Friday, March 16, 2012

The day after the ides of March

The strangely warm March continues. Today broke a high temperature record for March 16 by 7 degrees, reaching 79 in the Saintly City. And tomorrow promises more of the same for St Patty's Day, a big event in St Paul where there is a big parade and nearly everyone claims at least some Irish ancestry.  I'm not complaining about the warmth yet. If this is indeed global warming, this part of it is welcome in these parts.

Because it was a really nice day, and because the girl from the north country (GFTNC) was in town, we took the opportunity to circumnavigate Como Lake. We were joined by a large number of the diverse population of the Capitol City. The lake has not lost quite all of its ice, but what's left in the central part of the lake is really just slush with maybe a few chunks. The ice out date is very near at hand.


There is a new feature at Como Park, a charging station for electric cars. It's solar powered and thus will not be connected to the grid. The charge is free for any electric cars in the area in need of a charge, paid for by the tax payers of St Paul. No need to thank me. You are welcome. I guess the idea is to encourage people from a fair distance to come to Como without fear of running out of juice for the ride home. I'll be watching after it opens (next week sometime) to see if it's being put to use.


There is some cycling content in today's blog. As we were walking near the pavilion, I noticed an object about 50 feet from shore. After some examination, it appears to be a bike seat. It doesn't seem to have a bike attached to the seat, but I could be wrong. I wasn't about to walk out onto the ice to see what's attached.

Does it or does it not look like a bike seat?


Not bicycling but at least cycling content. It was a nice enough day to attract a guy on a unicycle to come out and repeatedly circle the lake. He was getting exercise or maybe just showing off, but it was a nice addition to a good people watching day by the lake.


And I played some tennis inside today at Ft. Snelling with three other codgers. There are indications that we may be moving the game outside next week, but only if this string of beautiful warm days continues into next Wednesday. The weather creatures seem to think that it is well within the realm of possibility.

5 comments:

Santini said...

Great post! Say hello to the GFTNC.

I love all the bicycle related content. The bicycle seat in the lake is odd. The guy on the unicycle is very cool. Two wheels are unstable enough for me, I don't want to try to learn to ride on one.

Spring looks to be well underway in the Saintly City. Happy St. Paddy's day.

Jimi said...

Unicycles are intriguing, but the learning curve seems unreasonable at this stage of my life. Two wheels will have to suffice.

I guess there is a controversy about "St Paddy" or "St Patty." Wikipedia says "Patty" is typically an Americanism, whereas the rest of the world - including Ireland, prefers "Paddy." I guess I'll go with "St Paddy" from now on.

Santini said...

I used to say St. Patty's, then someone corrected me. I still say St. Patty, but I spell it Paddy. A third camp says it's disrespectful to use either, that it's St. Patrick. Can't win.

I had corned beef and cabbage for supper -- that makes me Irish, right?

Jimi said...

Corned beef and cabbage is very Irish. I think you do have a smidgeon of Irish somewhere a few generations ago. Scotch, Irish and the devil?

Santini said...

I haven't heard that one for a while.

The corned beef and cabbage was tasty, and there is enough left over for sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. (Olympia's special tonight. They were packed.)