Wicked Woodchucks, Batgirl!?

June 7, 2011

As many of you know, today was day 3 of the Bike Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN). I am proud to say that my uncle is out there putting in the miles. It has been rather hot here. I sent him an encouraging e-mail (that I imagine he will receive following his long traverse of the long sloping, upside-down Land Cruiser-shaped land that is called Nebraska). Here is a lengthy excerpt:

June 7, 2011
Hi there Uncle Paul!
Hope you are having/had a great time on your BRAN (not sure if you’ll be checking your e-mail on the trip-I would imagine it might not be accessible very often + I wouldn't really want to be bothered if I were you).

Looks like it’s currently a bit toasty out there, but I am hopeful that it is a dry heat. It was hot enough yesterday that I harvested all the leafy greens from the garden (they were starting to bolt), and by the time I was finished I was too late to pedal my bike in to work. I guess that’s not all bad, as it got up to 100, and was a little muggy here.

After work yesterday I got our rotating composter (fashioned from a 55-gallon plastic drum) set up and stuck in some “compostables” (dried grass clippings, old instant coffee [it came with the house], and a few kitchen scraps).

etc.

On my usual bicycle adventure course I was happy to stop and slow things down in order to snap some shots of some of my favorite "trail pals." Here's the first two canine friends that usually run the length of their fenced-in domain with me. (I call the big one Toto and the poodle-ish one Do).

Then there is this peppy scarecrow who changes outfits more often than Lady Gaga.

And of course the dancing bear (possibly an Asian black [green?] bear) shrubbery with his lion friends.

Not sure where their friend, the Tin Man, is hiding out, but I'm sure he can't be far. They are all assuredly excited to once again be in the town hosting the fabulously popular musical - Wicked. Yes, for those who may not be aware, this fantastically fabulous extravaganza is making its third trip through town in as many years. As a stolid supporter of culture of all sorts I would simply love to attend the show, so if you wanna get wicked with this cranky cyclist just lemme know. I've got money to burn, since Lemmy canceled his Motorhead show.

I will be on the lookout for Tinny. In the meantime, I got a prowling puma's eye view of these chunky looking members of the marmot family (aka as woodchucks, groundhogs, or land-beavers).

There were actually 3 of them, although my other photo was even more blurry than this one was. In other suburban mildlife sightings, I spotted, in what may be considered a naturally occurring form of irony, a crow being mobbed by some smaller birds I took to be grackles. I'm pretty sure that crows often mob hawks, too, so back at ya crow. So who's eating crow now!? And what does that expression mean!? Let's go to Wicked and talk like this!? Call me!?