Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Losing Lousy
It was an ugly weekend for my football teams with both the college Gophers and NFL Vikings losing games they could have/should have won. It’s a good thing I am mentally healthy enough to not let such trivial things spoil my outlook. Now, the embarrassing situation with our national government, in addition to the climate calamity being forced on the planet, are proving to be a little harder to shake.
Thankfully, I’m still feeling the lingering effects of joy and laughter from the overnight guests and biking adventure of the previous few days.
Also, I have the increasingly leaf-covered trails in our woods available for meandering while forest bathing. I’ll be alright.
There was one football victory worth noting. My old high school team, Eden Prairie, is now 3-0 after defeating Shakopee in EP’s Homecoming game on Friday. High school and our old community seem like such a world away to me now but allegiance to a winning football program is an easy thing to hold forever.
Here’s to not letting the lousy losses have a negative effect on us.
Happy last Monday of September! We are now on the fall side of the autumnal equinox. Enjoy!
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Weather Luck
My assessment at the end of our bike ride on the hills around Wintervale is displayed visibly in this image captured by Beth Bertelson:
It rained much of Friday night but we woke up to a pause in the precipitation and the ground was only a little damp outside. However, radar evidence indicated another batch of potentially heavier rain moving in our direction at a rate that would put it over us right when we wanted to head out.
Undaunted, the group of my friends who ventured the roughly hour-long drive to our place were going through the preparations to ride without hesitation.
As the minutes closed, I sensed the trend of movement on that next mass of wet weather was going to slide just south of our location. Instead, we ended up getting a dose of ground fog that faded the beauty of the fall colors and obscured the distance view of the horizon at the high spot that usually offers the best vista.
Soon after descending the invigorating glide down from that potential view, the fog dissipated and the dryer air hinted we were going to be granted perfect conditions for our time on the road.
One highlight of having my cycling friends join me on these roads was the combination of ride buddies from two different worlds. There were people I met on the annual June rides now known as the Tour of Minnesota and two riders I grew up knowing in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Paul and I have known each other since grade school and shared a number of epic biking adventures over the years. That shot is taken at Vino in the Valley restaurant near the Rush River. You can see in the background we were blessed with periods of blue sky at the midpoint of our route.
After a pause on a bridge by a limestone cliff, we started the long, slow climb up the steep hill that marks the transition between the two worlds of lush valley and wide open farm fields.
We made it back to Wintervale in perfect time and celebrated our accomplishment with a delicious lunch feast. The laughter and riding afterglow was precisely what I was longing for and very reminiscent of the week-long Tour of Minnesota we have every June.
Cyndie and I added a few tours of our forest, the labyrinth, visits to the horses and interactions with Asher to top off a perfect adventure that fit surprisingly well between bouts of inclement weather.
We needed the rain and I really wanted to ride with friends. I am very lucky that I was able to have both. Overnight last night we received 1.25 inches of rain. Ahhh. Perfect timing.
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Can’t Control
If I could, I surely would have the rain refrain from raining on us during the hours when my friends and I want to go for a bike ride today. It is taking a lot of effort to hold my attitude in a healthy place against the unfavorable weather forecast that has been threatening for days to rain out this event we have been preparing to host.
While we were on a walk with Mike and Barb yesterday, Cyndie found a bright red heart-shaped leaf.
A gift from the universe to help us maintain a focus on love despite whatever rain clouds might come our way.
Last night our world was brightened mightily upon the arrival of my biking buddies Bob and Julie in advance of today’s planned ride. Healthy energy combined and magnified as we introduced Asher to them and then took a walk down to see the horses.
The soil is so desperately dry here and the growing plants and trees are so visibly parched that rain showers are needed more than my friends and I need to bike. I can’t control the amount or timing of precipitation falling today but I can control my reaction to it.
If it isn’t raining for the few hours we’d like to ride, that would be just grand.
It seems weird to say it, but if it rains a lot all day, that would be even better.
The “September fall colors ride with John” can be easily morphed into an “eat a lot of great food together, converse, and play games by the fireplace” with John and Cyndie event.
I definitely can’t always get what I want. I really, really wanted to ride with my friends and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the roads nearby.
I want the type of weather we had here during the four days prior. However, the opportunity to have a great time with good people provides priceless value regardless of the arrival of ride-busting precipitation.
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Overnight Guests
A lot has happened around here overnight lately. Construction (spider webs), Excavation (ground bee nest dug up), and now Guests! Barb and Mike Wilkus came to meet Asher for the first time yesterday and slept over so we could go out to dinner and then have some hang time together afterward.
Mike got a chance to tool around on my Greeworks riding lawn mower.
We visited Tattersall Distillery in River Falls for the first time for dinner and met a really great server whose accent hinted he might be fluent in the Spanish language. He told Mike and me that he is half-Bolivian. We told him to surprise Cyndie when she returned to the table by speaking to her in Spanish as if he already knew she would understand him.
It worked pretty well and triggered additional stories and visits with him throughout the meal, which boosted a really nice dining experience well beyond just the good food and impressive space they have created at the location that was a huge Shopco building when we first moved here.
The fall colors are turning finally and one day can bring a big change to individual trees that is startling to witness. If it were possible to stare long enough, you could watch it as it happens.
Tonight we are expecting more overnight guests to arrive in preparation for a group bike ride Saturday morning. I picked this day back in the beginning of August and have seen day after day of perfect cycling weather pass. Now a threat of rain is arriving, which we desperately need, but that’s one thing that really puts a damper (pun intended) on group riding.
Maybe that’s one way to break a drought. I’ll just plan way ahead for people to come to Wintervale for a bike ride and the odds of getting rain that day will go way up.
We’ll take whatever we get. No matter the weather, it’s always more fun around here when company comes to visit.
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Reluctant Success
Beyond green energy, there is a significant reason that I was so fervently interested in getting an electric lawn tractor. I have a difficult relationship with gas engines. They are fine when they work, but when they don’t, I am at a loss as to figuring out what is wrong and fixing it.
When an engine doesn’t start, is it because it is flooded? Is it too cold? Bad fuel? Air filter? Fuel filter? Spark plugs? Have I neglected recommended maintenance?
Changing oil on schedule is a hard one for me. I put it off because I don’t like to do it. Then, when I finally do the job, it seems too easy to be something to dread. I don’t like adding oil because of the warning about not overfilling. I think I overfilled the first push mower we ever owned when living in the suburbs. It coughed blue smoke ever after. That’s when I switched to a non-motorized push reel mower.
Now, when I need to, I add oil very slowly and check the level multiple times. It never seems to change. That drives me nuts. I think the range from not enough to too much is way too narrow. The dipstick on the Yamaha Grizzly is very short and the whole thing always looks wet when I pull it out. It’s threaded and after I dry it off, it needs to be turned fully in to check. Then I need to turn it out to discover the whole length looks wet again.
Yesterday, I changed the oil in the Grizzly. Without looking at the existing filter, I went to an auto parts store to buy a replacement. They gave me this tiny canister that I was sure must be too small. He cross-checked twice and confirmed that is what is listed. When I got home and removed the panels on the ATV to see the filter, it was exactly the same as what I bought. Success!
The manual says it takes 2.11 liters of oil. I put in 2.0 and the dipstick is totally wet. I’ll keep checking.
I’ve made it through the summer using my new Greenworks lawn tractor for mowing and am ready to find the old gas-powered Craftsman a new home. It hasn’t run for a year (and really needs an oil change) and I haven’t been able to start it. First, the battery was dead. I got that charged and the engine turned over but it never fired once.
I finally resorted to searching online and stumbled onto a video that precisely addressed my problem. The guy said it is a simple fix with a Torx screwdriver. Sure it is. After watching the video (which didn’t contain any non-related distractions!), I went outside and discovered that was exactly the problem.
Adjusted the choke cable and the engine started instantly.
Two annoying fossil fuel successes in one day. I need to remember this next time I start getting all angsty about gas/diesel engines. (By the way, the New Holland diesel needs an oil change, too.)
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Overnight Excavation
Cyndie discovered it first and told me I needed to check out the odd hole in the backyard. Even though she described it as unique compared to any holes Asher digs, I was not expecting the depth and large circumference. More surprising, there was almost no dirt visible outside the hole.
Where did it go?
From the angle of my approach, I instantly spotted the hole in the bottom of the hole. There were bees moving around and entering and exiting the small opening.
Some critter was after the bees. Cyndie looked up what animals dig up bee nests in the ground and learned bears, skunks, and raccoons were possibilities. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a bear –we’ve seen no recent evidence of bear activity– and we hope it wasn’t a skunk. It could very easily have been a raccoon.
Still, I don’t understand where the dirt from the hole ended up.
We intend to fill the hole with lime screenings after spraying to discourage the continuation of bee activity in this spot. Cyndie read that the animals that dig up bee nests are seeking larvae. If the critter that dug up this nest was successful, maybe there wouldn’t be any future for this nest anyway.
The question remains, where did the dirt go? It’s a mystery to me.
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Mice Everywhere
Today is Cyndie’s and my 42nd wedding anniversary and our son, Julian’s 35th birthday. Other than that, it feels like a regular old Tuesday. Regular, except for the fact there are mice showing up everywhere I turn.
Sunday night I was doing dishes when a mouse walked out from beneath the stove, traveled along the baseboard and disappeared beneath the refrigerator. I put a trap along that path and it hasn’t been touched since.
Over the weekend, Cyndie called for my assistance because there were two live mice in the wash tub in the laundry room.
Yesterday, while I was eating lunch at the center island of our kitchen, I glanced over to my right and spotted a mouse walking from the dining room rug into the sunroom. Cyndie swatted and disposed of it before Asher figured out what all the fuss was about.
Obviously, our house is not sealed tight against rodent intrusion or maybe the snakes just stopped eating mice and there’s been a population explosion.
I couldn’t get away from dealing with mice when I went out to the shop to work on setting up a new water tank we bought. I needed to connect wiring for a 12V auxiliary plug on the Grizzly ATV. There had been a mouse nest under the seat long ago and back then, I disconnected wires where the insulation had been chewed. Now I needed to patch them up and reconnect them.
There was still leftover debris in the compartment under the seat so I pulled out the shop vac and turned it on. Chewed-up bits of fiberglass insulation shot out of the exhaust port of the vacuum and blew over everything in the vicinity. Somehow, an industrious mouse made its way up into the guts of the shop vac and built quite a nest.
There is probably very little insulation left in one of the walls of the shop.
Maybe for our anniversary, we could buy each other the services of a pest control company. True love.
Happy Birthday, Julian!!
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A Comparison
A thought experiment comparing the sports I watch on television with the shows Cyndie and I have been seeing lately:
First of all, I will admit to having a bit of an elitist attitude about the quality of scripts, casting, and acting for the dramas and drama/comedies we choose. One of our peeves is when an actor has to describe something like a crime scene to a colleague who would already know the information being shared. Presumably, this is done to inform the viewing audience but doing so by way of describing a legal detail to one’s partner detective who would already be aware of it just spoils the whole magic of imagining the scene was really happening.
It comes across as stupid and demeans the viewing audience.
Recently, we have been enjoying “Reservation Dogs.” At the same time, we happened to take in the first season of “Dark Winds,” because we are big fans of Zahn McClarnon who is acting in the role of Joe Leaphorn (in addition to “Big” in Reservation Dogs). “Dark Winds” started out strong but soon fell to some simplified storytelling that took away from the overall effect.
There was a scene where day inexplicably became night and the elapsed time is not justified in any way. It is a jolt that kicks us out of the drama on screen.
How does this compare to watching sports? I don’t know. But there are differing levels of drama in the team games I watch. Obviously, the players can easily be seen as parallel to actors in scripted shows. Speaking of scripts, there are designed plays that teams attempt to execute.
Some of the plays come across as brilliant, and plenty seem kind of stupid.
The coaches compare to directors. A well-coached team with good players who execute the designed scheme can perform a game that is a joy to watch and leaves me energized afterward. I noticed that my reaction was similar to the way we feel at the end of a great episode of “Reservation Dogs.” We want to talk about it after it ends and can’t wait to see the next episode when it becomes available.
Well, that is what happens with sports fans. After a good game (and sometimes the bad ones) we want to talk about what we saw, read news accounts of what happened, and immediately look forward to the next competition.
Sports teams have a bad game on occasion. A good television series can have a dud of an episode.
One big thing about sports that appeals to me is that the games are happening live while I watch. That easily compares to the added thrill of watching Saturday Night Live skits on television. You never know exactly what’s going to happen.
Even though I put this energy into selling the joys of watching sports by comparing it to Cyndie’s appreciation of good television series, she still does not want to watch games with me.
That’s okay. The exercise has given me a renewed zest for watching this season’s NFL games. Go Vikings! [currently 0-2]
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Overnight Construction
Our morning walks to the barn, by way of the woods so that Asher can get his needs met, always reveal an impressive amount of activity that occurs while we sleep.
Burrowing critters have been creating shockingly large piles of freshly mined dirt lately. They probably need to make new homes because snakes have moved into all their previous caverns.
I used to stomp these piles down, partly thinking I might drive dirt back where it came from and convince the rodents to choose a different location, but that just created large, flat dirt spots where nothing would grow.
After a moment of inspiration, I realized that kicking the pile far and wide spread the dirt thinly over the grass blades and avoided creating a big dead spot. I have mostly given up on trying to coerce the pests to go somewhere else.
I often complain about walking into the hard-to-see strands of spider web that span our pathways but there are many more webs being built that don’t cross the trails.
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It may look like this hand tool hasn’t been used in a long time, but the steel scrubby was getting attached too and it was in use to clean the waterer just a day before.
I wonder if the nighttime builders are surprised when they come out at dusk and discover all the things Cyndie and I have done around the place during the day. Like, maybe, the burrowing critters find their den caved in and decide to move from the lawn areas to a field or the woods.
Honestly, the more effort we put toward clearing spider webs and gopher mounds the more it seems to inspire pests to become more invested in rebuilding and expanding their developments.
There may be some form of reverse psychology potential awaiting me in the coexistence with the creatures that appear to work at odds with our daily activity, but that is probably overthinking.
Still, choosing to simply ignore their activity has some appeal, even if it won’t lead to making them go away.
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Foggy Morning
The weather app on my phone notified me that we were under dense fog conditions first thing this morning. That proved to be a spot-on analysis.
It wasn’t all that obvious in the woods where Asher and I were breaking spider webs that crossed our trails. When we reached the fence of the back pasture, it was as if none of our neighbors existed.
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The horses didn’t seem overly worried about their limited views. They were spread out with heads up when I came around the corner, appearing well aware of my arrival.
Every morning there is obvious evidence of burrowing critter activity in and around the barn overnight. There is enough spillage from the horses’ sloppy eating that barn pigeons and rodents find more than enough motivation to hang around. For some reason, this morning a couple of rodents didn’t wait until I was gone to emerge from their tunnels to scrounge. That’s the first time I have actually seen them.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the neighbor’s orange cat lurking around our property of late. I wonder if Asher would be okay with us getting a barn cat to keep the rodent population from exploding. In the meantime, we will be adding some traps in the barn.
One of our ash trees near the (vacant) chicken coop is proving to be our “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to the onset of autumn.
Every year it drops leaves sooner than most other trees have begun to change color. This year it stands out more than usual for being so bare-branched so soon.
Is the middle of September early for bare branches? Sure seems like it to me, especially when we have 80°F temperatures forecast for the coming week. It still feels an awful lot like summer around here, even with a cool fog blanketing the landscape this morning.
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Relative Something 