Amazement & Humility Strike Simultaneously

Yesterday was a great day.  I was outside a whole bunch and accomplished many little tasks.  These were things I wanted to nail before the predicted rain of last night arrived. Things like vacuuming-up the seeming mountains of birdseed hulls under the bird feeders, raking and smoothing some of the ruts left by the tree removers earlier in the week, and a few other odds & ends that, in my mind, just needed to happen before the rain.  If you share any of my blessing & curse OCD tendencies, you know exactly what I am talking about.

My front window, near my desk, looks out on the College Green Park. While enjoying a great cup of Colectivo coffee I was standing at this window checking things out. I noticed some white patches in the woods just west of the park.  I couldn’t quite make out what they were so retrieved my binoculars from the rear windows in the house where I keep them to observe the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and whatever is happening out that way.  I thought these patches were jonquils but would have been very surprised had they been in bloom yet.  I couldn’t get the detail I wanted, even with the field glasses, so I decided to walk over and check things out.  That’s when I discovered several large clumps of blooming snowdrops. I have lived in my house for 44 years, but never noticed snowdrops in this wood before.  Just goes to show that things can be happening right under one’s snout and, if you’re not paying attention, you miss it.  Life is like this in so many ways.  I am tying hard to be intentional about noticing things that, perhaps, I didn’t have time to notice before the virus.  Not having the time is really a lame excuse because life is always about choices of how we invest our time, how we respond to others and the world, how we chose to spend our heartbeats.  Here’s a spoiler – these little woods, right across from my house on East High, very soon will literally be carpeted with blueish purple scilla flowers. Any day now.  Will you notice?

I also got to spend some great time on the bike trail with Biker Gang Member #2, Gus.  He was pushing to head out and it sure didn’t take much to convince me. So, it was ‘bikers up’ and away we went down the hill.  I queried Gus about how far he wanted to ride but he was non-committal in a positive way. Being an annoying grandfather, I pursued him with questions.  Did he want to try the switchbacks today and, if so, at the beginning of our ride or at the conclusion?  He wasn’t sure. Please realize that he’s twelve and my questions can be a bit much for him at times.  By default, we saved the switchbacks for the end. Of course, by then we would be warmed-up, loose, and powerful. We are legends in our minds – that keeps us going sometime.  So then, I suggested he watch for things as I would ask him his top five observations from the ride and, maybe, he could even expand that into an essay he could turn in for extra credit or something.  I noticed he was distancing himself from me a bit more.  Probably just complying with social distancing.  The ride was nice. There was not much wind. I reduced the pace of my questions.  We were most impressed by the frog “song” as we stopped for rest at the Klug Road cul-de-sac.  It hadn’t been there a few days ago (isn’t God amazing?) and now it approached symphonic proportions.  If you want to hear this yourself, you could bike there, park your car on Bowers Lake Road and walk there, or simply drive there from Old 26.

We stopped for another rest at the top of the hill just north of Klug Road where there is a nice bench.  We had to slurp a bit of Gatorade, sit for a moment on something other than a bike seat, and gaze upon our outdoor realm.  From the bench, I pointed out the County N bridge about a mile to our north and just shy of that the Otter Creek bridge. Gus was up first and ready to go on.  We rode all the way to County N where Gus announced we were reversing.  It’s roughly 4.2 miles to County N from my garage so, obviously, would be about 4.2 miles to return.  Gus is a numbers whiz and I knew 8.4 or 8.5 for the entire trip wouldn’t quite do for him.  He would want 10. So, I began to talk about 10 and how we could get those extra couple of miles in when we got back to Storrs Lake Road.  He was still non-committal about doing the switchbacks. For those of your uninitiated to the trail, the switchbacks take you up and over the railroad tracks that run parallel to Storrs Lake Road.  If you are riding south you have a long, steep ascent and then a nice, snake-like, descent to E. High St, (old 59). If you start on E. High and ride north your have a steep ascent up the snake-like switchbacks and then an amazing downhill to Storrs Lake Road.  These ascents are not the Alps, but they are not for the faint of heart or out of shape grandfathers and 12-year-old grandsons. They are doable but challenging.  Gus decided – he was even excited about doing them so up and over we went.  We lived to continue riding.  We proceeded south on the trail and looped along the RR siding under the new 59, back to, what I call, the Café 26 stop light (great place to eat) and then up St. Mary St. to Campus Street, finishing with a short downhill to my driveway.  As we approach the driveway I tell Gus that my odometer indicated we were at 9.95 miles.  He insisted we turn down Columbus street until we turned up 10 miles.  We hit that at Jim Lyke’s sidewalk to nowhere.  Only then could we turn back and head in the driveway.  We set a tangible goal, we discussed it, we encouraged each other, we worked hard and enjoyed ourselves and, oh, that feeling of accomplishment!  We were righteous.

But, there’s another story about this trip that demands to be told.  After we reversed to head south, at the downhill just north of Klug Road, we saw two riders heading toward us and they were moving.  We edged to the right to ensure they had room.  They had just flown down the descent on the south side of the Klug Road and were leveraging their momentum to head up the incline we were heading down. In other words, they were pedaling like crazy.  One of the pair was on a recumbent bike and as I watched, I realized I knew him.  It was Jeremy, whom I know from church, and he was pedaling with his arms. Why, you might ask?  Because Jeremy doesn’t have the use of his legs.  I was moved to tears as, again, the impact of life and our choices hit me smack in the face.  Boy, God was knocking me around a bit yesterday. Jeremy, pedaling with his arms was smoking up that hill, probably faster and more powerfully than I could have had I not had Gus with me.  You should know that Jeremy is an incredible athlete – he is very involved with wheelchair basketball at UW-Whitewater. But, Holy Moly, what I was seeing was incredible.  But there’s more.  Remember those switchbacks I was mentioning.  Gus and I had just made it to the top when along came Jeremy and his friend, once again smoking up a major incline, pedaling with his arms.  So, they had gone further north on the trail while Gus and I were heading south, then reversed and not only caught us, but smoked past us again on a major hill. Amazement & Humility Reigned Supreme. 

What a lesson, what an inspiration, what an incredible demonstration of our ability to face nearly anything.  Life threw Jeremy an inability to use his legs, but you should see his arms at work. Life has thrown all of us a virus that has disrupted life as we have known it.  Let’s see what we can deliver!

#cruzan4milton#WAM

Blessings Brought by the Pandemic

There is no need for me go on about the downsides of this pandemic, as all reading this already know. It is important for me to reflect and tell about the blessings this generally dark cloud has brought my way. Let me start with a personal habit.

For years, my body clock has me waking about 3:45 – 4 am. everyday nearly without fail. In many ways this is a blessing in that it allows me to have accomplished a great deal, sometimes before other’s feet have hit the floor. Now that I am retired, it is pretty much a curse. I diligently tried to change this when I first retired but finally gave up. I could not make any progress, so I decided to embrace it. More recently, this virus came along and created havoc with our routines. Meetings, connections, deadlines, schedules were non-existent. It was almost like waiting to exhale. I can’t deny there are major downsides, but also, there are positive changes. My body just seems to know this without me telling or trying to coerce it. The past couple of days I have not hauled my sorry carcass out of the sack until 6:30 or later. This is a major, positive change for me. I feel almost decadent.

Other changes include a softening of my edges in my ability to notice things as I am out and about. Things like the first chipmunks, the sounds of the first robins days before I actually saw them, the cacophony of the flocks of red-winged blackbirds just arriving out by the bike trail, the emerging scilla along the wall across the street, a couple of lonely wooly bears trying to warm in the sunshine. Oh, and the wonder, joy, and absolute blessing in being able to spend time with young grandboys.

Now, just for the record, and in case you didn’t know, I am very involved with my grandboys and my life is much the richer for this. However, the past couple of days have been even better because the pressure of school, athletics, and a myriad of other community activities has been lifted. Again, it is like exhaling pent- up breath, tension, and energy. It is welcome. It is good. And I am in the right place at the right time.

So, on Tuesday, we had TJ (10) & Emmit (almost 8) all day long. I could tell the boys were different when they arrived at the house on Tuesday morning. To be fair, not all of this was rosy. The boys were out of their normal routines and, let’s face it, we all like and depend on those routines. They are our security, our homeostasis, our comfort. And, those things were knocked around. Thus, behaviors were a bit edgy as that anxiety of the unknown played out a bit.

But then, we got into our activities. There was some cognitive time, lessons, reading time, and discussions about what our schedules should be. Then came a few games of giant spoons. Oh, what fun!

Do you remember the outstanding feeling of being an almost 8 year old with a brand new bicycle just begging to be ridden? Well, this was Emmit personified. He has been riding for a number of years and is pretty accomplished. He has had a couple of bikes but always hand-me-downs and never a new one of his own. His early birthday present was a new Giant hybrid. Great bike for him and you might have thought he was at the wheel of a Ferrari. Of course, he was champing at the bit to mount up. He planned an in-town route and I told him I would go with, but I would walk as it was still pretty chilly. The wild abandon and unadulterated joy of a new bike is like nothing else. I feel it as I enter my 7^th decade and Emmit brought that feeling to life for me just by watching his little body and that bike take off. I remember my first new bike but that is the stuff of another post. Of course, he really wanted to ride on the bike trail and for me to be on my bike with him. I wanted that also, but I wanted it just a bit warmer. We agreed that pedaling the trail would be first on the list after lunch. It was only mid-morning and Emmit decided he wanted some inside time.

TJ had been out in our woods working on his mountain bike trail. Both boys had been working on the trail. They brought their special hammocks with them – you’ll seem them hanging between the trees near their trail in the pics below. After showing me a couple of jumps he had perfected, TJ decided to help me bring a few wheelbarrow loads of firewood to the basement. He’s a great worker and I was happy to have the help. We had a great discussion about how his dad uses the bucket on their tractor to carry firewood. He also remarked that he thought the wheelbarrow was easier than transporting the wood by toboggan which we had done when the ground was covered with snow. His big question was which was better, a round log or one that had been split with flat edges. Those of you who work with firewood know that there is no simple answer to that question as there are many variables to consider.

After that activity we ignited a fire in the woods fire pit. Sue was pulling all the winter cover evergreen branches (I could tell you how see obtained these but that is also the stuff of another post) from her plants and window boxes so a small fire seemed to be the best way to dispose of them. Ah, a boy and his fire. You’ll see some pics later.

Finally, lunch time but, even better, bike trail time. Emmit donned his biking gear and wanted to know what I was going to wear. You have to understand Emmit’s great interest in clothes to understand the next few sentences. He watches everything that I wear with great detail. He went to my closet with me to help make my selections. He wanted me to wear a very colorful bike jersey I picked up in Fruita, CO (a very biking town) last summer. Its visibility makes it a great choice for a biker. He remembered me wearing it when Sue and I returned from our trip to southern Utah & Colorado. Sorry to digress (not really) but I enjoy getting biking jerseys as souvenirs from some of the places we visit. That particular jersey is short-sleeved. I thought the temp too chilly for short sleeves so chose a heavier long-sleeved jersey. Emmit did approve that one as a second choice. He told me that it was quite bright also. Water bottles wouldn’t do for the boys today, they had to have camelbacks, so that delayed us for a bit to dig those out and ensure they were working and adjusted properly. We also had to choose the proper snack to carry in our bike jersey pockets.

Finally geared-up, Emmit, TJ, & I headed for the trail. Our access point on Storrs Lake Road is just a mile from my garage. The boys raced all the way out Storrs Lake Road but slowed a bit when we hit the trail. It was beautiful out. Emmit was in seventh heaven on his new bike. I was feeling pretty good also, being out with these two guys. Emmit said to me, “Pop Pop, this is great. We should do it together every day.” Now, there’s a statement to get one’s attention. We crossed Bowers Lake Road and cruised down to the Klug Road cul-de-sac which we had to circle a few times. We determined that our next goal was the bench a couple of hundred yards further on. We sat on the bench and munched our granola bars. TJ recalled that this was the spot where he and Sue repaired the fence sometime last summer. He had to inspect their work which was still holding. We were right next to a harvested corn field so the boys engaged in a wild corn cob fight for a while. Emmit was thinking we should head back but we decided to go on to the Otter Creek bridge which we could see from the bench. That was a good choice as the boys parked their bikes and headed down under the bridge to throw stones in the water. I finally had to roust them out as I think they would have stayed all night. We reversed and headed south. Of course, we had to ride down to the lake on the way home and see if anyone was fishing. There were a couple of young men there, but we didn’t see any fish.

We arrived home tired with some sore muscles but also with big smiles and a great feeling of accomplishment. We proudly clocked 9.5 miles.

We had just stowed the bikes and gear and started some baseball when, wouldn’t you know it, mom arrived to take them home. I sent her on home and told her I would bring the boys later. This would give her time to go for a run or a bike herself and unwind a bit.

So, the close to a great day. Bonding with two great boys, sharing a small fire, building a bike trail in the woods, biking on the Glacial River Trail, snacking on a bench on a beautiful afternoon with roller bladers and runners passing by, capturing a wooly bear, throwing stones in the creek, a bit of baseball, giant spoons, and memories to last a life time.

So where did I start with all this? Without the pandemic, Emmit, TJ, Sue & I would not have had this day - this very special day - with things a bit more relaxed and slower paced. I am not happy about the pandemic and I do wish it were not happening but I can't control that. What I can control is my reaction to it. While taking it seriously and following recommended precautions, and complaining about the upset to my life and routines, I am also embracing and trying to make the most of those changes. I am blest beyond measure to live in Milton, to be in the same community with my daughters, their husbands, and their boys. God, in his infinite wisdom, removed responsibilities and commitments from my life and gave me this day. It was a good one.

#cruzan4milton#WAM

Itching To Pedal

I’ve been itching to get out on Double Shot (my bike – named for my favorite Starbucks beverage – decaf double shot on ice no classic) for the past couple of weeks. It just seemed like time. On Sunday, the temps made it into the 50’s with nice sunshine so I freed Double Shot from the trainer in the dark basement, brought him to the garage, aired-up the tires and set out for the bike trail with grandson, Gus. We headed out Storrs Lake Road to that gem, The Glacial River Trail. Things were going great as we headed north until went encountered a shady protected spot still covered with considerable snow. This was just as we headed up hill before the descent to the Klug Road cul-de-sac. This spot gets little sun and is protected by woods. We wisely choose to turn around. The head wind as we returned south was brutal, especially for our first-time-out-conditioning (or the lack thereof). We toured the boat launch area before heading home. Our computers were not seated properly or had not yet waked up from their winter naps so were not registering properly. I estimated about a 4-mile ride. I declare that pretty good for the first ride of spring with a body that looked and felt a bit like a beached whale.

So today (Tuesday), I was meeting a friend at Café 26 (great food) for lunch. We hadn’t chatted for a while and I was looking forward to reconnecting. I decided to walk – not really very far for me. I was considering a bike ride later in the afternoon but, even though sunny, it seemed a bit too cool for that. You should know that I have never been a cold weather biker. This friend is a person whom I take advantage of by sucking energy from him. He almost always provides me with a good infusion. We all need someone like this in our lives. Today was classic and his words during lunch led me over the psychological edge of not biking. So, out I went again heading north on the bike trail. I was a tad cool at first but warmed up very quickly.

Quite frankly, I stopped thinking about the temp as the rhythm of the bike and the appreciation of the trail occupied my thought. On the bike, my mind frees-up and flows much more creatively. I saw work that needs to be done on days when I don’t bike. There’s a lot of litter to pick up – stuff that blows in over the winter. There are a few places where tree branches dropped over the winter. They have been moved off the trail but there are twigs and bark and stuff of that sort, which is not fun to bike through, so needs to be swept off. The snow I ran into on Sunday was still there, but the patch was not very long, so I decide to continue. I started to ride through this icy mess and soon realized how foolish that was, especially while clipped in. I was able to walk through it with no issues. Just north of County N is a long stretch (100 yards maybe) covered with pea gravel, that probably was pushed onto the trail by snowplows, just like last year. It’s no one’s fault – just one of those things. If you bike, you know that pea gravel is no fun to encounter so, I will take blower and broom out there sometime soon and clear it off. There are also collections of gravel where the trail crosses roads (especially County N) which will need to be swept. There’s lots of litter around the County N area. The section between Bowers Lake Road and Klug Road has lots of animal excrement. This is near houses of dog owners but that is probably coincidental rather than causative. This scat could be from wild animals but I am not enough of an outdoorsman to identify it. It would be good to have this removed from the trail as well. As you can see, there are opportunities for being outside, getting exercise, and making the trail a better place for all of us. If you ever want to join me in some of these maintenance projects, just give me a holler.

I saw a wooly bear crawling quite quickly across the trail. Just one. I think he may have had his seasons confused. As I crossed Otter Creek I had to stop and listen to the cacophony from the flocks of red-winged blackbirds congregated there. I thought about taking a short video to share here so my readers could hear it, but the highway noise is too loud at that location. I did take a couple of snaps which capture some of the beauty of the day. You'll find them at the end of this post.

Long story short, I had a great 10.5 - mile ride today. It was not too cold. I just had on biking shorts and a long-sleeved biking jersey over a long-sleeved base layer. I was quite warm by the time I returned home feeling righteous and right with the world and I’m happy the season has begun.

Now it's Wednesday, Too cool to bike so I decided to work on some of the projects mentioned above. I was able to collect the litter and remove scat from Storrs Lake Road to Klug Road as well as clear gravel from the Bowers Lake Road crossing. While working around the kiosk on Storrs Lake Road, a pickup truck pull over next to me. It was my MUHS Class of 68 friend, Kerry Hull. He had been picking up litter around the boat launch area. Thank you, Kerry. We had a nice chat and commiserated about the slovenliness of the American public. So, I clocked more than 15, 000 steps on my phone, earned a nice feeling of accomplishment by making a good chunk of our bike trail more attractive, and am pleasantly fatigued tonight.

Life is good in my world. I hope it is in yours as well.

#cruzan4milton#WAM