birds

Frick Park is alive with springtime bird activity.

Spring blooms in Shadyside

Springtime!

Sunny morning commute with Dave

Dave from work and I ride the same route to work (for the most part). We were both late coming in this morning. This is a shot over my shoulder of Dave as we rode down the hill in the bike lane on Liberty Blvd. Note the conscientious driver giving us a nice wide berth. I appreciate the sentiment.

Snowy Spring morning

It was a pretty Spring morning with snow. Fluffy and sticky snowfall made for a fun ride in with only wet pavement. I bet that's "clean coal" being carried in the train I passed on my ride.

Youghiogheny River day trip

On 22 March, Kevin and I did a nice section of the Youghiogheny River from Dawson to Whitset. It was a really nice spring day, despite how cold it looks in the GoogleEarth image of the route below.

Spring hike

After Tim and I got turned back by the ice on the lake, the ladies (and Silas) were kind enough to wait up for us and go on a nice, short hike with the dogs.

Canoeing and 'hard' water

The dark line up ahead is the transition from open water to ice

So, it's good to remember that just because the air temperature is around 70, doesn't mean the lakes aren't still partly frozen over. My canoeing plans for the weekend changed about ten times. In the end, Tim and I took the tandem out on the lake at North Park. However, we didn't even notice the ice until we were already on the water. The satelite images I was looking at in Google Earth weren't taken yesterday, of course, so I had forgotten to even consider that there'd be ice. Oh well.

It was still fun. We paddled around the open water for a while and then shot into the ice floe as far as we could before it was thick enough to resist breaking, and the bow pushed up onto the sheet. In any case, this time of year, any warm day on the water, no matter how short, is worth the effort.

Tim checking the water hardness

Looking back after we broke our way into the ice sheet some

Backing out of the path we'd plowed

Feels like Spring

The days are getting longer and more mild. There is still some ice on the cliff behind my office, though. It was a nice sunset, and I got to ride home without a jacket.