Blog

In the past few days, we made our annual trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior to hike sections of the Superior Hiking Trail. We had booked a townhouse in Tofte, Minnesota, back in the Before-Times, when Covid-19 was something that was only happening on the other side of the world. Our nephews, 11… Continue reading Snapshots: Superior Hiking Trail 2020

This week a stretch of the the Mississippi below our home dropped by twelve feet. The US Army Corps of Engineers had temporarily lowered the river between two dams so they could inspect infrastructure. They also opened one of the dams to the public. This was a rare opportunity to explore the river bottom and… Continue reading Mississippi Bottom

Every week I look forward to cycling adventures with my friend, Dave, not least because he’s a better navigator than me. He also knows his presidents, which is helpful when we explore Northeast Minneapolis. Minneapolis streets are in alphabetical or numerical order, except when they’re not. Notably, Northeast Minneapolis streets are in presidential chronological order.… Continue reading Navigating by US Presidents

A Twitter algorithm has decided I’m a bot, so I’m being prevented from posting to my daily microblog. I’ve submitted a ticket, and expect resolution eventually. This is no big deal, I won’t be hounding Twitter to get my access back. Although I’ve been posting daily for almost a decade, I do occasionally miss a… Continue reading I’m Not a Bot

I read food labels, but try to avoid foods which have labels. I’m struck by how the same ingredients show up over and over again in different products. I looked up five McCormick spice mixes online for comparison: The mixes contain ingredients we already have in the kitchen, apart from outliers like Yellow #5 and… Continue reading Minimizing Duplicate Pantry Ingredients

Cedar-Riverside, the most diverse neighborhood in Minneapolis, is a four minute walk from our home. One hundred years ago, Cedar-Riverside was home to Scandinavians, Germans, and Bohemians (today’s Czech Republic). During the last 30 years a large number of Somalis, escaping civil war and refugee camps, have moved here to what has been called Little… Continue reading Little Mogadishu

This week I bought our final Saturday evening ice cream treats from Izzy’s ice cream store just down the road from where we live. Covid-19, and the uncertainties it’s bringing, gate-crashed the business model; the store is closing. Izzy’s and our home are built on what was a polluted rail yard, a so-called brown field… Continue reading Izzy’s Ice Cream

Teardown Modules Next Steps Maybe I’ll fix some design defects. Or maybe I’ll just take this all apart, sort the parts into my airline service trolley, then think up a new challenge. Play is good.