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Post by kds on Jul 30, 2023 1:14:23 GMT
We did get a storm around 4:30p today. Luckily, it subsided fairly quickly so I could grill out. It took the humidity away too.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 30, 2023 1:31:55 GMT
Beautiful day here, peaked at about 81 or 82, so I got out to do something I haven't done enough of this year, which is walk to and around a nearby lake. Usually I'm an early-morning walker, but I have to admit the people-watching aspect of an afternoon walk can be fun. The beaches and park areas around the lakes are always so busy in the summers, whether with kayakers/canoers, swimmers, sunbathers, family reunions, big BBQs, runners and cyclists, etc. I put on more than 11 miles today.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 30, 2023 2:08:49 GMT
Beautiful day here, peaked at about 81 or 82, so I got out to do something I haven't done enough of this year, which is walk to and around a nearby lake. Usually I'm an early-morning walker, but I have to admit the people-watching aspect of an afternoon walk can be fun. The beaches and park areas around the lakes are always so busy in the summers, whether with kayakers/canoers, swimmers, sunbathers, family reunions, big BBQs, runners and cyclists, etc. I put on more than 11 miles today. You walked 11 miles? In one go? How long does that take? Dang, that’s some good exercise. My usual routes range from 45 to 75 minutes, but I don’t walk regularly anymore, unfortunately. I’ve started cycling again, though. I’ve gone 3 days in a row. I went for about 8 miles this afternoon. It was a beautiful summer day here as well.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 30, 2023 12:37:12 GMT
No, sorry if that was misleading, the 11 miles was total for the day, not just that one walk. The bulk of that was split between an early morning walk of maybe 3.5 miles, and then the afternoon one I mentioned, which was a bit more than that. But I also mowed the lawn, checked out a few Little Free Libraries in the neighborhood, and ran assorted errands (on foot in the neighborhood).
In terms of time, when I'm walking for exercise, I'll usually go about 4 miles an hour. (I'm not measuring my speed while I do it, btw, I just am doing some back-of-napkin figuring now.) Generally my morning walk will be 30-60 minutes, depending on how early I get up, how ambitious I feel, and the weather. And I'll do at least one more similarly long one later, either midmorning or noon (or ideally both). And I also do try to do most of my errands on foot, with a walkable neighborhood that has a grocery store, hardware store, liquor store, library, bakery, etc., all pretty close by. I tend to do an average of 5-6 miles a day.
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Post by kds on Jul 30, 2023 21:03:14 GMT
Perfect weather here today too. Its in the mid 80s and sunny, very low humidity. About to light up the grill for the 2nd day in a row.
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Post by kds on Aug 5, 2023 0:55:17 GMT
Sitting outside, I'm surprised to see so many lightning bugs. Usually, I'll see them until about early July. Maybe, its an effect of a relatively mild summer.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 5, 2023 10:18:11 GMT
Sitting outside, I'm surprised to see so many lightning bugs. Usually, I'll see them until about early July. Maybe, its an effect of a relatively mild summer. Maybe I'm a man of simple pleasures, but I love lightning bugs. Unfortunately I don't think I've ever seen them in the city. However, I do typically see them when I go on vacation in more rural SE Minnesota, even in the later summer or early fall. I'm planning to take another such trip this year, so I hope to see them then. I might be a simpleton, but I can just sit outside in the dark and watch them for longer than you'd think possible...not exactly watching, not exactly not watching.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 5, 2023 14:33:39 GMT
Sunrise has shifted to after 6 a.m. in Minneapolis. This feels like a milestone in the shifting seasons, though obviously we'll still have at least a month of summery weather (and likely two, if recent history is our guide). Sunsets are creeping up, too, with tonight's to happen at 8:34 p.m.
Our longest day of the year has a 5:36 a.m. sunrise and a 9:03 p.m. sunset. Conversely, our shortest day is 7:48 a.m. sunrise and 4:34 p.m. sunset. So we're obviously still on the longer end of daylight as far as that goes.
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Post by kds on Aug 5, 2023 21:08:31 GMT
Sitting outside, I'm surprised to see so many lightning bugs. Usually, I'll see them until about early July. Maybe, its an effect of a relatively mild summer. Maybe I'm a man of simple pleasures, but I love lightning bugs. Unfortunately I don't think I've ever seen them in the city. However, I do typically see them when I go on vacation in more rural SE Minnesota, even in the later summer or early fall. I'm planning to take another such trip this year, so I hope to see them then. I might be a simpleton, but I can just sit outside in the dark and watch them for longer than you'd think possible...not exactly watching, not exactly not watching. Me too. I never saw them when I lived in Baltimore City. But, I've noticed them a lot since moving to the suburbs.
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Post by kds on Aug 6, 2023 19:26:10 GMT
Just mowed the lawn. For only letting it go for two weeks, it took quite an effort.
Although, when I finished, I noticed a few brown / yellow spots as its been a pretty dry sunny 8 or 9 days.
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Post by kds on Aug 9, 2023 16:51:23 GMT
So, this song has sort of become my song for the summer of 2023. It's a 2015 Toby Keith song called Sailboat for Sale, which features Jimmy Buffett (who oddly seems to be using a Mark Knopfler esque vocal style on his verse). The song popped up earlier in the summer a few times on my Spotify after I finished playing some Buffett albums. And, I liked it so much, I added it to my Summer and Buffett playlists.
I just so happened to be the first song that popped up on my Summer playlist on the evening I played it on the first night of my vacation last month, and it pops up fairly regularly when I play my summer playlists on weekends. I've actually developed such a fondness for the song, I've begun to put it in my queue when doing my weekend deck sabbaticals.
I'm sure as the years go by, when I hear this song, it'll be the summer of 2023 that springs to my mind.
Edit - Also the wordless vocal "Ah Ah" chorus reminds me a lot of the Uriah Heep classic Lady in Black.
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Post by kds on Aug 10, 2023 12:37:56 GMT
Yesterday, Wednesday, August 9, 2023, I decided I'd stop by our local Total Wine location to do one last run of summer seasonal beers. Since they're a large liquor store chain, they typically have a pretty good selection of summer beers up until Labor Day, while all the smaller places in town make room for their fall seasonals.
However, I was surprised to see so many fall beers on the shelves. It was a bit of a struggle to find six single summer selections for my build you own six pack. I'm glad I didn't wait until the end of the month.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 10, 2023 12:43:44 GMT
Usually I start thinking about fall beers once there are football games on--but ideally also as the weather cools, maybe daytime highs in the upper 60s or at most, lower 70s. It's hard to think about a marzen/oktoberfest or something when it's sunny, dry, and 90 degrees! It's still lighter lager, kolsch, or pale ale weather in my book.
Tomorrow I'll likely be buying some beer. I'm going to keep an eye out to see where they stand on the seasonals.
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Post by kds on Aug 10, 2023 12:59:29 GMT
Usually I start thinking about fall beers once there are football games on--but ideally also as the weather cools, maybe daytime highs in the upper 60s or at most, lower 70s. It's hard to think about a marzen/oktoberfest or something when it's sunny, dry, and 90 degrees! It's still lighter lager, kolsch, or pale ale weather in my book. Tomorrow I'll likely be buying some beer. I'm going to keep an eye out to see where they stand on the seasonals. For me, it's got to be at least late September, and daytime highs below 70. I just don't understand who walks into a liquor store in early August, when it's sunny, humid, and in the high 80s (heat index was probably in the low 90s yesterday), and says "I want a nice hearty marzen or pumpkin beer." I just I just need to accept because people just can't let the frickin' seasons be what they are, that I'd better be sure to get my fill of summer seaonals each year by the end of July. On the plus side, when the summer seasonals are all gone, there's always Mexican lagers and Land Shark on the shelves.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 10, 2023 13:35:22 GMT
On the plus side, when the summer seasonals are all gone, there's always Mexican lagers and Land Shark on the shelves. We always have the regional brewery Schell's around, and they also have their simple "No Frills" German pilsner and their "Deer Brand" (pre-prohibition recipe) American lager that are available year-round. I've long said that this longstanding (est. 1860 by a German immigrant in the historically German town of New Ulm, MN) brewery is an underappreciated gem. They have increasingly dipped their toes into various fad-beers, but they also have maintained a core of mostly German-style simple beers. Pilsners, lagers, marzens, etc.
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