Thursday's commute continued creature week here. On the way in I saw a red squirrel, my second of the year. Then on the way home, again on Windmere, I saw a broad-winged hawk, my first ever sighting. I didn't even know what it was, but the Sibley guide came to the rescue. (Two people suggested it might have been a rough-legged hawk, but Sibley's pictures mostly ruled that out for me, and then I found the rough-legged is here only in winter.)
Windmere is just a great place for creature sightings. A couple years ago I saw my most obscure animal there: a black mink. I didn't even believe the expert KH at first, but after looking it up I became convinced.
In other news, my slush/rain bike's rear brake continues to disappoint. A fender is great for most of the bike, but it douses the rear wheel in gritty muck, which destroys rim and disc brakes. So I'm fantasizing about a Shimano Nexus 8 internal hub back there with the cable-operated roller brake. It would be a lot like our old 3-speeds with coaster brakes, except 8 speeds and a hand brake lever like all the other bikes. Downsides are I'd need to go to flat bars and swapping slick tires with studs would be harder. It's a daydream for now, but it's holding together in that realm.
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