Truly Awesome Day

A bird woke me up this morning.  Not a cheerful robin singing, "cheerio," or the minor key lament of a morning dove but a Canadian goose honking.  The cool thing about it though was, with the windows open, I could hear the wind moving beneath it's wings so it must have been flying right above my house.  I went back to sleep and dreamed about owls.  I saw a long eared owl and a short eared owl and that was cool.  What was not cool was my coworkers were grabbing the owls and holding them. I told them they should not handle wild owls before I woke up.  After breakfast I went out to the garage to see if the motorcycle would start.  The bike popped right on.  I thought I would wait until my street was swept but I didn't.  I thought I would just ride around my neighborhood but I didn't.  I thought I would just drive to Anoka but I didn't.  I heard there was a great blue heron colony where Dayton Road meets Highway 37 in Otsego.  As I got to that intersection I looked for the colony but it was hard to see the river through all the trees.  Before the thought "I can't see any heron colony," could finish in my head I was startled by the site of a great blue heron flying right over my head with a stick in it's mouth no less.  I made a mental note to plan a kayak trip from Elk River to Anoka this summer so I can see the colony.  It was a great way to see my first of the year great blue heron though.  I biked home in time to grab a quick lunch before heading to the gym and meeting Offspring #2 for a bike ride.  I said I wanted to ride on a trail so we drove to the Wells Fargo near Target Field and biked the Cedar Line Trail to Hopkins.  Biking by Cedar Lake was especially nice because the lake cooled the air and made the air smell lovely.  The trail was very nice and passed a couple community gardens. One of the gardens had a purple martin house and I saw my first of the year purple martins.  We were hot and tired after the ride so we went to Psycho Suzi's for dinner. We watched the Mississippi River roll by as we sat on the patio and ate our dinner.  What a nice day to not work.  Here is a view up the river from the dock at Psycho Suzie's.  The bridge is Lowry Avenue.