Guess Who's Back from White Earth

It was such a nice day, that even I was coerced into riding my bike. The mileage got me into single digits for the month and double digits for the year. PP wanted to bike over to the garden plot at Hamline and see if her perennial plants were coming up yet. She showed some enthusiasm for the ride - her first bike ride of the year - by pretending to fly. The ride was only 6.25 miles, but enough for a start. After all, I had tennis to play tonight with Jerry and the hardcore girls.


A word or two about my trip yesterday to the History Center in search of more info about George Miller, the last of my ancestors to live in the Alsace region of France, and that in 1828. This was done with an eye to perhaps doing some more research when I visit France later this year.

It was a trip to the History Center to find a reference book - "The Alsace Emigration Book." I found volume 1, but not volume 2. There were just a few Millers in the book and no George or Jean, or Jaçon (Jaçon?), Marie Elisabeth (not Elis.), or Marie Roni (perhaps Rom). Maybe volume 2 has something, if I can track it down.

The Ancestry.com site, which is available there, did add some tantalizing details. I did a search for George Miller (aka Grossfather), born in 1823 in France. An entry from the 1880 Federal Census from Missouri (done in April, 1880)shows a George Miller, born in 1823 in Alsace. It could be Grossfather, but he is married to Caroline Miller, 47, and has a 17 year-old son, George Miller, and an adopted daughter, Corinne, 3. He was a grocer in St Louis township, St Louis County, Mo. The 17 year-old son would have been born in about 1863, around the time that Grossfather disappeared for 28 years. When he returned Sept 10, 1888, the Crawford County Journal article indicates that he was gone for 28 years and was visiting from Missouri. He must have left Prairie du Chien in 1860.

There is also a George Miller, born in France in about 1823, a servant in a hotel in November, 1880, working for a Barbara Heckler. He was in Clinton, Henry County, Missouri. Could they both be him? There is quite a distance between Clinton and St Louis.

And then tonight there was tennis at Wooddale. We played two very good and very close sets, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5). The biking took some of the starch out of my game, but all in all it was a good match and I was glad to be off the court. I think I will sleep well tonight, except that later I did have the curried Singapore Rice Noodles from Yang's and that be a constraining factor to a good night's slumber.

Armstrong wins time trial

The pro bicycle tour came to Minnesota today. The Nature Valley Grand Prix. Gino and I went over to see what was happening. There was a six mile time trial to start the Minnesota event. The race started below the high bridge on Water Street very near the Mississippi River and finished at the top of Ohio Street. It was very flat until Ohio Street, but the uphill is quite abrupt. The winner of the women's race was Kristin Armstrong, the winner of the 2008 Olympic gold medal for the time trial event. She also repeated as champion of the Minnesota time trial today. She is not related to Lance.

This is the start for one of the men racers. The winner of the men's race did the six miles in about 12 minutes and 54 seconds.


This is one of the racers coming up Ohio Street. Ohio is a mean street. Besides being quite steep, it is also curved significantly. There was a light mist during the whole race, but it didn't seem to bother the riders much at all.



Floyd Landis was the big name in the race. He's trying to come back after a hip replacement and two years of banishment from big time racing because he was caught doping the year that he finished first at the Tour de France. He was forced to relinquish the title after the doping incident and a series of legal actions. This is Floyd after he finished the time trial. He didn't win the time trial, but seemed happy to be racing again.



I played tennis later in the day at Marie Park after a bit of sweeping to rid the courts of moisture. We managed three sets, all reasonably competitive. Again, no one got hurt. As Curt said after most points that didn't necessarily finish as he desired, "I love this game."

Flood Plain

It's my first day off from my whirl of tennis playing. After four straight days, I deserved some R&R, I thought, so I decided to have a look at the big river to see if was comparable to the Red River in Fargo. I drove to the north entrance to Hidden Falls Park and found it blocked off from vehicle traffic by the city. Undaunted, I parked on a side street and burned some shoe leather. I was nearly alone in the park, but it didn't seem to be very dangerous. The Mississippi River is running high, not Red River high, but up on the banks and claiming some territory that is usually used for picnicking. [That is the correct spelling of picnicking.] St Paul's city fathers were smart enough to build the city on the bluffs above the flood plain and it seems impossible for the city to ever be inconvenienced by a spring flood. It would require a Lake Agassiz level disaster to even get close. I'm feeling pretty safe.


After about an hour in the flood plain, I climbed the hill by Hidden Falls and headed to Lund's to buy the raw materials for lunch. Incidentally, it is possible to see Hidden Falls this time of year from the entrance road. The tree foliage has yet to close off the view and thus return its status to "hidden."

A photo from yesterday when the Prairie Princess was getting ready for a bike ride. It wasn't purely recreational - she had an errand to run - and she had to borrow Herb's bike helmet, because hers is somewhere near Lake Harriet where she's currently residing. She and Herb congregated near the confluence of the back door and the kitchen bathroom and willingly posed for their tousan. As you can tell from their attire, spring has not permanently sprung here in this part of the tundra.



We are expecting snow again tonight. There are often April snow storms here, notably in early 1980 and 1983 to announce the arrival of Herb and PP to Minnesota. It's still March.

Panther Pointing

Santini took me on a bike ride in a gale this morning. It was short enough and no one got hurt, tired perhaps, but not hurt. We went to the beach along a circuitous route that guaranteed plenty of upwind riding. I felt strong on the way back.

This p.m we went in search of the promised parade of Tampa Bay Ray baseball millionaires in downtown Punta Gorda. I brought my camera, and took some photos, but have been unable to download them to Santini's computer. I took this photo with Santini's camera in front of a Punta Gorda civic building on the way to the parade. The sculpture of the panther is old and rusting a bit, but is the only panther that I've seen this week.

The parade was very parade-like, civic dignitaries and high school bands passed by while we waited for the young men representing the 2008 American League champs. As it turns out, I didn't recognize many of the players, but an old Minnesota Twin, Jason Bartlett, was in attendance, riding in an open car as the shortstop on last year's team. I didn't get a picture.

I had some nice Greek food this evening at Olympia restaurant, including a Greek salad sprinkled with feta cheese and grouper marsala. It was a good day, but a day without any tennis or sightings of Barack Obama.

Down by the River

It was one of those beautiful days that make you love summer, It was so nice that I took the old Trek and rode down to the Mississippi, across the 35E bridge and along the river to Harriet Island. There were a lot of people with similar aims for the day and I saw a lot of bikers and hikers along the way. This photo came out better than I remembered it when I snapped it off. It's taken from the west bank of the Mississippi along Lilydale Regional Park. The building is old and probably not in use, but it appears to be one of the buildings put up along the river by Northern States Power Company - now Xcel Energy - sometime early in the 20th century. The river was moving along pretty well and the water is higher than usual because of our recent rains, but it supplied a nice reflection of the structure.



On the way back i took a few pictures of the bike path across the 35E bridge. It's a busy bridge with a full load of freeway traffic zooming by separated from the bike path by a concrete barrier. At the point where I took the picture there is a railroad track going under the bridge and, of course riverboat and barge traffic occasionally going up and down the big river. It was a nice ride, culminating with the Benhill Street hill. And at the top of Benhill the carved likeness of Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear to greet me into my own neighborhood. I logged 15.5 miles of uneventful miles on the old Trek.



And this evening I was back across the bridge in my auto to play some geezer tennis at Marie Park. It was a mostly windless evening and the tennis was pretty good. We played three sets, and there were at least two shots that were compared to the skill level of Roger Federer. They pretty and unexpected but weren't really that good, but we do what we can, and later embellish it. There is no sense in spoiling a good story just for the sake of the truth, someone's dad used to say.

The major tennis tournament played in Wimbledon on grass began today. My picks for the singles winners - Raphael Nadal and Venus Williams.

A Little Ride on the Ides

It was an off day from the tennis wars. I needed the day off because the aches and pains are mounting up. I needed some cross training, however, so I took a bike ride to Como Park. It was Father's Day and Como is a popular site for F-Day festivities. You might say that Como Park was a zoo.

I took this Old Main-ish picture on the way back from the park at Hamline U. to prove that I had been out and about. There were very few people hanging around on campus, not surprising for a beautiful June Sunday. I finished the ride at about 1:30. I put another 13 miles on my total for the month.



Celtics against the Lakers tonight in game 5 of the finals. They are still playing basketball in June, but it could end tonight because the Celtics are up 3-1. It would nice for Kevin Garnett to win a championship, even it's not with the T-Wolves.

Name Games

It was a beautiful day in the Capital City. It was warm without much wind and after a cool start the sun came out and most of the chill vanished. There will be a native grass planting party in Crosby Park on Saturday so KS and I decided to scout out the area. We got the bikes out and started towards the river. KS had a minor collision with a parked car on the way, but the only difficulty was a slightly bent front brake and a displaced rear mirror. The brakes may require professional help, but the bike was ridable, and we rode down Benhill, Victoria, Otto and Shepherd Road to Crosby Farm. The ride through the woods got us to the big open area where the native flowers will be planted. We found growing milkweeds, which are a magnet for flutterbys, and which KS is hoping to plant in the backyard. We walked around, took a photo, and then biked home, finishing with my first climb of Benhill for the year. I finished several seconds behind the younger rider. She suggested that her name on this blog be changed to something more appropriate. KS doesn't make it anymore since her return from Japan. Since she rides a Bianchi, we have suggested Bianchi Cutie, or BC - in the spirit of the blogs emanating from other related sites. BC has the spotty jersey. I added a little over 10 miles to my paltry total for May.



In other news, I played three sets of tennis at Marie Park this evening with the current set of geezers. I played better than my recent outings, but, after winning the first two sets, was on the short end of the third set. Not bad, and to be expected some days. It was a super fine night to be crushing forehands in the great out of doors.

Designated Memorial Day

Today has been designated Memorial Day by Congress. I know that Memorial Day is May 30, the day that Tommy was born, and for most of my life, the designated day to remember those who have departed this turf. I took a bike ride to the Minnesota Capitol and the memorials to Minnesota involvement in wars of the 19th and 20th Centuries. I've taken this bike ride for the last few years on this day, and every time there is a group of Viet Nam era vets clustered around the memorial to the war they know about intimately. These people decry war, rage against war. I guess they know something about the subject.

There were flowers in front of the memorial with all the names of Minnesota casualties on it.



There is a new memorial on the mall. It was dedicated last year, I think. It's the monument to commemorate the big war of the 20th century - World War II. I took a picture of that, too, with the Minnesota Capitol in the background with the flags at half staff, as they always are on Memorial Day. It was early enough in this gray day for some blue sky to be showing through the gathering clouds.



If Kurt Vonnegut were still alive and visiting the Minnesota capitol mall, he would notice that we have been at war a major part of the last century. Rightly or wrongly he might comment that we seem to be quite a warlike people. Rightly or wrongly.

My bike ride was a shade over 10 miles.

Palmistry

Santini is dressed for biking on a "cold" morning ride. The palm trees are real.

I haven't played tennis since last Thursday, but I have exceeded my biking mileage of December and set a personal record for January. Twenty-one miles.

Tennis is on the agenda for later in the week.

Another gorgeous day in southwest Florida.

The Band Plays On

Sunday, the last day of the Thanksgiving weekend. In addition to continuing the eating season, I went to the hockey game with Gino. It was the Lady Gophers against the North Dakota Fighting "Native American Named" Ladies at Ridder Arena. There has been controversy about the North Dakota University nickname for quite a while and now the difficulty is to be resolved by requiring the school to get the ok to use the tribe name from the tribe itself within two or three years. The Sioux tribe is talking it over. It was a pretty good game with the local lasses winning 5-3 for a weekend sweep. The picture below is the UM pep band working the crowd. The tuba section had their own personalized jerseys and attitude to match.



The temperature reached 46 degrees today and that is apparently warm enough to do some biking. There was a nice blue sky for several hours during the day. The wind was present but Herb said it wasn't too bad. Herb managed to traverse 4 miles on his velocipede while I was spectating at Ridder Arena. Nice job, Herb.

This is an inspirational video from YouTube that I really liked. It's simple emotions touched me, and although most of you may have seen it, I'm furnishing the link. Paul Potts is, or was, a cellphone salesman in England.

Steamy Sunday Smacking

It's still too hot in St Paul. It reached 81 degrees and although the temp is down a bit, the dewpoint is still 70 degrees, which the Strib weather guy calls uncomfortable. Muggy. I had a chance to sweat profusely again today at the Marie courts. Dennis and I hit tennis balls, trying to get him back into the game after his cataract surgery and the cortisone injection for his hip. He's been out for about six weeks, but seemed back on his game today.

Heb and I had a bike ride yesterday to Como Park in the steamy air. Herb is standing next to a very large tree that was blown down in the big storm early in August. KS was still in town then. The tree is still lying on the ground, but it isn't blocking the path. We rode around the lake and then rode over to the Conservatory and Zoo.


Herb took this photo of TT on the ride around the lake. It more or less proves that I was along and that my outfit of the day was far from stylish, but functional. The ride continued through Hamline U. and back along Chatsworth to the homestead. About 15 miles.


I had an eBay experience this week. I've been looking for a tennis racket that duplicates and backs up my Hyper Prostaff 6.1 racket. There was a used one on sale on eBay that fit the bill, but unstrung, that I thought I could buy cheap and restring. I thought that I could get it with a $30 dollar bid, but competition materialized and I had to make a last minute strategic bid to get it for $76 - about half price of a new one. It should arrive in a few days and I'll have another opportunity to use the racket stringer that I bought from GZ. It was a plan, but mostly a puny plan. It'll be nice to try out this new, but used weapon.

Septober

It was such a beautiful day, so after I mowed the grass, I took one of my infrequent treks on the Trek that I got for free from a real biker several years ago. It was early afternoon and I knew I had to play mixed doubles tonight with the hardcore girls and Curt, so I thought I'd keep it to about ten miles. I went down Benhill to Victoria and across 7th to Shepherd Road and continued to Crosby Farm Park along the mighty Misssissippi. There were lots of people walking their respective dogs on the trail, but it was warm and pleasant, so I just ambled along. I found this large bed of Back-Eyed Susans and decided to try to get a photo with the Trek imbedded in them. This is about as good a shot as I got, but I tried. Then I rode home, up Benhill, and the odometer read 15 miles. I'm closing in on a mileage milestone.


The mixed doubles was competitive and a lot of fun. We played inside at Wooddale. We played three hard sets, lots of long points, and went home knackered - speaking strictly for me. I think I need a day off.

A Ride on the Mendota Side

I had to wait for a guy to come and replace the windshield on my auto this morning, so my ride was in the heat of the day. The windshield was cracked by a stone kicked up on the freeway about a week ago on a day when my karma was on the wane. Today it was humid and I was not feeling too energetic, so I decided on a fairly short jaunt over the 35E bridge to Lilydale and down along the old railroad tracks to Mendota. I also wanted to see if the people who bought my old tennis club in Lilydale for condo development were still in business. I have been wishing them ill since they broke up the tennis community that had been there for many years. And there have been rumors. I rode around their parking lot and near their sales office and no one was there. It was about noon, so the rumor that they had fallen victim to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent crash in speculative condo buying, is perhaps true. They should have had sale creatures on duty. I breathed a silent cheer and rode on. The resistance from the club's former members may have hastened their demise.

Mendota is one of the oldest towns in the state and the Faribault House one of the few surviving structures from the early days. Mendota sits on the west side of the Mendota Bridge. Jean Baptiste Faribault built this stone house there, across the Minnesota River from Pike Island, in 1839. He was a fur trader and early settler of Minnesota.


The ride was about 14 miles and it was enough for a high dew point day. It included the gut busting Benhill hill, too.

The Tour d' France was exciting and a good day for a Columbian guy. I'm getting ready to make a prediction, possibly sometime before Paris.

The two recent earthquakes in northern Japan did not affect the English teacher employed near there, and she had enough audacity to accuse me of worry wart-hood for inquiring about her welfare via electronic mail. True enough.

Monday Morning Doubles Action

Monday morning doubles at Visitation High School in Mendota Heights was a good way to start the day. There was some wind, but the morning was cool and the tennis was easy. Two hours with some intervals of good play and some bad. 6-4, 7-5 today. Tomorrow is a rest day from tennis, so I may get in a bike ride.

I passed the rest of the day at retirement pace. I had lunch with the Shark and Branny at the Royal Buffet, trying in our way to solve some of the big issues of the day - mainly the energy crisis and how to more efficiently use the sun and water. You know, pleasant BS-ing. And then I went home to water the plants on my property so that it would look nice for the impending visit of she who teaches English in a far land.

This is the tunnel under 35E on the route of my most nearly usual biking route. This gets me almost to Crosby Farm Park and the ride along the river to Hidden Falls. I may very well be using this route tomorrow, but today - no.


This is Crosby Lake in Crosby Farm Park and it has an immense amount of lily pads this time of year. The lake is next to the bike path on the way to the Big River, and is entirely within the Park - no buildings on its banks.


This ride has a lot of nature to experience and it's in the middle of a city. It's a respectable (for me) 15 miles. It does include a climb up Benhill Street, too, always a gut buster.

A Ride for the Summer Solstice

You can't take a picture of the solstice. Rather, I can't take a picture of a solstice. Maybe you can.

The weather map threatened afternoon storms and the morning was pleasant, so I struck out for a long ride. I haven't been to most of the lake area in Minneapolis this year and it's just across the Ford Bridge. It's a nice ride past Minnehaha Falls, Lake Hiawatha, Lake Nakomis, along Minnehaha Creek to Lake Harriet and up the shore to the Minneapolis Rose Garden. Ah, Roses, the queen of flowers. There were gardeners tending the flowers and strollers enjoying the sights. They have about a brazillion different varieties of rose and they bloom most of the summer and lend their aroma to the area.



There is also a nice fountain in the park. There are brass turtles spewing water into the pools, and roses all around. I snapped the picture, drank some agua and turned for home. I beat the storms by at least six hours.


It was a 24 mile round trip, a two bottle trek, and after yesterday's three sets of tennis, I am plum knackered. I found my locally growing, organic tomato plants waiting for a tenth day photo. They are doing very well and a couple of tiny green tomatoes are forming on its branches. As the monkey said when the train ran over its tail, "it won't be long now." I can almost taste the luscious red goodness.


I found on the internet that Minnesota Rocks number 13," Wave" which was sited at Mounds Park was vandalized a while ago and was removed from the park. Someone didn't like its artistry. This explains why I didn't find that one.

Flat tire karma

The photo shows the new racket that I used again this morning - practice tennis ball hitting with Dennis - no competition, just a chance to groove those strokes that evaded me yesterday. I took the photo of the racket at Marie Park after the practice session. Notice the nice grouping and the utter lack of humanity. Pretty racket, n'est ce pas.

Then I went for a bike ride on the Trek after lunch. I was planning to revisit the Mississippi for photo ops, but went off on an adventure along the eastern side of 35E up to Marie and back along Victoria. It was a trail I had never used before and quite hilly. It even had one of those "ultra grade" signs. I was hoping for 15 miles or so, but the Trek threw a shoe - a flat front tire on the 6-7 year old tire. (Gino knows how old it is.) I had an opportunity(?) to walk about 2 miles home and took the opportunity to commune with nature and to question my karma level. I give myself 10 miles for the ride and so does the odometer. I showered and went to the Boehm Bike Boutique and bought a new tire and tube, installed on the old rim. I'm ready to rumble again. And may re-cycle.

Gas was $3.09 at a visible station on highway 13.

And I mowed my lawn for the first time of the year today. It looks much better without the gone to seed dandy-lions, all green and healthy. I watered the new Yew Bushes in front of the house, which I installed last week. They continue to live.

Life is good.