Nine Mile Ride

This afternoon I left my house about 1 p.m. with ten miles on my bike. As I was getting ready to leave my neighbor saw me and asked me a few questions about the bike. I asked him if he wanted to try it and his face lit up. He took it up the hill whooping and hollering like a young boy instead of a very tall millennial. When I got back nine miles later, he took it for another ride down to the local elementary school and past the mayor's house. He just bought a new mountain bike but now he wants one of these. Also he has an indoor/outdoor cat named Donald Ferguson after a forest ranger in Two Harbors. He bought the cat during the rat infestation which happened before I moved in. Evidently road construction near the shore forced the rats to leave the sewers, come up Chester Creek, and live in this area. My neighbor on the other side agreed. She would have 40 rats under her bird coops snacking on spilled bird food. Some were Norway rats but others were pet store rats and they came in a variety of colors. Donald Ferguson patrols the yard during the summer and gets rid of the extra rabbits.  Ferguson killed seven birds last year. I told him I was more of a dog person. I suppressed my opinion about feral cats.

I had a nice ride. First I went  east and then north and west and south. I explored the Saint Scholastica campus and rode past the monastery, the cemetery, the ball fields. The campus was quiet today but I saw one graduate in a blue gown posing for pictures in front of Tower Hall (see picture). My poetry teacher teaches here but I don't know what building. The dormitory buildings have the names of trees. I thought it was strange to see a building named Maple surrounded by spruce trees. College Street has a nice bike path and I felt safe there. My bike enthusiast neighbor has been trying to get the city of Duluth to put bike lanes on Skyline Parkway with posts to separate the bikes from the cars. That would be a great idea.