Mini Minnehaha

The autumn is getting here. I took another look at the Falls of Minnehaha yesterday and found it a trifle inadequate. The water level is the lowest that I have seen in a while, and the leaves in the vicinity of the park are not yet ready to change. I suspect that we need a freeze before the chlorophyll gives up and lets the bright yellows and reds in the leaves take over. It should be soon. October approaches.



What grasses are these? They are planted in Longfellow Gardens at the park. I don't think that they are a native species, but I'll have to wait for the Prairie Princess to weigh in.



Indoor tennis has begun. I have played doubles inside four times this week already, and the weather has actually been good enough to be outside. But we signed up for permanent time and the times began last week. That means we have to pay for it if we use it or not. There is no wind inside. I am not against that. I'm splitting my allegiances between Wooddale and Fort Snelling tennis emporiums.

Herb is off to Chicago for the weekend and PP is in Glyndon. I am left to watch out for the Twins, the Vikings, and the banking debacle. It's a lot of responsibility, but I'm up to the task.

Mixed Doubles

It's the end of the USTA tennis season. Hence tournaments. My 8.0 mixed doubles team played in the sectional tournament at Reed-Sweatt (R-S) Tennis Center today. I played a match at 2 pm with my partner - one of the hard core girls. I usually don't play very well at R-S, but we were already out of contention for the trip to the nationals, so most of the pressure was off. I have been having some knee problems and tried to baby the joint as best I could, yet trying to be competitive. We scraped out the first set 6-4, but lost the second 6-2. The match is then decided by a 10 point tie-breaker (first one to ten and ahead by 2). At 8-5 against us, my sore knee acted up and I was temporarily unable to put weight on it. I think I have a bone chip or calcium deposit that moves around, because after walking around for a few minutes the knee reurned to near normal. We played on, but lost 10-7. Another fine example of GOINFS, but I was glad that I played - there were a lot of very competitive, if not artistic points and I enjoyed the chance to beat some other pretty good players much my junior.

The Prairie Princess is home for the weekend. She's been off visiting friends and socializing. We have had several opportunities to chat and catch up on her Glyndon orchid activities. It's nice to have her around.

Unky Herb has a new toy. He bought a new bike - I think at Erik's. It's a Specialized and seems pretty nice. He went for a ride on it today and pronounced it better than the previous one, which had been stolen out of the garage a couple of weeks ago.

Today's picture is a soccer practice I encountered at Linwood Park. The season of kids kicking the round ball is upon us. It reminds me of the years I spent coaching and following Herb's teams to various soccer fields in the area.

Lily Pads

I took a hike around the big park by Como Lake. The weather was good and the lily pads at Como Park are really big. They plant a nice variety of them in the pools in front of the zoo entrance. They are mostly native to somewhere much more tropical than St Paul. The lily pads are in pots under the surface of the water, so they can be moved when the wintry weather moves in.



The lilies have some nice flowers emerging from the depths of the pools.



I had a Super Seniors USTA tennis match tonight at Interlachen Country Club. It's a great venue for tennis. We played three doubles matches on clay. Our team hasn't been winning many matches and tonight was no exception. Of course, being the visiting team, we weren't used to the courts, but we had three out of three close matches. My own match ended in a loss, 7-6, 7-5, a few minutes after the sun went down. There was still light, but it was getting marginal. It was the last team match of the season and I'm not sad to see the season end. The teams in the league are located all over the metro area and I had to drive through Minneapolis on I-94 during rush hour to get to the match site.

The new 35W bridge over the Mississippi River opens tomorrow morning. It replaces the one that collapsed on August 1, 2007, that resulted in 13 deaths. The Minnesota Dept of Transportation says that this one is very safe.

PP's Prairie

I took this photo of PP standing by the sign announcing the beginning of the prairie that she has been tending. The Nature Conservancy announces that they want no hunting, no speciman collecting, or vehicles to foul the prairie. It's a large area and contains an amazingly complex set of plants, animals and birds. The prevalent grass is big blue stem, but this time of year there are milkweed, asters, and golden rod in profusion. We walked a couple of miles looking at plants and hoping futilely for a sighting of the fringed orchid that PP is counting.


We spent a night in Fargo and found out from a resident that 95% of the population of North Dakota lives in the easternmost 15 miles of the border with Minnesota. It's in danger of tipping over.

I played tennis outside again tonight. It was in the middle 60's and windless. It was nice to be back on the courts and I played well enough to win a couple of sets from some of the geezers that I play with. The outdoor season is winding down. We have a week of good weather on tap, but after that we'll probably be playing inside at Fort Snelling or Wooddale. The equinox is less than a week away.

Scouring Rush

Unky Herb and I took a road trip to Glyndon to visit with the Prairie Princess somewhere just east of Fargo. Part of the fun was venturing to Buffalo River State Park to check out the prairie there and the adjacent Nature Conservancy prairie. It was a raw, windy morning and we were all alone on the park fields. The plants that PP knows are legion - (many). The clump in front of the two plant lovers below is Scouring Rush, a kind of dry land, simple reed. I remembered its name with a simple memory device - attach the name to a ridiculous image and then remember the image. My image was of someone thoroughly scouring the posterior of one Rush Limbaugh with a wire brush. Quite hilarious.


We made it home after a nearly four hour drive, just a few minutes ago. I'm going to bed, but may update the trip report on the morrow. I have more photos.

After and Before

The bathroom is finished. I have made promises about photos. The change was forced on me by the broken pipe in the ceiling, discovered when I returned from the road trip to Michigan. It took a couple of weeks to get it done, but, I have heard, that's pretty good time. The "after" photo is first. The nice thing about this new bathroom is that it doesn't leak. And it's blue.


This is what it looked like after the old stuff was stripped out and the plaster walls were exposed. It's not very attractive, is it?

Ibu Caravan

Herb has invested in a Wii. He spent several hours getting used to the new controllers and the new games it allows. I even tried out tennis, golf and bowling. It's a pretty good way to waste a few hours. I managed to bowl a 189, which is better than I can do with real equipment.

Roger Federer won his fifth straight men's singles title at the US Open. He took care of Andy Murray in straight sets for his 13th grand slam title, one behind the lifetime record of Pete Sampras.

I played three sets of doubles yesterday. It was one of the best weather days of September so far. We played until it was almost dark and many of the points were long and well competed. It's almost time to go inside to play. Sunset comes early and the weather is noticeably cooler. I have somehow come up with a minor knee injury. It only seems to hurt after I play, but I'm back on the ibu caravan. Getting old is not for sissies.

September Festivities

It rained around noon, but the sun came out in the afternoon. The weather was so nice that Herb and I went to the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee. It's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon in September, lots of interesting food and strolling entertainers, pretending to be folks from the Middle Ages.



I had a pretty good tennis outing yesterday with the older gents that show up on Saturdays. Tennis Dennis returned for the first time since his hip replacement and played pretty well. He's a little slower, but his hands and tennis sense are still top notch. He's going to be part of the regular crew again, starting about now.

Serena beat Jalena for the US Open Championship tonight, 6-4, 7-5. It was a very good, highly competitive match and now Serena is back to number one in the world. Roger Federer will be playing Andy Murray tomorrow for the men's crown. That could be a very good tussle, too, or Roger could be too much for Andy.

Marcie Rules Rice Park Again

Rice Park has gone back to normal. The conventioneers and the anarchists have left town - at least those (anarchists) who have bailed themselves out of jail. The denizens of Rice Park are these "Peanuts" characters. This photo from yesterday when MSNBC was in charge of Rice Park, include Marcie, Woodstock and Peppermint Pattie. Marcie sits on a bench reading a book leaving space for another weary soul to sit beside her. Today they are alone again. It was interesting to have the convention in town, including their $50 million stipend to St Paul for security, but today the Zone is gone and the streets are all open and available to citizens of St Paul.



Tomorrow I play some September tennis. We play outside at 8:30 in the morning. In September, it is often a little too cool to be comfortable at that hour. There is enough morning light, but the equinox is only about two weeks away. Summer seems to have escaped.

The US Open is nearing the championship match. For the women, Serena is again the favorite after downing Venus a couple of days ago 7-6, 7-6 and Dinara Safina today easily. She plays Jelena Jankovic tomorrow for the championship and the ranking of number one in the world. There are four men left. The semis are tomorrow. Nadal vs Murray, Djokovic vs Federer. It should be a great day for tennis fans. Unless it rains. I pick Serena and a European as 2008 US Open champs.

Charlie Brown

This convention is starting to grow on me. I went to the Zone again to see what was going on. This is the last day of the festivities. Soon we'll have our city back. The statue of Charlie Brown that sits in Rice Park will be the attraction of note for visitors to downtown, again. It's a really nice statue and commemorates Charles Schulz, home town boy who made it big.

I walked around the Zone, down 1oth Street to St Peter and then to the MSNBC stage in Rice Park. Chris Matthews was arguing loudly with Pat Buchanan on "Hardball" when I arrived, and the beautiful woman panelist was trying to keep them apart. (Except that she's not as beautiful in real life as on the tube.) They were talking about the new girl in town, Sarah Palin and comenting on her acceptance speech from last night. Then Rudy Giuliani came on and they continued their "discussion." I got a fairly good photo of the set and the surroundings with at least a few of the sign wielding crowd in evidence. It was a mixed crowd - Republicans, Democrats, independents, and an occasional Loonie. There was even some taunting from the crowd.
And to show that peaceful demonstrations were tolerated, this guy (below) with the sign stood just outside the gate to the convention Zone and brandished his sign. Quite a few of the conventioneers took his picture - presumably for their blogs. The zoned part of the city will be liberated sometime tomorrow, the anarchists will go home and Charley Brown will again be king of the coop.
There were demonstrations and protests again tonight. I understand that there were a couple of hundred arrests for marching without a license or something. That story can be found on cnn.com.

Later on in the evening I managed to get in a couple of sets of mixed doubles at Wooddale. I split sets and came away without serious injury.