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.

 

Ducky Dog

 S doesn't mind the ducks, and the ducks don't seem to mind him.

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!

 

Giant Shroom

 

Bandshell Nights

More nights than not, there's a band or two playing at the bandshell. It's such a beautiful setting, especially with the sailboat races in the background.

We braved the heat and caught The Percolators. S. tolerates it, and he's always ready to speed home once it's over.

 

Sunrise Dog Beach Guy

Every morning we see the sunrise guy down at the dog beach. He's there every morning in his swimsuit watching the sunrise. One morning he was eating his breakfast and offered S a piece of bacon. He is now on S' list of friends.

 

Cute Bunny

Some days we feel like Wallace & Gommet as we battle the bunnies. They absolutely destroy everything we are trying to grow, but sometimes they can be really cute like this one. S would like to chase and eat him.

 

80s Bands

After downtown, we hit an 80s concert at Uptown Theatre and saw three iconic bands from the 80s: Animotion, Bow Wow Wow, and A Flock of Seagulls. All the bands were all in their late 60s / early 70s and put on a fun show.

The nice thing about the Uptown Theatre (and most of the venues here) is that they are small enough that there are no bad seats. 

 

Father's Day

For Father's Day, we went downtown and hit Brit's for lunch and a walk around. 

Earlier in the morning some nutjob assassinated one of our state senators, her husband, and dog. He also tried to assassinate another representative and his wife, but fortunately they both survived. We did not realize he had been spotted in Minneapolis and that there was a shelter in place going on until we saw it on a bus stop sign. The entire city was on edge until he was arrested.

 

Paddleboarding

We are making 2025 the year of The Lake House. We can walk a block to the lake, walk to the bandshell for live music, and there are no bugs. Why would we fight traffic and drive hours to a cabin?

We got the inflatable paddleboard as a trial. We weren't sure how much we would like it or use it. JP loves it and takes the dog during the week. We broke down and got a nice fiberglass board for this summer from Paddle North, a local Minnesota company. 

We love the new board! We weren't sure how it would ride on the roof, so we took back roads home across the metro. It was fun driving thru downtown Minneapolis with a paddleboard on the roof.

The dog actually tolerates riding around out on the water. It's hard to see, but JP is out ahead of us on her new board.

 

Smoky Sunrise

We haven't had dense forest fire smoke this year like in the past. All the smoke has remained aloft, so we don't smell it. 

It makes for some beautiful pink sunrises. For a few weeks out of the year, the sun comes up to the north of the fishing pier. Six months from now, it will be 90 degrees to the south.

 

Freshwater Abalone

We came across this down by the creek. Not sure if it's a freshwater abalone or what. Back before plastic, the creek was a source of freshwater clams that were used to make buttons.

 

Pedalboard

Now that the kitchen floor project is over, we have a ton of scrap wood that needs to be used for projects. I made a new oak & plywood pedalboard for my garage setup. My pedals were getting trashed being only a 1/4" off the floor. Now they are high & dry and the cables have been cleaned up.

 

Back Seat Pup

S had to ride in the back seat of the pickup for his vet visit. He's not sure about that.

 

Beach Morning

I took advantage of my weekend days to do some longer dog walks with S. He enjoys swimming no matter where he is.

This guy had quite the kayak rig. Five fishing poles, depth finder, and SPF 200 clothing. Not sure when fishing turned into a hide-your-skin sport.

 

Owamni

After the museum, we hit Owamni on the riverfront for a light bite. Normally you'd need a reservation, but with everyone gone, we had no problem getting seats at the bar. CP was not onboard with the menu, but once the food came and he tried it, he appreciated it.

 

Mill City Museum

The city completely empties out on summer weekends, especially 3-day holiday weekends. We take advantage of it and play tourist. This time we hit the Mill City Museum. None of us were expecting much; we were blown away at how cool it is!

 

Memorial Day Weekend

Finally! The Bread & Pickle is open for business. The park dept. was doing work on the picnic pavilion and put off the opening by nearly a month.

 

1st Day of Work

We've taken pictures of the boys heading off for their first day @ work, so why not?

 

Pantry Completion

We did a final push to the end of my days of being unemployed by completely finishing up the kitchen floor project.

 We also refinished and reinstalled the baseboards. The only thing missing are the doorknobs.

 

Patented

I got a nice surprise in the mail: a plaque for one of my patents from my old employer. Rather than give out cash or have a big party or dinner for all the patent recipients, we each get a nice commemorative plaque to hang on the wall. I'm good with that!

 

Sunrise

I used to be able to hit the sunrise every day. Now that I've grown accustomed to sleeping in a bit and the fact that the sun is up before 6 now, I'm not seeing as many. Since this is my last week for leisurely dog walks, I'm making it a point to catch the sunrise as much as I can.

S doesn't mind going out on the fishing pier. He likes to pick at the fish scales and leftover bait stuck in the wood.