It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s baby Cy on top of a tractor.

This may not be such an unusual sight for some Iowa State Students. Groundskeeper Terry Scharndt has made a few revisions to his lawn -mower tractor for the fall weather.

He said the oncoming cold weather prompted him to look for a “heat houser” for his tractor to trap the heat in on the tractor.

“I built one out of cardboard, but I didn’t like the looks of just plan cardboard. So I thought about putting the Cy up on the cardboard,” he said. “But you can’t put the new Cy up without a pattern.”

He read in the Daily that people were free to use the old Cy logo without getting the university’s permission. “So that is where I got the idea to put the old baby Cy on my tractor,” Scharndt said.

Scharndt also said, “I did not paint the baby Cy on the cardboard myself. My girlfriend went out and bought white contact paper and painted the Cy onto that.”

He said she then covered the painted Cy with clear contact paper to waterproof it and then pasted it to the cardboard. “And that is how my baby Cy came to be.” Scharndt said.

It gives the tractor a more professional look than just having plain cardboard, he said, but the tractor is now retired for the fall. The tractor is at the groundskeeper shop this week for cleaning.

Jorja Kemp of the Iowa State athletic department said Scharndt has created a stir around campus by painting the old Cy on the side of his tractor. “It is kind of funny when you think about it,” Kemp said.

She said Scharndt takes pride in his work. Part of that pride, she said, includes his school spirit and sense of humor.

Old Cy lives on.