July Snowballs
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Typically a spring flower, these snowball shrubs (aka Chinese snowball viburnum) are surprisingly still blooming in the July heat. And just like my hair, they’re slowly turning white.
Hamel Rodeo
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“Well, I never,” as my great grandma Angie would say. This wasn’t my first rodeo. It also wasn’t the first time I’d seen bulls, calves, and horses in roping, barrel racing or bull riding events. Neither was it unusual to see Border Collies; after all, we had three dogs of that breed growing up (and incidentally all inherited the same name). My cousins Karen and Mark joined me at the “World’s Championship Hamel Rodeo” in Hamel, Minn.
It was, however, the first time I’ve seen Capuchin monkeys riding Border Collies that are herding sheep. And, that indeed, is a sight to see.
Maple Bacon Long Johns
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We had a Big Ten birthday celebration in Hopkins for my friend Joe with Gopher friends. Dinner was good, but no one could resist dessert: maple glazed donuts with applewood smoked bacon from YoYo Donuts.
Metro Transit
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Several months ago, I was walking down Marquette Avenue with my iPhone and was startled by the imminent possibility that I was about to be hit by a bus…on the sidewalk. Turns out it was just a clever piece of architecture. I haven’t had an opportunity to ride the bus lately, but remember my college years of taking the 16A along campus, downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul’s Midway, as well as the 6 to Uptown.
I was quite proud of my first Metro Transit ride on my own, from Minneapolis to suburban Wayzata (13 miles). Most often, I’d head to the Target on University Avenue and the Rainbow or Cub Foods grocery store. Fortunately, I had a 21 meal/week plan in the residence hall, since I could only buy as much as I could carry. Other Metro Transit adventures my freshman year of college involved spontaneous trips to Uptown, where we’d enjoy frugal fun nights walking along Lake Calhoun, flipping through racks of used CDs at Cheapo, browsing the shelves of the nearby used bookstore, and eating a midnight snack at McDonald’s.
Fireworks
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Bubbles & blueberries
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Friend A brings take-and-bake pizza and fruit. Friend B supplies the beer and house with A/C. Friend C provides the monster cookie ice cream. Mix in discussions of music artists, their music and YouTube videos, and there you have a community dinner.
Jimmy Fallon and the Roots play Call Me Maybe with classroom instruments:
Midtown Greenway
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It was great to be back in the saddle. A buddy and I hit the bike paths this morning in Minneapolis, named the #2 bike friendly city in Bicycling‘s July 2012 magazine. We traced several of my familiar running routes, though the Midtown Greenway was a new connector between Lake Calhoun and West River Parkway.
For readers in the Twin Cities, what bike paths should I ride next?
Raptor
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Today was my first visit to The Raptor Center in St. Paul. Established in 1974 as part of the Univ. of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, the center rehabilitates more than 700 sick and injured raptors each year. I learned about all sorts of raptors: hawks, falcons and kestrels, eagles, owls and osprey, as well as the turkey vulture. Raptors are characterized by a hooked beak, strong feet with sharp talons, keen eyesight, and a carnivorous diet.
Did you know the peregrine falcon can reach speeds of 200mph? That the bald eagle has 7,000 feathers? How about that the Northern Saw-whet owl is one of the smallest owls, standing at 7 inches tall? Or that if humans’ eyes were proportionately equivalent to owls’ huge eyes and their skull, we’d have eyes the size of tennis balls?
Today’s photo is of a juvenile bald eagle. They don’t get their characteristic white color markings until 4-5 years of age.
Trivia: When is a minute 61 seconds? Tonight actually. At the last minute before midnight on June 30, I learned that the UTC will be adding a leap second. This is the 25th leap seconds that’s been added since 1972. About every 1.5 years, one extra second is added to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). This accounts for the fact that the Earth’s rotation slows down over time while the atomic clocks we use to measure time tick away at almost the same speed over millions of years.
Triple Berry
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Today was a day for socializing and celebrating food: from lunch at the food truck Dandelion Kitchen (one of City Pages Top 10 Street Eats, I’ve also eaten at Smack Shack and Hola Arepa from their list and Turkey to Go from my list), to samosas and a lemon shandy at Brit’s happy hour, my favorite kung pao at Big Bowl, and finally a slice of triple berry pie at Baker’s Square.
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