First Sign of Spring

I took the bike path this morning for the first time in a long while and to my surprise was treated to the songs of the red-winged blackbird!  They are always such a welcome sign of spring. 

MCTS App

With snow every other day, I haven't been able to scooter every day but I refuse to get in my car and drive to a park and ride, especially on days when the roads are bad.  So I have started walking to the closest bus stop (about half a mile) and taking that bus, even though it requires a 15-20 minute wait to transfer to a freeway flyer bus.  In doing so, I discovered a way to save money when taking freeway flyers (which are $2.50 a ride). 

If you pay using the Ride MCTS app, it costs $2.00 for a 90 minute ticket on any bus(es), including freeway flyers!  And the app is so easy to use.  You set up a credit or debit card on it.  Then click purchase ticket(s).  And when your bus approaches the stop, you click activate to start the 90 minute clock.  Just show this to the bus driver and you are good to go.  Here are some screen shots:

One driver told me that the way they know the ticket is valid is they see the bus moving.  (You can see just the tail of the bus on the left side towards the bottom of the screenshot above.) The driver indicated that it can be hard to read the countdown of how much time is left on small phones but the bus is easy to see.

Flurries

This is what is getting in the way of scootering.

I’m sick of these little snows every other day!

Weather

It’s pouring rain on this mid-January day, the first workday of this government shutdown, not great weather for a scooter ride so I drove to th park and ride.  (As my office is a mix of essential and non-essential I must report for four hours to receive instructions and help facilitate an orderly shutdown.)

The last few weeks have been scattered with days of just enough snow to make the paths impassible for a scooter but not enough snow for the city to plow the paths (with the exception of this last storm). So I think I have only scootered once in the last three weeks.

That said, I have been enjoying walking through our neighborhood to a different bus route that requires a transfer and as a consequence I discovered a neat park with some history as well as a skate park. Here is a photo:

You see so much more of a city on foot (or scooter). 

Christmas Lights

This is a great time to scooter, as long as you avoid the snowy, slushy days.  The air is crisp.  Christmas lights decorate houses and some of those houses even play music.  We have a house in my neighborhood that goes all out every year with lots of decorations and music playing.  And every year, they do something a little different so it is never exactly the same.  When you drive around in your car, you miss so much.  On my scooter,  I can actually hear the music and I can glide by slowly and take in all the details.  Tonight, I will pick a different route so I can see different lights and decorations.

As another way to get in the mood this year, I decked out my scooter with battery operated Christmas lights.  They make me a little more visible in the dark.  And they make people smile and laugh as I pass by.  There is nothing like bringing a little more joy to someone's life even if it is just for a moment.

Happy Holidays!

Variety is the Spice of Life

I think my co-workers shake their heads at me.  But I don't care.

I've added yet another route to my options to get to and from work.  So now I have at least three different bus routes within scootering distance from my house that I regularly take.  And I have two different bus route options if it is a slushy day or I have appointments requiring me to drive.  They all have slightly different timing and advantages so sometimes I choose my route based on timing or what I have to do that day.  Sometimes in the evening I just take the first bus that arrives.  Sometimes I choose based on the scooter route I want to take (whether it goes through the woods with a chance to see deer or past some favorite Christmas decorations or is shorter on a day I am feeling tired or longer on a day I want to enjoy the outdoors, etc.).  It's funny, just about every day as I walk out with colleagues, they ask me, "so what bus are you taking today?"

It's just really nice to have options.

The Day of Deer

This morning I was waiting at the bus stop on a busy road when not 15 feet away from me a deer step out from the brush.  I went to grab my camera and she turned around and went back into the woods.

Then this evening when I was driving home from choir, a deer crossed the road in front of me less than a half mile from my house.

Leaves on the Path

As the wheels whirl through the leaves
that have scattered across the path,
a satisfying crunch disrupts the songs of the birds
and then echos follow
as the movement tosses leaves in the air
and bounces them off the path.

A Fall Foggy Morning

A scrawny squirrel is startled
by the whirl of the wheels on the pavement.
Its tail camouflaged by the fallen leaves
slivers away like a snake
caught sunning itself on a warm day.

Water droplets escape
the cloud of dense fog that surrounds
and permeates the trees and tall grass
leaving their mark on the asphalt
and on my nose.

Great Blue Heron and New Path

Both yesterday and this morning, a beautiful great blue heron was standing guard at the pond.  As one of my favorite birds, this was a wonderful way to start out a gorgeous morning.

In addition, last Wednesday, they paved a sidewalk which gives me a shorter scooter ride home.  They opened "my" sidewalk this week so I gave it a test drive and am enjoying it.  Ride along with me.