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.

Herb on a Bridge

The snow came as predicted. There is a theme for today, bridges, I think. I thought about posting some more photos of the 35W bridge crumpled in the water of the Mississippi, but decided that I'd like something newer. After tennis and lunch Herb and I took a hike over to Kowalski's to buy bananas and to check out the first snow of the season. The weather creatures say that we have 4-5 inches on the ground and are likely to get a couple more before it stops falling. We stopped on the bridge on Grand Avenue that spans Ayd Mill Road - the Short Line to old timers - and Herb posed with the Summit Avenue bridge in the background. It's a photo from a bridge of another bridge. The white colored stuff in the picture is the unplowed snow that has been falling since about 9 am. St Paul is notoriously slow in getting the streets plowed, but, as they probably would tell you, they didn't put the snow there, they're just trying to help out.


On the hike to the bridge we stumbled across this robin hunched over and perched in a tree. He should have flown south several weeks ago, but here he is freezing. He may have been confused by the predicted global warming trend of the last few years, or maybe he was just careless. Survival of the fittest is a cruel master.


There was tennis at Wooddale. The geezer pool was there and we had some good tennis again. Jerry told me that he and the hardcore girls have been bumped up to the 4.0 level. They won't be going back to the nationals at mixed level 7.0 again, because their rankings now total 8.0. They must play in a tougher league. I think that it often happens that whoever advances to the nationals at any level is promoted to a higher level so that someone else will get the chance to play at the highest level. It's part of the grand plan.

The solstice approaches. Today's daylight was 9 hours and 2 minutes long. On December 3, we go under 9 hours and stay there until about January 10th.

Frogs and Bridges

This time of year, a clear sunny day at about 45 degrees is all one can ask for. In the "heat" of the afternoon, I went to Le Parc de Comeau to search out those large birds that have been often lately the subject of blog photos. They also can be the source of a pretty good pate (there is no accent ague(?) in this font). There were gaggles of them taking up space on the golf course and littering the fairways behind them. Apparently, when we thought up golf courses we designed the perfect dining area for Canada geese. I didn't go close enough to photograph them today, but I walked aound about ten of the holes on the course and they've been everywhere. I wonder what the strategy is to rid the course of their curse.

It was the latter part of the afternoon and the wind was calm. The lighting gets pretty interesting this time of day, too, There is a reflecting pool in front of the Conservatory that I've photographed many times before, but the late afternoon lighting made this frog pretty attractive. [I think that Santini has a collection of frogs that has one like this guy. Or is that toads? No matter]. This will be my primary photo of the day.


There is a lot of road and sidewalk work going on at the park this week. They have removed most of Kaufman Road and changed it into a parking area. They have also put in a lot of tarmac bike paths and concrete walkways. I'm not sure what the city fathers have against green areas and semi-solitude, but they have laid down about a million dollars worth of new pathways. Since I pay taxes in this fair city, and because I suspect that the full cost of these "improvements" are tax payer funded, I am ready to accept everyone's gratitude. However. I just received my estimate of next year's property tax bill, and it has gone up 9% for next year, actually a smaller increase than the last few years. I did not get a 9% raise in pay this year. It almost makes me want to vote Republican next time an election occurs.

Another photo from today. I like old bridges. This one is likely much older than the 35W bridge that fell into the Mississippi on August 1. It looks pretty steady. And of course it wouldn't take 497 million dollars to replace. With all the talk of bridge replacements and lack of maintenance of current bridges, I'm less and less confident of our current state government's competence. I think I'll be forced to vote for a Democrat next time election fever breaks out.


News from the Mixed doubles nationals in Las Vegas. Jerry's 7.0 team lost their first two matches, both scores were the same: two matches to one. In each case, the sole victory for the team was gained by Jerry and Becky. Becky is one of the hardcore girls from Thursday night dubbs. Good going, guys. They remain undefeated in 7.0 matches for the year. They have one more match tomorrow, but won't move on to the take-out part of the competition.

Four Bridges

It's a cold day and the weather guys are predicting frost "in the outlying areas." As Dad would say, "I can out lie anyone." So I'm covering my tomato plants with the hope that the growing season can be extended. I plan to let the zukes freeze if it gets cold enough. I may be able to use a couple more tomato plant photos here, too, over the next weeks. I'm looking for the old sheets to use as tomato cover.

I had a walk this morning by the river in the Lilydale Regional Park. There were five bikers who came by during the walk, all of whom looked well bundled up with ruddy faces. The temp was in the 40's. I was confident that the deer ticks and mosquitos were moving pretty slowly, too.

This photo is from my last search for Minnesota Rocks number 9, which is supposed to be at Upper Landing Park near downtown St Paul. It's not to be found, but I took this picture from a spot very near where it should be. It's one of the few places where you can view and photograph four bridges in one frame. One of the bridges is for railroads, and the nearest is the Wabasha Street bridge. As you can see, none of them have fallen into the Mississippi yet.



I have the tennis schedule for tomorrow and Sunday. I'll be playing at 11 am and 5 pm tomorrow and 9:30 am on Sunday at Nicollet Tennis Center. If we win enough, I get another opportunity at 5 pm Sunday. I expect knackerdom to be achieved by the end of Saturday evening. I have carbbed up and thought up several possible excuses for subpar play. Let the games begin.

More and better bridges

It's the first Sunday in September. I'm leading with the bridge again. This is more of a context shot that I took last week on Friday from the Cedar Avenue Bridge. The 35W bridge still fills the river. Barge traffic upriver is stopped here. The workmen have built a road out into the Mississippi to haul off the pieces of bridge as they are separated from the pile of debris. Up river you can see the locks normally used for barge traffic, the dam that holds back the river and allows the water level to be lowered for the work, and the stone arch bridge that is a bike and pedestrian crossing of the Mississippi. The Metrodome, home of the Vikings and Twins can be seen off to the left in the distance. The IDS tower can be seen, too. The water downstream from the bridge is muddy and murky, while upstream it is fresher and cleaner.


On the east side of 10th Street, which is the northeast extension of Cedar Avenue, stands this large old apartment building. This is in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus and someone hung out this sign on a sheet. It speaks for itself.


Two other things to report. Herb and I chatted with KS this morning via the internet. She is back from the Miyazaki organic farm and from a week visiting her old friends in Takehara. She can report on her activities herself, and probably will, but I am gratified to know that she is back in Ogaki and in contact with her tousan. She had a good time and likely will share some photos on xanga. She starts teaching English again on Tuesday. She looked marvelous.

The recent tennis activity continued. It was a hot day for tennis, but Jerry scheduled the mixed doubles team to practice in the middle of the day, two p.m. I played two sets before I ran out of water in my water bottle. Using my geezer status and my good sense, I quit. "When I'm out of water, I'm out of here." We had 12 people and used four courts at Highland High School for at least the 90 minutes I was there. I played with Marsha and we split sets with two separate teams, 6-4, 2-6. We are scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow, a more civilized hour of the day.

Search for the 35W Bridge

A fine day arrived in Minnesota after a long string of cloudy and rain. I haven't been on a bike ride in a while and I wanted to get a good view of the collapsed 35W bridge. It has been hard to get even a distant view until the last few days and I suspected that there would be some better vantage points available today. I'm not sure why I wanted to see the wreckage for myself, but I found that I wasn't the only one with the same impulse.

I decided to cross the Lake Street Bridge to Minneapolis and go up the West River Road until I could get close enough to see what was happening at the wreckage. I made it to the sign that told me the road was closed - somewhere north of Franklin Avenue - and went inland a while to the West Bank campus of the U of Mn. I rode along Washington Avenue and managed to get right next to 35W about a quarter of a mile from the bridge. There was no traffic on the three or four lanes leading to the river. There also was no view of the bridge. After more roaming around, no view seemed possible on the downtown side so I decided to bike home and try the east bank later on. It was a 17 mile round trip, so, given my questionable biking condition, I opted to drive to the Cedar Avenue Btridge by the U of Mn and drive across. However it was closed so I parked on 8th Avenue near University and walked. I found some places to see some of the bridge, but the yellow caution tape is everywhere and the viewing is not too easy. Or satisfying. This one is on University on the bridge over 35W looking towards downtown.


This is on Second Street, south of University where it is possible to get fairly close to the bridge approach. The concrete on the standing parcel in the photo wasn't injured in the collapse, it's just old and starting to crumble. This is near where some people have conjectured that the collapse began.


This is at the end of Main Street, the parallel street closest to the River. The bridge area is fenced off and there are men working inside the fence. There are also memorials hung on the fence to the unlucky 13 who were killed here.


I also had a stroll on the Stone Arch Bridge. There are some parts of the bridge in sight, but it's a fair distance from the bridge and the details are not easy to make out. There were a lot of people with cameras and people just looking at the scene, trying to take in its meaning. It's been over three weeks since the tragedy and it is still hard to find a place to take it all in.

Calamities happen

I played indoor tennis tonight at Wooddale. It's been raining since Saturday morning, on and off. Mostly on. We took the game inside because we could. It was three sets of uneven tennis. The lighting is different inside, but there is no wind, and only half lobs because of the ceiling. The gang of geezers participated. Tennis Dennis will be having cataract surgery soon, followed by hip replacement surgery. He has about two weeks to play, so when we are scheduled, we play.

The drive to Wooddale took me through Spaghetti Junction - the interchange of highways in downtown St Paul. The traffic was as clogged as I've ever seen it. I think the city is feeling the loss of the 35W bridge and more of the traffic burden goes on 94 through St Paul. Traffic patterns have changed and people have to get used to the new reality, and must find new routes home. We're going to be clogged for a while.

It has been a bad streak for Minnesota. This weekend was the big rain and flooding in the southeastern part of the state - 17 inches of rain near Winona. At least six people were killed and beaucoups damage to homes in the area. Last week it was wind storms taking out the big trees at Como Park and the State Fair Grounds. On August 1st the 35W bridge collapsed and they are still searching for the last missing person. It has been a bad spell, but things could be worse. See below. Ground zero in Hiroshima. The Japanese people left standing the shell of the building at ground zero, as a visual reminder that worse things can happen unless we remain vigilent. This building was directly below the atomic bomb dropped there in August, 1945, and miraculously, partially survived. For 62 years.

Bridge on 35W Collapse

The bridge collapse at 6:05 pm on 35W over the Mississippi River was a big disaster. Everyone that I know is okay, and I am thankful. KS is at a performance of "Spamalot" in St Paul with Wireless and BB. UH was at work.

The TV is saying that the bridge structure failed and there was no sign of terrorism. There will be months of investigations and a conclusion will be reached. Traffic congestion on Twin Cities roads is about to get worse, too.

Not breakfast.

Photos Containing Two Bridges

It rained very hard this evening. It was a million dollar rain for local farmers and a life saver for a lot of city owned trees that line the streets of the Capitol City. I can never figure out why the city spends beaucoup euros to plant thriving trees on the boulevards, but won't spend a farthing to water them so they will survive through a drought. The mayor should be contacted. The urban forest needs a champion.

No bike ride for me today, either. I had tennis scheduled for 5 pm, and had started on my way to the site, when the skies opened and drowned the courts. We moved the game inside to Wooddale, thereby avoiding the cancellation. It rained very hard while we were playing. I could hear it on the roof, but it had no effect on the outcome. Our time was curtailed by other tennis court renters, but we managed two sets in a little over an hour.

The photo of the day is the latest of my series of photos that contain at least two bridges. I may use "two bridges" as my new theme for slow blog days - usually rainy days. This one is of one of the least used entrances to Fort Snelling State Park, and is in the city of Mendota. The bridges are both railroad bridges, and old one and a newer one. One can discern the Minnesota River through the bridge entrances with the use of a little imagination.



Herb had a fried tofu sandwich for dinner and one of TT's noted kiwi, tomato, and veggie salads with feta cheese. It's time to get creative with salads again, because it's nearly time for the trip to blueberry country.