A different sort of Go Hawks
Around here, last night only seemed like the end of the world. In fact, for the vast majority of hockey fans in the area, the night was awesome. I caught the last 17 seconds of the game, then watched the celebration and news afterward. Somewhere, I heard fireworks going off, but I couldn't see them. It sounded like they were coming from the ballpark, and there were enough of them that it very well could have been the Cougars, but with the weather the way it was, I couldn't see anything. It was weird. With the rain, though, I don't think they would have been playing had they been home. The Cubs game got rained out, though that didn't stop Wrigleyville from being the hub of all things celebratory.
As the sole pro team to have won anything in recent years--and, well, since they keep winning stuff--the Blackhawks are all over the place, and you hear Go Hawks a lot. However, this morning, I was actually complaining about hawks. Well, one in particular. I'd been hearing some sort of large truck in the neighborhood and was looking outside to see where it was. It ended up being on an adjacent street not visible from the house. But I kept looking out the window for it because it was that loud. I was back near the eating area of the kitchen and kind of glancing out the front door in case it came down my street, and the next thing I know there's this bird, like, throwing itself against the house. It was really loud and freaked the crap out of me. It immediately then went around the tree by the front door and flew away. Once I realized what was going on, I realized, one, it had been a hawk--it was a huge bird that took off from the front door area; and then two, it must have been going after breakfast. The front porch area is a hangout for all sorts of critters. The chipmunks often are there, though I haven't seen one recently--oh, wait, I take that back, I saw one the other day for the first time in forever. And then we've had some birds hopping around under there looking for worms. On Friday, I think it was, I saw a young robin there; its tail was stubby and its feathers were speckled. I was paying more attention to it than anything else and ended up cracking my head on the doorknob when I stood up. That was not pleasant. Anyway. So who knows where the hawk had been, but it must have seen something, but I don't think it actually came away with anything. But, my goodness, it really came at the window. I've never seen that happen before. And it just immediately took off like nothing happened, but I about had a heart attack and was shaking, it shook me up that much, probably because I saw it happen. The thing came out of nowhere and it all happened in a few seconds. Just...wow. Stupid hawk.
Now, last night will end up being pretty memorable, not just for the third Stanley Cup win in six seasons, but because it was armageddon out there. The Eisenhower, one of the major expressways in Chicago and the one basically adjacent to the United Center, was closed because of all the rain we had yesterday. The Cup itself was delayed in arriving to the UC because traffic was terrible, in part due to the weather. And there is water all over the place today. We might need to use the Cup to bail out some places. I cross two rivers to get to work, the Fox and DuPage, and while the Fox seems to be okay, the DuPage is super high. Most of the time when I cross over it, I don't even know it's there, it's that low. But today it made me gasp as I crossed it on the way home. Because of construction, two bridges in Warrenville are closed and I'm having to detour around my normal route. The route to work, there's almost like a berm separating the river from the road I'm having to take and the residential area to the west. If the river gets much higher, it's going to spill over and flood that whole area and the road will be impassable for a bit, I imagine. Then, upstream, the bridge I've been using on the way home, the water's practically touching it. That's why I gasped. The river looks like it's twice as wide as normal; I don't normally even see it. On that same roadway, farther east, there had been a point where it was down to one lane while a crew worked to clear standing water on the street, and soon after that, there was a pathway that was entirely under water. Wow. We're lucky it's sunny today, but it is supposed to rain again tomorrow and off and on for the next few days. This could be trouble.
As the sole pro team to have won anything in recent years--and, well, since they keep winning stuff--the Blackhawks are all over the place, and you hear Go Hawks a lot. However, this morning, I was actually complaining about hawks. Well, one in particular. I'd been hearing some sort of large truck in the neighborhood and was looking outside to see where it was. It ended up being on an adjacent street not visible from the house. But I kept looking out the window for it because it was that loud. I was back near the eating area of the kitchen and kind of glancing out the front door in case it came down my street, and the next thing I know there's this bird, like, throwing itself against the house. It was really loud and freaked the crap out of me. It immediately then went around the tree by the front door and flew away. Once I realized what was going on, I realized, one, it had been a hawk--it was a huge bird that took off from the front door area; and then two, it must have been going after breakfast. The front porch area is a hangout for all sorts of critters. The chipmunks often are there, though I haven't seen one recently--oh, wait, I take that back, I saw one the other day for the first time in forever. And then we've had some birds hopping around under there looking for worms. On Friday, I think it was, I saw a young robin there; its tail was stubby and its feathers were speckled. I was paying more attention to it than anything else and ended up cracking my head on the doorknob when I stood up. That was not pleasant. Anyway. So who knows where the hawk had been, but it must have seen something, but I don't think it actually came away with anything. But, my goodness, it really came at the window. I've never seen that happen before. And it just immediately took off like nothing happened, but I about had a heart attack and was shaking, it shook me up that much, probably because I saw it happen. The thing came out of nowhere and it all happened in a few seconds. Just...wow. Stupid hawk.
Now, last night will end up being pretty memorable, not just for the third Stanley Cup win in six seasons, but because it was armageddon out there. The Eisenhower, one of the major expressways in Chicago and the one basically adjacent to the United Center, was closed because of all the rain we had yesterday. The Cup itself was delayed in arriving to the UC because traffic was terrible, in part due to the weather. And there is water all over the place today. We might need to use the Cup to bail out some places. I cross two rivers to get to work, the Fox and DuPage, and while the Fox seems to be okay, the DuPage is super high. Most of the time when I cross over it, I don't even know it's there, it's that low. But today it made me gasp as I crossed it on the way home. Because of construction, two bridges in Warrenville are closed and I'm having to detour around my normal route. The route to work, there's almost like a berm separating the river from the road I'm having to take and the residential area to the west. If the river gets much higher, it's going to spill over and flood that whole area and the road will be impassable for a bit, I imagine. Then, upstream, the bridge I've been using on the way home, the water's practically touching it. That's why I gasped. The river looks like it's twice as wide as normal; I don't normally even see it. On that same roadway, farther east, there had been a point where it was down to one lane while a crew worked to clear standing water on the street, and soon after that, there was a pathway that was entirely under water. Wow. We're lucky it's sunny today, but it is supposed to rain again tomorrow and off and on for the next few days. This could be trouble.