Couple unusual things on this morning's commute. First, our municipal railroad had parked a locomotive perhaps a foot into the street. It would have blocked the bike lane if there was one there. That was enough to trigger the lights at that intersection to turn red, stopping traffic and creating a massive (for our downtown) snarl. Being the rebellious sort, I rode the last block up the sidewalk to see what the problem was. Then, since (1) there was no one in the locomotive cab, and (2) all five lanes were passable, I ran the red light, crossed the tracks, and kept on going. I was 2-3 blocks up the road when an engineer made it back to the cab, tooted the whistle, and revved up the engine. I doubt I'll find out why he was (presumably) looking over the brakeman's shoulder somewhere down the track.

Second, almost to work, there were four bright bluebirds sitting around the corner of a fence. This is unusual, because bluebirds in around here normally fledge in May, and I'm lucky to see one or two after that, usually well separated, sitting on a branch or fence, or flying overhead.