A Rainy Friday - Twin Cities Style

This morning started out gray and cool. As I walked north on Pleasant Avenue with the dogs, I noticed that the leaves were changing, and some trees had already begun losing them wholesale. This was evidenced by small drifts of already dry leaves that crunched under my feet from time to time as we slowly meandered our way towards 36th Street.

My original plan for this morning was to wander over to the Washburn Park Water Tower, and take some photos of that impressive structure. It was built out of stone in the early 20th century, and is considered a marvel of hydro engineering to this day. The main attraction of it to me are the sixteen stone carvings integrated into the structure, eight ten-foot tall eagles surrounding the base of the crown and below them, eight eighteen-foot tall men with swords known as "The Guardians of Health". Even though it stands on one of the highest points of the city, there are very few locations in Minneapolis it is visible from. I had no idea it even existed, and it's located roughly halfway between my old neighborhood, and my new one. I spotted it purely by chance from the top of the hill at the intersection of my street, Grand Avenue South, and West 49th Street, where the Kingfield neighborhood ends, and the Tangletown neighborhood begins.

I asked a man watering his lawn what the domed structure in the distance was and he gave me a brief history of it, and mentioned that where we were standing was one of the few locations in the city it could be clearly seen from. My curiosity was piqued, so I made plans to grab my camera, a coffee from Cafe Tempo and stroll over to take photos of it after I dropped the dogs off at home this morning.

Instead, after I returned home with the dogs, I noticed a breeze had kicked up, and the sky to the west was turning ominously dark, and there were a few tentative rumbles in the distance.

It was definitely going to rain, and quite possibly turn into one of those borderline terrifying midwest thunderstorms, so I decided that climbing to the highest point in South Minneapolis for the purpose of photographing a nearly one hundred foot tall water tower with the threat of lightning might not be in my best interests.

Best to leave that for another day... maybe I'll wait a week or two and when we start to get the really impressive fall colors, I'll be able to do the location justice.

Instead, I decided I would go downtown. I needed to purchase envelopes anyway, and going downtown gave me an excuse to stop and eat breakfast at a Minneapolis institution known as Hell's Kitchen for breakfast. They make a concoction there called "Mahnomin Porridge", consisting of Native-harvested, hand-parched wild rice from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibway Indians, dried blueberries, sweetened cranberries, heavy cream, and real maple syrup... a perfect breakfast on a cool morning, and something I hadn't treated myself to since I relocated here. I took my camera along anyway, and after I ate and walked over to Target to purchase my envelopes, I proceeded to wander down to Mill Ruins Park and took the photograph of the Stone Arch Bridge, and abandoned Pillsbury Flour Mill on the opposite side of the Mississippi River you see above.

Afterwards, I returned home to determine what I should do with the rest of my day. Since it's not the most inviting day outside, today will be an inside day. There is currently some drama with my previous landlord... his twenty-one day window to return the security deposit has come and gone, and he has not yet returned it. He indicated that he doesn't have the money to pay back right now... which means that ol' Tony has misappropriated those funds. That's a bigger no-no in Minnesota than it is in New York. Security deposits are to be held in escrow... according to Minnesota housing law, monies paid for security deposits are not considered received by landlords, but held.

I guess he didn't hold it for very long.

Too bad for him.

Looks like I'm going to get the chance to flex a little legal muscle if he doesn't have the money today, and this douchebag has apparently just given me the opportunity to rake his sleazy little ass over the coals. Someone else about to learn the hard way that you don't fuck with a New Yorker.

Especially one that used to manage a law firm.

I guess in the meantime, I'll fire up the DVD player, watch a movie and fire off a quick entry on the ol' blog while I wait to hear what he has to say.

Rainy days don't get me down... they never have.

I guess I'm lucky in that aspect.

Stay safe this weekend, I'll see you all back here on Monday.