Slugs and Worms

That's the headline I would have used a few weeks ago to describe my local velo experience after several days of heavy rain.  I never got around to making that post.  Now that the weather is very nice, the headline no longer applies but I like it enough to use it anyway.

Yesterday slugs and worms were not in evidence.  We had bright sunlight and warm temperatures after several days of increasingly sunny, dry weather.  Truly the early days of summer here in Olympia.  The trees are filling in with green.  Flowers in bloom everywhere.  People out and about in shorts in t-shirts.  I rode in a t-shirt for the first time this year yesterday. 

Last week was cool and overcast.  I managed to ride early, hoping to dodge predicted mid-day showers.  A nice enough ride but nothing like yesterday.  When the sun comes out here this place sparkles.

A few weeks ago--the week of slugs and worms--was much cooler and darker, pretty much what I expect in early spring here.  The slugs were pretty easy to spot with their eyes periscoped up; they looked intent on getting somewhere.  The worms were less easy to see.  As a rule, I keep a sharp look out a (a lesson deeply imbedded in my brain from booby trap training in the Army) and so I didn't run over anything.

Yesterday's fauna amounted to a wooly caterpillar and a small garter snake, both easily spotted in the bright sunlight.