Home of record

Today was a little warmer, temperatures into the low 40s, so another ride seemed in order. Especially considering the forecast for tomorrow is 80% chance of snow, possible accumulation of 2 inches. But today was nice enough.

I rode a stretch of Soo Street right after the street sweeper had been there. The street was still wet, but mostly clean. The streets are coming around rapidly.

Except of course for Hamline. One good citizen waited until the day after the streets had been swept to do a bit of yard maintenance. OK, he lives on Hamline, he gets a lot of sand in his front yard. OK, he has a gas powered leaf blower, what else is he going to do with it when there are no leaves to blow. Yup, blow all the accumulated dirt and grit back out into the street. It is at a particularly bad spot, right after a four way stop at the top of a hill. Drivers are usually a bit irritated and somewhat inattentive when pulling away from the stop and visibility is limited by that hill. So Mr. Lawn Blower covered the area between the fog line and the curb with dirt now deeper and more dangerous than it was prior to the sweeping. Oh, and it extends about 2 feet out into the lane. So a bicylist now has to swing out into the lane, remember the drivers are already irritated by the stop, and compete with the cars for pavement space in a spot where the cars will have limited visibility. Nice. Really nice.

But maybe a good heavy rain will help.

I saw the tall bike guy today. He has modified a regular bike by building more frame above the standard frame. He has mounted the cranks approximately where the seat post would ordinarily fit into the frame. The chain still runs to the back wheel. Overall, he sits about 8 feet above the pavement as he pedals.

I have seen him lots of times and have even ridden a couple of blocks with him once. We chatted about the bike, he generally leans the bike against a street sign for stability and uses a bus stop bench to get up to where the bike is. Obviously he is an unusual guy. If I recall correctly he was smoking a cigarette the time I rode with him.

Anyway, I have seen him lots of times and he also recognizes me. He has one of those squeeze bulb horns mounted on his bars and he gave a honk and a wave when he spotted me today. I gave him a shout out. Sometime during this season I will try to get a picture of him and his rig.

Today I thought about getting the picture and was going to turn around and follow him. Out of nowhere I experienced confusion about which hand shifts which derailer and which lever to push to shift up and down. Confusion is usually the first step in dehydration so I pulled over and stopped. I got this cow head picture while I was hydrating.It is an advertisement for the State Fair. Upon remounting I headed straight for home. Confusion abated and I got home just fine.

There are so many lakes in Minnesota that this one doesn't have a name. Actually I have seen the 1850s original government survey of the area and if I recall correctly this then was a part of what is now called Island Lake. Much like nearby Grass Lake, Island Lake is quite shallow. I think what happened is that in a period of low water they filled some low areas, connecting the various islands to the shore. They are now streets. This area got separated from the main lake and now exists as a separate pond.It is significant because that building at the far end with the flag pole in the yard was my "Home of Record at Time of Entry Into Military Service". I remember this because home of record was on all of my personnel records and in a huge bureaucracy like the US Army, it is just one of those items that you are often exposed to.

The last place I actually lived before I went in the Army was a place with some guys I knew from college. It was known as the Pit. In our defense it was named the Pit by previous residents and in fact it acquired most of its pit-like qualities during their tenure. In their defense we never really did much to clean it up. It was the Pit.

But when you go into the Army they need a Home of Record. There is a place for it on all of the forms. So I gave them my brother's address. I never actually lived there. But because I had a Minnesota home of record I was eligible without any controversy for the Minnesota bonus paid a couple of years after completion of my service.

I do not remember if there was a pond behind the building when it was my home of record. As I say, I never actually lived there. You would have to ask my brother but frankly he might not remember either. I went in in September and by the time I was on leave in January he was living in a hotel in Queens. I had opportunites to change my home of record to something else, like where he lived in New York, or Detroit, or Houston, or to where my sister lived, Indiana at that time. I just never got around to it, lots of forms to fill out don't you know. So Minnesota remained my home of record and I got paid the bonus.

I ride in that neighborhood a fair amount and I knew the place was around there somewhere. Eventually I made a systematic search and "voila", my home of record.