First Day of School, Sort of

Sulphurs
Originally uploaded by Snak Shak

School starts tomorrow for a lot of kids, but some in my neighborhood have been back already for a week.

I, too had a "school starts tomorrow" day. Not really school in the traditional sense for me, though. I have a one-day First Aid/CPR/AED class at Red Cross HQ tomorrow, so I've got to get up, pack my lunch and ride down there. That's as close to a commute as I've come in two months.

I've had FA/CPR/AED at least twice, and FA/CPR at least five times, but I am currently expired. This one-day class will serve as a refresher to get me ready for the real learning experience - beginning in late September, I'll be tackling Emergency Responder training through American Red Cross. That will be a more challenging gig, no doubt. Six weeks, 3 days per week.

It should be worth it, though; I am hoping to use my First Responder certification to provide medic support organized rides, bike races, triathlons and marathons. I have a friend or two that do that currently and ride support seems to have an interesting combination of challenge, diversity, adventure and Doing Good, so I am optimistic that I'll like it.

Wringing the last day out of summer, we took a day trip down the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin, looking for some rumored hawk-watching locations, a prairie Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) and some Fall color routes.

We found most of what we were looking for and a few things we were not specifically looking for. The most delightful surprise was about 1,000 Sulphurs that must have just morphed. They were swarming all over the place south of Pepin, WI this afternoon. I was able to capture a few with my camera (take only pictures, leave only memories, etc.) but the photo really misses the fun of seeing them all zooming around like self-propeller confetti.