Attacked by Blackbirds .... and Bears too ?

Last week I wrote a letter to the editor to warn people about the Blackbird attacks on the bike path in Moline. Specifically, there is a stretch of the path where the trees are low to the ground and I thought the blackbirds were protecting their nest. Twice before they have attacked my River Bandits hat from behind and pecked at me during an aerial attack. It happened again today and the blackbird was successful in knocking my hat off my head as I rode by. This was not the same location however and today's attack was in a more open area of the bike path with just a few telephone lines above the path. Each attack has been similar in the approach from behind and all attacks have included a last minute screeching just before impact to the back of my head. As I said,  today the attack knocked my hat completely off of my head. I am wondering if the River Bandits logo on the hat looks similar enough to a blackbird that perhaps it is triggering these acts of aggression. Does my hat represent another blackbird competitor to the neighborhood, or does it look as though I am carrying off with a blackbird on my head and the attacks are an attempt to save a fallen brother ? I believe the same bird tried unsuccessfully to get me again today as I rode back home as I heard the screech attack just before I crouched down into a safety position. The swoosh of feathers quickly passed over head.

Just after the first attack today that knocked my hat off I rode on into the town of Port Byron. As I was passing a couple of other bikers I heard someone yell out to me "watch out for the bears ". As if the blackbirds werent enough of a problem .... now I had to deal with bears ??? what's up with that ?
I think I may have figured out what he meant about the bears but it won't make sense without a photo to help me explain. I discovered the bears just after I turned left into the town of Port Byron as the bike path turns towards the river. I hope to have a picture before next week if the blackbirds don't get me first.

I have contracted Palintitus A Serious Affliction

Dear Editor:


I have been exposed to and suffer from an extreme case of Palintitus or middle aged insanity. It started two years ago when John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate for the 2008 election. For me it started with just a glazed over look of complete confusion as Sarah’s launch into the Presidential arena started to take a foothold. My catatonic state was soon replaced with a special kind of folksy warmth when the hockey mom started winking at us and stirring up emotions in all of the McCain supporters and his opponents as well. For a short moment I had started to believe that maybe John McCain had struck political gold and just maybe … he had found a perfect running mate. My violently changing symptoms of Palintitus quickly reversed course as she began her tour of interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. As a concerned citizen I was confused, amused and a little abused all at the same time but I was starting to understand where things were headed. The awkward comments about watching the Russians from along the Alaskan border and the first few complaints about being misguided by her political handlers were starting to surface. I began to feel disappointed to know that the train wreck was soon inevitable. I asked myself “ Do we really want to have someone that is lacking the conversational intelligence or political savvy needed to be just a heartbeat away from the Presidency? What about when we had Dan Quayle as the V.P. ? He too, seemed to be lacking the political savvy for the national spotlight but it didn’t stop him from getting to be Vice President. “ My bout with Palintitus almost seemed to be cured when the Obama / Biden ticket won the election. I figured that Sarah Palin would slowly fall back into the role of Governor of Alaska and my symptoms would go away as well. They never did entirely go away as I was subject to frequent flare ups as Sarah Palin continued to appear in the spotlight of the mainstream media. These appearances included family squabbles, finger pointing, accusations, and rumors of a book deal. There was the Governor’s resignation and the launch of the book tour. I had been nervous about contracting the H1N1 virus but the potent Palintitus virus has now unleashed its fury on me and I have never been more sick to my stomach than I am today. As thousands of people continue to cling to the folksy warmth of the winking hockey mom by buying her book they continue the spread of the Palintitus virus. I am concerned that very soon it will reach pandemic proportions and corrupt the minds of our society. The anti venom for Palintitus will be created when we refocus the spotlight onto candidates with real ideas and political visions that can lead the United States of America and everything that it stands for. Excuse me but I don’t feel well at all. I am going to wash my hands, gargle and spit out the germs of this terrible virus.