The new Minner

Susan, Ella, Maya and I are going to Wilmington NC to see her grandma Ruth and to see an art show of hers this next week. I will likely be computer absent for the next week so I figured I would post a weeks worth of posts all at once. Actually I just unloaded all of my cell phone pics onto my computer and suddenly have diarrhea of the blog. Either way I figure I should start with a post about our new Minni van to ensure the rest of the posts seem more interesting. It's a Honda Odyssey and will meet our needs very well. And by "needs" I mean leather seats, DVD player, navigation system, rear camera, 6 CD changer, automatic opening side and rear door, foot pedals that come to you and an engine that changes from 6 to 4 to 3 cylinders to conserve fuel.

A couple of firsts

Maya's first non bottle food and her first letter written on a computer. Both were kind of messy in the end.

Urban Hike find

I was urban hiking before a meeting in down town St. Paul last week and found this interesting throw out table in an alley. The joker thing is made of thin wood. Click the pic as usual for the big version.

New bike

Three of my loves
I know a bottle when I see one
Are these disk brake specific rims and double butted Swiss DT spokes dad? Why yes they are.
I love this bike

Lookers I like

Television tower in Prague

Giant TV tower in Prague. Go here to see the site I took the pics from.

A little closer look.
Even closer.
Yikes

4th of july number 2

Here is more of the 4th of July Chan weekend pics. Random Chan celebration pic, Ella car pic and Ella tired pic.

Mom is sick

Part of my blog slow down has been related to my mother being very ill but now getting better in a Park Rapids MN hospital for the last few weeks. I don't want to share too much about her illness here but do want to share some pics around the scene. Wimpy's is the place I ate breakfast at each day there. It has good food cooked by some one who seems like a good grandma and it has a great bathroom that does not show up well in cell phone pics. Also here is a pic of Troy's trailer that Troy has not been in for years? While driving to Troy's lake lot Heath and I went to the local county fair. Here we saw an odd looking collection of fat white people. After leaving the mirror room we went to the tractor/truck pull contest and saw fat white people even freakier than us. Once back at Troy's trailer it took a few beers and a camp fire to get me relaxed enough to dare sleep on the couch hoping mice and spiders would not see me as new prey. Once in the trailer we found that the neighbor boys had turned his trailer into a little arsenal. Note the cannon, gun powder and fuse wire in one pic. In the next a potato gun and multiple air guns. Troy by the way is currently in China at the great wall mart adopting a 2 year old boy. They don't have a name yet but in the running are Cody, Socks, Richard, and Hot Carl.

Wild Eyed Maya

Ella, Susan, Maya and I spent a very fun weekend with Jeff, Julie, Casey and Avery a while back at their parents cabin. Lots of kid fun, fishing, boating, food and family fun. Maya loved all the kids and action. The fish is part of a little desire I have had for a while but not actualized; to catch a bunch of sunfish and fillet them or cook them gutted and whole. This trip allowed for both.

New Puppie for John and Vicky

Now the puppie just needs a name everyone can agree on. Top suggestions so far include Cody, Socks, Richard, and Hot Carl. "Dirty Sanchez" was suggested by Mike but it seems to be a less serious suggestion than the others on the list.

More Banksy

And you thougth this election would be simple

Ella and Maya and another kind of caterpillar

Ella and the caterpiller

I stole this from one of my favorite blogs
Click the pic to see the full effect of this great pic of Ella and a caterpillar.

A future ride

Yesterday after work I ordered the Salsa La Cruz.
On Thursday I get fitted on it by Hollywood Henderson.
Come on by at noon to watch a big guy in Lycra being treated like a tour contender.
I am super excited about this bike purchase and look forward to riding it on a quiet country road only to turn down an even quieter dirt road just to see where it goes. San Fancisco Township in Carver county has just such roads with a few neat old buildings from a time when your township meant something.

Photo by Melissa Janssens

This is the bike

This is my do every thing road bike. Today I rode the Salsa La Cruz, Salsa Casserole, Surly Cross check, Lemond Poprad and the Salsa La Cruz again and found the La Cruz to be the right bike. More coming later.

Clockwork frames cycle poster of the day

the shop

It has been about a year since we moved out of our old house and I am feeling a bit nostalgic about my old shop. Please click on the pics for the proper size and detailed view.