Think Globally and Act Locally

In previous posts, here and here, I discussed how much oil is wasted on things like plastic bags - and straws. Sadly, I FAILED to adequately consider Khal and cafiend's suggestions about reducing the use of bags at the store. Reusing lightweight bags for produce and meat is indeed a viable option. It becomes more viable yet if a dog poop solution not involving bags can be found. I will address those observations in  a post to come soon.

Also, even more sadly, though my post was made nearly FIVE YEARS AGO, nowadays neither link take one to a place that is useful in discovering where to take a pesky plastic bag. The site that worked before, now provides no useful information at all. It shows a generic "Discover our New Home" page without any clear indication about where the new home is. THAT page is shown below:

Luckily, clicking through the various places that WERE listed provided a page that will identify the closest places that will recycle plastic bags. That site can be reached directly here and is a "dot org" site. As you may see, the closest locations are 25 to 50 miles away. I suspect few people are going to go to that amount of effort to recycle plastic bags. Still, at least both of the places identified were still in business, unlike the equivalent search five years ago.

Since that post, "bag bans" have been implemented in places like California and Washington State, and have been attempted in places like Laredo and Austin, Texas, though the courts ruled that such local bans were illegal. Perhaps Texas did the right thing for the wrong reasons. As it turns out, these bans have actually INCREASED the amount of plastic bags going in to landfills. The most recent LA Times story on bags may be found here. A related evaluation, summarizing the Times findings, is here.

Story on Straws

Chris made a very good point that there's a big fuss many places about plastic straws, noting "With all the hullabaloo about plastic straws, why is no one ranting about the plastic cups that go with the straws ? Those cups plastic cups are bigger in volume than the plastic straws! Doesn't make sense."

Well, that prompted me to do a little MORE checking on the subject. As it turns out, in one sense he's completely and absolutely correct. The straws that you get with your cold Starbucks drink are made of the SAME KIND of plastic as the cups. #5 Plastic, to be exact. What's more, #5 Plastic is most often used for the caps to bottles that are made of #2 Plastic, which is the same stuff that is used for plastic bags.

For whatever reason, the waste company in North Texas accepts #5 Plastic, while the one in Ocean Shores does not. Checking a list of places that accept #5 Plastic, I find that the closest location to Ocean Shores that accepts bottle caps is 80 miles away. Luckily, in North Texas, I find there's a place only 9 miles away that accepts plastic caps. Whole Foods. Straws, however, are a pariah in the recycling business, being treated even worse than plastic bags. As I understand it, Whole Foods won't take straws, though they take the #5 cups.

There's a good discussion of the problem with plastic straws at Earth911, here. In a nutshell, in most cases, places that take the same kind of plastic as the straws won't take the straws. Go figure!

Actually, Earth911 is one of the best recycling web sites I've found. While their recycling locations are as out of date as many of the other sites, they have good discussions about things LIKE plastic straws. They even have articles about the finer points of dealing with old antifreeze, here. I was unaware that some antifreeze is much less toxic that other versions - a good thing to remember if you have young children around. If your young kids grow up without dying from drinking antifreeze, you can thank a blog for letting it happen!

Forget Global Warming, ACT NOW!

Plastic Bags Fill up our Landfills and Collect in our Oceans

There's been lots of news stories lately about global climate change and how humans are driving it. Well, perhaps that's so, and we can argue about details, but there's not really a huge amount most of us can do about it one way or the other in the short run. Mostly, people live wherever they live and they're locked into a relatively narrow carbon footprint. What's worse, is that all this focus on carbon emissions takes our attention off of stuff we CAN do to help our our planet at minimal cost and without global treaties. Hence, today's post title.

One example is the amount of oil we simply throw into landfills or dump in the ocean in the form of plastic bags, where it gets ingested by sea creatures or simply floats around in a giant garbage patch. A few localities have banned plastic bags. I'm not sure that is a good approach. I'd rather see a 25 cent charge per plastic bag imposed, with the revenues rebated to businesses based on their retail sales. In other words, places that sell a lot, but don't use plastic bags, would find a nice net revenue stream. I'm sure my loyal reader can think of lots of other revenue-neutral approaches, and anybody that really MUST use a plastic bag would still be able to do so, just as people can still smoke if they wish to do so.

Plastic Bags Not Welcome in Grays Harbor - What to Do?

The Gray's Harbor site that doesn't recycle plastic bags states:

"Plastic is a synthetic and highly malleable material made from a broad range of organic
polymers. Enough plastic is thrown away each year to completely circle the earth four
times. On average, an American throws away an estimated amount of 185 pounds of
plastic annually. Plastic is one of the types of waste that takes the longest to
decompose. On average, it takes plastic items up to 1000 years to break down fully.
Although certain plastics take less time, it still takes everyday plastic bags 10-20 years
to break down. A plastic bottle can take up to 450 years to finally decompose."

You might wonder why I bring this up now? Well, I've been doing a bit of investigation about plastic bags, and plastic bag recycling isn't a whole lot more realistic than the notion of "clean coal." Mostly, the hype about recycling plastic bags is a scam to make people not feel bad about supporting a form of pollution that could be stopped easily, and NOW. There isn't really a societal need for people to use large quantities of the things.

First off, most neighborhood recycling programs PROHIBIT plastic bags in that nice blue recycling container. It messes up their equipment. So, where DO put these plastic bags go? Well, thanks to the Internet, I went to the website that was printed right on a large plastic bag I was given that had junk newspapers inside. If you click on THIS LINK, it'll take you there. What's more, you can actually BUY the domain!

Golly, Plastic Bags are "Green" - if You Don't Actually Investigate

Further investigation through the Gray's Harbor site that tells me they don't accept plastic bags for recycling took me to another site that actually attempted to tell me where to take these bags. What's more, if you click on THIS LINK, it'll take you there. You can even put in your own zip or post code.

Well, at Least THIS Web Site has Information, Albeit Dated and Wrong Information

Unlike the first site, at least this one works. Unfortunately, it tells me that the nearest place to recycle my plastic bags is 25 miles away. However, that's not the worst of it. The Safeway really doesn't have a place to recycle plastic bags. Even worse, the JC Penney that's listed was closed over five years ago. I haven't checked at the Wally World, but I certainly don't recall seeing anything that looked like plastic bag collection. I also checked my zip in North Texas and it was similarly out of date, though at least the places that don't accept plastic bags are closer than their Washington State equivalents.

Still, we cyclists are not without our own resources. My bike bags are perfect for getting groceries and small hardware items. For bigger stuff, I bring my bike trailer or my back pack. What's more, since I still wind up getting plastic bags and plastic food wrap despite my best efforts, I save them to collect dog poop during daily dog walks. Sure, you can buy dedicated dog poop bags, but since they cost around 7 cents per bag, plastic store bags one gets without even trying are a better bet. After asking, I found that the local IGA gives a 7 cent rebate if you bring your own bag. Nowadays, the only time I get plastic bags there is when they forget to give me the rebate. In that case, I actually ask for them, noting they work for other purposes even if I don't need them for groceries. Many cashiers forget once. Few forget after I bring the subject up when they do. Ditto for the store manager who forgot - once. 

While it is fine to think globally about climate change, acting locally is something each of us can do each and every day. We actually have to act. In my Texas neighborhood, the local trash company has "leaf collection" days; they pledge the leaves will go to compost. Last weekend, there were hundreds, if not thousands of plastic bags with leaves in my neighborhood that wound up going to a landfill where the plastic will still remain after all of us have passed away. Sadly, kraft paper bags are easier to fill, but all that got picked up were my 20 bags, and 5 more from the neighbor across the street. One of the plastic bag neighbors actually caught up to the compost collection truck while they were collecting my leaf bags and leaves in order to complain they hadn't picked up his leaves which were in plastic bags. I stuck up for the garbage men, noting they could not dump his plastic into their truck since it would contaminate the compost. In my Ocean Shores neighborhood, there aren't even any "leaf collection" days and there's talk they will soon BAN plastic bags. Sheesh. It's why I'm composting as much as possible. Besides, the sandy soil in Ocean Shores needs all the help it can get.

With New Years coming up, it is an opportunity to resolve to simply stop using plastic wherever possible. Even for dog poop, I have found that my biodegradable compost bags will also work with dog poop, if there isn't anything better simply lying around.

Enlightened or Retrograde?

Lots of Bikes for Rent at Yosemite National Park

Recently, we visited Yosemite National Park. Besides the always-wonderful scenery, I noticed bicycle and pedestrian approaches that were both enlightened and somewhat odd for non-motorized visitors.

First, I noticed that the loop road to see Half Dome was closed to motorists. In addition, there were LOTS of bicycles for rent. Even though this was October, there were lots of them getting rented.

Second, I was struck by a STOP sign on the path to the Visitor center. It seems odd, and a bit antiquated, to expect the vast majority of travelers to actually come to a full stop just in case the occasional bus might be coming by. In truth, nobody stopped at the sign. Of course, there wasn't any protected tour buses nearby. This is a case where a "Yield" sign might make sense, especially with an advisory sign underneath that notes "Tour Buses might be passing at any time."

How Many Pedestrians do YOU Know that Would Come to a Full Stop Here before Proceeding?

No Dogs or Bicycles Allowed

Dogs and Bicycles are Banned from the Wooden Boardwalks in Yellowstone Park

I notice things related to both dogs and bicycles more than a lot of people that don't own dogs or ride bicycles. Recently, we passed through Yellowstone National Park. My loyal reader may know that it is the World's first National Park. It was created under US Grant and was largely protected under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt. My reader might also know that many hot springs are accessed via wooden boardwalks that pass over the hot and unstable ground. Dogs and bicycles are prohibited from these boardwalks.

I suspect that bicycles are prohibited in order to keep people from riding on the sometimes slick boardwalks. Bike racks are provided, such as the one shown below.

Bike Racks are Provided for Bicycles. Locks Not Provided.

It might not be quite so clear why dogs are also prohibited; particularly those on leashes. Well, dogs have been known to lunge at passing people and it'd be pretty gruesome if a passerby fell into a hot spring while trying to avoid that aggressive dog. My own theory is that dogs are banned in order to protect water dogs such as Labrador Retrievers such as my own. He's been know to leap off docks into unknown waters, and even sometimes when on a leash. I'd hate to see Fergus jump off a boardwalk into one of those clear but nearly boiling springs. Some prohibitions just make sense.

I'd Hate to Imagine a Dog after Extraction from an Inviting-Looking, but Nearly Boiling Spring

Spring Locals and Alien Invaders

Rhododendrons are the Quintessential Pacific Northwest Shrub and Flower

The Pacific Northwest has some of the most beautiful plants to be found anywhere. Besides obvious choices such as the rhododendron at the top of this post, even our evergreens have color not often appreciated or commented on.

Until They Turn Into Cones, Pine Flowers are an Attractive Yellow

These are Past Their Peak, When They'd Almost be Pink

However, we also have alien invaders. As you may see below, the lillies in front of the rhodie are not native. Ubiquitous also are things such as Himalayan Blackberries and Scotch Broom. The Scotch Broom adds a lot of color this time of year, as it grows in recently cleared areas. Blackberries also grow in clearings until local plants reclaim them.

Native and Foreign - Lillies in Front of a Rhododendron

Wild Invader - Flowering Scotch Broom in an Empty Lot.
At Least They don't have Stickers Like Blackberries, but They don't have Fruit, Either

Heck, as noted in my previous post, here, we've even got a few palm trees up here...

Global Warming From Behind a Windshield

Advice From Motorists Supposes YOU Also Motor

Recently, I’ve noticed two attempts at “being green” from sources that clearly seem to think that driving some sort of a motor vehicle to get things such as groceries is the only option people have. Not considering that much of the world still considers motoring as a luxury, it also neglects the obvious non-motorized way to get groceries.

Conveniently enough, Ocean Shores unintentionally makes it really simple to walk or ride a bike to get groceries or hardware, though few take advantage of the opportunity. Myself, I shop often or less often, combined with my daily rides to the local espresso stand. Today, I also stopped by the post office to pick up the weekly ads. However, I digress.

ONE of the “behind the windshield” pieces of advice came from a book whose author has a lot of good ideas in other areas of her book, entitled GORGEOUSLY GREEN. In it, the author states (on page 127):

“Trying to shop to fit into the ‘twelve items or less line,’ I’ll even shed a few items… Problem is, this type of shopping uses more gas, time, and tailpipe emissions, since you need to go to the store more often. Instead of aiming to get out of the store fast, do a massive shop in one session.” Later on, she states “At least half of the pollution that comes from transporting your food is from your drive to the store.”
 
I guess that might be credible if the only option we had was to DRIVE to the store. Cycling makes things an entirely different proposition. Instead of a “massive shop,” the criteria is “how much do I feel like carrying home for our near-term meals and what are the sales.” While I HAVE done a massive shop using our bike trailer during a really good "as long as things last" sale, that’s the exception rather than the rule. Mostly, I fill up a small backpack. When I go into Aberdeen, I use a bit larger backpack; originally designed for snowboarders.

The SECOND “behind the windshield” piece of advice came from the North Texas Clean Air people, who ignored the possibility of people using non-motorized means of getting their groceries when they stated via an email:

“Life can get so busy sometimes that it can be difficult to find time to plan a healthy meal and go grocery shopping. Luckily, with the growing popularity of online shopping, meal planning and grocery shopping can be a lot easier for everyone. There are many companies that offer different food delivery services. From grocery delivery service to meal-kit delivery service to ‘anything you want’ delivery apps, getting what you need without going anywhere is as simple as clicking a button.

“Ordering these services actually does more than just save you time and effort, it helps the environment. New research from the Oregon Department of Transportation shows that these delivery services can cut carbon dioxide emissions by at least half. The vehicles that are used to deliver your items are combining trips to multiple households and routing their routes more efficiently. Not only are these cluster-routed delivery services more convenient and time efficient than you going out of your way to go to the store, but they are actually helping our air quality.”

I suppose that might be true if you weren’t merely stopping to get groceries as a short side trip to your morning bicycle espresso run. The vehicle I use to deliver my items uses only the CO2 I exhale, which really isn’t much more than I’d exhale watching the morning news. The coolest aspect is that by the time I get back, I’m fully awake and ready for another beautiful day. No windshield required…

Caw Caw

Crow in Ocean Shores

Washington State truly IS different than North Texas. You see, North Texas has few crows. Instead, it has grackles. Grackles look vaguely like crows (they are NOT closely related), except they congregate in larger numbers and have longer tail feathers. Both are black. Washington has, on the other hand, LOTS of crows and no grackles at all as far as I know.


Crow PAIR in Ocean Shores

Crow Surveys its Domain

Lately, I’ve been noticing crows and grackles a lot more than formerly. The notice occurs partly because I’ve seen some good books and a DVD on crows. The first book I was exposed to was “Crow Planet.” It’s a good overview on crows and how they interact with humans. Perhaps even better for a “first exposure” to crow society is the DVD “A Murder of Crows.”

For those that already have gotten past initial crow interest, two other books are “Gifts of the Crow” and “In the Company of Crows and Ravens.”
Perhaps significantly, the Colleyville TX library has no books on crows. The smaller Ocean Shores WA library has two books on crows AND the DVD. Personally, I like crows a LOT better than grackles. They simply seem a lot more personable. YOUR mileage may vary.

FYI, the Amazon links are purely for convenience. Amazon doesn’t pay me to hype their site and I didn’t go to same for any of the four references.

Did Crows Snatch this Mailbox's Eye?

Kermit Goes AWAY

The Start of the Adventure - a Failed Toe Clip Strap

Honestly, there’s not usually a lot of drama to cycling around Ocean Shores. The roads are so massively overbuilt that it is a “traffic jam” when a cyclist sees more than two cars at a single moment. There might not be much in the way of sidewalks for pedestrians, but as noted here, sidewalks are illegal for cyclists to go on anyway as I discovered recently – even cyclists that are not beyond training wheels in their appreciation of how to deal with traffic. Checking city records, the only cyclist injury was one in 1982 where a child fell while attempting to follow the city “extreme right” mandate. Like a lot of cyclists, I experience some trepidation whenever I see a police SUV, but again, like most, the police are not targeting cyclists the way they do in New York City and my blood pressure soon drops.

Still, there ARE a few dramatic moments around Ocean Shores. Yesterday and today, I experienced aggressive motorist honking, FREEZING conditions, and the temporary loss of Kermit, my own honking companion. All this was prompted by the failure of a bicycle component. The story follows:

First off, you can see how my toe clip strap failed. It did yeoman duty over 40 years, but the leather finally gave up the ghost. A new one is on order from Amazon (there being NO local bike shops) and my trip to the PO Box led to the SECOND moment of drama.

Kermit's GONE!!!!

You see, Kermit went away. For those “not in the know,” Kermit is my little frog squeaky that gives a bit of whimsy to my bike. Kermit has various moods, ranging from happy to “Rantwick Mad.” Kermit disappeared somewhere after I stopped at the IGA for the daily grocery additions. After a moment of indecision about whether to abandon Kermit to its fate or to go back, I did the right thing, retraced my route, and discovered Kermit back on Chance a La Mer near the IGA. Later, I was to discover Kermit had been hit by a motorist, but all in good time.



Kermit's Recovered - and Smiley

I took advantage after the Kermit recovery of taking a couple of “Kermit’s Missing” shots, which is when I witnessed the motorist honking. Momma Deer was in the road, waiting for her growing fawn when a motorist came along and felt the need to honk at her. She stood her ground, looking back, then moved a bit forward and the motorist then made a full lane change and passed. Soon, baby came bounding along and they both left the roadway. Based on news reports, a dozen or more deer have been hit by motorists recently, so a honking episode is not as offensive as it might initially appear.

Momma Deer Waits For Her Faun as a Motorist Honks

After all this adventure, I got home and discovered even more. As seen below, it looks like Kermit was run over by the tires of a motorist. It isn’t possible to tell if it was a Nissan Rogue motorist attempting to relive fantasies shown in NFL commercials or some other, but Kermit seemed little the worse for wear. Personally, it is the closest call I’ve experienced since here.

Kermit After Getting Hit by a Motorist. Looks Like he's gonna Recover

This morning, it was freezing. That may not appear amazing to my loyal reader from points east of Ocean Shores, but it WAS the first time I’ve seen ice since I came back from North Texas.

Freeze at Ocean Shores Golf Course

 

Ace Hardware adds Proof that OS is Cold - Brrr! GO SEAHAWKS!

 

What's a Warning to Do?



CURRENT WARNING - Older Adults Should Limit Outdoor Activity - and How Old are "Older" Adults?

THURSDAY UPDATE
One of the above came out at 4:46PM this afternoon, precisely as I was halfway home on my bike. After the fact warnings are not too useful!

Sometimes government, at least at the local level, is phenomenally responsive. One might wonder about this sometimes. I'll give you an example. NCTCOG sends me email alerts when pollution levels get high. Things are, in theory, pretty bad when there is an Orange Pollution Warning. We're told to limit outdoor activity.

The alerts that have been issued SINCE "Bike to Work Day" look like the picture above. I asked the NCTCOG lady about those warnings, and particularly their mention of bikes as shown in the "before" warnings that are pictured below.

No, I didn't suggest they actually eradicate cycling from their suggestions, merely that they might want to consider what they are advising. Mostly, I get these after I have left for work and am checking my email at Starbucks on the way home. Yup, simply based on a semi-serious inquiry at BTW Day, NCTCOG has changed their email broadcasts. I was surprised, particularly after the response I got from Fort Worth when I made input to their bike plan.

Government response aside, has anyone in otherwise reasonable health ever suffered some sort of damage due to failure to limit outdoor activity during such episodes? For example, would the Cowboys or Rangers cancel a game due to a pollution warning?



Before BTW Day, We Older Types Were Supposed to Limit Outdoor Activity but Were Also
Supposed Bike or Walk Instead of Driving

Helmetlessly Hurting

Yesterday, I wasn't wearing my helmet. I knew that not wearing it exposed me to the risk of a brain injury. I, too, have read the newspaper scare comments about cyclists eating (or is it drinking?) through a straw and (insert your favorite troll comment here). I've even hit my head before. As is usual in such cases, the event was totally unexpected, though foreseeable to any dispassionate observer. To modify a phrase to better suit the collision in question: "When an engineer and a filing cabinet collide, the cabinet always wins." Though, in my own defense, the cabinet suffered a dent and thus did not get away totally unscathed. When I donned my helmet for the ride home, I felt that cabinet's pain all the way home. Ditto for the commute today. Luckily for where I work, it did not QUITE rise to the status of a recordable incident. Darn that Safety Pyramid!

Earth Day in North Texas

Earth Day this year was a bit different in the past. To start with, because it corresponded with Good Friday, I got the day off. To continue, because of our nasty weather last February, the local schools were in session. With "Bike to Work Month" coming up, I decided to dust off the bike and take a little trip around the area and report on various observations. After all, I've not ridden it for a whole day (yes, this is all sarcasm)
 

Nowadays, Schools are Traffic Obstacles

 First off, I was reminded once again of the difference in motor traffic around schools now compared to the first Earth Day. This first photo shows the traffic light leading to Trinity High School in Euless, Texas. Actually, the photo shows the SECOND light cycle as I went forward along with all the motoring dropoff traffic. After the intersection, there were lots of motoring students and motoring moms zipping about. It being Earth Day, none of them were inclined towards hostile acts against any non-motor traffic. Actually, I don't think any of them were probably thinking about "green" at the time. They just wanted to get to school. It's a far cry from the motoring to school situation on the first Earth Day.

After I got past all the motorists at Trinity, I noticed that gasoline has risen a bit in price lately. It seems that things will soon get above $4 per gallon even in an oil state such as Texas. While some might cheer this situation, I forseen yet another rise in price in bicycle tubes and in the food goods that feed cyclists. In truth, while hard-core motorists may suffer more than me, no one benefits from having to work longer to transport things. Well, except for those that pump the oil from the ground.

Gasoline Prices are RISING. The Bird, on the Other Hand, is Taking a Rest

Anyway, one of the things that prompted me to rise and ride on a holiday was a coffee chain promotion that promised a free coffee if you brought a travel mug. While most might not have appreciated it, I found it a bit ironic that this corporation encouraged people to DRIVE to a coffee store and idle their motor vehicles in line in order to feel good about not using an easily recycled paper cup. Still, their heart is in the right place, though it'd be righter if they had real bike parking.


Motorists Abounded for the Coffee Earth Day Promotion

 

Travel Mug Got You a Free Coffee Even if You Were the Only Non Motoring Customer. Yay!

Regardless, I went with the drill and brought my own travel mug out from the cupboard. When this store didn't have the bold coffee I prefer, I went with the corporate motto and stated "Pike is better than nothing!"

What can I say, I'm a sucker for free coffee. What's more, I couldn't resist the opportunity to show how a Starbucks travel mug works with a Specialized water bottle holder. Actually, I'll use ANY excuse to slip a photo of Buddy into a post. For those interested in recent history trivia, you'll note that my bike doughnuts have not been tweaked as of this date...

While I was imbibing the brew, one of the motorists, waiting in the drive-through lane, ran over the bottle below and shot it toward my feet. Being a good "green" guy, I relocated the bottle to the nearest waste receptacle. I noticed that it contained 14 carbs in one serving when full so it wasn't anything I would have drunk in any event.



The Bottle was Shot Towards Me Inadvertently When a Motorist in the Drive Through Line Ran it Over

Soon, it came time to turn homeward. I noted the added irony that even in what would be rural scenes, our mechanized modern life intrudes. The horses don't mind, so I guess it shouldn't cause me to pause, either.
 

Suburban Scene - Horses and Travel Trailers

Proceeding along, I was reminded that Oncor has committed to add more trails under transmission rights of way, as noted in THIS press release. While I don't know what it actually means, nor whether the trails might be properly engineered (unlike the Bedford trail in the photo), my inclination is that more choices are good and that I have the knowledge to recognize and avoid the dangers in such facilities should they be of use to me.


The Oncor Power Company Has Committed to Build More Trails Such as This. If They Read My Blog, Those Trails Would be Safer

Oh, almost forgot, I also used the morning to better road test some ex-Chandra sandals. They're a bit tight (he wears a half size smaller than my norm), but might actually work if I left the socks at home.


Oh, Yes, Sandals Seemed to be Something to Try Today as Well



Suburbs Really AREN'T Quite Urban for Cyclists

Suburbia - Northbound Bedford Euless Road in Bedford. My Motorists Line Up.

Lately, it seems I've been noticing some bad PR about cycling in suburban areas. Well, perhaps, some simply haven't turned around and stopped to notice that the suburbs offer some beauty for those that stop and take the time to look.

As a case in point, I wrote here about the suburban choices of filtering or permeating. The traffic looked like that shown above. However, I didn't mention at that time what might be seen by turning to the RIGHT instead of focusing on the traffic. THAT is what is seen below.



Creek, Shot from Bedford Euless Road in Bedford. Looking Roughly East

Despite the suburban nature of my v3 commute, this morning I saw what was either a fox or a coyote. It was hard to tell for sure and it didn't stick around for a closer examination. 

My Motorists Never See THIS Scene. They Travel Down the Road, Never Sensing What is There for Those that Simply Stop for a Look.



Geese!

Yesterday, I got lost in Hurst, Texas. My loyal reader may realize that geese and motorists have the common feature that they honk. While I was lost, I saw a LOT of geese. More accurately, I saw a lot of pictures of geese. Or maybe they were ducks. It's hard to tell. They all looked like the photo below.

Goose (or maybe it's a duck) Warning to Motorists

Goose crossing signs are not exactly a rare sight at ponds and creeks around North Texas. One might wonder if motorists actually need to be warned that there might be water birds around water, but that is a subject for another time. Still, it seems to me that two or three goose crossing warnings ought to be enough. While I was wandering around this Hurst neighborhood in the dark, it seemed that there were a half dozen or more goose signs. They were as prolific as Canada Goose droppings at the Boeing Everett Plant.

I never did see an actual live goose, much less hear one honk. I think they tend to stay off the roads until daylight. For the record, I didn’t see any “dog crossing” signs. Perhaps the Hurst leash laws are 100% effective.

The Nearest Possible Water is Over Two Blocks Away Down This Hill.
Have YOU Ever Seen Water Birds Trooping Across a Street Half Way Up a Hill?

Earth Day Thoughts

So, you felt GOOD about riding your bike to work today? Go HERE for another perspective. Myself, I'm not quite ready to play Russian Roulette with five cylinders loaded, nor to go shopping for a Hummer at their "going out of business" sale. Just go ride your bike for the sheer GLORY of it, and remember that the rest is minor...