Our friend Berit recently introduced a new web site, devoted to travel goods, gadgets & gizmos, to the infobahn. She calls it "cool stuff for travelers" and she should know. Along with being the gal-about-town and all'round hep lady that she is, Berit's an author, travel writer & citizen of the world herself. You can find her books on Amazon and read her travel pieces in magazines and newspapers nationwide.August 30, 2007
Take Offs & Landings
Our friend Berit recently introduced a new web site, devoted to travel goods, gadgets & gizmos, to the infobahn. She calls it "cool stuff for travelers" and she should know. Along with being the gal-about-town and all'round hep lady that she is, Berit's an author, travel writer & citizen of the world herself. You can find her books on Amazon and read her travel pieces in magazines and newspapers nationwide.
August 20, 2007
Ice Road Truckers
This weekend, 600 people posed naked on a melting glacier for pornographer, I mean photographer, Spencer Tunick. Greenpeace commissioned the work in an effort to increase awareness of global climate change. The mostly European models converged on the Aletsch Glacier near Bettmeralp, Switzerland to show their support; and their naughty bits.
According to Greenpeace, Swiss glaciers have lost about 1/3 of their length and 1/2 their volume over the past 150 years. The Aletsch ice floe ebbed 377 ft. in 2005 alone, and the melting rate seems to be increasing. Greenpeace predicts that the current global warming situation will strip Switzerland of all it's glaciers by 2080, and they can't bare the though. "An emergency provokes extreme responses: human beings in danger will abandon social niceties, etiquette, and the norms of acceptable behaviour to raise an alarm any way they can when lives are in danger." All models that raised more than an alarm were politely asked to exit the shoot.
According to Greenpeace, Swiss glaciers have lost about 1/3 of their length and 1/2 their volume over the past 150 years. The Aletsch ice floe ebbed 377 ft. in 2005 alone, and the melting rate seems to be increasing. Greenpeace predicts that the current global warming situation will strip Switzerland of all it's glaciers by 2080, and they can't bare the though. "An emergency provokes extreme responses: human beings in danger will abandon social niceties, etiquette, and the norms of acceptable behaviour to raise an alarm any way they can when lives are in danger." All models that raised more than an alarm were politely asked to exit the shoot.In a statement to Geneva's Le Temps newspaper, the glacier said: "We're in the Alps, I'm made of ice, don't you people know about shrinkage!"
August 13, 2007
Delinquent
Although there hasn't been much happening here at Humdrummy as of late, trust me, it's only the site that's been inactive. I've been super-busy with packing up and moving out and moving in and unpacking. It's been stressful, but I'm not complaining. We're close to done now. Just a few more boxes to unload. We're definitely settling in too. I feel like the fam is flourishing. And the house is a result of that, not the other way around. Things are just going great. I am so thankful. I guess I should say things are mostly great though. The Twin Cities is still dealing with the aftermath of the bridge collapse. Rescuers found another body yesterday, but the reports of survival and heroism that have been coming out are nothing short of miraculous. Like the one of Paul Eickstadt. He was driving the burning semi that is continuously shown on the news. Mr. Eickstadt did not survive the crash. But now, it's looking more and more likely that he purposely drove his truck in front of that yellow school bus to cushion it's impact. He may have single handedly saved 61 lives. Imagine making that decision. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, Mr. Eickstadt.
Then, this weekend, I swear we were hit by a tornado. I'm not kidding. I watched tree limbs and panels of vinyl siding swirling in the air close to our 2nd fl. windows. The sound this downburst produced was so blustering it drowned out the weather sirens that went off around 3:30am. We really didn't need any alarm to tell us the weather was "severe" though. I was bummed, and pretty overwhelmed, by the extent of the wreckage we found while surveying our property the next morning. Our new house held up well, but each tree we have was damaged. The news says it was "straight line winds." For us, that meant 70-80mph winds that shoot along the ground rather than forming a rotational pattern , otherwise called a cyclone. The damage it causes, however, is similar. There was wood everywhere. One maple snapped completely in half. Thick limbs, from a 200 year old oak, camouflaged our back lawn. Luckily, we were spared the machine gun spray of acorns that our neighbor's house endured. We found our glass topped table, anchored by an umbrella screwed into a 40lb base, flipped over and pushed into the corner of the deck underneath all the chairs. The gas grill was pushed into another corner. A neighbor's stainless steel model was lying in the middle of her lawn; the same way another neighbor's privacy fence was spread out across ours. Whole evergreens were leveled, their root systems ripped from the Earth. Fences, decks and retaining walls all around were piled in heaps in their owner's yards.
Not knowing exactly what to do in this situation, I took ques from my neighbors, threw on a pair of work gloves, grabbed my camp saw and started on the cleanup. I quickly, and a little embarrassingly, realized that my humble handsaw was just not going to cut it. But that's all we had, so I soldiered on. Fortunately, a gracious stranger, who was watching my exercises in futility while tending to his own mess, came to my aid. (Thank you Steve from the brown house with the giant sandbox in the back yard!) He introduced himself as my new neighbor and fired up his lumberjack worthy chainsaw. He quickly felled the damaged trunks that were split and cracked and removed the larger limbs that were left hanging as well.
Later that afternoon, I set about the task of cutting those limbs down to a manageable size. A more appropriate task for my handsaw, or so I though. I broke it about an hour into the endeavor. I knew right then that there was nothing else I could
do...but get my own chainsaw! Home Depot actually sold out earlier that morning but had truckloads shipped in from WI. I came home with 18 inches & 40cc's of precision cutting machinery and went to town on that timber! I'll be honest, it was a little intimidating at first, but the virile powers of a chain saw are hard to refute. I was soon wielding the tool in true Paul Bunyan style. It was quite the he-man display indeed. I did more cutting and lifting and hauling than I've done in a very long time. Thanks to Dan, Don, Shirley & neighbor Steve #2 for helping out also. 2 long days & 4 van loads of debris to the local compost site later, the yard looks fantastic. I'm hoping all the trees will survive too.
The new house, by the way: totally awesome. The door's always open too. So stop on by! Just give me a little time to recuperate from this weekend. If my body were a machine, it would be an old rusty one. I'm a little sore today. Which reminds me, I think it's about time to eat some more Advil.
Then, this weekend, I swear we were hit by a tornado. I'm not kidding. I watched tree limbs and panels of vinyl siding swirling in the air close to our 2nd fl. windows. The sound this downburst produced was so blustering it drowned out the weather sirens that went off around 3:30am. We really didn't need any alarm to tell us the weather was "severe" though. I was bummed, and pretty overwhelmed, by the extent of the wreckage we found while surveying our property the next morning. Our new house held up well, but each tree we have was damaged. The news says it was "straight line winds." For us, that meant 70-80mph winds that shoot along the ground rather than forming a rotational pattern , otherwise called a cyclone. The damage it causes, however, is similar. There was wood everywhere. One maple snapped completely in half. Thick limbs, from a 200 year old oak, camouflaged our back lawn. Luckily, we were spared the machine gun spray of acorns that our neighbor's house endured. We found our glass topped table, anchored by an umbrella screwed into a 40lb base, flipped over and pushed into the corner of the deck underneath all the chairs. The gas grill was pushed into another corner. A neighbor's stainless steel model was lying in the middle of her lawn; the same way another neighbor's privacy fence was spread out across ours. Whole evergreens were leveled, their root systems ripped from the Earth. Fences, decks and retaining walls all around were piled in heaps in their owner's yards.
Not knowing exactly what to do in this situation, I took ques from my neighbors, threw on a pair of work gloves, grabbed my camp saw and started on the cleanup. I quickly, and a little embarrassingly, realized that my humble handsaw was just not going to cut it. But that's all we had, so I soldiered on. Fortunately, a gracious stranger, who was watching my exercises in futility while tending to his own mess, came to my aid. (Thank you Steve from the brown house with the giant sandbox in the back yard!) He introduced himself as my new neighbor and fired up his lumberjack worthy chainsaw. He quickly felled the damaged trunks that were split and cracked and removed the larger limbs that were left hanging as well.
Later that afternoon, I set about the task of cutting those limbs down to a manageable size. A more appropriate task for my handsaw, or so I though. I broke it about an hour into the endeavor. I knew right then that there was nothing else I could
do...but get my own chainsaw! Home Depot actually sold out earlier that morning but had truckloads shipped in from WI. I came home with 18 inches & 40cc's of precision cutting machinery and went to town on that timber! I'll be honest, it was a little intimidating at first, but the virile powers of a chain saw are hard to refute. I was soon wielding the tool in true Paul Bunyan style. It was quite the he-man display indeed. I did more cutting and lifting and hauling than I've done in a very long time. Thanks to Dan, Don, Shirley & neighbor Steve #2 for helping out also. 2 long days & 4 van loads of debris to the local compost site later, the yard looks fantastic. I'm hoping all the trees will survive too.The new house, by the way: totally awesome. The door's always open too. So stop on by! Just give me a little time to recuperate from this weekend. If my body were a machine, it would be an old rusty one. I'm a little sore today. Which reminds me, I think it's about time to eat some more Advil.
August 02, 2007
Tragedy
Thanks to all the friends and family who called us up so quickly last night. That meant a lot. Our fam is safe and sound. We were at a friend's retirement party and hadn't even heard the news of the bridge collapse until the mobile started ringing. When we turned on the radio, all the initial accounts described a large "boom" before the bridge was gone. It was hard not to contemplate some kind of explosion. The FBI stated early on that there were no signs of terrorist activity, but they had dispatched inspection crews to check out many of the area's other bridges. Although it was I-35W that was affected, we chose to alter our rout home to avoid the 35E bridge that spans the Mississippi on the way out of St. Paul. It was a weird feeling.
There are about 82 bridges in the Twin Cities area. 27 major connections cross the Mississippi river alone. It's hard to get into, or out of, the cities without using one. Just like it is in most seaside and river towns, bridges are an integral part of the infrastructure here. Most of us don't give a second thought when the road we're driving on suddenly changes into a platform suspended in mid air, as high as 60-160", above the water. And if we do notice the change, rarely, if ever, do we consider that it's going to fall down.
4 people have died, 79 are injured and 30 are still missing. Rescue divers are in the river, right now, reaching into the front seats of submerged cars and reading license plate numbers with their fingers because visibility is close to zero. It's a sad experience for the Twin Cities, a grim task for the emergency workers and a devastating incident for the families directly involved with this disaster. Let's all keep these folks in our thoughts. They need as much support as we can give them, no matter how far away it's coming from.
Give Blood
4 people have died, 79 are injured and 30 are still missing. Rescue divers are in the river, right now, reaching into the front seats of submerged cars and reading license plate numbers with their fingers because visibility is close to zero. It's a sad experience for the Twin Cities, a grim task for the emergency workers and a devastating incident for the families directly involved with this disaster. Let's all keep these folks in our thoughts. They need as much support as we can give them, no matter how far away it's coming from.
Give Blood
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