I traveled to NJ to setup a demo of our inventory scanning robot in a distribution center. The warehouse was 90 F with 100% humidity and zero circulation. By the time we had it put together, I was soaked to the bone.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Bloodbath
Twice now I have experienced a catastrophic blood leak when I remove muy insulin pump. Normally I pull it off and it's hard to tell where it was. This time, however, I started pouring out blood all over my shirt & shorts faster than I could mop it up. It didn't hurt, but it sure was disturbing.
Summer Morning Dog Walks
Now that I'm working, the morning walks are quite a bit shorter, but still enjoyable.
S is still mad about the lake not being frozen over, but he's OK taking a cool swim.
We had a cool front come through. Despite the wind and mist, there was still a guy fishing out on his kayak.
Let There be Light!
Two years ago, some nutjobs stole the copper wires out of miles of streetlights in the twin cities. The lights around the lake both on the walking path and the parkway road have been dark. This week they came back on!
The city replaced some of the wires, but before the new wires were stolen as fast as they were installed. Finally the city went to aluminum wires that don't have enough value to make it worth the effort to steal.
Steely Dane
We had to leave the DFL convention early so we could hit Steely Dane at the Parkway Theatre. The Ks got last minute tickets ad we had a great pre-show dinner at the Creekside supper club next door. Steely Dane is an incredible 14-piece Steely Dan tribute band from Madison Wisconsin (Dane county).
Trainwreck DFL Convention
At our neighborhood DFL caucus, we signed up to be alternate delegates for the Minneapolis DFL convention. This is the event where candidates vie for DFL endorsement for the mayoral and park district races.
From the get go, the event was chaotic. Check-in was slow and it delayed the start by an hour and a half. We were seated in the alternate delegate section, the actual delegates were seated by district. Note the large section of empty seats for District 2.
I scored a Team Frey shirt (our current mayor) and got to be on the floor for his speech.
We were alternates #5 & 6 for our precinct and got to vote due to others not showing up. Unfortunately, the voting system was flawed (number of votes didn't add up to the number of people that voted) and slow. We had to leave at 6:30 and there had only been one vote with no results returned. We got a text at 9:00 from the Frey campaign telling anyone that was still there to go home due to the event running off the rails. Here's a great summary of it: https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/07/25/a-busted-ballot-and-11th-hour-rule-changes-the-minneapolis-dfl-convention-was-a-train-wreck/
Plywood on Edge Box
I've been wanting to build a new case for the old tube amp I rebuilt. A few years ago I saw some cool boxes at the Edina art fair that a guy made laminating strips of plywood. Since we still have a surplus of scrap plywood from the floor project, I built a test box to see how it would go. Each side is made of alternating long and short 3/4" x 3/4" strips of plywood to create interleaved box joints.
The box is the same size as what I need for the amp, but not as deep. This one is for some rack-mounted gear. It came out looking respectable.
Fun Food
Now that's a chip!!
I'm getting farm fresh eggs from a guy at work (for $3/dz!). It's always fun to see the random sizes and colors.
Rogue Kayak
We've had tons of rain, followed by more rain. The lake is up, and the creek has been flowing fast & deep. We found a lost kayak on our morning dog walk. The increased flow has washed big trees into and across the creek. Between the high flow and all the trees, it has become hazardous.
Cubs vs Twins
We hit the Cubs-Twins game with the boys. CP scored the 2-foot long sausage sampler from Kramarczuk's.
We were worried about excessive heat, but were blessed with overcast and comfort.
The Cubs ended up winning. Boooo.
The Usual Places
The Gs came for a short visit. Every guest to our house gets to visit the falls and have some fish & beer at Sea Salt.
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Paddleboard Nap
While JP took a nap, I took the paddleboard out and took a nap in the sun on the lake. I didn't think I was getting sunburned, but I was wrong.
Taste of MN
The boys took the bus downtown for the Taste of MN and a free concert, featuring Cheap Trick.
It was too loud for me, so I backed out of the crowd and found a nice place further away in the shade. CP double fisted his dinner at the Taste of Ukraine tent.
Showshoes
DN & I went to REI to get out of the heat. They had ex-rental snowshoes on sale for $40 a pair!!! We are now more ready for winter! Let it snow!!
Hot Game
We braved the heat (92°) and took in an afternoon Twins game on the 4th. It was sweltering, but we had good seats and it was a great game and the Twins beat the Rays!
63rd Annual Block Parade
Everyone that was still in town came out for the 63rd annual block kid's parade. Most of the block were at their lake houses. We only kid in the parade.
Maynard's
MN & DN came up for the 4th weekend. We hit Maynard's on Lake Minnetonka for a late lunch on the third, and it was packed!
For Rent
Our beleaguered street corner continues to be sad. The building and store owners, their insurance company, and the city are still fighting out who will pay for the destruction caused by the broken water main on Feb. 13th. We don't know the entire story, but it sounds like the city is claiming that it was an act of God. No one had flood insurance (why would they in this location?!?). We're also heard that none of the stores are planning to come back. We're hoping that one of the mayoral candidates will come to the rescue and get the building back on its feet before it rots away. New this week are the For Rent signs.
Shorter Days
We're only a few days past the summer solstice, but already it feels like the days are getting shorter. It used to take an effort to get to the dog beach to catch the sunrise, but now we're usually there before it comes up.
Pedalboard Finish
I finished off the old-floorboard pedalboard with some black stain and polyurethane. It came out fairly well and now my rack doesn't look as much like it was made from scraps and junk .
Rude Awakening
We usually don't have severe weather here like we had in Nebraska. We were shocked to be awoken by the cell phone alerts going off at 12:30 AM for a full-on tornado warning. Most of the damage was west of us; we did not have any downed trees in the neighborhood.
SW x SW 2025
We hit the 2025 Southwest by Southwest alley music festival a few blocks over. There was live music, a food truck, free beer ($20 donation), and at least a hundred neighbors.
Headwinds
We paddled across the lake to the north beach into a headwind thinking that we would have a tailwind going home. Nope. By the time we got across, the wind shifted and we had an unrelenting headwind the whole way back. S got hot along the way and jumped overboard.
Falls
The falls are really running from all the rain. When we hit them, they were at 250 cubic feet per second (cfs). The limit for tubing is 150 cfs, which is what it was when we went. After the last rain, we were up to 300 cfs!
The trail from the falls down to the river is relaxing, and S enjoys the water.
Tubing
With all the rain we've had, the creek has been flowing fast. We blew up the snow tubes and tried our hand at floating. We weren't sure what to expect, so we only did half a mile. Then we walked up to the lake and paddled back. Definitely will do again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)