Monday, July 23, 2012

Fawn and Fender

The ride to an from work tends to get tedious at times. I know every bump and bollard in the Mount Vernon Trail. The views of the monuments are always inspiring but, you know, seen one monument.... The same can be said for Canada geese. The damn birds are everywhere this year. I think they look a little like a Klingon bird of prey when they come in for a landing.  And I have more than enough empirical evidence to confirm that the phrase "like grass through a goose" is as true as true can be.
Babies!!

Babies!!!
Normally, geese just sort of waddle around hoovering grass by the acre.  They don't do much honking.  And they are pretty much unremarkable, until tonight's ride home that is. I was directly opposite the water gate, not the complex of Nixonian fame,but the area behind the Lincoln Memorial.  Between the trail and the river were a line of geese and two fawns.  The fawns were no bigger than an Irish Setter and incredibly cute in  the way that only baby white tailed deer could be.  Four German tourist had stopped on their Bike and Roll rental bikes to checkout the babies. I wonder if they thought this was an everyday occurrence. I looked around for momma deer but she was nowhere to be found. The fawns were following the geese so closely, I was surprised they didn't honk.

As  rode home I kept an eye out for the momma and hoped she wasn't lying on the side of the Parkway. I never saw her.

Little Nellie was making funny noises most of the way home. about ten miles into the ride I noticed the front fender was riding on the front tire. When I moved it off, it came away in my hand. The metal spine of the fender had broken where it attached to the front fork.  It's a flimsy design but the fork does a decent job so I ordered another when I got home.


That little metal thing done broke
Tomorrow telecommute day, because I have to drive the Mrs. to the surgeon for her post op visit.

5 comments:

  1. Oh the fawns are SOOOO CUTE!!! :) :) Very unusual to see those on the bike path!!

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  2. That's funny, just your noting your knowledge to a tedium of the trail dredges up my memories of daily commuting on it. I've moved on to the Custis-W&OD now, but I can probably still do the MV with my eyes half closed.

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    1. A few weeks ago I rode home in a pouring rain. Just a damned waterfall. I couldn't see anything between the rain and the stinging in my eyes. I made it home no problem which, I think, pretty much means I can ride the Mount Vernon Trail with my eyes closed.

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  3. 1) Woo! Bike and Roll! Represent!

    2) I took the Mount Vernon Trail home from Alexandria one night in June around 8 PM and saw a family of beavers in the Dyke Marsh (I think that's what it's called), building a dam--a rare sight! A few of us were gathered to look at the them, staying well off to the side of the bridge, when some scary cyclist comes through at a million miles per hour dinging his bell and screaming at us to move. Sigh. But scary bikers aside, that trail just holds all sorts of neat wildlife secrets. Those fawn are adorable!

    3) One of my customers the other day commented that geese crack her up because when they just hang out in fields in large flocks (or gaggles), they sort of look like strange, mini cows. I'm surprised they weren't hissing at the baby deer...

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    1. I am not scary! (Just kidding; it wasn't me. I ride that bridge 10 times a week.)

      Hope to see you tomorrow at Coffee Club.

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