June 9/August 4

I am not positive but I believe that yesterday was the first time since I began this bicycle blogging thing that I rode my bike but did not post. My excuse is as follows: It was gray, unbelievably gray. It was a world without color or contrast, both of which are important elements of photography. But that wasn't the worst of it. The wind was just plain brutal, way, way too strong. I got my miles but I was totally done in. I whimpered quietly and snuck off to bed.

A new day. Today there was lots of sun and the wind, while still definitely present, was only strong instead of intimidating. But it was quite cool, about 59 when I headed out.

This stone being guards a driveway and some tulips not too far from home.Is it a lion do you think? Or a gargoyle? Or perhaps some completely other thing?

Well, then, how about two of them?I rode over to the river today and decided I wanted a photo of the Marshall Avenue Bridge. The Minneapolis Rowing Club has its boathouse on the river bank on Minneapolis side of the river, the Lake Street side. Anyone wondering about my use of Marshall Avenue to designate the bridge need only know that it is a Saint Paul thing. The eights and the coxed fours from the rowing club cooperated by sweeping under the bridge as I composed my photo.The days are now set. My proposal to management was that June 9 would be my final day and that I would then take my accumulated vacation and retire, an actual effective date of approximately August 1. Management demurred with the explanation that personnel has a written rule against granting that much vacation at the end of employment heading into retirement. They offered a cash settlement. There is an early retirement incentive proposal currently before the state legislature. This incentive would make a significant contribution to continuation of health insurance for up to 3 years after retirement. One of the considerations is that one needs to retire after the effective date of the legislation. Whether and when the incentive will become effective is still pretty uncertain but I wanted to remain technically employed for as long as possible to maintain eligibility for that incentive. A cash settlement in early June was not necessarily what I had in mind. Management apparently feels that it would be helpful if I can be around a bit this summer to help train the person who is going to be doing the work that I have been doing. They offered 2 weeks vacation, work a week, 2 weeks vacation, work a week, etc. We settled on June 9, 3 weeks of vacation, one week of work, 3 weeks of vacation, one week of work. That brings me to August 4 and uses up most, but not all of my accumulated vacation time. I can take most of the rest as deferred compensation which involves a management match of my contribution. This works for me and apparently it works for management. We reached agreement on that schedule. I am pretty sure that on June 9 I will be mentally and spiritually retired. My enthusiasm will go home for the last time on that day. But it will be August 4 when I make my final appearance in the building, the day when retirement will be fait accompli.