Search engine hits #2

Within the last 24 hrs, three people have stumbled upon my humble little blog while doing internet searches for the following ...

Search #1: impossible + sit + up
I wonder if this is the site they were actually looking for?

Search #2: faux + woodgrain + tools
Yikes. My mom gets into some crazy home "improvement" projects sometimes, and I could imagine her accidently stumbling onto my blog with a search like this!

Search #3: photos + golf + holes + impossible + funny
I'm not sure exactly what this person was looking for, but I bet this blog wasn't it.

Things you don't normally see in the city

I saw something tonight (while waiting for the bus to take me home from work) that I never expected to see in Edina. An American Red Fox. I worked later than usual, so I had to walk to a different bus stop than I normally would. I was waiting there around 5 minutes when I saw an animal running across a driveway on the other side of 76th St, maybe 20 yards away. My first reaction was to assume it was just a cat. But it was too lanky, it's tail too long and bushy. A car caught it in it's headlights, and it was clear then what it was ... rusty coat, long bushy tail with the characteristic lighter tip. Pretty crazy - in all my years growing up in rural WI, I think I saw one, maybe two fox. An unexpected surprise in an otherwise uneventful day.

Nice Rack

Another project where I could have just paid the $100-$120 bucks and purchased a solution. But why spend that money when you can use found materials, a little elbow grease, and about 8 hours of your own time, with the end result being something that is not only sturdier, but also has a higher level of satisfaction associated with it.

Thanks to Brian for talking me into using bolts to attach the support arms - the screws I planned to use never would have worked!

The starting point: a section of futon frame.

Broken down into piles of oak.

At this point, the project almost took off in a totally different direction.

The finished product - all racked up.

Todays winter lakes adventure

I love the frozen lakes - there's something about them that brings people together. What I mean is, there usually aren't many people out on the lakes. So you have something in common with whoever else is out there ... namely, that you're all crazy people who enjoy being out on the ice. There are a handful of bikes tracks out there, so I'm not the only one. But I was the only biker I saw out there today. Did see a roadie out on Calhoun Parkway though.

Today, I rode the 1/2 mile over to Bryant Hardware, then decided to take the long way over to Whole Foods via Lakes Harriet and Calhoun. On Harriet, talked briefly with a few people ... one couple who was giving some cross-country ski pointers to a novice skier ... the couple didn't have skis themselves, so it was funny watching them try to demonstrate the right way to do it. Talked to another guy who was out on the ice rink with his daughter ... he bike commutes until the temps drop below freezing, then puts the bike away until spring. I told him about the Oil is for Sissies blog and how it inspired me to bike more this winter, and he sounded intrigued.

These photos are all from Lake Calhoun this afternoon.


Spotted three golf balls, in very close proximity. I suspect they were hit from shore, and whoever hit them was pretty consistent - in real life, they all would have been on the green.

Don't know who you two lovebirds are, but your message is immortalized here. And I'm really sorry I rode my bike through it.

This is the pressure ridge on the east side of the lake that CB and I tried to take photos of last week when my digital camera wouldn't cooperate. It doesn't show up well in this photo, since it's now blown in with snow, and I think some of the ice has sublimated. This ridge spontaneously appeared one afternoon - my theory: The lake froze over when we had the first REALLY REALLY cold spell back in December. Then, when the temps warmed up a week later (back into the ~30 degree range) the ice expanded and was thrust up since it was trapped between the shorelines and had nowhere else to go.