First challenge for my lake camera was getting it off the ground to keep the raccoons from playing with it.
Second was protecting the cable from water and making sure that the cords were waterproof.
Now the third issue is keeping the lawn guys from shredding the USB cable with the weed whipper. 😬
Eerie sky as this storm came in. There was a literal calm before the storm and then the wind kicked up big time. 70 mph winds. We’ve all gone to the basement.
Serious storm system coming through clearing out this incredible heat and humidity that we’ve had the last two days. There is a lot of energy in the sky. Hoping the 1" hail doesn’t come to pass. Just got very dark.
Did a 4-mile walk tonight around Lake Harriet with Tammy and Mazie and claimed the 2024 National Parks Challenge.
Scenes as Allianz Field emptied out tonight.
Wish the United would have won but we had a fun time (after the shade arrived) with my Mom and Kurt watching them play the Seattle Sounders to a 3-2 loss. ⚽️
Floating down Minnehaha Creek in South Minneapolis.
Tubing Minnehaha Creek
It was a nice hot day to enjoy a float down Minnehaha Creek today. Tiffany and Andrew were visiting so we got the tubes inflated, drove to Utley Park in Edina to put in and floated right back to our house taking out in Minnehaha Creek Park. This was the furthest we’ve gone on the tubes going 3.7 miles and took just over 2 hours. 💦
Don's Bench in Turtle Park
Today we commemorated the 86th Birthday for Don Olson, Tammy’s Dad who passed away in January. Tammy arranged for the family to meet at Northwood Park in New Hope. Don used to coach softball games here regularly and he enjoyed the park and called it Turtle Park. He used to enjoy coming here regularly and watching the turtles in the creek.
After we all had some donuts and coffee we made our way on the same walking path that Don would take and surprised the group when we came across the park bench that Tammy had worked with the park to install.
The inscription reads:
In Memory of Grandpa Don
Who Loved Nature and Turtle Park
You can find the bench at the GPS coordinates 45° 01’ 31.8" N 93° 23’ 21.7" W (45.025508, -93.389363) in Northwood Park or Bassett Creek Regional Trail in New Hope.
Extended my domain registrations with NameCheap for thingelstad.com, weeklything.com, jamiethingelstad.com, thinglestad.com, thingelstad.xyz, roadsignmath.xyz, and things4good.xyz before price increases in September.
Steve Earle — Alone Again at the Dakota
Last night Tammy and I saw Steve Earle at the Dakota. Mazie and I saw him last year at the Dakota. I also saw Earle’s Copperhead Road 30th Anniversary show in 2018 and saw him at the Minnesota Zoo in 2017. I’m a fan of Steve Earle and love these solo acoustic shows.
He played for nearly two hours and covered a big part of his catalog. I loved his comment about writing “Tom Ames’ Prayer” when he was 20 and “God is God” in his 50s.
He shared one of his favorite quotes from Townes Van Zandt:
There are only two kinds of songs; there’s the blues, and there’s zip-a-dee-doo-dah.
He called out to his “teachers” with songs and stories: Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Guy Clark.
It also happened that the show was on the 4 year anniversary of his son Justin Townes Earle death from fentanyl. This was the second time I’d heard him talk about the loss of his son. So very sad.
Shannon McNally
Shannon McNally opened the show with a solid set that I enjoyed a lot as well. She shared great stories of the road and her songs were inspiring.
The thing that bugs me about Now pages is that they don’t have history. How about a “Now” category and then redirect the /now URL to the most recent version? Or maybe a Now page that is very long with a section for each update? 🤔 In the meantime, my now page is back.
My Mom and Mazie (I chipped in too) decided it was time to reclaim the completely wild garden plot at the cabin. It took a couple of hours but is restored! We even caged volunteer tomatoes on the paths and put down straw for winter. First picture shows the before situation. 👩🌾
Tyler got his gaming PC assembled and running tonight! It was super fun to help him out with this. So many LEDs! 🤩
Wet Summer 💦
We’ve had 28.26" of rain in 2024, just 2.97" behind the wettest year on record in Minnesota. However that 1892 record had what must have been an absolutely wild July 27 when 6.36" of rain fell in one day! Before July 27 this year has been setting new records by a good margin
We are 38% above normal precipitation levels. We’ve had 5 days with more than 1" of rain, with May 21st being the wettest at 2.33".
August 11
Current Year-To-Date (2024) : 28.26
Accumulated Daily Normal Precipitation: 20.49
Wettest Year-To-Date (1892) : 31.23
Driest Year-To-Date (1910) : 6.02
This is why our sump system has been working overtime all summer! Data from Minnesota DNR.
Only 52 °F on Cannon Lake this morning. The air still clings onto summer humidity as the sun gets up over the trees. But crispness of the cool air suggests of the impending arrival of autumn.
Due to all the flooding this year we just now got out on the pontoon!
