F 1 D 0 - 2003 05 15 at 0015 The Crow Alarm. I wanted to write about this strange thing I heard this afternoon. A crow. Outside. Well, of course it was outside. It was just outside. Right next to my back door. It was calling to me. When I went to the back window, it flew away, but not too far. The call wasn't a raven's call, which is also common around here. It was very very urgent. It sounded like a smoke detector when I was sitting at the computer. But I listened upstairs and down, and that was not where the sounds were coming from. It was steady. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep. Eventually, I walked into the kitchen, and could hear it was coming from the back door. Very loudly. Now I wasn't sure if I was hearing a squirrel or something else. The Caw Caw Caw Caw pattern was now clear, but I'd never heard a crow so insistently before. I was able to watch it steadily for perhaps 30 seconds before it flew away a bit. But it was enough for me to get a few good looks at it. The beak doesn't open very wide. It still made a serious call sound. Also, this particular guy had a yellow beak. Some of them around here have black large beaks. It's eyes were clear. Maybe I humanize animals too much, but when I can see the eyes, and it looks smart, I can imagine that "there is someone driving". Yes, this was a smart bird. I would have liked to understand what it wanted. It wanted something from me, from a mate, from the world. Animals don't just call, call, call, call for no reason, do they? I think of the other birds, where they call out for mates. Do crows do that too? This sounded so much like an emergency. I remember living with a pet bird, and you can really tell when they make that emergency call. After about 20 minutes, the call stopped. I'm still curious about why. - - Today was a good day. Quiet, but good. These are ramblings. I could clean up the words, the paragraphs, the sentences, but instead I'll leave them as a confusing stream of consciousness for you to re-assemble. I got my bike back. Someone had brutalized it recently. It was clear they punctured the front tire. It was not clear they also kicked the rear tire, breaking four spokes. But when I rode it, the tire went all wobbly, pressing hard against the brake with each rotation. Not good. This happened a couple of days ago. I was shopping at RENCO's, a small supermarket, with an Italian leaning. It's nice to have a 4-aisle shop here. It is big, but not insane. I like shopping there, perhaps because I feel like my dollars are supporting a smaller store. The people who are unemployed in Thunder Bay are waay too bored. They will break a window for a few cents, or a partial package of cigarettes. Or as in my case, ruin my bicycle for entertainment. Oh! I'm shorn now. I went to Sam the Barber. He's a nice Italian guy. He likes watching the Discovery Channel. The show on at the time of my visit there was the ten most important building projects. Since forever? I dunno. But they were important. The CN Tower in Toronto was on the list. Number six. The Hoover Dam was there. The Panama Canal. Boston's Big Dig (expressway buried). The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco?). I liked watching all of these things. They seemed familiar, and learning how they were done in 8 minutes bites was just right for me. I'm back home from a double workout. Karen lead her usual Ball Class. These are so very very hard to get through. They require more balance than I can muster. Afterwards was Laura's New Body, which is about an aerobic floor class while holding onto weights (but no more than 3 lbs recommended, but I use 5 lb weights, and cease exercises for a second as needed). The two combined were good. I liked the level of activity my gut got. Most of the ball exercises are abdominal. Most of the New Body work is arm and leg. The combination is good, and it feels like a fast class. The time goes by quickly. I didn't cook for today. Well, I warmed up the soup and the vegetables from yesterday, but nothing significant. Yesterday I did the carnivore thing with our next door neighbours, and today, I was happy to just settle for eggs nuked with cheese. I'm still cleaning the pans I've messed up. I'll get through them anon. That's all I know.