Ten lake tour

I had my first flat in two years about three weeks ago and I have now had another. I noticed earlier this week that the rear was soft but not flat. I pumped it up and it held well enough to ride. I did that a couple of times and my plan was to baby it along until this afternoon when I thought I would throw on a new set of tires. The mileage was short of what I like to get on a set of tires but tire mileage for me is determined not by what I wish for but by when I start having flats.

I went out this morning to pump the rear again so we could take the eight lake tour. It was not as soft as it has been the last couple of days so I was optimistic. Ooops. I pumped it up and I could hear the air escaping. Best laid plans and all that, we had to delay the ride while I patched a tube.

Then this afternoon I planned to do the new tire thing. I went to the basement to retrieve the tires and tools and discovered that I had a spare used tire that I had forgotten about. When I change a set of tires I always save the less used front tire to be used as a spare if something goes wrong with the new tires. So instead of new tires I put the spare on. The only down side is, as I told TOPWLH, I had blocked out most of the afternoon to complete this task and it only took about 20 minutes. More time to blog.

We rode out towards the eight lakes but deviated again at Highway 96. We continued north to Turtle Lake County Park, an additional 1.2 miles.A careful examination of the photo will reveal a water tower on the other side of the lake.

A controversy erupted at the lake when the model declined to be in the photo. She said she only wanted to be in one and she anticipated that her participation would be necessary for scale later on. I told her that this was certainly her call but that any failure to conform to the norm would be reported later. So there you go, a full report on why the model is not in the Turtle Lake picture.

Including Turtle Lake in the ride slightly alters the route. We travelled back south on Hodgson Road and cut behind the commercial development on the northeast corner of the intersection with Highway 96, left on 96 and on down to Rice Street. We got back on the route there, swinging in at the entrance to Sucker Lake park. Once back on familiar territory the steeds seemed to sense the barn and we completed the tour without much difficulty. I note for clarity that the eight and/or ten lake tour is not always exactly the same lakes. We don't always pass Wabasso, we often pass Emily, we occasionally get to Willow Pond or Lake Johanna, sometimes to Grass, or even once in a while Lake Valentine. Today I believe we counted ten.

I think it safe to say that today, June 30, the corn looks to be a prohibitive favorite to meet or exceed that knee high by the Fourth of July thing.Babe for scale.

It must be jersey day

As I started off today the Other Neighbor Couple Who Also Ride But Only the Male Half was outside watering his lawn. I know he rides although I am not sure I have ever actually seen him on a bicycle. We ran into each other in a local bike shop once and I am guessing he was not there for the bicycle tales so I think he rides. We exchanged pleasantries about how nice a day it was and he revealed to me that he got in a 20 miler today. I agreed with him that it was a mighty nice day for a 20 mile bicycle ride.

So I rode all the way to the "You are here" spot previously photographed for this blog. I hoped to get another angle which would still show the "You are here" stone but would show enough other details to allow identification by those familiar with the ride along the river. In fact I did get a pretty nice photo but it is going to have to wait for another day.

I was getting ready to leave when this lady rode in. Well, in recognition of the ride earlier today in Michigan by people wearing these jerseys, I asked this nice lady if I could take her picture.I told her about having been on that ride and that my sister also rode it and had recently posted a photo of the jersey. She was very nice and agreed to be photographed by a complete stranger. She asked me if I was riding TRAM this year. I pointed to her jersey and said that they killed a guy the year of that jersey and that I had not returned to the ride since. We had a nice chat about TRAMs past and then I went on my way.

At the top of the hill next to Desnoyer Park on the climb out of the river gorge I came upon this fellow. Birding is definitely not my field but I believe this is a Cooper's Hawk, immature. Adult Cooper's are quite a bit darker in color but of the hawks that I am aware of that frequent this range, immature Cooper's Hawk is the most likely.While I was looking at him I noticed that there was a ruby throated hummingbird perched on one of the adjacent wires. You rarely see a hummingbird perched upon anything so that was also interesting. The hummingbird is so tiny that there just wasn't any way that the equipment I carry on my bicycle ride could capture an image.

By the way, it didn't seem very warm but it was a three bottle ride. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

Cloudy and cool

Sunset last night. It isn't a picture from today's ride obviously. I had already made the blog entry before sunset last night so it was not possible to get this picture posted yesterday.There isn't any Great Lake visible in the picture. It just goes to show that the sun sets even over the trees here on the prairie.

The weather was a little odd today. The forecast indicated no likelihood of rain and the weather radar seemed clear. And yet there were these dark clouds overhead all day long. The available visible evidence said "rain" but I went out and rode in it and it never ever for even a second felt like it might rain. It felt a little odd.
This picture shows a very representative view of the sky during my ride. No blue visible, only dark ugly clouds. It was also quite cool, only low 70s and cooling.

This water tower is not very far from home but it isn't on the regular routes. I had to ride well off the well beaten path to get the photo. The fairgrounds are located in the municipality of Falcon Heights. I guess this means the whole area is a hill and they can put the water tower pretty much anywhere they want to.

The second day after a rest day proved to be a tonic. I felt really strong today, as strong as any time this year. It occurred to me the other day that I have ridden a lot but this year I have almost never tried to ride fast. Today I tried to ride fast. I attacked the small rises. I rode two gears higher than usual on the downwind sections. It was fun.

The month nears an end and with today's miles I reached one of the major round numbers that I was seeking. This is rewarding especially in light of the fact that it was the 7th day of the month before I made my 3rd ride. With this very slow start it looked all month like I was going to be short of my unofficial goal but it now looks like I will get there after all. That is also fun.

Conditions moderate, bicycling resumes

Nice day, temperature in the 70s, dew point in the 50s, light NW winds. I went for a bicycle ride.

I often say that all of my ride routes seem to lead to the top of a hill. On the top of many hills you find a water tower and it seems to me that I have ridden past the water tower of every municipality within bicyle distance. This one is, duh, Shoreview and I ride past it with great regularity.I spent some time yesterday reading some blogs instead of riding. I found a couple of really good thoughts on Fat Cyclist. The first is about a recurring controversy that seems to separate bicyclists into contentious groups:

"Debates over what kind of cycling is best are totally futile. The best kind of cycling is the kind YOU like best."

I like that. The other is an insight into how hard bicycling sometimes is:

"On big climbs everyone rides alone."

And then I found a really good piece on Belgium Knee Warmers in the June 27 post. The post is about Lance Armstrong and his dedication to his craft. It is nominally about losing weight and I even though I am not trying to lose weight the descriptions of Lance's routine rang a bell with me. I am not trying to lose weight, in fact sometimes I have to work to keep my weight up. But I am living by necessity a very regimented lifestyle. The following is a quotation from the post which could just as well be about my schedule:

"(Lance would)come back from a training ride and skip lunch. As he said, 'I was hungry all the time.'

At first, that sensation is disconcerting. Your body says, 'Something’s wrong. We need calories.' You have difficulty concentrating. But after a few days, there is a familiarity; the diet is just part of the routine."

That part could just as well be me.

Apologies to the dew point gods

Rest days can be provided by more than one set of dieties.

It rained today while I was at work. But it was another one of those cases where it rained downtown but hardly at all out here in the suburbs. It was plenty dry enough when I got home. It appeared while I was at work that the rain gods were about to provide a rest day but when I got home it seemed that the rain gods had once again declined to declare a rest. It had been 93 before the rain but the rain cooled things off a bit, down to 84. I have ridden lots of times with temperatures higher than 84.

I read a Wikipedia entry on dew point. The entry can perhaps be summarized by this paragraph:

"Humans tend to react with discomfort to high dew points. Those accustomed to continental climates often begin to feel uncomfortable when the dew point reaches between 15 and 20 °C (59 to 68 °F). Most inhabitants of these areas will consider dew points above 21 °C (70 °F) to be oppressive."

The dew point was 68 before the rain. The rain lowered the temperature but greatly enhanced the humidity. The dew point when I got home was 73. Oppressive. The dew point gods provided a rest day.

A bit ago I told the story of Emily's three home run game. I found a picture of her in the batters box at the field where that game was played. This was one of the pictures in the picture frames at work which I scanned recently.

Nice stance, excellent form, good level stroke, good hitter. Your overall best hitter bats third. Our lineup that year, as it often did, started Knutson, Sventek, Miller. Good hitter.Another interesting bit about the picture is the appearance on the bench of my cooler. I brought that water cooler to every practice and every game. It was one of the important rites of passage about being on our team that you had to learn to drink from that cooler. New players would first watch the experienced returning players take a drink and then try it themselves.

The rain gods provide rest days

I got home from work and started to gear up. TOPWLH was surprised, saying, "I thought for sure today would be a rest day." I replied that the rain gods provide rest days, otherwise we ride.

I assume the rest day assumption was based on the extremely ugly conditions this late afternoon as much as it was based on yesterday's major exertion. And it was ugly today. The temperature was in the 90s and the dew point in the 60s. This translates into hot and humid.

But out I went. Heading out into a strong headwind with conditions like today is very hard work. But I set off spinning a smallish gear in the small ring, just trying to work the tightness out of my legs. I rode absolutely as far I thought I could and then turned back. Well, starting out like that at 5pm leads to three things when the turn is made. First, I now had a tail wind. Who doesn't love a tailwind? Second, the tightness did depart and my legs started to feel good. And third, it started to cool off a little. It was not that bad. Even so, intervention by the rain gods would not be looked upon with extreme disfavor. After all, a day off restores freshness and strength and who doesn't love feeling fresh and strong?

This is a picture of the Governor's Mansion. No, you say? You have seen the Governor's Mansion on Summit. OK, but this is a house built in 1888 by Andrew McGill, the tenth governor of Minnesota just after he was elected Governor. My regular southern route takes me past this house and its neighbor, built the next year by businessman Joseph Moore, on Scudder Street in Saint Anthony Park.These two sit atop a hill with their backs turned to Langford Park. Langford Park, like many small parks in Saint Paul was a low area and mostly swampy at time of settlement. It was drained and filled and turned into a park at about the time these houses were built.The houses are towered Victorians designed by the same architect and were nearly identical when built. The McGill house lost its porches and other decorative touches in a 1930s remodeling. The Moore house retains the original exterior features.

Stretching out: A ride report

Today I finally got around to the long planned but not previously executed long ride. I left the house shortly after 8am intending to ride to Bald Eagle Lake. I met The Neighbor Couple Who Also Ride, Male Half in the cul-de-sac where he was warming up. In the course of the chat he passed along that TNCWAR, Female Half intended today to be her 50 mile ride. Fifty is an impressive ride indicating that TNCWAR, FH is in serious training mode for TRAM. It impressed me enough that I changed my plans to a circumnavigation of Bald Eagle Lake. I still didn't get 50 but I did ride 42, a distance considerably greater than my longest previous ride this year.

Bald Eagle Lake is mostly north but also east from home. I started out along the ride of the 8 lakes tour. That ride passes, by the way, Josephine, Mud (aka Judy), Island, Snail, Sucker, Vadnais, Owasso, Wabasso and Bennett Lakes. I rode out past Snail Lake to highway 96. Instead of turning and heading for Sucker Lake I for the first time this year headed across 96. I catch Hodgson Road near Turtle Lake. I turn on Turtle Lake Road and cross along the back side of North Oaks, crossing Rice Creek along the way. Then north through the neighborhoods to the county line, before heading to the east. A small jog to the north and a bit further east brings me to the turn back point. I still have a little ways to go east but this is as far north as I get. As you can see from the road sign, I am in Anoka County.Back towards the south to the county line where I cross 35E on Ramsey County Road J. I come immediately to Otter Lake and ride south next to the lake on Otter Lake Road. I had a picture of Otter Lake but camera operator error has resulted in that picture going in the recycle bin instead of onto this blog. No matter, I have a few more pictures anyway.

South to County Road H2 then east to the lake. North next to the lake and eventually around the northern bays and back south on the east side. I experienced two of the most ambitious instances I have ever seen of road watering on the east side of the lake. In two different yards the citizens had set their sprinklers up in configurations that watered well over half the road. That just doesn't seem necessary.

I also came to road construction which caused me to have to detour out on to Highway 61 for a couple of miles. Riding along next to 70mph traffic is not the most comfortable feeling in the world but the paved shoulder is exceptionally wide, I estimate 12 feet.

Here is Bald Eagle from the east side near Butters house. For South Park fans, no, not that Butters. Minnesota hockey fans will know which Butters I mean.Bald Eagle is a very pretty lake. There were lots of people out on the water today. In this morning photo most of the boats were fishing. I assume by mid-afternoon there is an abundance of water skiers.

I found only one wind powered craft. This was on the south shore of Bald Eagle just before I turned away from the lake. In tribute to the currently on-going America's Cup I got a shot of what from all appearances is a rarely used catamaran.I was completely out of water at this point but it was only a couple of miles to my designated rest stop. This is the Podvin Park Pavilion on 9th Street in White Bear Lake. I have been there several times over the years and, at least in the summer time, always find the bathrooms open and the water fountain functioning.I drank a bottle of water and ate my Clif Bar, 27 miles down, and refilled both bottles. The water in White Bear Lake has a quite distinctly different taste than Roseville water. I suspect White Bear Lake is not purchasing their water from the City of Saint Paul as Roseville is.

I had about 15 miles to go and I was about to put to the test the theory that give me a few minutes to rest and I could ride 15 more miles.

This is Birch Lake. What is interesting about this lake is that machine out in the middle. That is a watermilfoil harvester. It is a losing battle but several lakes use this technique to keep the weed from taking completely over.It was shortly after this point that I had my first significant wildlife sighting of the ride. It was my second deer of the year, this one a fawn still cloaked in its protective white spots. Those spots do not protect from cars, however, and the fawn was dead at the side of the road. This tends to illustrate the deer are vermin theme. We have too many deer. It is perhaps unfortunate that Bambi got killed by a car but it is also unfortunate that the owner of the car faces a $4-5,000 auto body shop repair bill.

After that I rode a short spell with another geezer who was riding a Colnago Master X Light. I gave him a "nice bike". He said "thank you" but seemed to never even notice that my bike is nicer than his. So there you go for those who think the entire bicycle world is fixating on what I am riding. He missed it entirely.

Here is Lake Vadnais from a vantage point seldom seen by me. That white structure is the pump house and the unvegetated shoreline immediately adjacent to it is the parking lot where yesterday's Vadnais picture was taken.As I rode past the south side of Lake Vadnais I was able to verify that yesterday's unknown avians in fact are cormorants. Cormorants have achieved pest status on some northern Minnesota lakes but I was unaware of any colony forming in the metro area. The cormorants were sharing the shallows with a blue heron.

No bald eagle today but on the other hand I rode around a Bald Eagle Lake. In my garage I finished off the last dregs of water from the last bottle of the season's first five bottle ride.

NEWS FLASH: BB sights eight lakes

The day dawned to a complete overcast. However, radar weather showed no nearby precipitation. It was just an overcast, perhaps a high fog bank. But it was coolish so we waited it out a bit. About 10am we geared up and the sun peeked through for the first time as we left the garage. By the time we got home the day had gradually morphed into one of the nicest days in the history of days.

There was too much traffic coming and going from the Fairgrounds so despite a prediction of wind rising out of the SE, we headed north towards the eight lake tour, BB's first attempt at this major ride. One of the problems for this tour is that the preferred Vadnais pit stop is more than fourteen miles into the ride, a couple of miles past the half-way mark. But here she is at Lake Vadnais.The concentration of fisher people has gone way down and we had only a few other people present while we enjoyed the calm and beauty.

It was a major wildlife day. We saw OUR first deer. Like the Michigan deer this one was crossing the bike path. We had just turned off Victoria onto the steep downhill to Snail Lake when I noticed the young doe. She moved off in the general direction of Grass Lake before any possibility of a photo presented itself.

Then as we left Vadnais I noticed an eagle on the exposed flats out from the south shore of the lake. There was also a white heron and some other creatures who may have been cormorants. I could not pause for a photo or for more complete identification as BB had already launched herself into climb mode for the hill up to Rice Street and she scolded me for stopping. *sigh* But we got home before any adverse winds picked up so I am going to label the excursion as a nice ride.

I need also to make a brief mention of yesterday's ride. I got home early and desparately wanted to ride but it absolutely felt like rain. Finally I decided to go out anyway but to stay close to home. I rode fifteen miles without crossing Snelling or Larpenteur. This means I had ridden at least once on most of the streets available within that corner of Roseville and Lauderdale. Eventually I got up a bit of courage and ventured over to Saint Anthony Park. I was riding past Langford Park when the sun briefly poked through. All in all a pretty strange ride but also strangely satisfying.

Another I need to mention is that last week BB noticed ground disturbance in the corn field. I took a look and it appeared to me that the corn had been cultivated. I am sure that will be the only time as the crop has now exceeded the height at which you can drive a tractor over the plants without damaging them. The corn looks good don't you think?Babe for scale.

Midsummers night

With the selection of ancestors that I have it is almost certain that some of them spent this holiday dancing naked around some sort of pole. I confess that I used to feel the urge to do so myself. I also confess that this urge has passed. I would say, however, that this evening is a pleasant evening and that it seems like a night on which such a diversion would be possible.

When I got home from work and started gearing up TOPWLH* expressed surprise that I was going to ride. She said that it seemed rainy. Well, it was pretty nasty looking out but it was not at that moment raining and the street was dry. It turns out that her assessment of the weather was based on having to abandon a post-lunch walk around Lake Harriet. I informed her that she was talking about Minneapolis four hours ago. I am a devoted follower of radar weather websites and the rain looked past tense to me. And it was.

I rode and was surprised by the results. I have ridden many days in a row and usually after such a long run I am worn down. Today I felt not only strong but for some unknown reason fresh. I rode harder than I have for some time and felt pretty good doing so. I love my bike.

This is the weekend of the Minnesota Street Rod Association big show at the Fairgrounds. It is only Thursday but some of the cars are already arriving. I thought I might ride past the Fairgrounds and get a picture. I was disappointed in that effort, however, there just isn't a critical mass of the old cars present yet. By Saturday night there will be lines of spectators on lawn chairs on Snelling and an endless procession of old cars. Today to get a picture I had to head to a place where the car owners might be eating. I was able to catch a couple of the rods in the parking lot at Mickey D's.As you can perhaps see these are not exactly restored classics. They are more of the customized hot rod variety. Either way, by Saturday night they will be putting on a good show.

*the other person who lives here (obviously)

One Ludlow

It was a pleasant day albeit a bit too warm and windy again. But it looked good so I bolted for home to ride my bike. It WAS hot but I had a destination in mind so I headed right out.

At about three miles something happended to the day. The sky rather abruptly darkened and huge black clouds started forming up on the western horizon. I was on Como in front of Commonwealth Terrace. I thought I felt moisture on my leg so I jerked to the right on Raymond and headed for home. But by the time I cleared the farm campus it hadn't gotten any worse. I was close enough to home that I felt comfortable adding a loop through Lauderdale. I would still be close enough to home that I could sprint for it if need be and not be out in the rain for too long.

Well, it never rained where I was. I looped through Lauderdale, back past home, up to Snelling again, then down Larpenteur past the golf course. I took a little sit down at a place where I could see the western sky and watched for a while. Encouraged, I headed into Saint Anthony Park again.

It was very strange. There was never a moment after those first three miles when the conditions were such that I would have left my garage if I had been home. It was ugly and very threatening. But I was already out so I stayed out, and it never rained where I was.

The down side is that the lighting conditions never were suitable for a photo. I found the destination I wanted to photo but it was just too grey. However, as I suspect is true of all photo bloggers, I have a couple stored in the "My Photos" folder which, while not the A list on first impression, are good enough for now.

This is One Ludlow, a house in Saint Anthony Park. Roy, Knobby and Amos, and I think Rick the Deputy lived there in the late 70s. There was a major 4th of July party there.Now some of the details are fuzzy, it was 30 years ago after all. But anyone interested should get BB and I cornered and ask for the details. We were both at the party and I bet between the two of us we could hit all of the high points. Just to whet your curiosity, there was loud Sousa, lots of people, a patriotic parade, and a . . . well, ask us sometime.

One Ludlow is at the end of a dead end, or perhaps the beginning, right next to the railroad tracks. The street was named Nourse Street until the name was changed in 1940. Hehe. For Christmas I got a book about street names in Saint Paul.

For example, yesterday's photo is of a building located at the corner of Snelling and Larpenteur. Snelling Avenue was named for Colonel Josiah Snelling, commander of the military post that was given his name. The street follows roughly an early path and before that an American Indian trail leading from the confluence of the two rivers to Little Canada.

Larpenteur was originally Minneapolis Avenue. The name was changed by the city council in 1904. Auguste L. Larpenteur was one of the first twelve settlers of Saint Paul. He helped lay out the original city and laid claim to 160 acres near Lexington and University. He was engaged in fur trading and merchandising and was one of the last survivors of the original settlers.

Good stuff, huh?

But nothing compared to this:

Emily sent me this. She says she googled Gzmoohoo and found this French language site about FC Nantes. If you scroll down you will find this blog linked as a site where FC Nantes is being discussed. As Emily says, random French people could be reading my blog. And exactly as she says, that's pretty cool.

Architecture

I have ridden every day for quite a few days in a row now and the high wind today nearly convinced me to take a yachting lay day. But it was sunny and otherwise pretty pleasant so I rode my bike. Yesterday was also windy and it was one of those days when it felt like three of the four cardinal directions were into the wind. Today only about one and a half directions felt into the wind. The wind definitely helped on two directions. And who doesn't like a tail wind?

I stopped at the bike shop and engaged in some idle chit-chat. Marty was wearing a "Hors Categorie" shirt. He also revealed that he has won every Tour de France he has entered. I tried to conceal my admiration.

He told a good story though. They have a regular customer who is a mailman. He quite reasonably was excited when the Postal Service began to sponsor a bicycle team. He visited the shop, which as a Trek dealer was an outlet for USPS gear. He bought the jersey and a cap. Eventually when Trek came out with the USPS replica bike he bought one of those too, a very nice carbon fiber frame. Well, before too very long he was in the shop with a broken frame. He had been riding along admiring his ride when he ran into something . . . a big blue mail box.

For Father's Day my gift from Emily was the American Institute of Architects Guide to the Twin Cities. The book was put together by a former Pioneer Press writer named Larry Millett, a good writer. Emily got me an autographed copy, thanks sweetie. The book is also notable in that Millett dedicated the book to his "friend and patron", John Camp. Camp is, of course, also a former writer at the Pioneer Press.

So this is a picture of one of the architectural highlights of the Twin Cities.Quoting here: "This superb late art deco building was constructed in 1947 as headquarters of the Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association (GTA). Clad in Indiana limestone, the building mixes the Zigzag and Moderne phases of art deco. Notable features include curving corner windows, decorative aluminum spandrels, and relief sculptures atop the entry pavilion."

Blogger appears in his own blog

The sky looked very threatening this morning and by noon it let loose. It rained really hard but not for very long. I am thinking that it might be just the dash of moisture that will get that corn going.

But being as it had rained I did not expect to ride. In fact, after work I detoured to the bakery for some bread. But when I got home the sun was peeking out and the streets were dry. I got a late start but it ended up being a spectacular evening, very nice indeed.

The other person who lives here was out walking while I was riding and we ended up coming down the street on the way home together. She snapped this photo of the blogger.For a view of the blogger engaged in high artistry I recommend the Wireless Xanga site. I love that girl.

Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

Frenchman wins bicycle race in France.

Christophe Moreau of the Ag2r team (ahh zhay deux err) today crossed the finish line in Annecy in a group with the other contenders to retain his lead and capture one of the last major prep races for next month's 94th Tour de France.

Alexander Vinokourov of the Astana team was perhaps the strongest rider in the race and in fact was the winner of the final stage. But Vinokourov deliberately let seven minutes escape on the midweek climb of the legendary Mont Ventoux, won by Moreau. Vinokourov, who was in the lead at that point, elected to let the stage leaders go to save his strength for le Tour.

In other cycling news Iban Mayo and Leonardo Piepoli of Saunier Duval and Alessandro Petacchi of Milram, the points classification winner, were reported to have returned "non-negative" test results for banned substances at the Giro d'Italia. Mayo has subsequently been cleared but Piepoli and Petacchi remain under suspicion. Piepoli confirmed that he takes the drug in question, salbutamol, but averred that he takes it for asthma, the commonly prescribed use. Other sources report that salbutamol is commonly taken as a masking agent for EPO.

Today is Fathers' Day and here is a photo of the two people who constitute my validation as a Father.This photo was taken in our house on Seminary, probably when Wireless was 3 or so. They are sitting in the baby rocking chair. Isn't Wireless sweet?

The Babe and I got out early enough for our ride to avoid the heat of the day which is now building and promises to be oppressive. We left about 8:30 when the weather sites predicted a 39 percent chance of a thunderstorm by 10. 39? Where do they come up with these things? It did not rain but the weather was unsettled enough that it completely changed two times while we were out and we ended up riding into a head wind on the way home.

We also started out in a direction away from the eight lakes. The first weather change convinced us to turn back and try to make it to at least Owasso.It was so uncertain when we started that we decided to get the corn picture at the very beginning of the ride, just to make sure that we got the photo.The corn looks good, doesn't it? Babe included for scale.

LOOK at the shrubbery

As I predicted, it did rain overnight. But it had pretty much stopped by 9am and it was dry by 11 so after lunch I headed out. Everything was different, it was not as hot, topping out at 85 during my ride, the wind was from the other direction, I headed north on the eight lake tour.

I took a nice long stop at Vadnais and watched the fishing for a while. It was only slightly more entertaining than usual. The highlight was one citizen deciding that his luck would be changed if he fished off the north side of the parking lot point instead of the south side where everyone else was fishing. No one was fishing on the north side because there is a giant weed bed on the north side. Citizen cast out once, had a horrible time getting his line back and when he finally did extricate it from the water he had about half a bushel of water weeds tagging along.

I got all the way home without getting my camera out but I did not get my bicycle put away. The other person who lives here has taken an active interest in the state of the shrubbery and has rallied this bush out in front. Spirea? Nice job, other person, pretty flowers.

I finished up scanning my work picture frames. The images will probably begin to appear here soon. As I said previously, these are pictures which have been accumulating on my desk for quite some time. Seeing some of them again brought back lots of pleasant memories. I guess that's what pictures are for.

Five straight 90s

Same weather, same wind, same ride. The only difference in the rides over the last three days was the turn around point. Wednesday the turn around point was farther than Thursday but I rode a loop in the neighborhood so Thursday was a mile longer. Today the turn around was one of the farthest points from home that I reach on an evening ride. When I got there I discovered that I was there.It seemed like a "duh" moment. For the information of those who have recently fallen off their bikes I came within about a heartbeat of falling off as I made the corner off the sidewalk into this overlook. I thought I was going down but I somehow willed the bike forward with a weight shift even though I was not able to make a pedal stroke. The tiny bit of forward momentum saved my balance and gave me a chance to pedal. I made it.

It was hot each day when I started, oppressively so. But after about 6pm it starts to cool off and by the time I got home each day it was actually starting to feel pretty pleasant.

I passed some sort of important tipping point with these five rides. I am tired right now, as is usual after the ride. But for the first time this year, I am tired like I just had a good workout and you are supposed to be tired after working out. For the first time I do not feel that I am exhausted that was really hard work kind of tired. I feel tired but I feel good. I think this is an important sign that fitness is returning. The first two months have been hard work but it should be more enjoyable from here on. For example, give me a few minutes here and I am pretty sure I could go out and ride another 15 miles. I feel good.

I would like to add just one note to the conversation about other riders paying more attention to my bike than to my companion. I would note that if you have once glanced at the bike that there is an instruction printed right there on the frame about what you are supposed to do next: LOOK. At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

It was hot out there today. It was a new record for this year, a three and a half bottle ride. The last couple of days I have arrived at a playground with at least a little water left which water I finished off, got a drink from the fountain, refilled the bottle and rode on.

Today when I arrived at Desnoyer Park I was totally and completely out of water and had been for about three miles.

This is a view of Desnoyer Park from the uphill side corner. This pretty little park is right at the top of the climb up from the river. It is a point at which a hot old guy really desparately needs some water.The outdoor water fountain is visible as the plumbing on the side of the building. It was a welcome sight. Incidentally, this is also a water source that I often use on fall rides as that water fountain is one of the last outdoor sources of water to be turned off by the city.

I also note that the weather is about to change. I could feel a very different air mass moving in as I neared home. I suspect rain, maybe a bunch of rain, coming tonight.

Air quality index

There is indeed an air quality index website. Today for the time when I wanted to ride it looked like particulates was going to be the major pollutant but I guess ozone made a late surge. Despite the fact that an alert was issued earlier today the ozone level did not even reach yesterday's level. The air seemed OK. But it was hot yet again, another three bottle ride.

Adam fall down but he get up again? Ain't never gonna keep him down? Chumbawumba, I think. The problem with riding a bicycle is that there are just the two wheels and there just are going to be times when you really need a third to keep the center of balance under you. No third wheel? Down you go. Adam, I hope you have no serious injury. As a guy who falls down at least once a year about all I can offer is at least you aren't the only one.

I had an experience during tonight's ride that reinforced a couple of other bicycling maxims. I was riding and what felt like a pretty large bug with a very hard and sharp exoskelton tagged me full on in the chin. I was reminded, without having to relearn the hard way, to keep my mouth closed. I was also reminded of the importance of good high quality glasses. I have been hit very directly in I think 3 or 4 of the different pairs of sunglasses I own. I am very confident that drug store sunglasses would not have handled the impact as easily as my bicycling sunglasses in each case did. Today I was reminded that I do not want to eat a big ugly bug and I do not want to lose an eye. Those sunglasses absolutely are worth what I paid for them.

The wind was from the south yet again so I rode to the river again. The river is a deceptive ride. It is relatively flattish and without cross streets which require a stop so good speeds are easily maintained. And the ride towards the south, which is the direction I am riding on the way out, has more slightly downhill stretches than uphill so even into the wind the average speed stays high. Today I turned around at the overlook above Hidden Falls across from the Ford plant.This is a view down the river gorge over the tops of the trees down in the park at river side. The ride back is with the wind at my back so again, average speed stays high. I don't actually ride a lot harder but I get a higher average speed and I feel faster. The problem is that there are some real riders on the River Road who easily remind me that I am not fast. But it feels good anyway.

On the way home I swung past World Cycling Productions to check on their warehouse sale which started today. I leaned my bike against the building next to the tent they had erected in the parking lot and took a quick look around to try to decide if I want to head back over there with my plastic in tow. As I was leaving one of the managers was walking towards the tent with a folded table that he was bringing to the tent area from the main showroom. From about 20 feet away he said, "Nice looking bike". I said, "Thank you". He kept coming and from about 10 feet away he said, "Very nice looking bike". World Cycling Productions in the past sold very high end bicycles including Colnago although they now seem to specialize in high end bicycle gear. In any case a manager of WCP is a person who should know a nice bike when he sees one. I am going to take his comment as a definite compliment for the Look, the second official "nice bike" of the season.

Still hot, three bottle ride

It was hot again today, so hot that a air quality alert was issued. The alert indicated the possibility of poor air quality as a result of ozone. Ozone occurs in heavily populated areas (read car exhaust) when you get a stagnant, hot air mass. We have all of those things. The alert said to curtail exercise.

But being as I work at an environmental agency I have the other environmental agency website bookmarked. I checked the live air quality index before heading out to ride. The live index indicated an actual ozone level of 71 where 100 is the number which actually triggers the air quality warning. So the air was OK.

But it was hot. Today was the first three bottle ride. I emptied two water bottles and was still a long ways from home. The playgrounds are all open now and I watched two or three hitters in a coach pitch little league game while refilling one bottle at Desnoyer Park and then rode on home.

This is the turn around point for today's ride. This is on the river road, a bench on top of the bluff overloooking the gorge below the dam.I think that might be the dog park across the way.

It was hot when I started but that was probably the moment of the day's peak temperature. It cooled enough while I was riding that I am prepared to say that it was actually pretty pleasant by the time I got home.

Three bottles, a nice ride.

Hot redux

It was 90 before I left work, hotter than yesterday. So I was a little trepidatious about a ride. I decided it would be OK as long as I kept it relatively short and as long as I didn't race any idiots.

So I stayed completely away from the two places where I regularly encounter people who want to race, the River Road and Summit. I had a nice ride complete with a little climb off the bike and sit down break. It was actually pretty nice. The humidity was low and the wind was cooling instead of overheating.

This is the site of the sit down, Langford Park.Langford may be the only park in town where you would have a blow down branch which the locals would strip the bark off before the maintenance crews can get out to remove the brush. There are lots of former hippies in the neighborhood, also lots of self-styled artists and tree hugging craftspeople, a higher percentage than in most neighbornoods. I hasten to add there are also lots of solid citizens, it is a nice neighborhood. But it is definitely the kind of neighborhood where someone would make the effort to strip the bark but not make the effort to remove the fallen branch. I must admit that it does look striking. It caught my attention from half a park away and drew me to the shade of those trees for my sit down.

Hot, hot, very hot

It was just as warm today as it was yesterday but because of the fact that I work, if I was going to ride my bicycle I was going to have to do it in the heat of the day. This ended up being quite a bit harder than yesterday's ride. Hot, hot, very hot. Get off the bike and have a little sit down hot.

Having said that about today it is still obvious that it will be even hotter in a month or two so getting out there and acclimating myself to a hot ride is a good thing. That race with the idiot on the comfort bike wasn't such a good idea though.

He was riding a comfort bike, a fairly nice one to be fair, a Marin, but his seat was so low that from behind he appeared bow legged as he pedalled. He had earphones plugged in so he couldn't hear and didn't respond when I tried a pleasantry at the corner of Snelling. No, instead he was intent on rolling through the red turning to green light and sprinting on the downhill to get back in front.

He had already pulled that stunt at the Lexington corner and I didn't care, I don't race. But just pedalling at my easy biking too hot to ride hard pace I easily overtook and passed as soon as the street tilted slightly upwards at the Short Line. I heard his shifter click and that and his actions at Snelling could not have made it more obvious that he was racing.

Well, I noticed but I still wasn't racing. His sprint away from the light got him a half a block lead before I got rolling. That downhill from Snelling leads to pretty fast speeds though and once I was rolling the reality of the situation was that I was riding a race bike and he was on a comfort bike. So by the time we reached Fairview I was on him again. This time I was slightly irked and not interested in playing the game again at the Cleveland corner so I hung it out and sprinted. I heard his shifter click again but he was in way over his head if I was actually going to try to go fast and at this point that is exactly what my intention was.

Too hot to sprint, but I didn't see Mr. Marin comfort biker again before I turned off to get a picture of this:This is Milton Spater's duplex where B. Babe and I lived when we were first married. It is an up and down duplex, we lived up, 3 bedrooms, a sun porch, a fireplace, wood floors, all in all a really nice place that we were very happy with at that time.

Milton was in his 80's by then so I doubt that he and the Mrs. are still occupying the lower. I also note that they have renumbered the upper to be 2019 while apparently designating the lower as 2017. It was all just 2017 when we lived there. Probably they had problems mixing up the mail of all the different students who it looks like inhabit the place now. The duplex is one block off campus at Saint Thomas.

And then I snuck past this other house and got a picture. A free dozen cherry tomatoes to the first person to correctly identify the street and number and the name of at least one resident.

Bignewhouse

It feels like summer at last. It is 89F (30C) right now and feeling a little steamy besides. We have had a day or two earlier in the year when the temperature exceeded 90 but this is different, at last. The plants are in full growth mode, it doesn't feel a single bit like a hot day in spring. It is a summer day.

It is also spouse ride day and we got out early, leaving the garage by 10:20. The wind kept us from trying the Bianchi Babe's much preferred northern route with the eight lakes. We rode south to the river and along the river road.

There are a couple of candidates for Lucas Davenport's bignewhouse along the River Road. Followers of the Prey series will know that his old house mostly burned up when it ended up being a crime scene at the end of one of the novels. The next book features a lot of talk about architect and builders and the bignewhouse.This is the Babe, this time with her own bicycle, the Bianchi, in front of one of the primary candidates. It is a tear down and re-build which was in progress about the time those two books came out and it is obviously a big house suitable for a software millionaire, albeit a software millionaire still working as a homicide detective.

Going all the way to the bignewhouse was a substantial increase in distance for the Babe but she held up very well and only once complained, and that was about a lack of shade in the industrial area that I now ride through on the way out and back to avoid riding through the from a bicycle perspective somewhat sketchy intersection of Raymond and University. She was chastised for complaining and thereafter acted contrite.

The weather has been marginal for bicycling (our neighbor Betsy who nearly every year rides TRAM recently reported that she has 34 miles so far this year). But it has been great for the corn.The geology guy at work is always including a hammer or a ball point pen in his rock photos. The geology people always say this is done for scale. Today's photo is of the corn with the Babe included for scale. As you can see, nearly knee high by the 10th of June. I suspect this bodes well for that 4th of July thing.

I think I may recycle a bit later.

Product endorsement

I have had a little secret that I have been keeping for going on two years.

When I built up the Look I had a set of high rent Vittoria race tires that I had scored on eBay for virtually nothing. I don't race and so I didn't really know when I would have the opportunity to actually use these very high zoot race tires. My solution was to mount them on the new bike.

Well, in a word, disaster. At about 600 miles I had a flat tire. Then at about 1,000 I had another. And then a third at 1,232. I ordered new tires and installed them as soon as I got them, at 1,681.

I rode the new tires, Michelin ProRace2, for almost 1,700 miles and then swapped to a new set to finish the year. I got 2,394 more miles that year, 2005, with no more flat tires. This is pretty good mileage and I felt the need to brag a bit on my tires. But the tire mileage felt like it might be just a good run of luck and I didn't want to jinx it. So even though I occasionally engaged in general discussions of tire mileage, I said nothing about my dark blue Michelins.

I started 2006 on the old tires, changed to a new set after 1,000 2006 miles, discarding the more heavily worn rear and saving the front as a possible spare. I rode another 1,600 miles on that set and then switched again, this time putting the front from the previous set on the rear without changing the front. With this set up I got through the end of the year, a total of 3,304 miles, still no flats. Again I felt the urge to brag up the tires a bit, but now it definitely felt like it was no time to jinx the streak.

I installed new tires front and back for this year and got off to a good start. But Friday I rode through some glass. I made it home without difficulty and thought I may have dodged the bullet yet again. This morning, however, flat tire.

The streak totals: On the Look, over 7,000 miles without a flat tire. Considering all bicycles, about 8,000 miles since the last flat tire. Considering just miles ridden on the Michelins, 6,600 miles without a flat, very nearly two full years. In fact, I was checking the log to verify some of these numbers and I noticed that I have fallen off my bike three times since the last time I had a flat. So it appears I am much more likely to fall off than I am to have to climb off to change a flat tire.This is the tire I very strongly endorse, as pictured on my rear wheel today at the end of the ride. They have been a phenomenally good product for me, Michelin ProRace2.

I got the scanning thing worked out this morning. I got the software installed without huge difficulty but then spent most of the morning figuring out the steps to scan. I finally got it down, at least for "Basic Scan".

I have pictures on my desk at work. Over the years I have taken photos that I like to work and put them into the frames I already have on my desk. When I did this I never took the old photos out, I just left them in the frame with the new one on top. So I brought the frames home. I emptied out the one with Roseville VFW on the top and got those pictures all scanned. If you check Roseville VFW below and have a good eye for detail you may notice that the photo does not now exhibit the flash spot on Knutson's jersey that was there when the image was originally posted. That is because the image now is the scanned image, not the picture of picture image.

This is a picture that was in that frame. The fisherman's assistant just does not look thrilled with the experience. Note that she holds the stringer chain very, very gingerly in her hand. Also note that she is not actually holding the fisherman's hand. I am grasping her by the wrist, possibly to enhance the photo, possibly to keep her from running away. In the spirit of the other quizzes, a fish dinner to the first person who can name when and where this picture was taken and the name of the fish. By the way, we are not looking for fish species here, we are looking for the fish's given name.

Still not scan enabled.

I must admit that there have been a few times in the last couple of weeks when this whole fitting a bicycle ride into the daily schedule has seemed way too much like work. The incessant wind, the uncertain temperatures, sometimes it just isn't that much fun.

But a day like today gives a person an opportunity to revisit all of the sensations that are the reasons why I like riding. It was coolish, only a bit over 70, but there was not a single cloud of any kind visible anywhere in the sky. There was a light breeze but plenty tolerable. The weather enforced days off made me rested and strong. All in all, it was a perfect day for a ride.

Lake Vadnais is the final basin for the Saint Paul City Water Department. Although located in Vadnais Heights, the lake provides the water supply for Saint Paul. Saint Paul also sells water to many northern suburbs, including incidentally, Vadnais Heights.This is the pump house and the waterworks boathouse located on the south shore of the Lake.

It was a great ride and I stopped at a favorite spot on the way home. They looked so . . . I don't know, contented or something, that I just couldn't resist taking their picture again.The campus cows return.

I got the scanner unpacked but have not installed the software yet so scanning looks like a weekend project. My blogging siblings have set the bar pretty high, I hope I have something to offer when I finally get scan-enabled.

Roseville VFW

These three were on every softball team I coached. Which also pretty much means that I was the only coach they ever had. We started when they were in 3rd grade playing that year in the Roseville city recreation league as the White Sox. This picture was taken the last year, after they all graduated from high school. We were representing the Roseville VFW in one of the two top female 20 and under slow pitch softball leagues in the Metro. We had won our division of the league the year before but after the players graduated from high school their focus faded badly. We still had a pretty good team but I think we were third in the last go round. This is Miller, Knutson and Sventek, they batted 3, 1, and 2 for most of the years we had a team. They were good players and good kids. I have a million stories, some of which I have already told, more of which will probably appear here as time goes on.

I am not completely satisfied with the way the picture came out. I have already done the research and discovered that an adequate scanner is $135. I think I will be getting a scanner. When I was locating this picture I came across some others that would look nice on a bicycle blog.

A very hard rain fell earlier today. It was probably dry enough to ride by the time I got off work but it never got very warm. It was warm enough to ride but it was very windy. It was not as windy as some other days when I have ridden but if you count that is 1, 2, 3 strikes you're out at the old ball game.

Vue de votre fenêtre

"Vue de votre fenêtre", tel était le Thème de la photo du mois pour ce 1er juin.

Well, OK, two things. First, obviously I am stealing the French from somewhere. I do not have those deals over the "e" in my character set. But I have discovered that if you block and copy from a French speaking site the characters come right over. So I stole the French from my favorite French site, Arradon Daily Photo.

And second, it isn't "1er juin" any more. Well, je suis très en retard pour ma photo. Isn't this fun?

And then this isn't exactly out my window. It is a photo taken right outside my window though, facing west towards the field and the setting sun. The only thing missing is the person who is usually sitting in one of those chairs at the green table, the other person who lives here.

As the photo makes clear it was a beautiful day here today, if a bit cool.

I probably will not be joining the rush to post old photos as all of the old photos I have I got from Jim anyway. I leave it to his judgment to pick out items of interest. By the way, nice one of G. E. and G. L. I am not sure I have seen that before.

But I will be going to my camera manual to figure out if and how I can get digital images from some of my other film prints and perhaps some of those will be making an appearance. I have one in mind already.

It was a nice ride on a nice day.

I dared the weather gods

And they were totally up to the challenge. In the face of mounting evidence that it was going to rain, including a brief episode when it actually rained, I geared up and rode out into the gathering gloom.

Hah, sneered the rain god. And sent pouring rain to drive me back inside. I got in almost 3 miles. This does not include even a crossing of Snelling. I got up to Snelling and had the green light but I also had already felt one sprinkle so I turned and headed towards Larpenteur. On the westward leg along Larpenteur I could see the northeastern sky and I could see two places where there clearly was rain falling. I hammered for home but it started to sprinkle pretty hard while I was on Fairview. I got onto my street before it was really raining and as I pulled up to the garage the thunder gods sent the first roll of boomers.

I didn't get wet, I was back in the house before the rain got started. But as I stood in the living room removing my helmet and gloves the downpour let loose.

I stood up to the rain gods and they slapped me right back into my place. But it was fun trying.

Here are my impressions of the Giro: Italians take that race way more seriously than the riders from the other cycling nations. McEwen, Hincapie, Cancellara, and many other non-Italians rode the first week or week and a half as training for the big race to come later this summer. The Italians mostly stayed the course, taking 7 of the top 9 General Classification placings and 14 of the top 19. And won most of the other prizes. Winner of the points and 8 of the top 10, winner of the mountains and 7 of the top 10, loser only of the best young rider to Luxembourger Schleck, who also got 2nd on GC.

The effect of drugs on the race? Hard to tell with the Italians. Garzelli, Savoldelli, Simoni, Cunego, Bruseghin and Pellizotti, all Italians, all top 12, all had at least one bad day. DiLuca, the winner, did not. He won with what every commentator conceded was a weak team.

But the worst smelling result is Schleck. 21 years old, in his first grand tour, riding for the team of Barney Riis, the team of Ivan Basso, the team of Tyler Hamilton, younger brother of a journeyman rider who has suddenly started to have improved results, young Schleck never had a weak day, always rode with the leaders, never had a problem. It smells bad amigos, it smells bad. Endurance sports are usually sports where maturity and strength are rewarded, youthful enthusiasm is usually not. Even Lance Armstrong did not leap onto the podium in his first Tour. Armstrong struggled in his first appearances, it was not until after the bout with cancer that he suddenly had the strength to always ride at the front. For the good of the sport Schleck must prove to be a prodigy and back it up by riding well in the race to Paris. Any other result will smell very bad indeed.These are the hedges and shrubbery from the formal garden at Chateau de Villandry. Google Earth has updated the photo layer for western France and the Chateau and grounds are readily identifiable. Farther west Olonnne sur Mer is now not quite the high resolution that all of the USA is but the resolution is very, very much improved. You can now clearly make out the buildings where the world traveller lived and taught and you can make out the E. Leclerc up at the corner traffic circle. Chartres is upgraded to medium resolution, the Cathedral is now discernable although it is still a bit bleary. Just east of town the resolution upgrades to high leading me to believe that Chartres soon will be high resolution. Alice's town of Arradon on the coast is very clear. The hotel next to the Frankfurt airport is very high resolution.

I have mysterious magical powers

The power that has been discussed here previously is that I can make it rain.

I do not at this moment recall at what point it started to rain but it rained most of the night and was still raining when I got up this morning. However, by the time the other person who lives here, OK, my wife got up at 9am it was not raining.

It contined to not rain despite the weather sites predicting up to a 70 percent probability of showers, possibly thunderstorms, possibly severe. By shortly after noon I found myself out in the driveway examining the sky. I must admit it looked pretty threatening, particularly to the northeast, the direction from which this round of bad weather was approaching.

But without much else to do I kept checking the weather on the web and by about 2pm it seemed to me that the approaching storm was in two parts, one of which looked to be headed to the west of Roseville, the other looking like it might pass to the east. I went out to the driveway again and an intense examination of the sky gave me enough confirmation of my suspicion to convince me to gear up and give it a try.

Once on my bike I had to make about eight trips around the cul-de-sac to convince myself but finally I was started down the street. At 2.3 miles from home my power manifested itself. It was not actually rain at that moment but there was a definite change in the atmosphere and I turned without hesitation and started a sprint for home.

I took the most direct route rather than the circuitous route I had taken to arrive at that turning point and at 4.22 miles I made it to my garage door, but just barely. It was sprinkling as I raced down the street and shortly after I had admitted myself to the garage the driveway was officially wet. Once again all I had to do was get on my bike and get across Snelling Avenue and I had made it rain.

It was at this point that my new power emerged. Apparently I can sometimes sprint into my garage and make the rain stop. I was in the house long enough to eat a banana. The rain was stopped and it was looking to be dry again shortly.Well, what the heck? Out I went again. I rode although there were at least two more moments when it didn't seem like a good idea. This photo is of one of those moments when the uber threatening sky over another one of the university agricultural experiment fields had once again caused me to break off my route and sprint for home. I think they experiment with turf management on this field, no corn.

But it did not rain again. I got in a full ride, eventually turning the odometer all the way to the currently prescribed distance. The weekend was a success, not a total success as it passed without a long ride I like to complete each weekend. But today's ride is one that I will be glad to have in the log on numerous occasions later this year.

To recap, I can make it rain by heading out into threatening weather. Today I discovered how to make the rain stop by riding back into my garage. Mysterious magical powers.

Alice says that today in France is la Fête des Mères, Mother's Day.

We have received e-mail from the world traveller. She has arrived safely in Frankfurt.

Judy, thy true name is . . .

I am not an official daily photo blogger so I do not feel shame for not having posted a photo taken out my window. I looked out my window, and it is a nice back yard but I just have not taken a picture. Therefore I won't be posting.

However, I highly recommend the very beautiful backyard garden of Alice at Arradon Daily Photo. And if you are like me you can use the blog view as an opportunity for a little French lesson.

The other person who lives here, OK, my wife, made her this year's cycling debut today. We rode far enough and hard enough that she deserves to be knackered and I think she will readily admit that she is. We did not ride so far that she should be exhausted, however, and I think she will readily claim that she is not.

The Babe's anemic riding schedule has left her with seriously rusty bicycling skills. As we approached home she suddenly exclaimed that there were very black clouds gathering. I informed her that I had been keeping an eye on said clouds for at least ten miles.

This picture was taken in Lake Judy Park in Shoreview. It is a pretty little spot, a lake with houses on perhaps half of the shoreline and park on the other half. As you may recall, I am privy to the official files relating to protected waters in the state and the names and numerical designations of said protected waters. I have looked this lake up. I am prepared to reveal that Lake Judy is a name assigned probably by the developer or perhaps by city park planners. It is NOT the official name.Who cares, you say? I care, I like that sort of thing. I am sorry to say that Judy, thy true name is Mud.

So there you have it, a picture of B. Babe in front of Mud Lake.

Bon voyage, world traveller. She is on the plane on the way to Frankfurt, to arrive there early Sunday morning, Frankfurt time. In an upset, I speak the language of her destination better than she does. She does not have even so much as a "guten tag" to greet her Germanic hosts. I think, though, that any person with two languages stands a good chance of finding someone who understands her.