Sunday, April 27, 2008

On the way to work...


So the Twins bats kind of came alive against Texas in the first two games of that series. Morneau hit a grand slam (and they still lost) , Cuddyer came back from the DL to hit a three-run blast. Delmon Young got a couple of RBI. Then they fell asleep again in the third game. Gonna be a long year.

These are the kinds of things I think about on the way to work. Also...

Rice County, where I live and work, has some interesting contrasts: suburban sprawl, quaint small towns, and the predominant still-rural feel. Some mornings, on my short drive through the countryside to work, I will see very few other cars. That's nice.

Other things I've seen on the drive to work:

Bald eagles
Blue herons
Red-tailed hawks
White egrets
Wild turkeys
Ring-necked pheasant
Ducks
Geese
Barn swallows
Gulls
Beavers
Muskrats
Raccoons (mostly carrion)
Skunks
Cats 'n' dogs
Deer
Squirrels (black, brown, red)
Horses (domesticated, including some massive Belgian draft horses)
Burros *
Sheep
Pigs**
Turtles (sunning themselves on a big rock in an oxbow off the Cannon River)
Green algae
A rusted-out Jeepster
Several barns and sheds that are slowly succumbing to gravity

All in all, it's a pleasant drive, even in winter.


* I can understand why people around here raise horses, even when those horses aren't intended for work or racing. But burros?
** On the first truly beautiful spring day this year, I was watching a gentleman in a Mazda Miata, top down, zipping along the country road, enjoying the sun and scenery. About half way home, we drove along Pork Chop Ridge, so named because it is occupied by a large hog-raising operation. The smell was overpowering. Ah, springtime!

3 comments:

  1. On my way to work, I see:

    the bathroom
    the kitchen
    a cup of coffee
    a bowl of cereal
    the stairs
    a pile of dirty clothes on the floor

    ReplyDelete
  2. And who knows what forms of life might be lurking in that pile of laundry.

    ReplyDelete
  3. For close to 10 years, I drove one or more of my daughters to school in Nerstrand most days of the week, nine months a year. I credit those almost daily drives with my deepening interest in birds and other wildlife. I remember seeing:
    wild turkeys
    ring-necked pheasants (lots)
    deer
    red-tailed hawks
    herons
    egrets
    turkey vultures
    a northern harrier
    killdeer
    an immature bald eagle
    and, of course, cows and horses

    I also liked watching the daily progress of the soybeans in early fall as the waves of yellow, then brown, swept over the formerly lush green fields. I became much more aware of the small, incremental changes as one season transitioned into the next. I miss that drive.

    ReplyDelete

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