Another 40 percenter

It was another OK day, temperatures promising to be several degrees above the now dismal average for this date (according to the morning newspaper now only 55). The sun was nowhere to be seen behind an overcast that the same morning newspaper gave a 40 percent chance of producing precipitation.

One thing that I do know is that a 40 percent chance of precipitation is a 60 percent chance of no precipitation. 60 percent won today, as it will 60 percent of the time.

Numbers, get used to it as the time of the season when statistical round ups have to be done. I am going to have lots of numbers between now and the last day this year when bicycling is possible. We aren't there yet.

On days as gray as today it sometimes seems like there is no reason whatsoever to get the cheap digital camera out of my jersey pocket. Sometimes, however, you get it out once and a theme develops. Today's theme starts off as an extension of part of yesterday's theme. About 10 miles into the ride I was thinking that a major reconfiguration of the costume seemed prudent. I have been meaning to get a photo of this tunnel and that's where I was when the 10 mile mark rolled around.

My for several years favored route out to the northern lakes took me along Victoria. Late this summer I discovered some pavement grinding and some chip and seal along that route. At about the same time I discovered that the previously dirt path through Grass Lake had been paved. At this time of year and at the time of day that I ride I find that there are very few other users out there making it an easy choice to use the path. I pass through TWO tunnels on the at least for this period of this year favored route, that's the first.

I have ridden by this tree out there several times often meaning to get a photo. This light has always been too drab for a decent photo of a brightly colorful leaf palette.

Today the light was as bad as ever but I realized that if I don't get a picture of that tree like now that I am never going to get any picture of it at all.

That whole leaf thing is pretty much over here.

Here's the second tunnel.

I was lining up the photo thinking that I could use just one more visual element to make the picture interesting when that school bus passed along the street above the trail tunnel.

Sometimes the pictures compose themselves, more often the photographer has to do the composition.

I was nearing home when I heard a train whistle. I hear a train whistle occasionally in Roseville but rarely if ever actually see a train. I did a little cyclocross on a road bicycle, having to ride across the lawn at the Roseville Animal Hospital to get up next to the tracks along County Road B to capture a shot of the oncoming train.

For any who may care I think the first time I was ever at that intersection that the business across the street was the Rose Drive In Theater.

I waited long enough to note that the logo on the engine heading that group of cars was for the Minnesota Commercial Railroad.

Long ago while attending college a family connection (my sister knew someone) enabled me to work summers as a switchman on what was then known as the Great Northern Railroad. I spent a lot of mostly nights hanging around the Union Yards. The railroad needed a few extra hands to help with the bulge in business experienced during the warmest months. There was enough business that switchmen with seniority often gave up their regularly scheduled shifts to work what was called the extra board. You could get called from the extra board for any open shift anywhere in the Minneapolis yards. Because of the extra business many extra hands were needed and by holding a spot on the extra board relatively senior switchmen could work extra shifts often including extremely attractive overtime pay for working on short rest and the opportunity to fairly regularly achieve what was know as "second beans". As regular jobs came open for bidding and no senior switchmen bid on them the lowest seniority switchmen were assigned to regular jobs which ordinarily they would not be able to hold against senior workers. That's how I became a semi-regular on an 11pm-7am job at the "Roughs", the Union R Yard.

The Union Yards was divided into the R Yard and the Q Yard. Our R Yard job often had to go up to the Q Yard to put together a track of cars assembled by the Q Yard staff and transport the cars to the Minnesota Transfer Railroad. This move required the front end man (me) to know how to line up the switches for the crossing the main line (significant) move and then on into the Transfer yard. Learning that set of switches was a significant rite of passage on the way to being accepted as a switchman.

Which is a long digression to get around to what was at that time known as the Minnesota Transfer is now the Minnesota Commercial. That train coming down the tracks is the Transfer coming down to a crossing of Snelling Avenue. I felt an affinity.