Coop's Corner: June 2023

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

MN Moto Guzzi Rally - 2023/06/23

Our annual MN Guzzi Rally has been happening in the Grand Marais City Campground now for a number of years, a beautiful area. Actually not as many paved roads but enough with an abundance of wild, green and blue scenery. A popular tourist destination even in winter but it is predominantly a cooling summer target especially for folks from regions more southern, most anxious to find beauty and more temperate weather.

We had a great time, even with some cool, windy rain, our turnout about average over these last seasons. This video is my take on the event and highlights some of my favorite ways to enjoy our rallies, certainly this one that occurs not far from the Canadian border. I've used photos, short and long video and some aerial shots to tell the story, my way.

In a couple of weeks many of us will gather for the Iowa version, historical trips to both the MN and IA are searchable on my Blog.

MN Guzzi Rally 2023

Sunday, June 18, 2023

We'll Call It Father's Day Weekend - 2023/06/17

All sorts of summery, longest-day things going on around here and with photos to remind me of what they were. We can start with pets this time.

Arthur's officially 50.1 lbs at 4 months old. He's grabbed his very vulnerable llama to maximize Squeak.

Our clematis....

Radishes continue to be sandwiched, broccoli has been steamed and sugar snap peas have garnished.

I'd assume that it's intuitive but if one has trouble with radish slice retention, the secret is deeper butter.

Peg whipped up some shortbread and some Earl Grey ice cream....went together better than peas and carrots.

Waiting for a Very Special day, this week was it. I finally broke in to my stash of Blueberry Rhubarb. With only two remaining jars in the larder, another order will be considered. From Superior, Wisconsin, you know it's gotta be good.

Early week I had some kind of bug and felt under a mushy cloud all day, every day. This was one of the few things that made me feel better. Much better now, thank you.

Friday was the annual Father's Day Car Show at mom's assisted living home.

Yesterday (Saturday) an early morning ride was partaken. Some call that time of day "Oh Dark Thirty". Gramp called it "getting up before breakfast" and I did it.

A half day wander, once in Red Wing I turned left instead of right at the last minute and it has made all the difference.

But while still in Red Wing, a couple of early morning stops. First, I had hoped to ride up into Memorial Park to get a great view of the rising sun. I was too early, the gates were still closed. So my next best option was to ride up to the History Center and look over the city from that bluff.

In 1955 this was where I got my start....fitting that the History Center is next door.

Just behind the old hospital and museum, this bluff overlooks the city of Red Wing and the river. Barn Bluff has allowed the sun to make its daily, appearance. We are still seeing Canadian wildfire smokey skies.

On my way to breakfast, I passed this front yard. It obviously must have been quite a party and from what I can tell, mom must have been out pre-dawn to pick up all the beer bottles.

Bev's Cafe, open at 5am weekday, 6am on Saturday's.

A free mug for patronage on Father's Day weekend. Thank you!!

A coffee stop in Byron and honestly, a Kwik Trip I've never stopped at before.

I rode through Carley State Park, anxious for some more Quick Overnights this season. Site #6 makes for good Quick Overnighting.

That's it for now, this coming weekend will a Minnesota North Shore adventure with the MN Moto Guzzi Group. Grand Marais here we come!

Saturday, June 10, 2023

More Than One.... - 2023/06/10

...way to make the Lake Pepin circle route. However, in a perfect world they all would start like this.

Here's 'ye olde standard', the one everyone does by habit, a great loop on nice roads. Roughly 70 miles in length and plenty scenic enough.

Today's Better option looked like this.... and this one 115 Better, possibly Best miles.

Here's Laura Wilder preparing for Living History at the Laura Ingalls Wilder wayside.

Plum City Trout Pond....

Along County A...

Private motocross track. Missing are the doe and her twins that got away before the camera could capture. I saw 3 does with offspring today.

Patriotic Cupcakes...can it get any better than this??

Today I stuck with the curds...but there's plenty of time before the 4th!

At home, the first radishes are in...

Some work....

Some (more) play....

Arthur gets dirty....

Then all 50# get clean again....4 months old tomorrow!

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)