While cycling past the BNSF Northtown Yard today, watched a freight train roll by. The air quality is noticeably poor due to wildfires in the West and Canada.
Category: Living
Classroom and Greenhouse Care
Wet-wiped eraser dust and pencil marks from classroom tables, as I do every week before class. Meanwhile, Dwight cleaned the drains at the greenhouse.
Quiet Morning at Lake Harriet
Cycled a favorite loop today, including breakfast sandwiches at Bread and Pickle overlooking Lake Harriet. Plane traffic approaching and departing MSP had been shifted to the southeast, so we didn’t get to watch planes. Coincidentally, actual ducks were also absent.
Signs of the Times
On today’s cycle ride through neighborhoods, took note of these lawn signs.
Ready for a New LEGO Project
Decided my next LEGO quest is one- or two-wheeled and two-legged contraptions that don’t fall over. Truck front-end assemblies haven’t captured my imagination, perhaps because they tend to rely on composite LEGO parts to circumvent engineering challenges, or maybe trucks aren’t my thing. I’ll need a LEGO MINDSTORMS gyro sensor, just ordered via eBay (because…… Continue reading Ready for a New LEGO Project
Our Saturday Ritual
It’s Sausage Saturday, which means sausage and cabbage on the barbecue, a movie, and ice cream in the intermission. Tonight’s picks: The Kids Are All Right, pausing for this excellent cashew-milk-based ice cream.
Literary Cycle
On my random cycle ride through a residential neighborhood, spotted this free library that had morphed from a bicycle. Watched it in action as a father and child interacted with this creation and selected a book. There were controls to pull, spin (shelves), pump (a balloon), and to operate a puppet made from bicycle parts…… Continue reading Literary Cycle
Growing the Future
While Dwight was volunteering at the university greenhouse involving a microscope, an entomologist and a literature search dealing with this sad specimen, I assisted with English language learners. In one class we brainstormed food truck ideas—ice cream, coffee/tea, and Somali sambusa—and started budgeting. In another class we focused on job-searching skills.
Haring’s Legacy
Explored a retrospective at the Walker of Keith Haring’s short career. We benefit from the social activism of artists like Haring. Here, three kids spontaneously react to one of his short animations.
Amazon Algorithm Fail
It’s Amazon Prime Day. The first two items on offer “just for Tom” were dog poop bags and skimpy women’s panties. Neither item has ever been on my Christmas wishlist, nor Dwight’s for that matter. My one purchase will arrive Thursday: a 5-pack of COVID tests–we’re running low. I can now go outside and engage…… Continue reading Amazon Algorithm Fail