Nothing remarkable

TOPWLH christened today's ride shortly after I got home.  She asked how it went and when I had no immediate response she suggested, "Nothing remarkable?"  Indeed.

I did find a tiny bit of pavement within eight miles of my house that I had never ridden on before.

At park at the corner of C and Fairview I noticed a trail leading down into the park.  It was sit down time so I turned in expecting to be taken to a picnic ground or perhaps out to the softball field or tennis courts.

Nope.

About fifty feet and a dead end at a park bench.

There is a bit of interesting debris from the nearby railroad tracks.  I believe it is called a tie plate and spikes.  Just off to the right of the pictured bicycle (nice bike?) at the edge of the brush was a tent seemingly the residence of a person without a permanent home.

So I felt vaguely like I was intruding and did not linger.

I was there long enough for a couple of members of the grounds crew to come out into that tiny grassy area on rider mowers.  One of them paused his mower and inquired of me if he was making too much noise.  I didn't think so, I thought he was just doing his job.

This one is located at the craft brewery/distillery/public house located in the industrial area down in that part of town.

On at least this occasion roses are blue . . .

Surviving the heat

We had morning rain and pretty universal agreement among the various weather forecasters that we use that the afternoon would feature thunderstorms.  But the sun peeked out and broad expanses of blue sky led us both to wonder if the forecasters had gotten it right.  I consulted up to the minute radar weather sites and decided that the rain was over and even the always present possibility of it redeveloping seemed remote enough that going out was not as crazy as it seemed.

It was hot though.  But as I remarked a couple of evenings ago to a socially distanced neighbor as I started out on an after dinner stroll around the neighborhood, "If it isn't going to be hot in July, when is it?"

Here is some road construction that I was not previously aware of.

That's Como Avenue just a block east of Snelling.  I noted from information on a sign announcing the closing that the road is closed for "Como trail construction".  That city has become somewhat notorious for this sort of thing much to the chagrin of those who insist that pavement is for cars and any other use is a waste but it looks to me like another major thoroughfare is being rebuilt to add separated bike lanes.  We shall see.  Como is pretty along that stretch.

I had to circle around some construction and came upon this on a side street near the Fairgrounds.

That is four of what if my memory is correct are 17 of that particular franchise, all perched on their travel trailers.  I was surprised to find them parked near the Fair as the Fair is not going to be held this year.  My guess is that they are not scheduled to be anywhere else right now and for the next several weeks and they have to be stored somewhere so here they are.  There were several other vendor trailers parked inside that same enclosure on what I believe to be Fair owned property and it occurs to me that the Fair itself may own some of those food stands.

I was obviously in the neighborhood so I rode in and took a look around.  Here is the spot where our bench was located for last year's Fair.

It is a little early for the benches to be out but we all expect that they won't be coming out of storage this summer.

It was time and I rode from that spot to the nearest place where there was nice shade and something to sit on and took my mid-ride sit down. That turned out to be this place.

No benches there either but they had a brick wall enclosing a flower garden just to the left there (and in the shade) so I perched on the wall.

By the time dinner came around we had not shaken off the State Fair ambience and we had these in the freezer so here was our Sunday night repast.

I often say that the cheap yellow mustard is a good mustard.

So they were not authentic, lacking that fresh from the hot grease flavor but they were not horrible either.  A lot of this is just refueling anyway.

This one is in Lexington Park about two miles from our house.

Roses are red . . .

It was too hot but we both survived which means that it was a fine day for some outdoor activity.

Hampden Park recreation in the time of virus

Our governor declared face coverings mandatory in all indoor spaces open to the public, the requirement to become effective Saturday.  This renders the Monday action by the local city council something less than relevant.  The council on the city website provided tools for local merchants to deal with citizens who might not otherwise be aware of the new requirement.

The state mandate begins Saturday, the city mandate begins Monday.

I had a nice ride today, a bit less mindless than my last outing.  The possibility of rain was absent so I was free to get a bit farther from home than I have been.  I got all the way down into the big city where I took a mid-ride sit down in Hampden Park.

It is a small neighborhood park along the route I take to the south.  My fitness seems to be better or perhaps I am choosing my sit down spots more appropriately as not a single person approached me and inquired whether or not I was overheated.  I was not but a little mid-ride sit down in a pleasant spot is still a good thing.

I was sitting on a park bench having had a snack and some water contemplating my next move.  For some reason my attention was drawn to the path directly in front of the bench.

It appears that someone has recently been using that park bench for a little recreational smoking.

I took a photo of the rose in front of the bank that used to be a post office.

There are 20 of those things around town, all or nearly all within my current bicycle range.  Perhaps I will eventually post pictures of them all.

Mindless miles

We had morning rain but by about 2pm it was mostly dry and fairly promising looking.  The radar weather site that I follow showed that the storm had passed.  The secondary weather site where I seek a written forecast suggested that the possibility of the system putting itself back together for more rain was only 15 percent.  The breeze was pretty mild so I decided to try it.

But with some ominous looking clouds hovering in the western sky I was not brave enough to get very far from home.  Days when I don't get very far can seem like pretty meaningless miles, just circles in the neighborhood, very familiar streets.  I did get to one of the roses.

It is quite well known in several different circles that this one is my favorite color.

The rose is at the front entrance of a motel in town that some may recognize as family has stayed there on occasion.

82 on the time temperature display at the insurance agency.  It definitely doesn't qualify as one of the nicest in the history of days but it was definitely a plenty nice day.

Too hot, too hot, too windy

Those are the conditions for the last three days.

Yesterday featured a heat advisory that didn't end until 10pm, well after sunset.  I heed a heat advisory because I realize that I have reached the point in my life where I am a member of exactly the group that they are intending to advise.

We had thunder and lightning overnight and as is usual, that produced a break in the temperature and a reduction in the humidity.

It was still warm today but conditions were sufficiently improved that bicycling seemed doable.

Except for the wind.

Auckland rule.

It was a strong west wind and I have a couple of places I go when that is the wind condition.  Downhill into the wind, uphill with a strong tail wind.  I got enough time in doing that to piece together a ride that was fine until I had to finish into the wind at the very end of the ride when I was hot and tired.  I got into Central Park to photo the rose sculpture located in our main park.

On the hill overlooking the band shell with the lake in the background.

There is a nice little playground there, some equipment of a sort not previously explored by our little group.  We may be visiting there again soon.

I follow a women's hockey discussion board.  It is usually just fans ribbing each other about such weighty matters as how much better our team is than your team.

But these are unusual times, the end of the season this spring was among the college sports that had their championships cancelled when the games were stopped by the virus.  So now we have hockey fans talking about the virus.

It is mostly hockey fans but there are a couple of people who strike me as clear thinkers and good writers.  Here is what one of them had to say in response to a hockey fan who declared that he wouldn't wear any face covering as such a thing was a violation of his rights.  It seems to me to be a really good and clear statement of the social contract.

"I don't think that I am positive for Covid-19, but I don't know that for a certainty at any moment. So I choose to wear a mask in situations where I'm not socially distanced, in the hope that it will help protect others. I'm not presuming that I'm "guilty," just that I'm not 100 percent confident that I'm "innocent" when it comes to carrying Covid-19. I believe that is my responsibility as a member of our society. You are free to decide that your rights far outweigh any such responsibilities."

Full on summer

And if July 15 isn't summer I don't think anyone here at this latitude (45 degrees North for those who might not have known) would have anything else to call it.

Full on summer means growing season is at its peak including in our local rain garden/rain water run off collection facilities.  Here is a look at one I have featured a few times in the past.  This spot has featured cardinal flowers several times in the past although that generally occurs slightly later on in the season.

In my view, orange flowers are always good.

This one may be appearing in a couple of spots today on the interwebs.  TOPWLH was out walking today and she was walking quite near the location of this rose.

Most of the folks at the skateboard park which currently occupies the infield space of this winter refrigerated skating rink were not practicing appropriate masking.

On the other hand they are young and they are skaters which is a better excuse than middle aged and determined to "live free".

Something completely different

Even after all this time it is still possible to try something new.

Today for I am pretty sure the very first time ever I started a ride in the rain.

Indeed, when the garage door opened there were a smattering of wet spots on the driveway.  It was at worst only a minor sprinkle, but still.

After about five times around the cul-de-sac and twice to the end of the block and back I finally set off.  I stayed very close to home never getting more than a couple of miles from my garage but I mostly managed to not repeat any streets.  I got in an hour and a half and called it good.

Here's the local rose closest to my house, only about six blocks away.

This one is a dusky rose in color (inside family humor) and is inexplicably located at the rear of this building next to the dumpster.

Someone has to make these decisions, I suppose.  Anyway, two down, eighteen to go.

Hot and steamy July

I don't know, maybe July is always like this.  But for whatever reason, this year's heat and humidity seem off the scale oppressive.  Bicycle rides seem imprudent and even a walk in the neighborhood has to wait until nearly sundown.

I was out a couple of days ago and for the first time in many years managed to get myself dehydrated.  Today was not as hot and I drank early and often.  It ended up being quite a nice ride.

Our local municipality has some sort of promotion going on which involves the posting of large plaster and metal roses in various places around town.  What the motivation is and why they chose roses are matters that must have been discussed at one of the many city council meetings that I neglected to follow on local cable access TV.  They just aren't as interesting since Mayor Kysylyczyn unsuccessfully sought re-election.

For anyone interested in either of those topics, I bet there are Wikipedia articles, or at least some information available somewhere on the intertubes.

Anyway, I rode past one of the roses on today's ride and here is an appropriate photo.

This one is rose colored and located at a church named after a saint named Rose.

The layers of meaning are profound.

It just may be evident from the photo that the day was mostly cloudy, which may be why the temperature stayed in a range that made for a nice hour and a half on the bicycle.