Monday, July 9, 2007

Odd tall things at the Fair

Today's theme is odd tall things at the Fair. I was riding through the Fairgrounds and was struck by how odd looking the thing that the Fair calls the Space Tower looks. For one thing, our preception of what space is and how far away it is has changed enormously since the thing was put up. It is really just an amusement, a ride if you will, but it is still very well attended during the annual event.

So I took a picture but then as I was riding away towards the exit I came upon this thing. What the heck is the deal with this thing?

All I can confirm is that it says Eco Experience on the base around on the wide side. I have no idea what it is but I do know it is not affiliated with that burger stand that it appears to be sprouting out of. It is, however, an odd tall thing at the Fair.

I got my pedal issue squared away. I swapped out the pedals on the Look for the pedals on the Crown Jewel. The swapped in pedals are whisper quiet. So having isolated the cause as the pedals I set out to get the original pedals repaired. I figured new bearings. Well, I discussed it thoroughly with Dan and Scott at the bike shop. Dan had figured out that he could definitely do the work, even knew where to get bearings at a price probably considerably below what Speedplay would charge. But Scott suggested that I put the pedals back on and see if they still clicked. He said that the click could have been a pedal thread issue and that removing the pedals, regreasing and reinstalling might prove to be a solution. He said I should rule that out before spending $75 or so on a pedal overhaul. Excellent problem solver Scott, I shall try his solution.

These are, absolutely, without question, oats.Oddly enough, they are not as brown as the wheat. My recollection of the sequence from the two summers I worked on Gullekson's farm is that barley comes first, then oats, wheat towards the end of summer. Oh, well. But these are oats.

4 comments:

Emily said...

What is the deal with that white thing? It's even weirder and more unexplainable than the blue thing. I guess I'll have to go to the fair to find out...

Jimi said...

I'm going to have to bike to the fairgrounds. That is a very odd structure and doesn't look functional at all. I need to see it close up.

Jimi said...

So I googled it and the friendly search engine came up with an articles that said in part:

"It's 123 feet tall, and it's a blade off a one-and-a-half megawatt turbine, which is a typical turbine that you would find in the southwestern part of the state," says Jeff Ledermann, with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The turbine he's referring to is a wind turbine. The blade sticking out of the ground usually spins in the air to produce wind energy, or clean energy, as Ledermann calls it. Minnesota is the fourth highest wind energy producer in the U.S.

Is there anything that google can't find??

Anonymous said...

If you go to bed early, the problems of the world are solved before you get up. I was quite pleased to find the answer to Wirless' question, WITDWT*insert color*T? Wind turbine, eh? Try not to kill any birds with that thing.

So that's what oats look like. Vaguely familiar, but I wouldn't have known. My limits are corn and soybeans, apparently. SS