Little Blue Heron in Forest Park
I got my good deed for the day done first thing Sunday morning. I went out to get the paper, saw a baby bunny frozen in the driveway, along with not one, but two cats that were lounging around the bunny and rather lazily toying with the poor creature. I put a stop to those proceedings immediately and sent those bad hat cats packing. The rabbit was still frozen and the cats continued to lurk from across the street, so I sat down and began reading the paper. I occasionally had to stand up and chase a cat away, but the bunny began to move, but very slowly. Eventually, I got a shoebox, scooped the rabbit up and carried it to the backyard, where there is a lot more cover. It soon disappeared into the daylilies. I must confess that I probably enjoyed doing this good deed more than I should have, if you know what I mean.
Later, Anne and I rode in the park, where we saw this Little Blue heron. Great Blue herons are pretty common around here, but this is only the third Little Blue heron that I’ve ever seen in Saint Louis. This one was having great success fishing, having caught two fish in so many minutes and no, I did not attempt to rescue any of the fish. Today, I rode again in the park, early in the morning and saw two Little Blue herons, both on the wing. Later today, Anne also rode and saw a total of three Little Blue herons. I guess that when it rains, it pours.
On our ride yesterday, we met Laura and Mike, two cross-country cyclists. They were both loaded for bear, being self-supported. They had started in Santa Monica and were riding back to their home in Michigan, following Route 66 most of the way. They regaled us with some of the oddities that they had encountered on their trip. They met a man who was running across America, à la Forest Gump. He averaged 50 miles a day and heard about another guy who was walking across the country on stilts. Perhaps the strangest person that they met was a guy who had engineered his bike so that he could ride it backwards. He liked the looks he got on truck drivers faces, when they passed him.
Next up was the Art Outside festival at the Bottleworks, where local art met local beer. Interestingly, each artist had a distance that measured how truly local they really were. Most of the artists were from within 5 miles. Schlafly’s was doing a land office business selling 12-packs for $5. Dads were wheeling out baby strollers full of beer, while moms followed behind, carrying junior. We made one final stop on our way home at Mister Wizards, for a little something, not that we had really earned the reward.