Snow

Ice, snow, ice, snow....bit of a mess out there.  I've got one friend who slid and sideswiped his car, and my wife spun out and took a chunk out of her hubcap last night.  For me, it's been fairly uneventful, although Thursday, getting Eryn to and from school was a bit of a challenge.

In the morning, it was clear but icy when we left, but just a few minutes into our ride and it started to snow and whiteout.  When we got closer to school I had to have her confirm that what I was turning onto was the off ramp.  After dropping her off, I stopped to answer my phone and hack a portal (ingree) on the way back to work, so I pulled into a church lot.  But someone had cleverly plowed the first few feet of the lot and nothing else, which I couldn't see in the white out, so the Mustang just stopped, pinned by snow under it and wedged along the side.  I was momentarily panicked (obviously AAA would be a while), but then scooped out all the snow I could, carefully lined the wheels up exactly with how I'd come in and backed it out in the main road when there was a gap.

Later, after a LOT more snow had fallen I went to pick Eryn up and made a stop at the library.  Unfortunately, the library is at the bottom of a big hill.  So I got down fine, but the rear wheel drive wasn't having it trying to do the almost 45 degree turn uphill.  I couldn't even drive across the parking spots without getting stuck and having to back up.  I had almost given up when I decided the angle on the other side gave me a better run at the hill and had been tamped down a bit more by other library patrons.  So I went in reverse all around the lot until I got traction to turn and roll up the hill.  Definitely helpful that there weren't many cars around.

Likewise, when I stopped at the school to pick Eryn up, I did a drive through the lot to make sure I wasn't going to block every other car going through the lot and at the little hill that exits onto the main road, it was obvious I wasn't going to be able to turn left.  So I turned right, hopped the berm of snow, and then immediately turned left.  The guy behind me looked surprised, but understanding.  Later, I saw a guy outside his car pushing while his daughter drove to get over that same berm in a car with a higher base.

So we got home, and then couldn't manage to get into the garage.  I could have parked on the street and shoveled, but I wasn't so sure I wouldn't have to push it loose if I did that.  So Eryn and I swapped places so she could drive while I pushed.

I pushed.  And pushed.  And pushed.  And pushed some more.  Finally I asked her if she was giving it enough gas, because it seemed it wasn't getting any acceleration at all.  She said yes, so I said to give it a bit more.  I pushed, and then asked, was she sure she was in drive?  No.  She was in park.  She was embarrassed.  But at least it was easy to get in the garage after that.  Unfortunately, it's what likely made my back hurt so bad in conjunction with the shoveling.

Here's a nice sunrise picture of the ice at rest.  Cahokia has their earthen mounds.  We have a snow mound/s.  Mean Mr. Mustard says he's on vacation, but for all I know his car is under that pile somewhere and he's running out of gas to keep himself warm barely a hop, skip, and a jump from his cube.  Very To Build a Fire.

Blessed

I'm not going to post the original articles talking about Priebus saying he's blessed (fuck it, here it is: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-cabinet-meeting).  Instead I'll post this article which has my senator mocking him.  There are few things I'm more proud of than that Al Franken represents Minnesota.  Smart man.  Funny man.  Well centered.  Full of common sense and cutting humor and insight.

“I think the people there feel very, very blessed. … If they feel blessed to be in his cabinet or to be around him, to be his chief of staff for at least another week or so, they should feel very blessed. And I feel very blessed to be here. … Blessings to you.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/12/al-franken-stop-laughing-trumps-cabinet-blessed-serve.html

St. Mary's of Marystown

I was way down Highway 169 tonight cleaning up an Ingress field.  I went to the wrong place first, which I've done before, and which is incredibly annoying.  It's sometimes difficult to tell from the portal description where the place is; I end up looking for a nearby intersection.

Made for a beautiful photo taking down 4 AXA covering most of Eagan and beyond.

Weekend - Cabin

On Saturday we did a quick drive up to the cabin to visit all of the family for the day. It was a beautiful day for taking the convertible for a ride - which was good because 4 hours in the car was probably 1/3 of our time. Eryn, A (my niece), and I took the rentered waterski out for a long ride between the lakes.  We hit a wake at significant speed at one point and Eryn bit the back of A's head.  I know they're older now because they were more amused than shedding tears.

It was good we got our ride in because not longer afterwards the jet ski just sort of quit working.  Andrew went to town on it with a wrench, locating all the weeds.  But while it wasn't running, we tried to get it down to the landing to get it up on the trailer to take back to the dealer.  It would have helped if the boat was running right.  My observation to my sister about visiting the cabin is that I'm always fixing something: water heater, pipes, flooded foundation, myself (when I'm stung by wasps), trees, shingles, myself (when I rip my arm open on the flashing for the roof)...I'm sure I've missed many things.  Fortunately, this time Andrew was taking care of it and I could ignore it beyond fetching knives, tools, and making sure bolts didn't go lost.

Here's a view of my sister-in-law at the cabin.  That's not our cabin on the left - ours is behind me (the picture taker).  Way off in the water, that's the jet ski fixing convoy.

Panoramic View

Here we are zoomed in much closer.  Six people trying to get the jet ski to the landing.  Me taking pictures while moving back and forth between the landing and the cabin fetching things.  And my father at the landing controlling the truck.  Eight people dealing with the jet ski.


The live action version...as exciting as you probably expect.


We had a good time despite all the mechanical issues and had a good dinner at the bar in Garrison.  I snuck out to do a little bit of Ingress-ing as there aren't many Ingress-ers left up there and the portals were unclaimed/gray.  I saw a Pokemon Go article that said there are 5,000,000 portals in existence out of 15,000,000 submitted.  No wonder some are in unfrequented locations.

Minneopa State Park

Wednesday was supposed to be nice, and it was.  Really nice.  80 degrees plus.  Set a record in the Twin Cities for that day.  So it worked out well that we planned a trip down to Minneopa State Park near Mankato to enjoy the weather with the top down and drop off a Cards Against Humanity expansion for Klund and Mrs. Klund.

The Klunds are off sampling wine, but they have housesitters.  Serial killer in a van housesitters.



Minneopa was a little park.  And the water wasn't exactly running high.  But it was good for an hour of amusement.  These signs always confuse me.  Shouldn't ALL pets be on a leash?  Even if they're exotic instead of domestic?  I'm pretty sure they mean, "don't worry about the squirrels", but those aren't really pets.  And if they were.  They'd need a leash.


This sign sort of grossed Eryn out.  I dared her to lick the ice flow in the falls to see if it tasted of fecal matter.  Then she said, "How would I know if it tasted like fecal matter?!"  I said if she's smelled it, she's tasted it.  Which seemed to bother her even more.  There was a more in depth sign that pointed out sometimes the falls are green with algal blooms and sometimes brown from sediment, and fecal matter is there pretty much 24x7x365.  A result of being at the end of the watershed in a heavily farmed area.


Even without a lot of water they were pretty.  This is the upper falls.


And a nice picture of Eryn looking at them.


Here she is with Minneopa Falls behind her.  For a moment, I thought this was all there was to see.  So why would you leave Minneapolis and Minnehaha Falls?


But there was more.

Panorama

At the end of the sidewalk were steps that led down into the area below the falls and back up again along a ridge.  No geocaches as it's a state park, but perhaps Eryn can get herself Chived for doing what she wants.  Not exactly dangerous.  The sign is there because the fence is washed out way back there behind her.


You can get down below the lower falls, and there's still a bit of ice hanging out.  This photo would probably bother Eryn.  It looks like she's posing, but she's really just trying to get her jacket off.  Remember? 80+!


The falls without people in the picture.


But not really.  If you could blow it up enough, there are carvings almost everywhere.  It's one of the most scratched up areas I've ever seen.  Next to the falls, High on the walls right by the falls.  On the cliffs near the falls.  On the cliffs opposite the falls.  Next to the stairs going down and going up.  It's graffiti central.  I think the best one can hope for is that archaeologists of the future find it interesting.


Here you can see the carving in the context of the falls.

Panorama

Eryn sitting near the falls.  My wife was amused to see ERYON carved near her.  She didn't do that.  She knows how to spell her name.


The use wasp nests for bulbs in the state parks.  We're that hardcore in Minnesota.  I'm surprised they leave it there given it's near the picnic area.  You'd think everyone would be surrounded in wasps.


Oh no!  But that's only a fall, not falls!


There we go.  Two is officially fallS.


We stopped for a sandwich in Mankato and enjoyed all the dust devils and wind.  Not hard to believe Minnesota is in a drought.  And hit the rest stop on our way home where we were treated to this near the Cambria warehouse.  Apparently he's driving a lot more than we were.

Lefse

I have a real problem with Lefse not being in Words with Friends.  Someone on line noted tamale was ok.  But not lefse. As a Minnesotan who found the word incredibly obvious in his tile lineup and a real treat because it was a potential triple word score, I was shocked to get the Sorry message.  And then I read the Wikipedia entry which says it's only in some states' grocery stores, Starbuck (MN) is home to the largest lefse, and Rushford (MN) produces the most in the US.  Maybe it is primarily a Minnesota thing, although I don't know what the hell else I'd call it if someone gave me some.  Does everyone else in the US just pretend it's a defective flour tortilla?

State Fair 2014

Last Friday we hit the 2014 Minnesota State Fair.  Not NEARLY as exciting for me this year because of the threat of rain.  I love the time I have to myself when I ride my bike up there early in the morning and find breakfast and do my own thing.  You can see some of the morning water below in the picture of Eryn in the racecar.  Unfortunately, I used an && in biking and hanging at the fair early and short circuited when I couldn't bike.  In retrospect, I could have just hauled my bike up there and rode from somewhere close, or even just parked up there really early and done my own thing for several hours without my bike.  It's nice to know I feel like my bike is a part of me, but I was less concerned about leaving my wife out of my early morning activities than my bike.  That might be pushing me close to the crazy I see in club members.

We debated going at all on Friday, but in the end I thought staying until the rain started at 5:00 on a workday I already had off was our best option for avoiding a horrible crowd.  Given they set the record the next day with almost a quarter million people, that was the right call.



Here you can see the rain has kicked in while people sing to Adele.  Eryn's in that picture.  To the right, zebra-ish umbrella.  I'm sitting under a fairly dry tree that accumulated 50 or so people as soon as it started to rain.  That was fine, until the guy came sauntering up with his lit cigarette and turned our tree shelter into a smoke-filled tree shelter.


It's appropriate to hold hands at the sing a long, but shoe choice is more important.  You can't sit and sing, so those shoes are entirely inappropriate.


Enjoy The Gambler at the Singalong.  I can't tell who's worse, the guy with the trachea voice or the kid screaming what seems to be nonsense.  But nonsense in tune.


And another song.  Full track.


HA!

I...

RICK...

ROLLED...

YOU!

Not much rolling - but you probably didn't realize you were going to listen to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up!

I'm not a fan of the midway, but Eryn loves it and the rain stayed away long enough to enjoy the rides.


Bonus photo.  This one didn't make it to Facebook and it's my favorite from the fair, near the Giant Slide, shortly before we went to find Pinball on a Stick and play some Star Trek the Movie, Haunted House, and Siege pinball.  Maybe I should have taken my hat off.


On our way out we tried to swing past the crafts area to a.) avoid the downpour and b.) find grandma's scarfs.  We found the scarfs.  I also found this.  She didn't make this - it's from the 4H building.  I'm not sure what inspired it, but the only thing that comes to mind looking at it is Cartman having t-parties with his toys on South Park.


We managed to find free parking.  That was a pleasant bonus.  Given the ticket prices are huge and the midway ticket prices are huge, it's cool to save some money here and there, like on parking and on the half-used coupon book someone left for the taking at work (sometimes if you want something to go away, there are specific spots to put it to encourage taking - I've done it with computer games and books).  You didn't need a coupon for this tree - it was the cheapest thing at the Fair!

Minnesota State Fair 2013

Almost caught up. Not that I'll be out of things to write about. I'll just be caught up on the picture heavy bits.  I suppose I could chunk things a little more efficiently, but I like to bundle my tasks for efficiency.

The State Fair marks sort of one year of being back on my bicycle.  I was on it before the end of September last year, but it was my first longer ride, and I remember how much it work me out - physically and mentally - in 2012.  It was within two weeks of the fair this year, or about 54 weeks of total tracking, that I hit 3000 miles of bicycling on RunKeeper.  Very close to 3000 miles in a year.  If only RAGBRAI had been 20 miles longer, I think I would have made it.  I set the new goal to 3500 miles in a year.  That might be wishful thinking. I was motivated to get my leg back in shape over the last year (and a half).  I might be trending toward lazy.  If I do, I'll just use Adam's excuse that I'm focusing on strength building and flexibility rather than long distance cycling.

Here's my favorite sight on reaching the fair.  The helmeted bear at the bike pen.  Hey.  Hey bear!  NICE HELMET!  Don't judge me.  You don't know whether the bear is Malaysian or not from this angle.



As usual, my first stop was at the Minnesota Farmer's Union, the place I learned to drink Americanos.  It was a bit too crowded to hang out this year, despite being there before things were even really open (maybe that's why), so I didn't sit and read.  Instead I went off and tried to cover most of the non-ride related fairgrounds before my wife and daughter showed up.  Usually they come pretty late, so I have time to loiter, but this time they wanted to see the Channel 9 news weatherman, so my alone time was limited.

Note the guy in the yellow shirt at the farmers' union.


Here he is in close up.  His shirt scares me.  It's scary with the caption.  It'd be terrifying without it.  Like he was a kidnapper or serial killer.


They don't really have boots for sale.  It should say "coffee".


I went to the Hamline cafeteria for breakfast.  It was good.  But it amazes me that the Chris Cakes folks on RAGBRAI can serve unlimited pancakes at the speed of pouring to thousands of passing cyclists, and the MN State Fair cafeterias have food they're keeping in warmers, there's generally a wait, and it's limited to a pancake or two.


Still, Hamline is so far ahead of the Salem Lutheran Church dicks (yes, dicks) who stopped me at the door last year and told me breakfast ended with the guy in front of me.  I'm still mad.  See that Lutheran dudes?  I'm not eating at your cafeteria!!!  I walked over there just to not eat there.  And I walked back later for a chocolate shake at the Kiwanis booth and didn't eat there AGAIN.  I think you should be surprised I didn't haul my Hamline breakfast over there to eat outside the doors.


This picture is for Adam.  When we were on RAGBRAI there were signs on the side of the road telling us Pain is Weakness Leaving Your Body.  I reminded Adam of it constantly.  He wasn't reassured by the thought. I think he preferred to be weak.


The Channel 9 news area.  I showed up just as Keith Marler, the local meteorologist, got off the golf cart. I very much enjoy getting the weather from him in the morning before work.  Kyle might tell you I also like Kelsey Soby (here, enjoy almost 3 minutes of her dancing) and her traffic reports, which is true.  But as you can see in the dancing video, Keith is a good sport and joins in the dancing frequently. I like the part around 2:11 where he's dancing to ABBA with Thor's hammer.  I was worried Eryn would miss him, but she showed up in time to catch Keith and Tom Butler and have her picture taken with each of them.  Tom was incredibly nice.  Very pleasant guy to talk to and was wonderful with kids.


All these cat pictures are for Ming.  The fair is full of cat-related art.  Cat needlepoint.


Cat needlepoint with bonus yarn.


And cat tiles, which Kyle pointed out to me first.  I find the one of the cat giving the other cat a massage on the beach particular strange.  Why?  What makes you think, I'd like to make a tile, and I've got this picture of massaging cats in my head.  Not massaging them myself.  Massaging each other.  What sort of freak do you take me for?


In the arts building.  The Minnesota Wheelmen exhibit.  A neat array of bicycles including gearless (driven by a screw of sorts), and the next one...


..with a suspension seat.  I'm not sure how comfortable that would really be.  What if it sags?  But it's got the cut out center a hundred years ahead of the newfangled open centered seats.  The headlight is interesting too.  No wires.  So it's probably powered by burning something like oil (whale or otherwise).


Pretty cool Wizard of Oz pinball machine (alt) over at the games area: "Each Oz pinball machine is the size of a casket built for a member of the Lollipop Guild. On this day in early fall, millions of dollars of parts—LED lights and emerald-green legs and a forest’s worth of anthropomorphic plastic trees—are sitting in cardboard boxes, waiting to be fished out by arcade-world craftsmen. On one assembly line, they’ll put together the machine’s heart, adding rails, rollover buttons, and magnets to the yellow-brick-road-laden playfield. They’ll also add the brains, stuffing the PC board, power supply, and other electronics inside the Wizard of Oz’s exterior shell."


All of that is great - but Toto escaping pisses me off greatly.  Every time I thought I was doing a good job Toto would run away and I'd have to save him and I'm pretty sure it takes a lot of practice to become a well versed Toto-saving Dorothy.


Me as a corndog! If you're not willing to be an idiot, I'm not sure the MN State Fair is really for you.  People would probably say the same thing about me for my limited food intake.  I had a chocolate shake, a real breakfast, previously pictured, a medium fry I ate half of, some honey-sunflower seed ice cream, and a lot of cider ice pops, on top of 50 miles of bicycling.  I didn't even make up the calories I burned.


Eryn loves the midway.  It's my least favorite part of the fair.  I like all the Minnesota-centric stuff.  This ride attempted to capture at least a little bit of Minnesota with this wonderful air brushed Prince art.


See...Minnesota-centric stuff.  I went to the rooster crowing contest while my family was at the midway.  That's right, for over thirty minutes I stood behind this guy who recorded whether his chicken was getting in the most crows.  I missed being a counter by moments, so I adopted the last chicken to get a counter, the little one in the lower left corner.


He was pretty noisy for the first ten minutes and was winning, but then he wore out and everyone surpassed him.  Early performer.  Got our hopes up and then they were gone, like the sunrise.


And I recorded it!  Twice!  Now you can enjoy all the sounds of roosters crowing in the poultry building.


In case a minute wasn't enough for you.


Ha...Polish, non-bearded, golden cock.  It was a building full of cocks.  And turkeys.  And geese.  And ducks.  At least I think there were ducks.  I didn't get further than the first three.


I took a picture of this because this plaque told me the giant slide is as old as I am.  Actually, it's a few months older than I am because it has an August birthday.


We met up with my brother and his family and my parents.  Drew didn't want to ride the slingshot with my nephew, so he asked Eryn and she was all on board.  It doesn't look scary here...


...but it does here.


More things that are better than the midway.  Lifesize mermaid art made from recycled materials.


Grace Jones made out of seeds.


A very pissed off cat made out of seeds (grains).


And grumpy cat made out of seeds.  There was a Captain Kirk with the Gorn done in seeds as well.  Nice.  The whole cat video extravaganza was at the State Fair this year.  I saw several older women standing around in grumpy cat and "humorous" cat t-shirts.


I like the corndog picture better.  This is over where the cider freezes were and the honey-sunflower ice cream.  We bumped into my wife's cousin over there and her family, so we hung out for a while and had freezes and watched the bee presentation.  Good time.  I think this picture is weird because that looks like it could be me (the body - the head obviously looks like me).  My old body - around age 21 or 22.  But semi-recognizable as about right proportionately.