park.  The outbound leg is mostly country riding, and passes several blueberry fields, where the bushes are beginning to turn a bluish red.  Also, a typical sign of Fall for me is the sound of my bike's wheels through dry leaves.  Today I noticed a new sound.  There's a seed pod of some sort on a stretch of James that sounds like popcorn popping when I run over it.

I came into the park from the south instead of my usual northerly route, and had to do some cross country riding to get to the foot bridge over Pine Creek that links the two halves of the park.  The planks on the bridge are beginning to show signs of dry rot, and they rumble under my wheels in a very disconcerting way.  I made it across safely.  The wind from the north that had provided me with such a nice headwind on the way out shifted to the WNW on my way home, giving me the opportunity to ride most of the 16 miles into a headwind.  (There really should be an icon for sarcasm.) My social interaction for the day occurred when I stopped at the EZ Mart on Butternut and Riley for some Diet Coke, and had a nice conversation with the clerk.  She'd taken a bike ride yesterday for the first time in years, and was pleased to have ridden almost 3 1/2 miles.  I congratulated her on her accomplishment and encouraged her to keep on riding.

In other news, the Kiwi's seem to be stuck on that one is a lonely number thing.  Team Oracle USA has "tweaked" their boat enough that they now seem to be able to sail faster than the Kiwi's.  I'm assuming it is all legal, though TOUSA did come into this series with a two race penalty because of prior cheating.  I don't know of any such suggestions, but when bicycle racers suddenly get faster than they've ever been, I get suspicious.  Also, the sailing gods seem to have abandoned the New Zealanders.  Two races, both when NZ was ahead, were abandoned because of high winds.  And yesterday Team NZ was ahead through all of race one, but couldn't get around the race course in the 40 minutes allowed for each race because of very light winds.  It ain't over 'til it's over.  Lesson learned.  Again.

State Park

Timing is everything. I rode down to the State Park late this morning.  This is all that I expected to see.

There were more people lined up along the pier than I expected, a lot of them with cameras.  They clearly knew something that I didn't.

There was a really, really big boat leaving the harbor.  Kayak for scale.  The freighter was riding high in the water, a sure sign that it was empty.  I assume that means that it brought something in, rather than having picked something up to haul out.  Possibly coal for our (soon to be replaced) coal burning power plant located near the River Avenue bridge.

Here's my best attempt to get a photo of the whole thing.

Not everyone who was there was watching the freighter navigate the channel.  At least one woman was there to capture the blue sky and blue water on canvas.

It was chilly, especially after the heat wave of mid week.  The new yellow jacket over a long sleeve base layer was plenty warm enough once I'd warmed up.  The Am-Fib tights might have been overkill, though.  (Anybody else watching the America's Cup yacht racing?  Or flying, which might be more accurate.  I checked The New Zealand Herald online yesterday, the major newspaper on the North Island.  They're trying not to sound overconfident, but they are starting to plan where they might put The Cup venue for the next one.)

Civic Duty

The closest fire station to us is on Perry and 160th -- it is where we vote, so I've been inside a few times.  Today I wanted to see what kind of memorial they might have, and when I first rode up I didn't notice anything but the flags being flown at half staff.  Then this, at the bottom of the flag pole. An empty firefighter's suit.

I stood there for a while, thinking about what it probably meant.  Soon a woman came out of the building. She's the office manager and a first responder, she said. She also said that they place this equipment here on this date every year in memory of the firefighters who were lost. We talked a while,  exchanging stories about where we were 12 years ago. I then told her the story about my trip to northern Minnesota this past summer with my grandchildren, and how we'd visited a fire station and  they'd gotten a chance to see and touch a piece of steel from one of the towers that was on display there.  We talked for a while more, then I felt it was time to continue on my way.

She clearly was pleased and touched that I'd stopped by to pay my respects. She offered to fill my water bottle, and to give us a tour of "my" equipment any time I was around. I had one more place I wanted to check out, so I thanked her for her service and moved along.

The grade school on Lakewood near 144th traditionally has the students put out flags as way to remember the lives lost that day.  I circled south past the township offices and through the fairgrounds before heading home.  It was another short ride, just about an hour.  Time well spent.

Seems Like Summer Won't Quit

The morning light created some interesting shadows on my walk this morning.  It's a self portrait,  if you look closely.  A lot of my neighbors were out walking while I was out -- between 9 and 10 am.  All of us trying to get in a little bit of exercise before the heat of the day arrived.

The kids call the house across the street  the "dead lady's house" though it is now owned by a live couple who  own a sporting goods store here in town.  Nice light and shadows.

After lunch I took a second walk, this time down to the beach.  I watched several people putting their water toys away this past weekend, but there are still quite a few of them lined up here.  The two closest ones are stand up paddle boards.

I wanted to get a closer look at the stairs that go nowhere.  It's in pretty bad shape, with just one railing still intact.  There's a story there, but I don't know what it is.

There was enough wind to make it fairly comfortable next to the water, though the temperature exceeded 90 degrees further inland.  Pretty awful stuff, especially for September.

I'm more than ready for some fall like temperatures.  This heat and humidity is not fit for man nor beast.

On Line Journal?

It has been quiet here of late.  The COTU were here on Sunday for the afternoon, and we sat on the beach for a while.  The water was too cold for swimming, and in spite of the warm air and hot sand, there weren't many people around.  It is the post Labor Day beach experience.  The College Girl picked some dune grass to take back to campus with her for an art project she's working on.

They joined us for supper at Logan's Road House before heading north so the High School Boy could go to youth group and the College Girl could head back to campus before it started getting dark.  Which is happening earlier and earlier -- anyone else notice that?

It rained hard nearby early this morning, but only a little bit here.  Allendale, where Grand Valley University is located, got 3 inches of rain, while we got less than half an inch.  With mostly dry streets by noon, my plan for a bike ride worked out okay, including a stop at the Kiwanis Rest Stop.  Except for the dew point being nearly 70.  I rode for about an hour and a half, which seems to be a nice workable number for me at this point.

The Recently Retired Professor returned a few days ago from her trip to the southwest to visit her daughter, and we managed a walk around the neighborhood last night with one of our other neighbors.  The heat wave hasn't been too bad here so far, and hopefully tomorrow will be the last of it.  High surf advisories are up for tomorrow, which usually means lots of wind.  Rubber side down.

Short Story

September. I managed to get to the ninth month of this year without having acquired many miles or much bicycling fitness. It is a matter of perspective, of course. 20 years ago I rode 1,000 miles on my (then) new bike in its first year, and I thought that was a huge number.   This year is looking a lot like that one, without the other benefits of being 49.   Fortunately, you don't have to ride very far to find some interesting stuff.

These wild grapes are growing along a retaining wall on 168th street, just north of James.  Wild grapes taste better after the first frost, I've heard.  I probably won't be trying them, but my neighbors routinely search them out and snack on them in the fall.

If Lucas Davenport lived in Holland, I think he'd live on the water.  If you look closely, you'll see some red buoys off the end of the dock. Of  course it doesn't compare to the Mississippi.  I took these last three photos over in the woods along Lake Macatawa.

You can probably see those buoys from the upstairs windows of this house. Of no particular relevance, it is also a house that we considered buying when we first moved here 30 or so years ago.  It's a little over a mile to the Itty Bitty Bar, a hang-out if there ever was one.

All  of this conjecture took place here.  This is a street, even though it doesn't look like one. Around here we call these "street ends" and when a street ends at a public lake, it is supposed to be used as a public access point. Some are, some aren't.  I got outside for an hour, accumulated a few miles, and entertained myself with some random speculation.  No complaints.

It's Easy to Find if You Know Where to Look

The ride up there was quiet, no tourists to dodge, no school kids to watch out for, very light traffic compared to just last week.  It was cool enough when I left that I wore that new yellow biking jacket that I bought last month, then it warmed up enough that I removed its sleeves before I'd ridden a half hour.  This spot below is a favorite of mine.  It was less than an hour's ride from home and serenely peaceful, or at least it was until a fishing boat zipped through upsetting the turtles.  I've seen them sunning there before -- there were several sunning themselves on the old posts today.

This sign could have used some editing or at least better planning.  I get the general idea, since I've been up there when the smell of rotting fish was pretty strong.  Still -- it's an awkward phrase at best.  Or any Part Of?  Surely that violates some grammatical rule or other.  Apparently the authority of Port Sheldon Township extends to violating the rules of the King's English.

It's been good for me to get out into the country again on my bike.  The rides of September are some of the best of the year.  Tomorrow is a rest day for me -- at least from the bike.  OSLO and I are taking a small TV set to the college girl's dorm for her in the late afternoon.  The California people are gone, and there's just a handful of people walking the beach today.  It's like someone flipped a switch and summer is over.

Cardinal Flower

Subtitle:  More praise of digital cameras.  Yesterday Ruby and I finally went in search of the cardinal flowers, without much hope of finding any this late in the year.  A guest (and GRider) had found some earlier this season, not just once but  twice in fact, but I haven't ridden that specific direction since late July, which was too early for cardinal flowers to be in bloom.  They're a perennial wildflower, found only in a very few wet ditches along country roads around here.  They may be my favorite wildflower.  Rare and beautiful.

I found them pretty much where I was told they were this year -- a bit south of where I usually find them, but still along Sand (AKA 160th in some stretches.)  Maybe a north wind spread their seeds?  I took 5 or 6 shots of them in two different locations, transferred those to my computer, edited them in Picasa, chose the one above, and posted it here.  It took me nearly 20 hours -- 3 parts sloth, 1 part knackered.  Blogs without photos would be dull, indeed.  I've even heard (and said) that without a photo, it didn't happen.  Still muggy, but cooler.