End of the Aughts

The last day of the year and it's a typical Minnesota December Day. My freezer in the kitchen is warmer than it is outside. When I went for a brisk walk to the near beer store and later to Linwood Park, the temperature was ten. The freezer is probably about thirty.

The sidewalks are icy and otherwise iffy. I wanted to see what the tennis courts at Linwood looked like in the snow. The gates are locked, but the nets are still up. I played a lot of tennis on these courts this past summer, but they are unplayable now. And will be for several more months.



I guess I managed to stay outside for most of an hour on my two hikes. I passed the ice rink at Linwood on my journey. There were no skaters in evidence and the ice hadn't been shoveled recently either. Maybe it's too cold to be outside today for most, but I remember that in the bygone days on the Range we'd skate outside in twenty below weather, stopping now and then to visit the warming shack. It was doable then and still is. The rink is a serene view on this last day of 2009.



It's the eve of a new year and there will be some snacking and entertainment at Gino and BB's this evening. I guess it's time for some resolutions and a few "Best of"'s lists. Maybe tomorrow.

The Streets Are Caked With Ice

It is still winter here, so there aren't many pretty pictures for the blog. I do have this representation of late December in St Paul after a big snow followed by ice. The roads are still covered with chunks of hardened slush and will be until it warms up here - sometime in January presumably. The photo was taken on my trek to the grocery store to pick up a few items and to get some exercise. At Fairmount and Oxford. Grand Avenue traffic was backed up and moving slowly, but I was on the sidewalk, so mostly wasn't bothered by the delays - except when I tried to cross the street. The sidewalks were caked and also slippery in spots. I can see why older people move to warmer climes when they retire. It's a bit treacherous under foot.



I played tennis yesterday at Fort Snelling, but am now off until Saturday which is in the new year - twenty-ten. I played well enough and managed to feel like I'd had a good workout. Fort Snelling is a bubble structure over the courts and the heating system is not completely effective when the temperature goes close to and below zero. I kept my sweat top on for most of the action so that I could retain some heat and get as limber as I could. Next week we are expecting a cool down, so I expect more warming strategies will have to be employed.

It's 18 degrees at the moment. But the days are getting longer and eventually spring will return.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas in River City. The big storm wimped out a bit here. It was mainly caused by a warm up to about 35 degrees, which turned the heavy snow into rain. So we had a sloppy day with big puddles forming in the roads, but the need for shoveling went by the boards. The city plowed the streets and, of course, blocked off the end of the alley, making the trip to Gino's for brunch iffy. But with my trusty aluminum grain shovel, and the aid of several neighbors we cleared the blockage. My good deed for the day.

We opened our presents at home this morning. I got my requested socks and tennis balls, and PP and UK got a few things that they wanted, too. Then we drove to Gino's for food and a round of gift giving. The photo below, taken by me, shows the other members of the party. Gino, BB, and Wireless put on a nice feast of quiche and bacon, plus lefse, julakaka, and a nice variety of cookies.



We had a fine time and now we're going to try out a new Mario Brothers video game for the Wii. It's a multi-player game, so the youngsters may have to be patient while these geezer reflexes gets used to the rules of the game.

Merry Christmas to all.

Round One of Christmas Snowstorm

Merry Christmas to all my merry readers, and likewise to the glum ones. May your shoveling duties be light and also your spirits.



The Christmas Eve super snowstorm, round one, came through last night and unloaded about six inches of snow. The storm paused this morning allowing some shoveling and the last of the Christmas shopping to take place, but as I type the rate of snow has accelerated again and promises another six or more inches overnight. Since UK and PP are off celebrating elsewhere, I had the opportunity to get my full hour outside, and then some, in the pursuit of clear sidewalks and a clear path to the alley from the garage, in case I want to drive somewhere. So far, I'm content to stay off the roads. As you can see below, the snow is starting to pile up and soon there will be issues about where to put the new stuff.



Christmas celebrations will go on tomorrow, given that the snow is just an inconvenience and we'll just deal with it.

Second 96th Birthday

I'm up for some more old photos. It's going to snow a whole lot here in the next few days, at least according to the weather creatures. My archives are up to the task of redirecting my attention away from the unpleasantness.

This is an 80 year old (or so) photo taken on the old bridge on county road U (near the junction with FF) over the Yellow River in Wisconsin. The teen ager posing on the bridge is Lillie Anderson, whose 96th birthday is today. This was about 1929, before even I was born. I don't know the occasion for the photo, or really what year it was, but I've been to this location many times.



And this photo was taken in 1947, I'm pretty sure, because I know the people pictured. Along with Lillie are people who fairly regularly read this blog. For the benefit of others, the baby is Mr Moohoo, the tow headed girl is Santini, seated beside her is the blogger who likes to be known as GPT. I am standing behind the other four on the steps of the house at Dick's Ranch, the farm of Richard and Hansine Anderson, our grandpa and grandma. World War II was over and life was good again.


Happy birthday, Lillie.

The Christmas tree is up and decorated. Unky Herb, the Prairie Princess and I put up the environmentally sensitive lights, some ancient and well loved ornaments, including one containing a photo of our long gone dog, Tag. The decorating party was last night, and now we are ready to face the holidays. I even brought out the clapper from last year and it now can be used to turn on the lights with three sharp claps. Technology is amazing.

Solstice Son

I was googling around on the subject of "solstice" and came across an interesting detail, that I hadn't known before today. My mom was born on December 22, 1913. As it happens, December 22, 1913 was the winter solstice that year. This year of course, the solstice is today December 21. But I have a question. Isn't it exactly a year from winter solstice to winter solstice? Isn't that what defines a year, i.e. one complete trip around the sun. Our calendar is only a pretty good approximation of a year, one that has to be corrected with a leap year now and then. My point is: Lillie Anderson Miller is exactly 96 years old today, not tomorrow which one might expect when looking at the calendar. Happy birthday, today and tomorrow.

So these photos are the earliest known photos of baby Lillie, taken in 1914. The first one is taken with her Aunt Minda, her mom, Hansine, and dad, Richard Anderson on their farm in Burnett County, Wisconsin. There is also a cow in the photo, apparently a very important cow, and a well loved cow, to show up in this photo. I think the photo was taken by Jake Hansen, who is in the next photo with baby Lil. Lillie is dressed identically in both photos in what appears to be a baptism outfit. Baptisms are important events that should be recorded for posterity. The shadow of the photographer indicates a male in control of the camera.


In the second photo, Jake Hansen is holding his new niece and looking a little uncomfortable. The photographer, from the shadow, appears to be female - either Hansine or Minda. I think Jake took his hat off for the photo.



The cold weather continues here on the tundra. We continue our below freezing streak, now a record for this early in the winter season, 19 days and counting. A huge winter storm is supposed to attack on Wednesday, and is expected to toss a monkey wrench into people's travel plans (monkey wrench??).

And I'm a son of a solstice baby. And not the only one.

Charles Degaulle was a very tall French guy...

I've decided to try and resurrect my once ordinary language skills. In high school, I spent two years in Paul Bouchard's French language class in Greenway High School. I also had a chance to practice my French skills outside of class, because Paul Bouchard was my tennis coach. I was pretty good at French, maybe not as good as Santini, who was going to major in it at one time, but has since taken on an Italian nickname, but it has been nearly 50 years since those classes were in session. They were fun classes, partly because of Paul Bouchard, and partly because the class was mostly girls, many of whom, I hasten to add, had crushes on the young French instructor.

I think that I will have need for some knowledge of French because of my resolve to take in a few matches at the French Open next spring. So I bought a book. I started to go through the book and felt some of the rust get rubbed off, but I have a ways to go to be anywhere near fluent. I'm on page 31, which has the heading, "Si vous voulez demander quelque chose," which is translated "if you want to ask for something." So far so good. I'll let you know how the learning, rather relearning process progresses.



I'm pretty sure I'll be able to improve and maybe be able to chat with some French folks in France. After all, about nine years ago I learned enough Norwegian to be able to thoroughly confuse some third cousins in the far north of Norway. I have little fear in this arena. Perhaps I should.

Tennis news of the day. My Saturday competition at Wooddale was not as successful as I had hoped. Bob and I lost a lopsided 6-1 set, but managed to eke out a 6-4 victory in the second. We started a third, but were shooed off the court with the score 0-3 by a father and daughter who began working hard on the youngster's ground strokes after we left. It was a good day, but I've had better ones. I play again tomorrow at a different venue.

December 22 will be my mom's 96th birthday. She was born in 1913 and has been gone for nearly 55 years. Coincidentally, Lady Bird Johnson was born on December 22, 1912. Charles DeGaulle was born on December 22, 1890, and was 23 when Mom was born. And we're now back to France and issues francais.

A Pizza Guy Delivers

I felt like I accomplished some things today, but on closer inspection, I mostly played tennis and surfed the internet - trying to fulfill my Christmas shopping responsibilities.

It had been twelve days since my last competition at Fort Snelling with the GTA. But they were there waiting for me when I arrived for our one p.m. court time. It was nice to see them and to get a chance to compete again. It was good tennis, hard long points and some aged agility displayed. We finished a set and ran out of time at 5-5 in the second in our 90 minutes of play.

Unky Herb brought home a Papa Murphy's vegetarian pizza with white sauce and shared it with the Prairie Princess and me. It was a tasty end to the day, just a week before Christmas day and three days from the winter solstice.



I learned today from Dr Bill that the famous quote, "Growing old is not for sissies" (GOINFS) is most often attributed to Bette Davis, she of the Bette Davis eyes. I had been of the opinion that Mr Moohoo was the source. Several sites on the internet seem to agree with Dr Bill. The quote, no matter its source, still makes sense.

Ou est Roland-Garros?

Icicle Falls

Another 24 hours below freezing, but it has warmed up into the 20's, 24 , I think, today. In the early afternoon I decided to fulfill my latest empty pledge - to spend at least an hour outside everyday, if I can stand the cold. I discovered a new place, not too far from Hidden Falls in Crosby Farm (again today) just northwest of Crosby Lake. I have been by this area just once before, and that was during the fall when the stream that leads to the icicles was still in liquid form. Today the water had hardened and I ventured up the creek to see what was there. Water has trickled down from Shepard road and this tangle of icicles has formed. It looks a lot like Minnehaha Falls this time of year.



I also checked out the beaver lodges on Upper Lake, but found no recent beaver activity. I guess they are securely passing the winter in their lodge, eating shoots from the trees they have gnawed down and perhaps waiting for Christmas. Winter gives the area a whole different feel, both for humans, and, I assume, for the wild life.

The Mississippi is frozen over between Crosby Farm and Pike Island. It's a jangle of ice and, although it looks reasonably solid, I would never trust it to be solid enough to cross to the island - even when it's 20 below, which it most assuredly will be in the next six weeks a time or two.

I finally made it back to a tennis court. Jerry and I helped warm up the hard core girls for their USTA match tonight, which was scheduled for 8:30. We played a couple of sets of mixed doubles and a ten point tie breaker in our 90 minutes on the court. There were some good points and some mediocre, but it was nice to have my old tennis racket, Wilson, back in my hand.

I'm adding one more flower photo from the archives. This photo served as my computer wallpaper for several months this year. I think it was taken at the Como Conservatory. Probably.



Just four more days until the solstice and eight more days until Christmas.

Open Water

Here's a puzzle. It's been 14 straight days since the temperature would allow water to melt. On my hike through Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary today, I encountered open water. The water is in a pool below the cliff of Mound's Park on the east side of St Paul. I'm not sure how it has remained in liquid form, but the mallards who are still in town found the spot and were enjoying the day. There is a cave (Carver's Cave) under the cliff here and that may have something to do with the phenomenon. The high temp today soared to 14.



Christmas is soon upon us and I'm continuing my inclusion of pretty flowers from past seasons. These flowers among the lily pads were growing in the water at the Como Conservatory earlier this year. They have since gone into seclusion.

Cold Enough

For those who have been waiting for statistics: it has been 13 days, 312 hours of below freezing temperatures in this fair city. A lot of the time lately has been below zero. A favorite weather site reports current temperature at -1 F. But it's what is expected here on the tundra. The winter solstice is less than six days away and is scheduled for 11:47 a.m. CST on December 21. So there is not much light around here either. Today supplied 8 hours and 48 minutes of daylight here.

The snow yesterday left the streets looking like the below snapshot. I took it on my street, but on the sunny north side this afternoon before the fickle sun took an early powder. The city promises to do some more plowing later in the week to clean up the less than adequate (for a snow emergency) snowfall. There will be no tagging or towing. It must be time for the Christmas spirit to break out.



My tennis schedule has been sparse this week - a fluke of the schedule maker. I last played on Saturday and won't be back on the court until Thursday night at Wooddale. The time off seems to be helping the healing of the aches and pains, but I miss the activity. So much so that I hiked around Lake Como yesterday afternoon in the relatively balmy 12 degrees at the time. It wasn't too bad, because I was dressed for success, and I was commiserating with PP, who is still working outside with chainsaw in hand. Her chemical hand and toe warmers are apparently doing their magic.

I end with a photo from the archives, from a much warmer day when orange flowers were out in force. A little color this time of year is good for the attitude. (I'm using this photo for computer wall paper for a while.)

Two Lakes

The cold continues and deepens. A big winter storm is predicted to roll in tomorrow and bury the state with a thick blanket of snow, and then the first sub-zero weather is expected to arrive. It's almost time to hibernate. PP is still working outside and will be for another week and a half. Tonight we went to Sports Authority and she bought chemical hand and foot warmers for the rest of the month.

To appreciate her working conditions, I walked around two lakes today and have the photos to prove it.

Como: It's essentially frozen over except for two small open spots that are kept open by ducks and geese and perhaps the aeration system that is installed in the lake. The lake looks like a big ice rink, ice from end to end. Tomorrow and for the rest of the winter there will be a layer of snow on top of the ice and the drama will be gone.



Upper Lake in Crosby Farm Park: The beaver lodge sits in the lake surrounded by clear ice. The beavers have accomplished their goal for the winter - to have a safe abode. The only way into the lodge is under water. I guess they have two rooms in the lodge. The first has an entrance to the outside world, but the second is only reachable under water. It's a clever ruse, and it has served them well.



I saw a biker out on the streets today. Just the one and he was dressed for survival.

Return from Arizona

Unky Herb returned tonight from his vacation in the desert regions of Arizona. He traveled light and came home with photos of the big canyon and various other scenic treasures of Arizona. I dare say that he may have even taken some shots of the Saguaro cactus, that some say are everywhere in Arizona. He's smiling because I took the photo in the garage, not exactly the conventional scene of homecoming shots. He's looking swell. And I'm happy to have him back.



I didn't make it back to Lake Como to check on the ice over. It has been 96 hours since the temperature outside has risen to the melting point of water, so I'm assuming that ice over has occurred. I'll do more diligent reporting in the next couple of days. I think we are in winter.

There was more tennis today again. The usual suspects and a sub managed to play a set and a half and have some fun, too.

Almost Iced Over

It's been about 72 hours since the temperature has risen to the melting point of water. Como Lake is almost completely iced over now. Most of the lake is flat and solid and it reflects sunlight like high quality glass.


I walked around the lake this afternoon following my usual Saturday morning tennis skirmish. The geese and mallards that haven't fled south are bunched together. This is the far eastern side of the lake near the Black Bear Crossing Cafe. Some of these birds flew off while I circled the lake, presumably to find open water. I think most of the flock will soon be winging their way to warmer climes. I think they define the term "snow birds." It appears that their activities are the only reason that there is still open water on the lake. I think I can safely say that Como is iced over as of tonight. I'll check tomorrow for bird activity.



Tennis was competitive today at Wooddale. Jerry and I split sets with Tony and Bob in 90 minutes of play. Indoor tennis is different than playing outside, but it's nice to have the option of playing at all on a day that Lake Como froze over.

Unky Herb is due back tomorrow from his journey across Arizona. I hope to see some pictures of the big canyon.

More Cow Bell

The temperature has been below freezing now for 49 or so consecutive hours. I made a special tripto Como after 90 minutes of tennis to see if it had iced over yet. There is still open water, as you can see in the photo through the flurries, but the lake is over half iced over. This is what happens in December in Minnesota. Water turns solid. Snow flies. It gets cold.



"I have a fever and the only prescription is more cow bell." - Christopher Walken. See video.

Ergo. Honky Tonk Woman by the Rolling Stones.

The whole SNL skit with the Blue Oyster Cult song, "Don't Fear the Reaper".

The lakes are starting to freeze over

It's December and also December weather. The "mercury" dropped into the freezing range last night at about six p.m. and has been there for the last 27 hours. I guess it's staying there the rest of the week. To test my cold weather resilience I went for a brisk walk around Lake Como - and I mean brisk. The lake surface was still mostly water, but the photo - taken on the northwest side of the lake - clearly shows the freezing line. The ice comes out from the shore towards the center. By tomorrow the whole surface may be captured. Or, at least, by the weekend.



I took the photos in a hurry, because the wind was blowing and there was a definite wind chill. The mallards are still swimming around - often in pairs - but their swimming surface will be turning hard sometime soon. They won't be happy about that. These two were much closer to shore when I started to get my camera out, but they swam away from me. I must have looked hungry.



I did see a biker pedaling around the lake, possibly a pleasure rider, but one with a parka on. I should have taken a picture.

Tennis continued at Wooddale. One of the players was ailing and absent, so we played a three person game that I learned at the Dude Ranch in Tucson. It's a better game than the typical "cut throat" game that usually erupts when you have three players. It's more of a singles game with the side with two players trading off on every point. It works pretty well and is pretty close to a real singles competition.

Then I went to Yang's for Singapore Rice Noodles. Very tasty and somehow satisfying to end the day.

The Falls from Creek Level

The state is going below freeeeezing and staying there for the rest of the week. The weather guy says it's a cold snap, but it's really just an average December. I had to go to the bank and do some errands, so I extended my trip to take in Minnehaha Falls. This time I went down the long staircase to creek level to get another angle for the photo. The last time I was there the lower level was shut down for "alterations." There is some water going over the falls, but in a couple of weeks it will solidify and ice will prevail. There were very few people at the park today. It was about 31 degrees and cooling.

I did see a couple of bikers out in the afternoon. They were likely commuters, rather than pleasure riders, and they were dressed for the chill.



The mask exhibit below stands a few tens of feet from Minnehaha Falls. It's been there quite a while, but is not so noticeable when the trees have leaves. I think it was placed there by a native American group, but I'm clueless about the reason for its placement. It's an interesting object in an interesting spot.



It was a day off from tennis. I played with the GTA yesterday at Fred Wells Tennis Center. We've been extending our tennis week to a third day because the weather denies us some of our other activities. I'm playing pretty well and using my ten year old, duct taped racket. I may have to spring for new equipment for the cold season, just to keep pace.

UH is still in the wilds of Arizona. He called from the Grand Canyon and said he was getting some great photos. I guess it's high enough ground there to keep the temperature comparable to the North Star state. I look forward to the photo unveiling.

Wildlife

It's been a busy week since my return from Tucson. There was Thanksgiving, then Unky Herb went off to Arizona for a vacation, a chance to see the Grand Canyon, some desert and his cousin, John. I guess all is going well there, but he missed a pretty good pie party on Saturday night. I neglected to get any photos of the festivities, but the usual after Thanksgiving group helped PP and I down some Papa Murphy's pizza, a nice salad and a cold beverage. UH called during the party and several of the party chatted with his Arizona host. It was cool.

PP is off to a road trip for her next to last week at MCC. She's wielding her chain saw somewhere near Rochester.

So today, with the weather still decent and no snow yet on the ground, I went to check out the beaver dam that I was watching before my trip to the high desert. The beavers have been working on the ash trees near Upper Lake. I found one tree that was gnawed through, but had not fallen. This was a fresh casualty of the beavers, gnawed through recently and hung up on another nearby tree..




I walked around Upper Lake, hoping to see the animal of the day. After once around, I sighted a brown head swimming in the lake. I think it's one of the beavers, but I could be wrong. I tried to get closer for a better view and the creature went under water and never came to the surface again. I think that he may have retreated to his lodge, but after waiting about five minutes, I went on my way. It was definitely a wildlife sighting, however.



Incidentally, on my trek around Crosby Farm I sighted two guys on bicycles, and one was helmetless. It seemed to be too cold to bike without a head covering, but maybe it was just a hardcore guy.

No tennis today. I had the day off after three straight days of doubles with various groups. My timing is back - after the altitude problems in Tucson - and I'm playing pretty well. It would have been nice to have been in this zone while the tournament was going on. C'est la vie.

Best Thanksgiving of the Year

We managed to get another Thanksgiving dinner pulled together in St Paul. A joint effort between PP, UH, TT, and Mr. Moohoo's clan culminated in a feast. We had plenty of food and a great pile of leftovers to sustain us another day. My free range, unfrozen turkey roasted to perfection - at least to my satisfaction - on time, and on the table. A view or Mr Turkey below.



We had a small, but hungry crew. We ate, watched some uninspiring football, and some after dinner walking occurred. Then we ate some pie - PP's apple pie with home made crust, and some savory pumpkin pie. There was some playing of Nintendo Wii and another Thanksgiving is in the books.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Transition

I arrived safely back in cloudy Minnesota yesterday. It was after dark and the trip was uneventful. I'm posting a few of the Tucson photos because it's nice to remember what the sun looked like. The sky was always a lovely blue. Except at night when it was pretty black with stars sparkling through.

This photo is from Gates Pass on the way to the Desert Museum. I guess I was celebrating the fact that the tournament was over and we'd had a good time in the desert. I climbed to a minor peak in the pass and stood near a precipice to try to show the dramatic landscape in the photo. No animals were harmed in the production of this photo.



I took this at the Tucson Zoo. It's a small zoo in the same mammoth block that contains the Randolph Tennis Center. Jerry and I walked there on Thursday after our practice session. It's the first time I can remember being in the presence of rhinos. They are large animals. I also like to feature some wildlife on my blog from time to time and these creatures seem to qualify.



This shot was taken at the Desert Museum, west of Tucson. It shows some of the beauty of the desert and the mountains in the background.



Prof Bill called and invited me to play some tennis today, so I went to Fort Snelling to continue the wars with the rest of the geezer tennis association. We had some hard fought points and managed to finish a 7-5 set and part of a second one before our 90 minutes on the court elapsed. It was nice to get back to indoors tennis where the sun is never a factor and the wind never blows. My tennis game seems to be back after being thrown off beam by the altitude and the elements in the high desert. I had to play with a borrowed racket because I seem to have left both my rackets in Unky Herbs car after he picked me up at the airport, but the adjustment seemed seamless.

It's time now to start to get Thanksgiving plans in motion. I bought a turkey last night at Kowalskis - a 12.5 pound bird that is not frozen. I think feasting will begin in earnest the day after tomorrow if I can manage to get it roasted.

Positive Spin Necessary

The Nationals 8.0 Mixed Doubles tournament is over. Our team had a slow start and then pretty much tapered off. The players on all the teams are very good and we perhaps should have showed up in force a few days early to get ready for outdoors play in bright sunshine in the high desert. The site in Tucson is about a half mile in altitude and that serves as another excuse for our record of 0-3 in team matches and fourth place in our group. There are lots of positive stories to tell, however, and it was a great and positive experience. I'm claiming 15th in the nation from the 17 team tournament. Anyone who disagrees is just plain mean. We played teams from Wichita, Medford (Ore), and New Jersey. The Wichita team went to the semis and finished third or fourth.

The picture below is of our number one team, Becky of the hardcore girls and her husband, Terry, are the team on the left. They are about to call the coin toss before starting the first match on Friday against Wichita. Becky and Terry had a bad day and lost the match



A point of interest is on the grounds of the Randolph Park Tennis Courts. The Little Joe memorial court graced by the bust of Little Joe. We played our matches very near this spot.

I personally played twice at the number two spot. Friday afternoon at 3:30, Becky and I lost to the number 2 team from Medford, Oregon, 6-1, 6-1. We played in a spirited manner but altitude related mistakes and a superior team took us down. The guy on the other team was another older guy, and remarked when I met him, that I was glad to see some gray hair on the other side of the net, and he laughed and agreed. He was 57. And had very consistent strokes.

I played Saturday morning with Barb (the other hardcore girl) against a couple of pleasant folks from New Jersey, both in their 30's or 40's. We did a little better, losing 6-1, 6-3, but I was able to hold my serve 3 times - point of pride for me. Our tournament was over and we spent the afternoon being tourists and rationalizing our lack of success.

Some of us went to the Desert Museum and took in the sights of the desert and the Saguaro cactus. (They are everywhere). The is Jerry, our captain, goofing around, pretending to ride a statue of a javelina, which he called a wild pig, and for which he was corrected by one of the Museum's employees. It's a nice museum, mostly outside, and which has a lot of animals which are not native to Minnesota, including big horn sheep and rattlesnakes.

The tournament is done. The team from Northern California, San Jose, I think, won the 8.0 tourney. It's a travel day for most teams. We stayed around and played a couple of sets on the courts after the action was complete. This group, Marsha, me, Jerry, and Carol are are members of the Minnesota team. A group picture of the whole team is probably forthcoming in a few days. Watch this spot.

I'm sticking to the claim that we finished 15th. That's not too bad for a group from the frozen north. We were one of about 4000 teams that began the whole tournament process, so I guess that's the positive spin that I'd like to leave it at. A nice week in the high desert of Arizona.

Gates Pass

I went to the Desert Museum west of Tucson with my host today and expected to see cactus and rattlesnakes on the other side of glass. These I saw. But when one travels, one must expect the unexpected. Today a strange thing happened as I opened the door to leave the men's room, Newt Gingrich walked in. We did not speak, but apparently he greeted Rich, who had exited the same door scant seconds earlier. Newt, the Republican muse, was at the museum with some underlings for God only knows what reasons. I have photographic evidence of his presence which I can supply once I get to my own computer. I only need to say that Newt had a little more girth than I expected.

A couple of photos follow from a brief, but very scenic stop at Gates Pass in the Tucson Mountain Range on the way back to town. The first is a picture of the place where I took the second photo, and the second is a photo of the place where I took the first photo. It is a quite dramatic place to visit, but the photo probably fails to do it justice. There are a lot of cactus in the valleys and cliffs around this pass.


This next photo was taken next to the stone building in the above shot, a building that was apparently erected in the 1930's by the WPA.

Jerry, our tennis team captain, is town for the tournament at Randolph Park. Tomorrow at 10 a.m. we, the parts of the team in town, are having a hit around at the tourney venue. There will be a team banquet in the evening and then Friday we begin the action. Newt is not expected to attend.

Ventana Canyon Trail

I'll be getting to the tennis tournament in a couple of days, but right now I'm still in travelogue mode. I'm enjoying my adventure in Arizona trekking, although I did squeeze in 3 sets of doubles under some miserable lighting conditions after dark tonight.

My host led me on a hike to Ventana Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains. Tucson is completely surrounded by mountain ranges and the range to the north is the Santa Catalina Range. The climb starts at an elevation of 2950 feet and we ended at about 4200 feet at the place pictured below. Tucson is in the distance and a dry creek bed cuts through the mountains in the center. We crossed the creek bed several times on the way up. It took us just over three hours for the round trip. Notice the cactus.




There is a sign near the bottom of the trail saying that this is a bighorn sheep management area, but we didn't seen any sheep or, happily, any of those mountain lions or rattlesnakes. There were several nice vistas on the way up (and down) which show the prevalence of saguaro cactus in this part of the world, Cacti are everywhere. During the 3 hours on the trail we ran into 25 other hikers, by our actual count. We had a short discussion with a group of four hikers who were discussing their common home base - Minnesota. Stillwater and Rochester, I believe. It must have been Minnesota Day at Ventana Canyon today.


Because there has been some interest in the bike that I rode yesterday in Saguaro National Park, I have included a photo of the lender and the bike that I rode. Also pictured is a yucca tree, I believe, and Raggedy Andy. I had some difficulty with the shift mechanism until I got used to it, but, what the hay, no one got hurt. The borrowed helmet is not pictured.


After the hike we came back to the Stebbins Hotel, a place with great service and quite good food for dinner and to get ready for some tennis. I actually made my second batch of five bean salad in the five days since my arrival on Thursday. It's pretty popular with the host. And I must say he makes a mean grilled salmon as demonstrated last night for dinner.

Tennis went pretty well. I played three sets and managed to be on the winning team in two of them. The schedule for the tournament has been posted. We play matches beginning at 11 a.m. on Friday at Randolph Park Courts. My first match is at 3:30 at the same site. The fat is in the fire.

Mission of San Xavier

I did some sight seeing in the desert Southwest before I went to Randolph Park to smack some tennis balls. The visit to the Mission at San Xavier, south of Tucson, was interesting and enlightening. The Spanish owned and controlled this area until the Gadsden Purchase in 1854 made it USA territory. This mission was established in 1699 and the church built in the 1780's. The missions were an important part of the Spanish control over the native Americans who had lived here for thousands of years.

Part of the day was spent on a ten mile bike ride on a borrowed bike and wearing a borrowed helmet. Rich lives about two and a half miles from Saguaro National Park, named for the prevalent cactus type, which appears to be everywhere. The ride was a little hilly and it took me a while to get used to the shift mechanism, but in the end, worth the effort. This was taken outside the park after an up and down ride through the picnic areas. There were no mountain lions to be seen, but there were cacti and various other wild creatures not seen elsewhere. My total mileage in Arizona reached double figures.

Javalinas. They have found a home in Rich's front yard. These two were napping when we encountered them and didn't mind the photo taking. They are somewhat protected by cactus here and are relatively tame. They are native creatures and not wild hogs. I took several other photos of members or this band of javalinas that numbers about 15.

The tennis went pretty well. I've played twice at the site of the tourney and it's beginning to feel like I'll be able to play here. My first match is Saturday afternoon against a team from the Pacific Northwest Region. The rest of the team gets here on Wednesday and Thursday. More tennis for TTT tomorrow, just to be sure that I'm ready.

Sabino Canyon

I played another four sets of tennis doubles with Rich and some of his cohorts this morning at the Tucson Country Club. It was my fourth venue for tennis in my four days here. So far my won-loss record is mediocre, but I've met some nice people on the courts, and I'm getting acclimated to the climate and the playing conditions.

Rich took me for an afternoon trek through Sabino Canyon, a few miles from here. We walked about two miles up into the canyon, then two miles back and I took some photos on the way for the blog. It's quite a beautiful natural area.

The hike begins uphill towards the mountains and there are ample warnings about the animal dangers in the canyon. We didn't see any mountain lions, but there are cacti everywhere.


This shot is at one of the WPA bridges that cross the creek that winds through the canyon. The creek was mostly a dry creek bed. There are trees and more mountain vegetation as we went up the mountain, and saguaro cactus plants are mixed in.

This gives an idea of the prevalence of the cacti all the way to the top of the nearby peaks. This is the foothills, and the mountains go much higher than this, It was a beautiful cloud free day and the temperature was in in upper sixties. A very nice day.

Arizona is a pleasant place to spend some leisure moments as I wait for the tournament to commence.