I'm Not Normal

We live in such an amazing world. Whenever I'm struggling with doubts about God or divine creation, all it takes for me to put those doubts aside are observances of life that surrounds us. Precious life, especially newborn life with such a variety of it and especially this time of year.

I had an appointment last Friday morning. On the way home I happened upon a family of geese walking through a parking lot with the little goslings book-ended between their parents. It was sweet to watch although my heart went out to them because they were hardly in anything close to ideal surroundings for raising a family.

An hour later I was back in my truck on Burnsville Parkway having just gotten off the freeway when I noticed a mother duck and her ducklings stymied by the curb. I put my flashers on and got out to do what I could for them. The mother hopped the curb at the sight of me with the little ones peeping wildly as they tried to follow but couldn't. I scooped them all up in one handful and reunited them with their mother, leaving them with a prayer that they might avoid the freeway below. I felt especially bad because I could see no good way out for them as they were hemmed in by streets heavy with traffic no matter which way they went. My prayers would have to suffice.

For any retired controllers who visit my blog, Barb and Greg Henderson joined your ranks last week. Greg will be back at work bright and early Monday morning working for the training contractor and I believe Barb will be joining him in a few weeks. It's always nice to see good things happen to good people.

Joe continues to make sure and steady progress on our sun-porch and deck project although I'm facing a bit of a dilemma with it. I hope to feel better about it all once we figure out how to proceed.

I got a 9:00 start yesterday morning on my bike, taking advantage of what looked to be a beautiful day but with a chance for thunderstorms in the afternoon. I suppose I could've played it safe and stayed close to home but I was really feeling the need to do a route I hadn't done in too long and that meant taking a chance with the rain.

The rain won.

On the return, I could see storms building to the north so I checked the weather app on my phone and sure enough, there would be no staying in front of this line of weather. I wanted to take a more scenic and less traveled route home through Jordan but that would leave me with fewer options to run for cover should I need to. I opted for the much busier highway 212 instead and its many more options for seeking shelter from severe weather. I put my head down and did my best to reach Chaska ahead of the rain.

Oh, I could tell you how that worked out but that would spoil it. You'll have to watch the video below to see what happened.

I was telling Tammy this morning that my quads were tired after 80 miles and that I was a little surprised by that. Her response: "Do you know how that sounds to a normal person?" "You're saying I'm not normal?" "Yes, that's what I'm saying."