So go ahead pigeons. Laugh it up. I'm getting in my car now and the last time I checked, we had no deal!

Last week I mentioned a family of quail traipsing through a wedding I was performing. A few weeks before, a family of quail ran through the bike lane as I was headed to work, pulling a hundred pounds of dog and trailer behind me. I had to come to a complete stop to avoid them, which I don't like to do because it takes a lot for my bone on bone, arthritic knees to get me and Toby and the trolley started again from a complete standstill. This weekend, I was riding home from a movie and two quail ran in front of me. They did that panicky thing where they stopped, darted one direction, then the next, in an apparent attempt to decide which course of action was best to avoid collision (or maybe in a parody of the classic "serpentine! serpentine!" scene from the original The Inlaws). I again had to come to a complete stop to avoid running over quail. Additionally, my parents live in a neighborhood (750 miles from me) so full of quail that the street is aptly named Quail Run Drive. When we visit, Toby considers it his job to keep the backyard free of quail and other feathered and furry visitors. I am now wondering if this regular appearance of quail in my life, especially as I live in a very urban environment, is some sort of message to me from the Universe. If it is, I'm missing the point.  But it does bring to mind George Constanza. Because last time I checked, the quail and I? We have NO DEAL!

Clang, Clang, Clang Went the Trolley!

Today Toby came to work with me which means I towed his trolley behind my bike. We stopped on the park on the way so we could do a lap and get him his exercise. As I was getting ready to load him back into it, a woman walking by, stopped and peered into the empty trailer, and exclaimed: "You you forgot your babies!" I pointed to Toby standing beside me, to which she exclaimed, "It's for the dog? How nice!"

Yesterday on the commute home, I shared the bike lane with awesome ice cream bicycles. Today, I shared the the bike lane with this awesome double tall bike.

As he rode past and turned left, the rider of this bike noticed Toby in the trolley and exclaimed: "Cool, man! It's for a dog!" Later someone shouted out of a car as they passed us, "You've got to be kidding me!" Clearly Toby has become the goodwill ambassador for the 300 East bicycle lane.