A perfect Winter day.
I left the house with a little more pep in my step than usual, due in part to that flawless blue sky and the birds serenading me from the trees. My favorite nature nook lured me like a magnet.
It is also worth mentioning that I was running late. 🙂
In a four-season state, when Winter’s harsh weather finally begins to wane, you cannot help but just exhale deeply. We are promised 64 degrees F (17 C) this Thursday. That is cause for celebration and time for a Spring Fling. What’s a Spring Fling you ask? It’s the day you leave behind the hat, scarf and gloves and maybe even end up carrying your coat home.
This is National Pedestrian Awareness Week.
There’s no Spring Fling yet however; it was still a little chilly, but I bravely left the hiking boots at home and ventured out in my walking shoes – yeah for that! I am more of a fleet foot in my comfortable walking shoes that seem like slippers to me. But … no matter how late I was running, or even with my Easy Spirit “Punters” on my feet, I still had to be mindful of vehicles on my one-mile trek each way to Council Point Park.
The statistics for pedestrian accidents and fatalities here in our state is quite alarming. Granted, many of these accidents take place after dark, or in bad weather. This bulletin was issued by the Michigan State Police in an effort to make drivers and pedestrians aware of how accidents happen.
Every so often MSP will send out plainclothes troopers in unmarked vehicles to scope out who is not paying attention when they are driving. I’ve mentioned it here before and a few fellow bloggers who are runners agree with me. We simply can’t daydream out there.
Often I’ll see a vehicle idling in a driveway in the ‘hood. So I will wonder if the driver is in the car ready to back up, or, did they remotely start the vehicle from inside the house and they are still nursing a second cup of coffee?
It pays to be ever-vigilant, and not laid back.
So … as a public service announcement to those who might be getting out and enjoying the Spring weather, I’ve compiled a list of the types of drivers that pedestrians should be aware of:
First we have the fiddlers … and no, they are not playing a stringed instrument with a bow. They are fiddling with their radio, or the heat, or the A/C, or some button or gizmo on the car. Their eyes aren’t on you, nor the road. Yup, it only takes a second, one bad swerve and yikes! In other words, when crossing the street, don’t be dragging your wagon or you might be missing part of it when you get to the other side.
The snoozers are those folks who hit the snooze bar one too many times and you, yes you, are in their way. If you see them speeding down the street, run like the dickens!
Of course there are the texters – if you’re tall like I am, if they’re in a car, you see them as they drive by, head bent toward the floor with a smile on their face. They’re not going to see little ol’ me, or you either.
The noshers have one eye on a fry and the other on the road. Swiping a fry or two from the carton is okay in my book, but do beware if a driver zooms by and they’re cramming a Big Mac into their mouth.
The bleary-eyed drivers stayed up late watching Netflix and should have stopped for a caffeine fix because they have that deer-in-the-headlights look.
Since 2011 when I began the walking regimen, I’ve amassed thousands of miles on my feet. At the Park my mind AND my feet can meander (as long as I watch out for police patrol cars on the perimeter path – you’ll recall how the officer had to wait while I was taking pictures of Harry the Heron a few months ago). If not, just click here.
So remember my advice to be ever vigilant, and …
… stay bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and you won’t become a wet spot on the pavement.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
The Critter Whisperer strikes again! 😉 Cute shots and story, Linda!
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Thanks Uncle Tree. Glad it gave you a giggle. I spent three hours at the Park on Saturday morning and came away with tons of squirrel pictures. I wanted to use them and thought a little humor might go a long way. The look on their faces sometimes gives me lots of ideas for captions or thought bubbles. 🙂
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Great Photos!
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Glad you liked them Fred. A few peanuts go a long way for poses by my furry pals.:)
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Funny lady but so true! I actually started working outside in the yard. My flowers are starting to come up and I need the dead plants gone! It was so nice working in the yard!
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It sure is – walkers have to have eyes at the back of their heads sometimes. Wow – you are ambitious! I am curious to see how my roses will look since I had snow on them in November – a first for that. I never got out to cut them as it had rained every weekend and finally did it just before the last yard waste pickup at Thanksgiving time. They don’t pick up yard waste here til April 1st. It was a gorgeous day yesterday and today – tomorrow not so much – rain again. (At least no snow.)
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I loved the illustrative photos to the narrative.
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Thanks Anne – I still had a passel of squirrel photos left and wanted to use them, so this worked out well – their faces/actions sometimes … I was looking for a picture of a squirrel that looked like it was talking … they were all eating … they eat and they beg, so no “big-lipped yakking squirrels” to be found.
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Linda
A great picture story tale. I know there are a lot of pedestrian accidents out there and I know walkers have to be ever vigilant. The drivers need not be so vigilant because often they don’t get hurt so that’s what they do- nosh, or text or zombie or just plain “zone out”. I have zoned out quite a few times as a driver and a pedestrian too. I worried for your squirrels though- they are all on the tarmac.
Last week we lost one of our few remaining cats- she was Brown and was sick for a few days- I think she had puerperal sepsis- was not eating anything- on Friday, she lay in the water that came from the washed cars – maybe the fever wanted her to lie on a cool spot on the road and as expected a car ran over her. I think the poor dear had given up in life- pregnancies at least thrice a year, her sister Fluff ball missing since November- and all her friends disappeared mysteriously end of last year- I think if animals can give up in life she had and she got run over. She was a regular at my front door for the past five years and I do miss her fat brown face. It just goes to show we need to be kind to as many animals or humans as we can and when we can for we never know, when they they may just move on.
Susie
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Thanks Susie – I thought you would like this squirrelly story … I like pairing their faces or actions with words sometimes. They are so accommodating for taking photos. It was such a gorgeous day and has been for four of the last five days … not today or tomorrow though … rainy and a storm and possibly severe weather tomorrow. I am sorry to hear about you losing your cat. You are like Carol in that every loss cuts you to the core. She has buried each of them on her property and is always upset, just like you. She has fretted more than usual this Winter as she lives near the snow belt in New York – very rough Winters with all the snow and they have had that brutal cold like we have had this Winter. She does have the shelter boxes with the straw inside and the heated pads and has heated dishes too, but if she counts noses and is missing any for breakfast, she is upset until they turn up. Being feral cats and kittens, they are not always on a regular schedule and sometimes hide out in the wooded area behind her house. It is hard for me to understand though, in Carol’s case, or yours, if there are stray or feral cats, and they have a kindly face and food source and a place to shelter … why would they want to move on I wonder? You both can sleep at night knowing that you have provided nourishment, shelter and love to animals who might otherwise be out in the big world, struggling on their own. It must have broken your heart to see her lying in the street cooling off in the puddle from the fever and then losing her life that way. Take care Susie and have a safe trip to visit your daughters.
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stay bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and you won’t become a wet spot on the pavement
Words to live by. Both literally and figuratively. Well said.
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I am laughing – yes eyes and ears before you venture out always!
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Lol i love it. I see way too many of these drivers.
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I believe it Ari – it is not just unique to Michigan. You can’t just daydream when walking around the neighborhood here.
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Yet another great post Linda. I love the images you posted they seem to go along very well with the statements as well.
The weather Thursday will be great and i hear the storms will clear up early i know it will be a muddy mess on my trails i take so i might be hitting up some paved trails this spring more so than normal. The shoes i have for the water,, well they tend to hurt my feet. i can’t seem to find a good pair of water proof shoes that don’t leave my ankles in pain. I do have psoriasis and i’m sure thats part of it. Either way it will not stop me.
Oh yeah btw I went to Elizabeth park Monday night (time change gets me out more) I was walking back to the car and I noticed a lot of peanut shells. umm i wonder if thats where you went? either way i was thinking of ya!
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forgot to mention the pedestrian issues. You are dead on with that. dont’ forget the absent minder. the one who don’t know where they are going and don’t know where they came from!
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Ha ha – I will have to do another post or amend this one. I wish I had a squirrel photo with their mouth open but not eating, as I would have had to have a category for “yakkers” … I had a photo one time of a squirrel when he saw some apples laid out on the path – his eyes lit up and his mouth looked like he was smiling … so cute/funny.
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Thanks Pril – glad you liked this post. I still had some cute squirrel pictures left over from last Saturday to use and heard about Pedestrian Awareness Week – I figured this would be a good fit and funny too.
I have the same problem with my hiking boots – I just do not like them at all. I went to McLinden’s Shoes in Southgate a few years ago, to ask Margaret (the owner and also an avid walker) her suggestion for comfortable boots for walking/hiking in the snow. She said the New Balance Women’s Hiking Boots, Style 1400v1 were good for walking in snow and had lug soles, and they are good for that, but they come up past my ankles and I don’t like that. I have put bubble wrap around my ankles because they rub but the bubble wrap works its way out of the boots eventually … I think it has something to do with the 2 pair of hooks that stick out – I even Googled around to see if I should lace them a different way, but it didn’t help. Other walkers at the Park walk in the rain and fellow bloggers who are runners tell me they run rain or shine – last year I missed a lot of walking days as I didn’t want to go when it was raining. I am happy if there is no more ice and I can just wear the walking shoes. But I have to get some waterproof shoes as I don’t want to ruin these.
I’m hearing it will be 64 tomorrow – wow! But if you go, I heard the storms are starting late afternoon/early evening and may be gusty and straight-line winds, so be careful Pril. We’re more in the bulls eye than the northern ‘burbs this time … it is too early for severe weather to be happening!
I did not go to Elizabeth Park last weekend, unless they are left over from the weekend before and that little squirrel that kept eyeballing me then decided I was “safe” and started following me down by the canal on the Detroit River side of the vehicle bridge. Glad you were thinking of me – I think I am a squirrel magnet wherever I go. 🙂
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That was cute and funny and I loved the last line! You can get major fines and suspensions here now for driving and texting, but it still doesn’t seem to stop people from doing it no matter how many people die in traffic accidents as a result?
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Thanks Joan! I am glad you liked it. I still had some cute squirrel pictures and decided I could do something with them in conjunction with this annual event. The texting is what worries me the most but according to the Michigan State Police (after they send out their troopers on the interstate in unmarked cars and in plainclothes), there are also people watching movies on their phone. Makes me scared to take out the car or even walk for that matter. It is bad enough hearing about all the plane accidents. There was the crash on Sunday and two smaller incidents … I never remember all these incidents and accidents although we had a horrible plane crash here in Detroit in August 1987 near Detroit Metro Airport. Only one person survived, a little girl.
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As a runner, I thank you for the post on the different types of distracted drivers out there. I could give you numerous examples of each, all of which caused me to jump! It was 60+ degrees here in Pennsylvania today and Benji goe TWO long walks plus one short one. I had a luncheon date with other retired teachers today and while I was gone, Bill took Benji for an extra long walk. When I got home, it was so nice that I asked Bill if he wanted to go again. He said “yes”, so out we went. Bill got over 20,000 steps today!
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Wow a 10-mile walk for Bill – tell him I am jealous Laurie! And Benji will be out like a light tonight after all the walking! We also had the nice temps today – it was so mild this morning and I got a walk in, not to the Park as it was dark and rain threatened. We had some volatile weather predicted for late afternoon. The first round missed my neck of the woods, but when the cold front comes through before 10:00 p.m., we are all in the bullseye. Too early for this volatile weather.
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Linda, I once watched someone slow down at a red light while eating a bowl of cereal (it was morning commute time). She held onto the bowl and steering wheel with one hand, and used the other for holding the spoon. I made sure she got ahead of me once the light turned. In November I got rear ended at a red light by a texter who did not have insurance. We used to have much better driving conditions here in Portland, but now that the city is bursting at its seams, I often feel like I’m in the Bay Area! 😳
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Sabine, I took the bus for years and my bus stop was just beyond the stoplight. I also saw cereal being eaten, women applying makeup and men shaving at the stop light. I do worry about the people texting and the Michigan State Police uses unmarked cars and plain clothes troopers and state that they see people watching movies on their phone. I remember your accident well. I think I told you about the guy who was drinking, texting and checking the internet on his phone and ran into a woman and her child in their vehicle that had correctly slowed down in a construction area and he plowed into them, killing them instantly. He lived. I didn’t realize you had such traffic congestion there. It is no picnic to drive anywhere anymore except out in the rural areas. We went to Toronto to visit my grandmother about 4-5 times per year until she passed away in 1986. The driving in the city was horrible, bumper-to-bumper and honking the entire time and we never timed our arrival or departure for rush hour!
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Same here with drivers not going by the rules of the road! Every time I go out, I see several people on their phones. They just don’t seem to care. The police is on the lookout for them here too, but even hefty fines and higher insurance rates don’t seem to make a difference. I’ve just adjusted my local errands to mid-morning. Plus I try to stay out of the way of those drivers!
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Yes, same here with the fines Sabine, though I think it is mostly in the City of Detroit as I know my boss switched to a wireless connection in the car to avoid getting a ticket. He used to use a Bluetooth ear device, but it was difficult to hear what he was saying sometimes. In our last election the legal use of marijuana was passed and we had our first pedestrian death due to the driver being (legally) high. Yes, it’s best not to be around in rush hours – beating the crowd. I drive so seldom in rush hour, that I really don’t like that congested feeling with cars in such close proximity and you get the “weavers” too. I try to take the car out a few times a week in cold weather for a short run and there is always someone weaving in and out of traffic.
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According to your description it’s no different when it comes to traffic and bad drivers between Detroit and Portland. It’s really like this everywhere these days. Eventually we’d like to lie in a place where we could ride our bicycles safely! Not sure where that would be but one can hope! 😉
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I agree with you on that Sabine. My boss likes to ride his bike during the day at work -he was riding to/from the office to Belle Isle Park, a big island near the office (1 1/4 miles away). But the traffic was so crazy, so he now puts the bike on the carrier, drives the 1 1/4 miles each way and then rides on the island, usually 25 miles a day. He was driving to/from home (18 miles roundtrip) and someone hit him coming out of the Chrysler Plant at shift change. Nothing broken, but bad road rash and had to go to the E.R. as he was scraped up pretty badly.
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Gosh! We have a large number of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities here too. People just don’t seem to care enough to pay attention these days. A few years ago a kid down the street was killed less than a quarter mile from home riding his bike home after work at night. A drunk driver hit him and then took off. Didn’t turn himself in until all the booze and who knows what else was out of his system. Just sad!
I hope you had a decent Sunday morning and were able to visit Parker & Friends! 🐿
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(Liking for the wishes for beautiful weather which I had) … I went to Heritage Park with the historical village and it was so beautifully sunny, the reflection on the ice was just incredible. I didn’t take a lot of pictures as it was so sunny so I could not see the glare ice on the path and be taking pictures. Walking on the grass was not an option – there are lots of geese there and I didn’t want to bring goose poop home on my shoes, so stayed 1/2 hour and went to Council Point Park. Perhaps we’ve turned a corner and the cold and snow are gone. I was not going to do a post tonight as I got back so late, but I’m going to start it now – had to go through the pictures I got. I walked six miles today and hated to come into the house Sabine – 23 degrees, but I was dressed for it. The Michigan State Police media liaison was on the news this morning and said “if you must drink today for St. Paddy’s Day, get an Uber or Lyft or a friend to take you home – otherwise it may be your last St. Paddy’s Day you celebrate – you’ll either lose your license, or maybe your life, or take the life of an innocent person and above all – watch for pedestrians!
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I look forward to reading about your outing, Linda! We mostly stay home on “holidays” because we don’t care for crowds of intoxicated people. 😉
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Funny you say that Sabine because the same person from the state police said that they expected more people on Saturday night and lingering into the wee hours of the morn since Sunday was not good of a day for parties as people had to get up for work the next morning. I only went five miles to get to this park, but wondered about the wisdom of even getting on the road versus staying in the neighborhood to walk. We have so many fatalities from drinking – there was a terrible accident at the beginning of the year. A family of five was returning from vacationing in Florida for the holidays and a drunk driver went the wrong way on the expressway – killed them and himself outright. A Congresswoman in our state is trying to get legislation passed for a breathalyzer apparatus to be placed on all vehicles beginning in a few years, and any first offender DIUL will have one installed on their vehicles at the ignition – you don’t pass the test, the car will not turn on.
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We can only hope that some day we as a country wake up and look at the root causes of all these societal problems!
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Very true and there are so many things that need fixing right now, that it fills me with despair sometimes.
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Same here!
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I saw a couple of squirrels in our yard (yesterday) that were playing too close to the highway. I scolded them. I sure hope it helps! Some of our crass neighbors would run them over without a second- thought!
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Oh Tom – I cringe when I see a squirrel run into the street. They run across the street every morning to my porch to get peanuts. I do the same thing as you and want to tell them to look both ways first. Once the warmer weather gets here, I have to watch Parker zipping across the street to hit me up for peanuts before I get to the Park, even if I have to take an alternate route. You’re right – not everyone brakes for critters unfortunately.
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Say hello to parker from me.
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I saw him twice today – I will see him tomorrow and tell him “hi” – he is such a delight, he really is Eliza.
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Hi Linda. I’m not sure how but it seems I have missed a couple of your posts. I didn’t realize that it was Pedestrian Awareness Week but you bring up an important issue. I always get concerned when I see people walking/running down the street with headphones on. They can not be aware of traffic that is coming from behind.
The first thing I heard when I walked out the door this morning was a robin singing I also saw daffodils poking above the ground when I was out on Wednesday. I know we are not out of the woods yet but I am hopeful – Spring is near. 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Hi Ruth – I am hopeful too and this morning, even though it was just 23 degrees, the sun was shining and the birds were singing – I also feel like we’ve turned a corner. Not a snowy Winter, but a cold, icy and windy Winter – can we please return to the Winters we all remember? I had intended on taking my walk and getting home earlier but it was so beautiful I lingered and walked six miles. Then decided to write a post – by the time it gets published St. Paddy’s Day will be nearly over!
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So glad you were able to enjoy a beautiful day!!!
I’m cracking up at your driver descriptions- lol. You definitely gotta watch out for the Fiddler’s!!! Although, I gotta say… sometimes I find I might fit the category of the nosher!
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Glad I gave you a giggle Mackenzie. Yup the Fiddlers and the Noshers. I’ve nibbled on many a fry or an onion ring in my day while driving home – who can resist that smell?
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Totally agree !!
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I must say the images you have uploaded are beautiful.Great article having good images.
I have also shared some good image on my blog.If you have time Please visit my blog once https://www.checkcorner.com/
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Thank you Miranda … it is a good time of the year, as finally the parks will come to life, the critters will be more energetic, as will we humans. Our Winter was cold, icy and windy this year and not much snow, but I still didn’t get as much walking in, so I’m looking forward to better weather. Thank you for stopping by my blog and I will check out yours as well … seeing your blog title “Naturelover” tells me I will enjoy it.
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I have visited your site Miranda – I didn’t see anything about nature though. Thank you for your nice comment on my blog.
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