a murder

Each morning, just as it is starting to get light, there is a loud racket in the trees behind our house. Loud Caws and grumblings and answers and murmurings, etc...for a good 10 minutes. I went outside one morning to see what was going on (this has happened for the last month or so), and watched ( I counted) 27 crows fly from one tree to another, "yelling" all the way.
I looked it up on the computer and found out that the American crow is a common but very smart bird. If you have a group of them, they are called "A Murder of Crows"....Apt name for them. Maybe the noise and grouping in the morning is their "coffee break", where they sit around and decide who to "murder' that day....whether there are any dead guys around that need picking...(eww) or who to annoy, etc...just a thought!!
I also found out that if you have a group of Emus, it is called a Mob....yes, I can see that, too!

bike ride

Last weekend, Stu decided to ride in the "Senior Games" bicycle run. I had it in my mind that there would be a lot of guys and ladies over 50 riding their bikes on the Discovery trail...WRONG. It was 20 miles of up and across O'Brien rd and back. Took Stu about an hour and 50 minutes. He was the ONLY one on a mountain bike; the ONLY one without the fancy pants, snap in shoes, mirror on the helmet, lithe body of a 18 year old. BUT, he did it!!!He may have come in last, but the other guys and gals all invited him to come back next year. Knowing him, he will!!

Here is a picture of him, his bike, his number, his medal and his smile! Great going, Stu!!