Nothing To Get Excited About

This morning was nothing to get excited about. The temperature was snot-freezing low; the kind of cold that makes your tires feel not entirely round for the first mile or so. I had a meeting in Anoka so I wasn't sure I would get a place to park in the lot when I arrived after the meeting. As I drove to Blaine from Anoka around 9 o'clock, I saw the most amazing sun dog I have ever seen in my life. I had my eyes on it the entire trip. Usually I see a small parentheses shaped sundog on either side of the sun. But this morning it was huge and I could pick out every color in the rainbow. Closest to the sun was the purple and blue then green, red, orange, yellow and a huge band of white. I've never seen the colors so brilliant in a sundog. The white part was very wide closer to the horizon. And as I looked up, I could make out an entire arch above the sun. The colors weren't as bright above the sun but I could definitely make out the shape. I was lucky enough to get one of the last spots in the parking lot a LONG way from the door. I bundled my scarf over my neck, slung my purse and lunch bag over my shoulder and my papers under my arm as I walked. I had to walk slow because it was slippery and agitated drivers were patrolling for open spots to park. I saw about 10 birds with speckled backs and black beaks hanging around the crab apple trees bordering the parking lot. I hadn't seen them before. I forgot about the cold and tried to memorize their appearance so I could look it up later. Seeing a new bird is exciting for me. I think they could have been European starlings. As the name implies, European starlings are not a native species. They were introduced by a guy by the name of Eugene Schieffelen who wanted to introduce into this continent every bird mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. He brought 60 birds. Now we have 200 millions European starlings in North America. Some of Shakespeare's fans have a screw loose. In any case, although the morning was nothing to get excited about, two very exciting things did happen.