Saturday, August 30, 2014

Great Minnesota get together redux

TOPWLH and I love the Fair and it turns out that TCWUTH having been raised by us also loves the Fair.  She came home in August of the year of her birth and did not get to the Fair that first year but after thinking about it pretty carefully both of the parents are firmly convinced that the next year we bundled her 14 month old self into that blue stroller we had and we think maybe even walked all the way to the Fair from where we lived in Saint Paul.  She has been to the Fair at least once every single year since.

Today was the second Saturday, the Fair is starting to wind down.  Each of us had already been there at least once but today the three of us went together.

And in a not very amazing at all turn out for the books, we all had fun.

Everything is BIG at the Fair.  We walked past this on Thursday on my first attendance and I pretty much instantly regretted having passed it by.
I have no idea.  Sparks trailers?  Sparky the trailer wonder dog?

I have no idea except that I do know that it is BIG.

Here's the part where I pretend that Wireless was actually at the Fair working today and that we just met her there when her shift concluded.

Totally not true.
But she does say that that specific product is one that she does ship to Australia.  I am not sure if I would recognize what is a good deal on a pretty major riding mower but anyone interested can probably discern the details on the flyer posted there by the right front wheel.  Already marked down twice, now only $2,499.

The late afternoon Saturday crowd was at least a tiny bit oppressive.  Most of the Fair attendees are urban residents.  We suspected that the crowd might be thinner the closer we got to the farm animals.  The girl had seen the largest boar but had not viewed any cows (and who doesn't love the occasional Guernsey and Holstein?) so we started filtering our way through the masses over in that direction.  We decided that the easiest way to actually get anywhere was to go through the buildings.  The people in the streets were often in stupefying numbers.  In the barns there were occasional gaggles of too many people but less so than outside.  And the sun wasn't beating down on our heads when we were in the poultry barn.  But who even knows what kind of chickens those are? 
The one here on the right is the best Guinea Hen.
So many chickens, so many extremely odd looking fowl.  I highly recommend the Poultry Building.

And by the way they also had rabbits and in the judging arena as we passed by they had minature goats.

You absolutely CANNOT go wrong at the Minnesota State Agricultural Exposition (aka the Fair).

So we got through the cattle barn with only a single instance of oops I better get out of the way there are cows coming.

The farm where I spent time as a child featured a multi-breed milk cow herd.  Uncle Johnny had some Holsteins but there were also Guernseys and some at least half Brown Swiss.  So I have a tiny bit of residual recognition of what all of those animals are there inside the barn.  I know a Guernsey, I know a Brown Swiss, I can tell the difference between dairy and beef.  Geez, I was a town kid and I have lived in a huge metropolitan area all of my adult life.  Why oh why do I love the cattle barn?

I also love that the Cattle Barn features the Moo Booth, the Gopher Dairy Bar, the absolutely without any doubt or qualification best place in the state to obtain a milk shake/malt.
None of us had really explored the new West Entrance so we all headed over there.

I have posted this piece of pavement a couple of times.  It is the new side entrance to the Midway directly from the new entrance area.
It provides a completely different approach.

We visited the state Fair museum.  There is lots and lots of interesting stuff in there, not any of it stuff that you absolutely have to see or your life will have been worthless, but interesting stuff.

They have a map of the grounds in 1913 laid out on the floor.  The current Fine Arts Building and that Expo Center next to it up at the north end of the Fair are original buildings from 1907.  They were the original Sheep and Poultry Buildings.

Also inside the museum is a bunch of interesting stuff from back when they had car races at the Grandstand race track.  All of that is gone now but Dick Trickle's racing suit is still here.
I am a little uncertain what the exact sequence was that led us back over to the Horticulture Building (we ended up walking over 5 miles today) but I do know that the Girl wanted to see the Crop Art and she wanted to see if she could find the place where they sell single apples (I suspect all of the fried food may have induced a craving for a healthy snack). Anyway, we were back in the building and she wanted to see the giant pumpkin. Honest to Pete, I am not sure if I have ever been in that room before. And I have definitely been missing out.

Weighing in at 793 POUNDS, this year's state's largest pumpkin.
That thing is incomprehensibly huge, perhaps on a incredulity scale even a higher score than the big pig.

An 800 pound pumpkin!

And lots of other interesting squashes and assorted vegetables.  Here are both the first and second prize awards for one of my new favorite vegetable friends, the spaghetti squash.
And the turban squash.  And some banana squash, and some acorn and that looks like zucchini over there and some yellow summer squash and on and on.

There was another table with an extensive display of turnips.

Are we having any fun yet?

Well, how about if within yards of the state's largest pumpkin you have a selection of the judged to be finest miniature pumpkins in the state?
And then we got ice cream at a church dining hall.
There are only two of those things left on the grounds, they have to be patronized and cherished.  They represent the Fair as it existed long ago.

We took her to the Fair every year when she was a child.  To entertain a child you have to go to the midway and play some games.  Dang if she didn't end up being good at one of them.  Now we still go there every year and almost every year she wins something.  This year it took her exactly ONE GAME to score.
I believe she has given it a name.

We also like and have been successful at that launch a frog into the lilypad game.  She also scored at that on her first try.
It's some sort of ninja banana.

It was getting dark, certainly people at the Fair with children should have been heading towards the exits, even people who were there with their thoroughly adult children.  We made a final stop for a three-way shared extremely worthwhile lobster roll.  We couldn't find a place to sit in the actual lobster roll place but we were able to locate a table and three chairs at the next door Andy's Grille.
We all love the Fair.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

In which we attend the Fair

Because that is the primary reason why people from here want to be home for the 12 days of fun ending on Labor Day, the Minnesota State Fair.

It looked like it was going to be a horrible day, a day when without question no bicycling could occur.  It even looked like it might be so horrible that even a couple of hours outdoors on the Fairgrounds could not occur.

I was watching the radar and even though rain was absolutely inevitable there appeared to be a slight chance that the rain would be brief and that we might break out through the other side to only unpleasant with perhaps not very much actual precipitation.  I watched AccuWeather which features a minute by minute forecast and after a while we got to a no precipitation for the next 120 minutes screen so we dropped pretty much everything and went for it.

It is a tiny bit strange being on the the grounds when conditions are anything other than sweltering and it took us some time to adjust.  Eventually we tried the shrimp place we like by the horticulture building and then started to filter on down towards the hog barn.  We passed through the DNR building on the off chance that I might know someone.

It has been four years.

But out in back I got a before the end of the Fair photo of the newest trash sculpture.
I think this is called Lepus ex Machina or some such thing.  Rabbit emerging from the machine.

I applaud the whole annual make some sort of art out of stuff pulled out of the public waters of the state but on the other hand this is to me the least visually interesting of all of the ones I have seen.

C.

We went down to see the state's largest boar.  I had been warned via text from TCWUTH that this year's largest boar was disappointingly not large.

She was right.

F.

For example, to demonstrate how large he clearly was not, for the entire time we were there he was standing up.  Most years it is a major event when the big pig even so much as rolls over.  He WAS STANDING UP.  About 800 pounds, a big pig maybe for this year, but, in context, disappointingly not very large at all.

We had a slight rain scare and were heading generally in the direction of the parking lot.  TOPWLH had a site on the southeastern edge of the grounds that she wanted to at least visit.  The shortest route from where we were to that spot was a diagonal through the Horticulture building.

And it turned out to be a fun detour.

The people who sold us (and planted) the BigNewTree are also hugely into the business of Christmas trees.  Here is their entry into the white pine category. 
They won second prize.  TOPWLH commented on looking at the white pine entries that making a Christmas tree out of a white pine is completely wrong.  The white pine is a majestic creature, pruning it to the demands of a less than $100 sale to be placed inside someone's home for two or three weeks in December just is NOT RIGHT for such a great tree.

She made the comment that it wasn't the right thing to do with a white pine and the nearest person to her, just a random passerby, immediately and enthusiastically agreed.

Still, we are happy for them for winning the prize.

Nearby was crop art.  It turns out that pi Day 2015 is a huge, HUGE pi day, a pi day pretty much like no other.  Next year on March 14 at 9:26:53am the numbers will align in a way which we have never seen before and will never, ever see again.
I got that information from crop art.  I am disappointed that Carolyn's art, despite it's startlingly important message, received only a fourth prize as art.

We were still in horticulture.  Here is the first prize for this year for Beacon apples.
TOPWLH is going to try to gather up a similar sample size of the fruit falling from our backyard Beacon.  She thinks, and I agree, that we can easily match that array.

We started heading for the exit.  It was starting to get dark.  The rain seemed to have passed but how much fun can two people have in Falcon Heights anyway?  We have never stopped here before but on the way we passed the Gold Country exhibit.  We stopped this time.
There just isn't any comment necessary.  The writing on the wall clearly demonstrates that at least in the lifetimes of any person claiming to be a Gopher fan the most successful team as measured by national championships is the women's hockey team.

11 years season ticket holders.

We headed home.
Over there by the trash barrel in front of the Monkey Maze is TOPWLH.

But we weren't out of the grounds yet and I wanted one last snack item, the walleye cakes at Giggles.  They had a band playing in the back.

We ended up staying for the entire show, about two more hours after we arrived.

They call themselves the Hottinger Blues Band.  They are a bunch of garage and bar band guys who have never given up, they still want to play, and after a lifetime of practice they play really well.
Then it turned out that we had a shirt tail relationship to some of the people who were there because they are friends and relatives of people in the band.  Specifically a girl who was a regular on our softball teams was there as a friend/family.  It turns out that her father went to high school with three guys in the band.

This led to a post concert nice moment of hey, how you doing, great to see you and like that, all of which was completely sincere and truthful.  It was great to see them.

Most importantly, the band was completely, completely outstanding.  We obtained information from the band's family and friends about the next time we can expect to see them (Saturday after Thanksgiving) and we will be there.

We headed for home and I didn't notice this, I dunno, being, until we were inside the garage at home.  A tag along toad.
We left him in the garage to his own devices.  I hope he makes it back to toad world okay.

When we started out the weather looked absolutely awful but it ended up being one of the greatest days we have ever had at the 12 days of fun ending on Labor Day.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

2,010 miles this bicycle, this year

This is the fifth season that I have owned and therefore operated NewLOOK.  And it is the fifth season in which I have ridden this wonderful bicycle at least 2,000 miles.
At the end of today's ride that is the mileage on TOTALODO, also known as total odometer.  11,000 is also a pretty nice milestone.

Geez, the bar tape is starting to look a little tacky.  And that's not even the worst spot on the bar.  Over near the brifters there are a couple of pretty unsavory patches.

Replacement of the tape seems like a strong possibility for a middle of winter at least a little bit of bicycle content episode.  I am willing to entertain comments regarding whether I should replace the silver tape with silver (which matches the saddle but consider that the saddle is looking a little tacky too) or go with the traditional black which is the traditional color because black does not show grease or dirt.

I note that in the Vadnais post I got so excited about having the GRider out at that destination lake that the post completely omitted reference to the high drama of that day.

We got out to the garage in full dress for the big destination ride when what to my wondering eyes should appear but that dang front tire was acting like it was flat.

I may have had one some other time in the more than 56,000 miles I have ridden since I started keeping the BikeLog but I honestly cannot remember another instance of the FRONT tire being flat.

Part of the reason why it strikes me as so completely not ever done before is that the whole ritual of dragging the rear tire off the bicycle and out through that wilderness of chain, rear derailer and rear hub is totally absent on a front flat.  You pop the brakes out to maximum width, open the quick release and take the tire off.  Just like that.  I think I would have remembered if I had ever done that before.

But back to the Vadnais ride:  the tire was flat in the garage, it had not flatted while I was out riding on my previous excursion.  This convinced me that I had a slow leak, an impression confirmed when I pumped the tire up and it pretty much seemed to hold air.

We took the ride and eventually got a lot farther from home than what is probably a good idea with tire issues.  When we paused at Vadnais for the photo opportunity I urged the GRider to hurry along with the comment that it was best that we proceed as my tire was going flat with every minute we spent out there.

We made it home just fine though.  The tire seemed soft but not yet anywhere near flat.  But I checked again before I went up for the night and it was F-L-A-T.

So I spent yesterday morning mostly on tire repair.  Please note that I am not THAT frugal that I require that tubes be patched and reused after having once failed.  It isn't frugality.  The truth is that if you do not locate the problem in the tube and identify what in the tire might have caused the tube problem all that will happen is that you will put a new tube in and then that one will be flat pretty much immediately.  Having expended that effort in locating the hole in the tube the actual additional amount of effort to apply a patch is minor indeed.

So yesterday I found the hole in the tube, matched up where on the tire the hole in the tube would have been and located the small sharp thing on the inside of the tire that was the cause of all of the drama.  Removal of the small sharp thing was as usual a thumbnail flick, I am not even sure exactly what it was but I know it was sharp.

I am bicycle repairman, hear me roar.

After that I missed out on a ride because I got bogged down in a whole red packaging replaces blue packaging and red packaging requires a black key which is NOT included instead of the blue packaging white key which always WAS included.  The customer service phone number included in the red packaging turned out to be a menu of recorded messages which concluded with you must go on the website to resolve this and goodbye.

That's what I call a quality customer service telephone experience.

It took most of the afternoon but everything seems to be back to normal and it only cost me my time and $2.80.  Considering that I have LOTS of time, not too bad.

But today I got to ride.

South is impossible, the wind today made north unpalatable.  I tried east.

The issue with east is that you can't really get very far without going through a couple of iterations of Glacial River Warren.  Since the geology guy isn't here I will go ahead and interpret.  Glacial River Warren means extremely deep gorges scoured by glacial runoff ten thousand and more years ago.  No water there now, just a long and quite steep downhill and then uphill on the way out and then a long and quite steep downhill and then uphill on the way home.

Did everyone notice that the last thing I have to do before I get home is a long and quite steep uphill?

Because while out riding today I surely did notice.

There are other issues with going east, one of the most significant of which has been the condition of the pavement on this bridge deck on Wheelock Parkway a few blocks east of Rice Street.  The last time I rode here the pavement was SO awful that prudent bicycling required slowing to about 5mph the better to dodge the next GIANT pothole or GAPING crack.  All better now.
I, for one, LOVE new pavement.

I was kinda farting around over there on the east side debating whether to make it a full fledged Lake Phalen ride or possibly diverting to explore what's up at the city end of the Gateway Trail.  Eventually a nasty looking uphill (hey, I knew it was there, just when I saw it today I decided I didn't want to do it) on Wheelock diverted me over to the Gateway.

I first rode down towards the city end.  The old railroad bridge over the freeway was always to me one of the charming aspects of the trail.

No more.  Here's what you get when you arrive at the spot where the bridge used to be.
So I rode the other direction, out to about, oh, Milepost 3.  The Gateway is one of the oldest of the state trails and I am prepared to say based on today's experience that it is now officially obsolete.

The pavement is really horrible.

I exited near Lake Phalen and still could have made that loop over to the lake but that would have been south and at that point I was looking to stay north based on my feeling that the River Warren crossings are slightly less severe farther north.

I ended up mostly on Larpenteur for the ride home.  It is a busy street with too much traffic and not enough pavement but which ended up being a hill which I totally could climb without anything even remotely resembling difficulty.

It was a really pleasant day out there, much too cool for August but August is usually TOO hot and TOO humid.  Today was nice.  I was mostly JRA on the east side of Saint Paul, I pronounce myself to be satisfied.  Completely.

Monday, August 25, 2014

The long way around

We have ridden several dozen times to Lake Vadnais, almost always on the more or less the same route through Shoreview.  We see 10 lakes along the way and, in fact, I own a Twin Cities bicycle route map book that features pretty much exactly that ride the way we ride it.  The ride turns back at Highway 96 and eventually arrives at Lake Vadnais from the north.  I don't think it is at all strange that we have come to think of the "normal" route as the most direct route to see all of those lakes.  We generally arrive at Lake Vadnais having ridden nearly 15 miles with about 11 miles to go to reach home.

For those keeping score Shoreview is still officially off limits to me.  We live in extreme southwestern Roseville but Friday I scouted out a route that got me to Rice Street at the extreme northeastern extent of our home town.

Today I didn't have to scout it at all, I knew where I was going.  This meant we were able to avoid detours and back tracks and head straight out.  This photo was taken at the southern parking area on Lake Vadnais.
Surely our journey had been the long way around.  Well, actually at this point we had traveled about 8 and a half miles.

The stuff you learn is sometimes completely not what you expected.

From there we headed on up north through the rest of the park.  We didn't go out to the more northern lakes though.  I was pretty sure that if we did we would end up with no way to get home without going through *cough* Shoreview.  At the top of Lake Vadnais I was pleased to find that the suburb we were actually in is Vadnais Heights.  Shoreview was totally not necessary.

We made a loop through the neighborhood along Rice Street on the high ground above the seldom visited west shore of Vadnais.  We got to ride on something called Rustic Place.

I am also pleased to announce that after a pretty long haul I have now ridden as many miles this month in Minnesota as I have ridden this month in Michigan.  So that's a lot of miles with 6 days still to go.  I will certainly get some rides in but I am also determined to attend that whole wild exposition going on just to our south.  Wireless reports that the state's largest boar this year isn't really very large at all.  The state's largest boar is an important Minnesota cultural touch stone and this is something I must see myself.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Overcast and cloudy

I posted that to my bike log and discovered that I had posted that exact thing once earlier this month.  And exactly as on that occasion it was cool enough but too humid.  Overcast seems like it should ordinarily produce acceptable riding conditions but as I noted to some tri guy who loomed up next to me at Hamline and 36 my breathing apparatus does not process these conditions as well as it used to.

Overall though, based on the fact that I took a ride, it must have been nice enough for a ride.

I can't ride south, the Fair, I can't ride north, Shoreview has graveled all of its streets.  I went looking for a path to the north which didn't veer west to Arden Hills and which didn't have to cross any part of Shoreview.

It is a pretty tough task but with only a few instances of backtracking I found myself having ridden only streets in Roseville but still I was out on Rice Street only a mile or so south of Lake Vadnais.  This used to be an A&W but if I can make it to there I can almost certainly make it to Lake Vadnais.
Most years I ride A LOT to Lake Vadnais.  The situation in Shoreview has meant that this year I haven't been there very much at all.  As a result I have completely missed out on this.
That previously was a heavily wooded lot at the intersection with some structures hidden back in the woods.  A former plant mate once pointed out to me that the resident out there strung lights in the trees at Christmas time.

Clearly something has happened, the trees have all been cut down, there is stuff visible from the street which has never been seen from that vantage point before.

For example, that largish brown house at left center of the frame?  I didn't even know it was there.  I was aware of the white garage structure in front of it an the other bits off  to that building's right.  That big house back there, apparently on the lake?  I did not know.

I have been following the news in the Outdoor sections of the local newspapers about the deer hunting season for this year.  Apparently the last couple of winters have been extremely hard on the deer herd in the more northern portions of the state, the area of the state where traditionally most of the "hunt" occurs.  The DNR has closed the antlerless (another way of saying female) hunt for this year.  The idea is that any of the herd which might actually produce offspring (another way of saying female) should not be shot with rifles, they should be allowed to complete the reproductive cycle.  The more deer born the more likely it is that the overall population will rebound.

This is clearly not a problem for the Lake Owasso herd.

I came across two groups of vermin within less than a block.

This first group is mama and two babies, two quite recent babies.  They are tiny and are SO NEW that they still are sporting the characteristic fawn spotty hide.
I edged closer but mama is an urban deer and feared me not.  She started up into the underbrush, which by the way is not actual woods, it is just some brush leading up towards the undeveloped but not particularly wild railroad property above the tracks.  She was NOT spooked by me and she isn't teaching the children to be spooked by me either.

The fawns are tiny.
I went around the corner and came upon another mother and another fawn, although a fawn at least several inches and lots of pounds larger than those babies by the tracks.  These two were standing pretty calmly in a front yard.  I was in a full coast at speed when I breezed past them, no photo was available.

I made it home.

Aretha Franklin is performing tonight at the Fair.  TOPWLH will be home later.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Construction zone tour

We can't ride north and we can't ride south.  But never give up, I tried to lead a new route down into the big city today.  At first it was going OK.  We couldn't use the Dead Man's Curve portal because of the Fair and the massive number of newly oil and graveled streets over in that direction.  Getting across the railroad is always a huge issue but we snuck through fairly well on the new pedestrian/bicycle crossing on Lexington.  I note that we rode up the overpass on our side to confront another citizen walking his bike up from the other side.  I am not fast but I am still strong, at least, strong enough.  The bicycle is NOT walked, the bicycle is ridden.

The GRider reports that our previous house is for sale.  We rode past to get a look and discovered that if it is for sale it has not advanced to that portion of the process when real estate people put up signs in front of the house.

We did notice that squirrels have moved into the Emily tree.
What do you suppose that blurry thing in the upper left hand corner is?

We went past the place where GRider's office/old house stood on the Hamline campus.  About all I can say about that is that there is absolutely zero evidence that any houses ever stood anywhere along that block and that the landscaping is coming along nicely.

I don't believe they should have torn down the former President's house.  Honest to god, once in a while at least try to have some sense of history and tradition.

None of my business.

So next I was looking for a way across University and the train line and then across 94.  I had a pretty good idea where I could get across University but to get there I had to get at least half a mile farther east.  Naturally enough I took the Charles Avenue bike boulevard, or blvd if you so please.
The blvd has those signs painted on the pavement virtually every block, it also has a couple of new roundabouts but no particular advantage at the busy cross street intersections.  I dunno, fairly thin gruel so far.

We found a controlled intersection (a light) to get across the train tracks and then had to navigate around a paving project and a completely brain dead van driver to reach the freeway but I had successfully navigated us to the place where a pedestrian only bridge makes it way across the interstate.  Once across the freeway we plunged into what seemed to be an endless progression of chip and seal and/or actual construction.  For a couple of miles it seemed as though there was not anything we could do to escape the construction hell.  The absolute worst moment occurred on Marshall.  We were riding down a chip and seal street when barriers announced street closed at the intersection.  I thought there might be a path between the barriers but with only half a block to go I opted for the sidewalk, thinking that was a more sure path through.

Wrong.  Sidewalk closed.  And then when we finally circled onto the boulevard grass around that sign to reach the intersection we discovered that the sign people were really serious this time, the entire corner curbing and part of the street was torn out.

But we made it finally down to the edge of the street.  Actual street construction was going on in the middle of that street.  Our alternatives were gradually narrowing done to no alternative at all.

And then one of the nicest things that has ever happened to us as bicyclists happened.

There was a repaving project going on on Marshall.  All of the new pavement except for a 10 or so foot wide strip had already been done.  The final preparation for that last strip was occurring just as we sat there contemplating what we could do.  Literally right in front of us an oil truck was heading down that strip putting down oil to prepare the compacted road bed to accept the final layers of asphalt.  Chip and seal behind us, oil on the road in front of us, sidewalk out, maybe you get the idea.

Then the oil truck came to a stop and the driver leaned out the window and asked us if we were planning on going across.  And then waited for us to ride through the bump down from pavement into the groove bump back up onto the pavement on the other side in front of his truck meaning we did not have to ride through the oil.

It was a really, really thoughtful and downright nice action from one of the sorts of people we have usually expected to be not sympathetic to what we are doing.

It was SO nice that it made the rest of the ride easy.

The highlight of the ride is that although we almost always get to the Cathedral from the downhill Capitol side and have to navigate a difficult uphill (no walking) this time we got to the Cathedral from the uphill side.  This means a 25mph coast down the hill followed by about 8 miles home with a strong tailwind, we had fun.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Hat family

This is not completely unprecedented, I think I have probably put up two posts in a single day before.  But I have been cruising the comments sections and a second post for today is apparently called for.

Here is what we thought at the time was the Hat Family.
We were all, like, totally prepared for an outdoor event.

But then somewhat to the surprise of the original three another hat person arrived.  So here then, in its final iteration is the Hat Family.
The official photographer also got a shot of the four but it could be awhile before we see that.  This one was taken by another member of the family but one who did not have a hat, Emily's husband.  He was operating with my camera, a camera he is not familiar with.  Fortunately on full automatic that camera is basically a point and shoot and he got excellent results.

30 percent chance

A much lower probability but a much more threatening day.  I started out under threatening skies and finished with pretty much the same.  It WAS pretty dang nice for the middle 20 or so miles.

Eventually 30 percent succeeded where yesterday 80 percent failed.  It did in fact rain, in fact it rained really, really hard.  For about three minutes.  Three minutes still counts.

Something big is coming to the neighborhood.
That trash container has been placed by the Fair people but I find it noteworthy because it is at least 5 or 6 blocks away from the nearest spot where you can pay the admission price and be admitted to the actual Fair.

I also like the biking family.  I encountered dad, daughter and son first on Larpenteur.  I turn left and go through Maple Knoll to cross Snelling then cut back towards this street (Pascal).  They were on the sidewalk when I saw them on Larpenteur and I assume they continued up to Snelling and crossed in the crosswalk at the light.  I was on Pascal and crossed just in front of them as they approached that street on the first street south of Larpenteur (California if you must know).  I spotted this photo opportunity and hooked down Nebraska to find a better camera angle.  Fairly obviously they had turned on Pascal and were coming along behind me.  As luck would have it the family rode past just as I was lining up the shot.  That's Dad and daughter, son was lagging a bit behind at this point and missed out on being on my blog.

I thought it was really sweet.

I thought this was fun, it is always good to be told by a public utility that you are doing great.
And I get to use the word "redacted".  Certain portions of the document were redacted in the interests of maintaining some level of privacy.  Not everyone in the blogosphere needs to know my actual address.  In addition, I suspected that the bar code at the bottom of the address may have contained all of that information anyway for bar code savvy internet cruisers.  Anyway, I redacted that stuff.

Redaction seems like fun.

I attribute our standing in this survey to the fact that we are comfortable at temperatures in the 70s and therefore this summer's mostly 70s weather means that we have not run our air conditioner very much at all.  And who doesn't want to save about $537 per year?

Tech note, it is completely possible with my scanner, and probably most scanners, to scan a document to a jpeg.  Blogger will not allow you to upload a pdf with the add photo function.

Monday, August 18, 2014

80 percent chance

I did not ride yesterday, an actually pretty welcome break.  An important family event which would in even the greatest of weather kept me from riding was totally removed as the cause of no ride by a couple of really nasty rain squalls.  There was a probably just long enough sunny and pretty (but perhaps muggy) interlude that allowed outdoor photos but the day ended up being notable for those rain squalls.  Still the family event came off, it seemed to me, without a hitch.  It was interesting and fun and who doesn't like seeing other people happy?  After a suitable pause there was a party and that too was interesting and fun.

So, what about this rain thing?  Well, we needed the rain, TOPWLH has recently taken to watering the BNT.  That shouldn't really be necessary, conditions haven't really yet advanced to the point of drought.  Watering the BNT totally has my buy in though, that's a great tree and we both want to see it continue to be hardy and successful.  It has gained probably less than a foot in height this growing season but it has easily gained more than a foot in width.  It is a great tree.

I digress.

So today all indications were that I would have another day off.  Every weather predictor said at least 70 percent chance of rain with the one that I prefer advancing the probability all the way to 80.  Another way of looking at that is a 20 percent chance that it won't rain.  So I wasn't even paying that much attention until at that time when I generally start my ride I noticed that it was a big majority blue sky.  The only appropriate thing to do seemed to me to be to start my ride.

I knew from looking at the radar that the onset of any weather event was likely to be from the northwest.  With an 80 percent chance of rain I didn't want to get too far from home but I also have gradually acquired an aversion to those way too close to home loops.  Constructing a ride in that manner is boring, you don't get anywhere, you end up going too slow etc.

So a northwest wind convinced me to ride a first leg tailwind to the south, a Lake Como circumnavigation, followed by an end of Hamline leg to the north.  This had the effect of making a couple of loops feel like a real ride.  The leg from the south end of Como to the north end of Hamline which would be the leg into the wind is more than 10 miles, that makes it feel like a real ride.

I had another reason for following this route which was more complex than that.  My most disappointing weather catastrophes have occurred when I allowed the rain storm to sneak up behind me.  I knew the storm was likely to come from the northwest, I wanted to as soon as possible get turned around and be riding towards the north (and west) so that I could watch the sky in front of me in order to see the bad weather, if it came, in front of me, so it couldn't sneak up.

I got turned around at the far south end of Como Park.  I had been riding about five miles at this point and took an opportunity at the Como Woodlands Outdoors Classroom to take a good look at the sky.
That's a huge limestone fireplace, a really pretty spot.  I have no personal knowledge about how much and what sort of use the "outdoor classroom" gets but any use it gets is, in my view, good.  That is an area of the park that has been underused in the past.

I was facing directly northwest to take that photo.  The park looks nice but above the tree line that whole 80 percent chance thing is still trying to get organized.

I rode down past the pool and around the lake and out to a spot on the north end of the park.  I found these two, I think maple trees to be pretty interesting.  I suspect winter kill as opposed to the other possibility which would be early onset of fall.
This seems WAY too early for even EARLY fall.  And there a couple of other indications of negative effects from a horrible winter.  For one, the tree in front also has a branch that doesn't look good.  And frankly those two firs behind the house don't seem to be totally good.

I am calling them firs because at this distance I decided to identify them as Balsams.  I didn't ride around to get a better look, it is totally possible that they are some spruce or another which is of course totally not a fir.

Firs.  I am going with firs.

So, probably I should touch on how it went.

It went pretty well.  For example, I felt considerably better riding today than I felt walking yesterday.  At this point in the season the condition of my hamstrings is pretty good for the circular motion of pedaling.  Those same muscles are not nearly as conditioned for the linear flexion of, oh, for example, walking.

My walking fitness is plenty good for the day to day walking necessary to complete common every day tasks.  However, the walk to and from the last row of the parking lot at yesterday's family event proved to be pretty close to my comfort level.  I feared for a moment on the way back out to the cars that I was going to gimp up and have to hobble the rest of the way.

Oh, well.  It's always something.

Today I felt just fine but on the other hand I didn't attempt any extended walks today.  The bicycling felt good.

It still has not rained here although when I went out to the street to fetch the mail I heard thunder coming from all around.  80 percent chance doesn't necessarily mean 80 percent of the time it will be raining.  But I doubt very much that midnight will arrive without there having been a precipitation event here, perhaps even a fairly significant event.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

A/C

It was overcast most of the afternoon and while I was riding it did seem like it was cool.  The real nature of the day was revealed when I stopped riding when I got home.  Instant sweat.

The temperature isn't that high but the humidity is and later on this afternoon when the sun finally came out it became downright sultry.  OK, not dog days of summer record breaking August sultry.  But unpleasant enough considering how cool it has been.  We closed up the house and activated the A/C.  We both feel that sleeping isn't likely to be restful when you have to breathe air heavy with moisture.

I have been riding, like, a lot.  I don't feel completely great just about any day lately but I seem to be on a slightly off again on again schedule where one day I feel a little better and the next I feel a little worse.  Today was the little bit better day.

The GRider actually noticed this on yesterday's ride.
She commented on it by I was already past and didn't really get a look.  It is a complete coincidence that I rode past it again today, I had zero intention of going to look for it.  But this time I did notice it and this time I did stop for a closer examination.

These people are really, really pushing the parameters of this whole little free library movement.  I didn't actually see this yesterday but I responded to the GRider's description with the comment that apparently all they need is an espresso machine.

Friday, August 15, 2014

A bit of August

Today for the first time felt more typically August.  It still was NOT hot and sultry but the temperature did get into the 80s and humidity was higher, a slightly sultry feeling.

You know, like August.

The GRider and I were out intending to re-ride a bunch of what I rode yesterday.  Obviously I intended to find another way home but we were headed towards the Capitol with a run down Summit Avenue to follow.

There were many cumulus clouds in the sky and as we neared the big state building a couple of them coalesced and began to look a bit grey on the underside.  We swung up to the opening in the construction fence across the street from the Credit Union to get this view of our tax dollars at work.
In the foreground you have the very early stages of the new Senate Office Building.  Work also continues on the Capitol rehabilitation project with scaffolding and wrapping.

Both look pricey.

We were intimidated by the sky and decided that we needed to be closer to home.  We headed back.  It never actually rained so I am feeling a tad sheepish but when it comes to an hour or so riding in the rain better safe than sorry.

I dropped the GRider off at home and took my final loop.  I came upon that piece of equipment I noticed yesterday but today it was fully staffed and engaged in harvesting.
Perhaps most interesting is the all female crew, a bit of a farming rarity.

That thing is a full fledged combine, a mini sized one to be sure but it is cutting the wheat there at the front and then that stuff behind the seated operator is processing and separating the wheat from the straw and chaff.  The whole crew clearly is engaged in some sort of experiment as they individually do one of those little square bits and then stop.  The red shorts person is emptying the wheat from one of those squares into a brown paper bag about the size of a lunch bag.  The figure in black, I don't know, checks her work or something but they get the bag sealed up and labeled and then they toss it into a rack there on the side of the machine.  The stuff being left on top of the still standing stubble is just straw with the grain having been removed.

After all that they move up and do another little square.

I wonder what they are doing.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Not a single thing demanded to be photographed

Geez, what a nice day.

As usually happens about the time I start to get a little stale on potential rides in one of the two main directions, the wind shifted around to the other side and today I headed off to the south.  The Fairgrounds is officially off limits until after the Great Minnesota Get Together but the State Capitol is still accepting visitors.  I went that way.

But not a single thing demanded to be photographed and I returned without any pictures.

Almost.  I was only about a mile into the ride when I spotted the first harvest activity at the farm campus.
I am a little reluctant to identify that machine.  It looks like a grain swather but it is really tiny.  The modern versions of that machine are HUGE.  The crop there is clearly wheat but it appears to have been planted in tiny square plots with room left between.  Then there is the fact that the wheat having been mowed down has been gathered into bundles and left on top of the truncated stalks.

My guess is that there is some very serious experimentation going on there at what is, after all, officially designated as the Agricultural Experiment Station.

So I was out riding and I was having a pretty nice ride, cruising down Summit Avenue, downhill with a tail wind.  I turned on Cretin by Saint Thomas and got over into the middle lane for the turn onto the river road.  From there I generally hook right at the first opportunity, I think it is Exeter, and then after a one house width on that street turn left onto Otis.  Imagine my surprise, without warning Otis is covered in oil and gravel.  I kept going straight and at the next intersection there was gravel going in both directions.  I continued on and kept finding the same deal all through that stretch.  I ended up having to cross Dayton even though that entire intersection was graveled, no where else to go.  I then turned left on Marshall seeking some relief.  Alas, down at Otis the gravel has been extended across Marshall to the north side.  Just before the bridge I found the river road and then eventually Pelham to be sans gravel.  I wanted to head over to my usual hill approach but that whole area sort of west of Pelham where I usually take the hill was more of the epidemic.  Pelham (long ugly hill, not terribly difficult but long and ugly) got me back up over the freeway and then I caught a break at the light at University and I thought I was home free.  But then it turns out that all of the streets in South Saint Anthony and Saint Anthony Park have also been treated.  Huge, huge area of gravel.

Como Avenue was gravel free and I at long last escaped and made my way home.

Horrible, horrible gravel news from Saint Paul.  What this means is that all of my usual routes to the south are gravel threatened, all of my usual rides to the north are gravel covered.  West is nothing at all attractive for riding.  Looking east, I am probably reduced to riding to the Gateway Trail or perhaps Lake Phalen, both OK rides but never on my list of favorites.

*sigh*

The big bicycle news for the day though is new tires.  I have been riding this year under the it turns out to be mistaken assumption that I started off this year with new tires.  I was checking the cumulative log for some other purposes when I glanced at the "new tires" column.  It turns out that I rode about 450 miles last year after putting those tires on.  I put the new tires on this afternoon after the ride and only then did the calculation.  I always, always get at least 1,600 miles, I am pleased with 1,800 and 2,000 miles is generally cause for some minor celebration.

Total on this set of tires was a to me astonishing 2,222 miles, a new record for any two tires.  And those tires went all of those miles without a single flat.  It almost seems like a shame to throw the rear tire away as maybe it should go into the tire hall of fame or something but throw it away I did.  I keep the front tire as an emergency back up should something go wrong with the current tires before their time is up.

Michelin Pro 4 Race Service Course.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

New Brighton

Yesterday I rode a mile or so on one of the Shoreview portal streets.  I had a dozen or so tiny oil covered pebbles on my tires before I finally got back to safety on the Roseville side of city limits.  Out in the car lane riding in the tracks made by the car tires the streets were pretty much OK but towards the curb or when making any turn across the entire width of the street I encountered conditions which each time produced another set of click-click-click.

So what happens when a north wind means a north ride but Shoreview is still completely off limits?

New Brighton.
I have, of course, been there plenty of times before, in fact today's Guest Rider has been there plenty of times before.  On the way over to that spot there is an exhilarating downhill with a 40mph speed limit (which we did NOT threaten) followed immediately by, obviously, a slightly obnoxious uphill.  The uphill isn't really that hard though and I think we both enjoyed that part of the ride.

In New Brighton we ride through not the suburb of New Brighton but the old part of town, the part that was a town before the expansion of the metro area completely swallowed that area.  It is always interesting to see that part of town in what is now most assuredly an expanse of mostly 80s constructed suburbia.

We passed several bodies of water along the way including Valentine Lake but the GRider must have been feeling lake deprived because she exclaimed excitedly when we turned down the hill on the approach to Lake Johanna.
We both agreed without comment that it is a nice little lake but it is clearly NOT a great lake and that the beach is a bit below the quality of what we have recently been accustomed to.  There is no one there even remotely resembling any Gatsby although there may perhaps be a candidate or two for Daisy Buchanan.

We haven't had many corn reports this year.  The GRider says you cannot do the exact same thing every year.  I think that actually you CAN do the exact same thing every year and sometimes in fact, that is my goal.  Usually I want to do the exact same thing in the current year as I was able to do in years past.  However, considering that last year was my worst bicycle year in I think 12 years or something I am plenty OK this time with not doing what I did last year.  In any case, corn.
GRider for scale.

Pretty healthy corn.  She isn't even standing in the really tall stuff.

This house is across the street from where Rob lives.  That house had a new roof put on last year.
The back story is that Rob came out of his house and watched and eventually ended up providing some advice to the lady who lives in that house.  He suggested that she probably didn't want to put on what is the current most popular look in shingles, the sort of checkered look.  The front of the house is brick and when the crew was finishing up I happened to be riding by on a day when Rob was trimming his tree in front.  He and I agreed that the house looked like two different kinds of plaid.

So today there was a crew of men up on the roof.  I don't know, it may just be the edges that are getting worked on but I thought that was something that would have been done during last year's reroofing.

If anyone (I'm looking at you person who is hosting Rob's biggest job of the summer) happens to see Rob perhaps this could be a topic of conversation.

Just sayin'.

It was a very nice day, a very nice ride and my legs felt a whole lot better than yesterday.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Thumb levers

Travel is hard.  Travel yesterday gave me a rest day from my bicycles but travel is hard and it turns out that a day of travel wasn't quite restful enough.  I rode today and my legs were still totally dead.  Hard work.

But I was back on one of my Minnesota bikes, all of which are equipped with Campagnolo.  That means thumb levers.  I love my thumb levers.

After a bunch of days riding Shimano in Michigan here is a point of comparison.  That Shimano single click on the small lever on the left brifter which moves the front from the big ring down to the small ring is the best thing about Shimano.  Overall, the Shimano front shifting has a lot of positives, when moving from Campy to Shimano or back the front shifting is always the thing I dwell upon.  The Shimano system performs really well.

The rear shifter goes overwhelmingly to Campagnolo, the whole throwing the entire brifter (including the brake lever) to the inside of the bike to shift to a smaller gear required by Shimano introduces to the shift the possibility of inadvertent braking.  Campy works better.

And as demonstrated recently by another of the bicycles residing on the dune next to Lake Michigan, if something goes awry with your Shimano shifter, your only alternative is new components, Shimano is NOT repairable.  On the other hand, Campagnolo is completely rebuildable.

I vote Campy.

So I didn't know my legs were dead until several miles into my attempt to ride today.  Just having breakfast inside my house my legs seemed fine.  Why wouldn't I go ahead and ride?  Despite a WNW wind I wanted to start off with a loop to the south.  I was hoping to find the Minnesota cardinal flowers to compare with the Michigan blossoms I saw just a couple of days ago and I was hoping for one last chance to see what was up on the Fairgrounds before the grounds are closed down for the big event.

One out of two.

I checked three different rain gardens in the Como area, the best display was at the location where actually I most expected to find the flowers.
The Como rain gardens do not feature Queen Anne's Lace or those nice Michigan ferns, the purple things are a little past peak, but overall still a pretty nice display.

I didn't do as well at the Fair.  It turns out I am not just too late, I am too late by a lot.  I saw a sign indicating that the grounds were closed beginning LAST Monday, August 4.
Showing up there today a full eight days after the grounds closed ends up having been a very puny plan.

Blue flags demonstrating wind direction and velocity.  My next move after taking this photo was to start riding into that wind.  It was a hard ride but every ride is a good ride.  I made it all the way home.

Here is the thing we discovered today that surprised me (and TOPWLH) the most.  Look what our apple tree has gone and done while we were in Michigan.
Most of those apples have been lying on the ground for a while, many of them have been gnawed upon by one creature or another (I suspect mostly squirrels).  TOPWLH diligently examined the fruit and eventually she found one that was pretty much OK.  She cut it up and we each had some apple slices.

The tree is a Beacon and I must say, the Beacon is a most excellent Minnesota apple.  The slices were really sweet and tart and very, very tasty.

She raked up all of the apples she could find underneath the tree.  Our plan now is to check in the morning, every morning, and see if we can actually end up with an apple harvest.  The apples are really quite good.

I planted that tree.  I bought it at Bachman's and hauled it home in the back seat of my Toyota.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Wrapping up

The weather except for at sunset has been absolutely spectacular here in Western Michigan since we arrived.  Sunny and rising to 80 yet again today, it is almost getting boring.

I have a bicycle ride for every day that we have been here.  That may have happened before,  I'll check the bike log when I  get home, but even if it has happened it is very, very unusual.

I was solo today for one last shot at what I wanted to see.  I was first introduced to cardinal flowers here, I have since discovered them in the rain gardens near Como Park in the big city south of where we live.  I wanted to get a photo of Michigan cardinal flowers today so that I could compare them with Minnesota cardinal flowers early next week.

To do so I had to check the map.  I know where the flowers are but I have previously been there with a guide.  Today I was going to have to navigate there on my own.  Hint:  Sand north of Van Buren until it magically reverts to 160th, then right straight ahead (RSA) past Port Sheldon nearly to Tyler where the flowers flourish in the right hand side ditch.
I cut inland for a mile and then resumed travel to the north.

We have ridden past this a bunch of times and I always have meant to get a photo but I don't think I ever have.  It is a plaque commemorating the fact that that farm has been in the same family for at least 100 years, a century farm.
It is a blueberry farm now, but maybe not always with that plow out in front.

Also that barn looking thing may have been a barn at one time but that side of the building overhead garage door is a dead giveaway that there is no livestock regularly in that building.

They had another very similar size building off to the left of the photo with another very similar size door.  Today when I was there they were backing a bluberry picker into the other building, almost for sure this other one serves the same storage purpose.

Lest anyone despair it was most definitively NOT a no party store day.  My ride ended up being pretty much a backwards version of my previous ride to West Olive.  This time no denizens of the One Stop came out of the store to see what the heck I was up to.
Phwew.

Down Croswell to the lake shore drive and then south cutting inland at Butternut for a final glimpse this time of the PSPS.  They were muy busy there this afternoon.
As always, who doesn't love fuel with an attitude.

I think whoever parked this car completely athwart of the bike path on James probably loves fuel  with an  attitude but my judgment is that whomever it was has just earned the dickhead of the day award.
That's all the riding for this time, Delta awaits us tomorrow.  It is not the easiest way to get a rest day but on this trip heading for home turns out to be the only way I am going to get one.  Here's hoping for some of this Michigan weather for next week and weekend in Minnesota.