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.