Wildlife, Weekends and Other Unpublished Photos

The end of April is just about here, and there are a few photos from this month that never made it to the blog.   Deer and ducks hang out near the deck fairly often, usually in the early (ish) morning hours.

The girl grandchild has finished her semester at GVSU, and she and I successfully packed the entire contents of her dorm room into her car and my truck in two and a half hours last week.  That included about a half hour break to go get a snack.  (Refueling, as we called it.)  She's enjoying a week off before starting a Spring/Summer session, but she'll be commuting from home for those 6 weeks.  Meanwhile, the boy grandchild is finishing up his driver's training class and will soon have his driving permit.

They (and their earpods) hung out with us last weekend, and though it was way too cold to take a walk on the beach, we did anyway.  (Today it was 61 in Grand Rapids and 38 degrees at the Holland State Park.)  We watched the movie "Imitation Game" and generally had a pretty nice time.

After 7 or 8 days of "too nasty to ride", yesterday I layered up and rode north in search of marsh marigolds.  I found these along Blair, between the PSPS and 152nd street.  I like it when a plan works out.  Today's plan included some hiking with the Angels.  It involved some stairs ....  First the up.

Then the down.

This took place near Mona Lake on the south side of Muskegon.  Warmth has been scarce near the dunes so far.  Maybe May will be a little less harsh than April has been.

Ambitious Target

My bike log says that I did not bike at all for the 7 days from April 7th through the 13th.  The weather forecast for the rest of April looks like we will be revisiting that weather pattern.  My first ride after that week off went fairly well, and I rode north as far as the start of the trail that runs along Croswell from the Lakeshore to the Highway.  That was Tuesday of this week.  Wednesday and Thursday the weather was decent though not spectacular, and I got in a couple of shorter rides.  They were nice enough, but nothing to blog about.  On our morning walk today my legs felt tired -- that odd, rubbery feeling that I've learned means that it is time to take a rest day.

That's not what happened.  I haven't seen Hiawatha and Croswell for a while.  I think the last time was on a ride with GZ last summer.  Here are the obligatory photos to demonstrate I was there.

I think I'm ready for the week of rain, cold and wind that's apparently just around the corner.  I'm looking forward to some quality Grandchild time over the weekend, then we'll see what Mother Nature has in store.

Sunshine is nice, warm would be even nicer.

Spring biking presents interesting challenges on this side of the lake.  Today looked good for a warm spring ride, with a forecast high in the upper 60's.  I try not to let that kind of talk fool me into dressing for warm weather.  There's a nasty 20 degree (or more) temperature differential across just a few miles, depending on how close I am to the water.  I had a nice ride, though it wasn't a warm one.

Last week's rains left the woods and ditches near the Pigeon River full of water.  This is in the area where the cardinal flowers bloom in late summer.  Not much is green yet except some of the grass.

Canadian goose?  And a bench.  Along Lakeshore north of the Pigeon River, across from the power plant.

This was my turn around point.  The route to Grand Haven is up and over the hill, the trail to the right leads to the West Olive One Stop.  As destination rides go, this spot barely qualifies, but I was already a long way from home and anything any further than this is going to have to wait for a warmer day.

I wasn't the slightest bit overdressed, and not even a warm shower banished the feeling of being chilled to the bone.

Wisconsin Ice

On Friday morning I declared that the ice on the big lake was officially gone.  An all day rain on Thursday had finished off the "sand hills" (see photo at the top of the blog)  that were sitting just off the beach.  Unfortunately, I took no photos of it, and a day of strong winds (gusts up around 50 mph) pushed all of the ice remaining on the lake in our direction.  So "ice out" is still a ways off.

Last night, after a fun supper at Logan's with the Grands, and before a Marvel Movie Marathon in our living room, the three of us took a walk on the beach to get a closer look at the ice floe.  A pair of mallards were enjoying the calm waters and we photo stalked them for a while.

In other "big lake" news, apparently there is a petition circulating in Wisconsin to rename this lake, Lake Wisconsin.  It's just a name, but this seems like pretty silly stuff.

It Took Two Tries; a destination ride report.

Florida biking is so very different from biking in Michigan.  There are enough miles on my legs from Florida rides that the trip up to the PSPS should have been a piece of cake.  It's 16 miles and I've ridden 15 miles a number of times in Florida, and one 17 mile ride.  My Michigan bike is a treat to ride compared to the heavy Florida thing that I ride, so it came as a bit of a surprise that getting there for the first time this year took two tries.  The first time I ran into a path that was still blocked with snow piles here and there, covered in gravel and other winter debris.  The second time I took a route that avoided the path, added some distance, but eventually got me where I wanted to go.  PSPS by the 17 mile route.

That was yesterday, and I got home in time to clean up before heading out for a nice Easter dinner at Jill's, just down the street.  JB joined me -- she'd fixed a roasted leg of lamb, one of his all time favorite meals.  The food was fantastic, and we ate too much, enough so that I was glad to have taken a long ride beforehand.

Lastly, here's a photo that I took this morning around 9 am.  It looks like we're getting close to ice out, except that the white line at the horizon is ice.  Hopefully soon, though.

Late edit:  A different view of the parking lot at the PSPS.

Leveling Up

This is the real deal -- the girl has traded in her "teen" handle for the twenties.  We did a birthday dinner with her and her family at a restaurant last night, though today is her actual birthday.  She'll have a family party at home tonight and tomorrow she'll be at her other Grandmother's house for Easter dinner.  It's a busy weekend for her, but she's up to it, I'm sure.  Just for fun I've been going through some old photos and have found a couple of my favorites to share.  The first one is the day that she entered the teen years, her 13th birthday.  The second one is from 1995 according to the date stamp on the file it was in.  She's wearing a New Zealand bib.

She was a baby, then I blinked and she grew up.  Happy birthday, sweet girl.  Enjoy your 20's -- they're pretty cool, for the most part.

Michigan in the Spring

One of the nice things about returning home -- besides spending the weekend with the Grands -- is how easy it has been to slip back into my old routines.  I've taken a couple of bike rides since I've been home, and am having fun checking out which streets and paths are clear of snow and ice.

The morning walking group still heads out every morning around 9:00, and there is some interesting stuff within walking distance.  The photo below was taken along Lakeshore, about a mile from home.  A sugar maple tree, I assume.  There are several of these between here and Sunset Bluff.

Jill stopped by yesterday after supper to see if I wanted to walk -- Charlie's evening walk.  We went down the beach as far as Tunnel Park, then back home through the neighborhood.  Sunset occurred shortly after I got back home, and the sun reflecting off the remaining ice was pretty dang cool.

Today it was fairly nice during our morning walk, then started to rain about lunch time, cleared off and was sunny very briefly around 5 pm, which was followed by a fog bank rolling in off the lake.  Four different weather systems in one day.

I love spring in West Michigan.  Though I'm not totally sure why.