For the Birds

Hi there. Remember me? No apologies or promises to post more often ... just pictures of a bird who appears to have taken up residence in a birdhouse in the backyard. A House Sparrow, I believe.

Bicycle Commuting

I am a bicycle commuter.

Well, I guess that is not entirely true. I am a commuter in the same way that someone who fell into the pool qualifies as a swimmer.

But, all things considered, I have commuted to work, on my bike, twice this week.

It wasn’t necessarily by choice, although I have been thinking that as close as I live (around 2 miles), riding my bike was a viable option. When you have multiple cars on paper, but only one that is currently usable … and that one is out of town, then you have no choice but to commute. Or walk. Walking did not sound fun, so commute it was.

Now that I am an “expert,” I will share some thoughts on “commuting.”

Having a fancy bicycle messenger bag does not mean you have a “light” bicycle messenger bag. It can be a plastic bag—if you put a ton of stuff in it, it will still weigh a ton and you will feel it all the way to work. And then all the way home.

A fancy messenger bag that weighs a ton will cause you to lean one direction or the other. Or, it will cause you to feel like you are being strangled to death. None of these options are optimum riding conditions.

Commuting through one of the busiest intersections in town is not nearly as scary as one might think. I will admit I used the crosswalks (When people stop driving like idiots on the streets, I will stop riding like one on the sidewalk.), but I did not have to wait long at any intersection, nor did I feel like I was playing Frogger.

It pays to have air conditioning at your work as well as a fan and to be able to sit for a few minutes in hopes that your sweat dries before making marks on your shirt or more importantly, the back of your pants. Something about the thought of that just really bothers me.

For me, bike commuting actually takes about the same amount of time as driving my vehicle. Perhaps it is because I live so close, but I can be at work in about 10 minutes in the car with perhaps a few more minutes during 5:00 traffic home. After two round trips, I managed a total time of 22:00 and 23:00 minutes. Not too bad. (This does not, however, include changing time or sitting in front of the fan drying off time.)

Commuting to work makes you feel like you are “doing your part.” You know, being green, saving the planet, earth first!, and all that great stuff.

Even if it is just a couple of miles.

Bears in Aspen

Who else thinks this would be a great reality series?

Drought may drive the bears into downtown | Aspen Daily News Online

Pop-Ups

While Mom and Dad were here, we went to an exhibit of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart pop-up books at the Texas Tech Museum. After checking Sabuda's website, we discovered he had some do-it-yourself ideas. Grace chose a tiger, Luke a shark, and I went for a ship.

Here is the before...

And the after...

Check it out - he has plenty of designs to try out.

Bison, Hiking, and a Little Sidetrack

We have had a great weekend. Mom and Dad were here for the weekend (which we always enjoy). I preached Sunday morning (first time in about 8 years). I watched the last 30 laps of the Indy 500 (which was the best part, apparently, as well as extending my streak for watching it to at least 37 years). I took a nap (nothing really to add here). We went to group, where we had a cookout and played volleyball (one of the best groups we have had all year and perhaps the meeting which may make all of my curriculum a "no longer needed" item).

Caprock Canyons State Park has released their bison herd into a large area of the park and since I have wanted to see them for some time, we decided to head up there for the day to take look. Here's how they look...

The cool thing about the way they have set up their enclosure, when you drive into the park, you are actually driving into the area where the bison roam. At times, they will come right up to the road, like here (Grace and Luke are standing on the road and the bison is the required 50 yards away, but had just crossed right where they are standing)...

As we drove around, we got to see several groups of them, including a couple of them who were butting heads, and three who walked just off the road like they were walking with us as we drove along in our car (which, by the way, is a tad bit smaller than a bison).

After checking them out for a while, we had a picnic, then went to hike a little bit up the Upper Canyon Trail. We have been up this trail before and there has been water in some of the water crossings, but it was too dry this year for that.

As we got close to the parking lot on our way back, a man ran up to us yelling "Call 911. My girlfriend has fallen and needs help. Can you help?"

I took off with the man as he took me down a steep ravine (actually where the river runs when it has water), then backtracked to where his girlfriend had been exploring and fell about 10 feet into the ravine. She was saying that if we just picked her up, she could hop out (a distance of about 300 yards, if we went down the river to the closest crossing, then back up). It was obvious based on her pain ... and the fact she was bleeding profusely, although she had landed on her foot in what amounted to a sand bed ... that she was not hobbling anywhere.

They had already put an ice pack--probably from their cooler--on her ankle, but did not have anything else. I yelled for Luke to bring down my pack and for Jana to get to the headquarters to get the rangers. I have carried a small first-aid kit for a while to deal with scrapes while mountain biking, although I did not have nearly what one would want for a compound fracture. I put what I had on it, although in hindsight I am kicking myself for not using a shirt, which would have given us more material to work with, and then sent Luke up a different trail I knew led to a gate where the ranger could drive in to flag him/her down.

They arrived after about 20 minutes and were able to bandage her some more, then we lifted her into the truck and slowly backed out. As we get almost to the trail out, the man looked up at a big canyon wall and said "See, this was what I was hoping we could get a picture of." She pulled a camera out of her pocket and took a picture, all the while lamenting that her foot was going to be in the picture. I told her it was fitting that it was and think of the memories she was making. I couldn't tell if the groan she gave was a groan of agreement or pain...

We parked near the road and waited for the ambulance. They confirmed the compound fracture and were concerned about the bleeding, so quickly loaded her and took her off.

We decided we had enough excitement for the day, so headed back to Lubbock.

Grace insisted tonight when I was lying down with her that I saved this woman's life. (When she and Jana were running into the park office, Grace told Jana that she had never saved anyone's life before, and "Momma, you just got to run faster!!") I didn't, but am thankful that we were there when we were or the situation could have been much, much worse. I am also grateful for the first-aid training I have had (first in college as a PE major, then a couple of times later as a part of lifeguard training) and that although I did not have everything I would have liked in my kit, I did have something and knew how to use it.

Now, I am ready for a calm Tuesday, if you don't mind!

Word for the day...

Waiting

Ummmm.....

Really?