Microblog

On my walk: perpetually peeing dog beside an apartment building parking lot. I must’ve walked past this several times, but never noticed it until today.

Abandoned objects punctuated my walk in the rain on a dissonant day in Minneapolis: stuffed animal in gutter; armored vehicle in collision with car going wrong way on one-way street; balloons beside oddly placed gas meter; remains of a sofa beside bus sto

Meat and gravy left over from Sunday dinner. SOS (sh*t on a shingle) is in our future.

I’d missed this energy waster until today: on standby, a powered subwoofer was drawing 15 watts. Programmed a smart plug to only supply power when needed, saving about 130 kilowatt-hours ($17 in Minnesota) per year. Of course, I could just unplug it, but that’s no fun.

Posted Visualizing International Travel.

On our walk: Dutch kitsch met emerging tulips.

Sent photos of my 1950’s adjustable cantilever table to a furniture restorer who will come up with a plan to fix the much-abused surface. As a kid, I did homework on it; as a college student, I typed thousands of pages on it using a manual typewriter.

On a cycle ride with friends, following the Mississippi, starting south of St. Paul: Vermillion Falls, Vermillion River, Hastings, MN. The flour mill is still operating, but no longer uses water power.

Hitched my bike to a left-leaning rack.

On our walk, across the river from our home, an eagle perched on a branch while its mate kept the eggs warm.

Almost summer: bacon sausages, focaccia, and cabbage (cooling off) on the Weber for the first time this year.

Tin snips became a financial instrument for destroying metal credit cards.

Spotted taro in an Asian market, but I’ll not be adding it to my repertoire. Traditionally, it’s boiled then mashed to form poi, a purple, viscous liquid. I’ve tried poi a couple times in Hawaii, and found it bland with the texture of wallpaper paste.

On my walk, a thirteen-foot rooster competed with an oversized spoon and cherry.

On a Minneapolis North Loop walk, gave this apartment/retail building a second look. Recently learned 100 years ago this was an instant coffee factory that was claimed to be the largest in the world.

Cycled rail trails. At one point a trench was being cut to house a tunnel for the Green Line LRT extension. Once the trench is covered, this area will revert to parkland and trails.