November eight activities

The sun came out and blue sky showed itself today. In fact, it warmed up into the fifties. 55º for a while this afternoon.

I spent the morning finishing the raking of my remaining leaves. The oak in front and the neighbor's maple in back are sufficiently bare that I was comfortable mowing the leaves that had fallen, and raking up the dregs. I filled the twentieth black plastic bag of the year with today's donation.  Mowing was pretty slick, and made the raking less of an issue, but it was still taxing (and Congress is not yet back in session).

After lunch I decided to take a walk down by the big river, take in the breezes, and get a little exercise. The wooded area around Crosby Farm looks closed. There is a sign there announcing an archery deer season this month (and last), so I went up the river a ways to Hidden Falls. There were people out, walking around, some taking pictures. It was a nice day, maybe one of the last before winter bears in.

I walked around a bit, went down by the river and looked for an apt photo for today's blog, something to represent November 8, 2012.

This is down by Hidden Falls looking across the Mississippi towards old Fort Snelling. The river is suffering from low water levels, but it's not shallow enough to wade across, or even throw a silver dollar to the other side.

And this is Old Man River looking upstream.  The sky was blue.

Trivia of the day: Current popular vote totals show that Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and former Republican governor of New Mexico, finished third in the presidential sweepstakes with 1,139,562 vote, about .95% of the vote (less than 1%). He was well ahead of the fourth place holder, the Green Party candidate and leading women's vote-getter, Jill Stein, at 396,684. This Gary Johnson never lived in Coleraine - that's another Gary Johnson.

Ice on the Lakes and Rivers

After tennis at the Fort Snelling Emporium of Geezer Tennis, I went outside and found spring. The thermometer in my car said 64 degrees. That's warm enough to play outside, if only that pesky layer of ice, and below it the muck, would cooperate. When I got home, my son, UH, was outside without shoes or a shirt basking in the heat. I know, this is false spring, but worth celebrating, or at least enjoying. I went down to Crosby Farm Park to see if the ice on Upper Lake had taken its leave. As you can see in the photo, there is some open water, but ice remains. It's too cold to swim. I circumnavigated Upper Lake and walked along the big river for a while. There were plenty of sun worshippers out, but the river is starting to swell and flooding is expected.



Since it was still very nice late in the afternoon, thanks to daylight saving time, I went to Harriet Island further down the river. The river is not covered with ice, but there are ice floes and pretty big chunks of ice flowing down towards New Orleans. The city looks pretty secure, much of it up on the bluff, but the flood plain may very well live up to its name in the weeks ahead.



It was my fourth consecutive day of tennis. By the time we (the other geezers and me) finished with our two sets, I was tired and ready for some food and some leisure activities. The sets were split 4-6, 6-1, but Dr. Bill was the big winner today. He's been playing well lately and is a force to be reckoned with among this group of seniors. I have tomorrow off from the wars.

John, one of the geezers, and a recreational biker, recommended a good biker documentary about the Tour de France in 2003, called "Hell on Wheels" about the German team, Telecom, that that great horse of a man, Jan Ulrich, led in a dual with Lance Armstrong. The movie is more about Eric Zabel than Lance, but seems to catch the spirit of the event, according to John. I'm going to look for it at Blockbuster.

Stay Off the River

I hadn't been to Crosby Farm for several weeks to check on the beaver lodge, but today (a cold and cloudy, rainy day) I ventured down the hill to Crosby Farm and went to have a look. Not much is going on there. The beavers seem to be resting securely in their lodge - no tracks to be seen. There has been human activity in the area, however. Crosby Farm is a pretty good place within the city to do some cross country skiing and there are tracks all over the place to indicate the presence of skiers. They ski on Upper Lake and also along the edge of the mighty Mississippi in spite of the signs. The "thin ice" sign below is next to the river. (The ice on the lake is thick enough to ski on, maybe thick enough to drive a truck on, too.) The sign by the river is relevant. A real danger exists because the river is moving water and the ice unpredictable. I ventured as far out on the ice as the ski tracks, but only briefly. The skiers stay close to the banks.



This is the Mississippi River in winter by Crosby Farm. This photo attempts to show how the river is used by the cross country skiers, There are no tracks going across the river. And there is no evidence of anyone going through the ice, although somewhere in this great state there is usually one or two instances of people falling through the ice sometime in January because they have underestimated the predictability of river ice.



There was tennis tonight again at Wooddale with Jerry and the hardcore girls. We managed three sets and had some good points. Becky was playing well as my partner and we had quite a few long competitive points, sometimes decided by net cord shots.

The Aussie Open has begun in Australia. Justine Henin is playing again. She came out of retirement this year after seeing the success enjoyed by her countrywoman, Kim Clijsters, last year at the US Open. It's nice to see the Belgians back in the draw of the major tournaments. I hope they stay around and play at Roland Garros in May.

One last item. I have a vague memory of a kid's song whose lyrics have been mangled in my mind for some time. I wonder if any one knows where these lyrics came from, or did I dream them up myself. Have these lyrics been copyrighted?

"Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone
Oh where, oh where can he be
Away down south with his tail in his mouth
And his hind legs up in a tree."

Beautiful Monday

It was a very nice day, especially since July can be such a hot pot. The GTA, six strong played about two hours of tennis at Marie Park. We finished in 86 degrees. Warm, hot even, but not life threatening for people who are conditioned for it.

Along the Mississippi, which I must cross to get to Marie Park, there are often show boats traveling up and down stream. I caught the Anson Northrup as it passed under the High Bridge - sometimes known as the Smith Avenue Bridge. You can perhaps tell from the photo why High Bridge seems to fit.


Herb is back from his weekend jaunt and was back at work today. He and I went to a band concert about two blocks from his office in Edina and happened to run across a familiar face in the flute section. I took a photo before the show. Where's Waldo? Or, Where's Wireless? My favorite tune may have been "That Old Black Magic." At least it's the one that I remember. The flautist's mother, BB, showed up as the concert began so we sat on the side hill in the shade and enjoyed a beautiful summer evening in the park. Most of the music was pleasant to hear.


Just reiterate the Wimbledon men's finals result. I watched this baby for over four hours on Sunday. I should perhaps get a life. Roger Federer won the longest final in the history of the event - over 100 years. Poor Andy Roddick was the victim again. 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3, 16-14. Pretty good tennis.

A River Runs Through It

Midmorning was nice and sunshiny. I decided to check out Lilydale Tennis Club, to see what is happening to the place I played indoor tennis for 10 or 15 years. It was purchased for about $5 million a while ago to be razed and the land used for upscale condos overlooking the Mississippi. The buyer got caught in the real estate bubble and the property went back to the bank about a year ago. The building still stands and sits vacant today. There was no sign of any activity where 3 years ago, a thriving tennis community lived. So it goes.

So I walked down along the Mississippi in Lilydale Harriet Park, below the bluff. It's pretty wild territory for an urban setting. There were deer tracks and sign of geese and ducks and beaver. While I was walking in the wooded area along the river, one of the tourist riverboats was going down river towards the port of St Paul. The Smith Avenue Bridge is in the background. A good blogable photo, thought I. I walked a long way along the river on a dirt path in the woods until I reached the railroad bridge which used to cross the river into St. Paul. It's a swing out sort of structure that looks to be locked in the open position.


Then I had a look at Pickerel Lake across the road. I met some fishermen coming off the lake on the way to their car and they reported bad fishing luck today, but said that they had caught some large Northerns there in the past.

And this photo is here to prove that there are beavers in the area, ambitious beavers who, in this case, bit off more than they could gnaw. The tree is still alive and standing, but somewhat weakened by the beaver's effort.


Another beautiful day in east central Minnesota.