The interview on Locally Grown went well, I believe. Check out the podcast to hear me talk about local nonmotorized transportation in my slow, monotone voice! The show was also broadcast at 4:30 pm today on KRLX, the Carleton College radio station.

Thanks to Griff Wigley, Ross Currer, and Tracy Davis for having me on the show and for the dedicated public service they provide.

And then there are the economic costs imposed by a car-dominated culture. Here are some quotes from an October 12 Star Tribune article on a study that looked at this issue: Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to be interviewed about local nonmotorized transportation today on Northfield’s “Locally Grown” radio show, hosted by Griff Wigley, Ross Currier, and Tracy Davis. As a result, I want to use this entry to record some information that I’ve come across recently. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m hearing lots of hammering now as I write this, a sound I’ve heard around our town for weeks now. It’s all due to roof repairs that are required by the hail storm we had back on August 24. The hail wrecked roofs all over Northfield and in nearby towns as well. I’ve heard estimates that 80 percent of the roofs in Northfield will have to be replaced. Ours is due to be redone in a couple of weeks, just in time for the arrival of winter, or so we hope.

We had a killing frost last week, with lows around 25 degrees – our strongest sign yet of the approaching winter. Many of our gardent plants died, with the notable exception of two species of late-flowering plants: Lindley’s asters and the remarkable false hollyhocks (of the genus Malva, I believe).

I’ve spent some time readying the house and yard for winter – turning off and draining the outdoor water faucet, heaping leaves on plants, cutting out frost-withered vegetation, washing windows. And now it’s snowing outside, as had been predicted! The poor roofers! I’ve heard that the crews from warm-weather regions have left, leaving only the Upper Midwesterners. Well, many of those I expect are Hispanic immigrants who are willing to call our region home.

I ask for blessings to all roofers working in cold conditions!

My corner of the Upper Midwest, southern Minnesota, is getting its first snow right now. I can see the slushy mixture falling as I look out the window.

Yesterday was my 41st birthday. My parents drove down and joined us, which made the whole day seem more festive. It’s a bittersweet celebration as I get older, as the hall of years behind me gets longer and the one ahead gets shorter. As we get older, a birthday causes use to ask some questions: have I used my years well? how many lie ahead?

At the same time, this ritual of the birthday connects us with childhood, when the celebration isn’t weighted with the knowledge and infirmities of advancing age. Each birthday I remember the joy of childhood birthdays, and I get to reexperience some early pleasures: getting presents and some good food and some cake. I also indulge myself a little more with small pleasures during the day – taking an extra break, for example, relaxing the daily routine. Read the rest of this entry »

The October 5 visit of Steve Clark to Northfield went well, I’m happy to say. Above you can see me, Steve, and Bruce Anderson standing next to the dual-recumbent bicycle (quadcycle?) that Bruce and Steve used during our tour of town that morning. We had 24 people attend the afternoon Leaders Meeting at Northfield City Hall, and 40 people attended the evening lecture.

There are several places where you can read more about Steve’s visit. I wrote a long post for Northfield.org about our day, entitled “Touring Northfield with a Bike and Pedestrian Expert.” See also Bruce Anderson’s post, which has a photo I took of the Critical Mass ride that we participated in that same day. The latter featured forty or more people, most of them Carleton and St. Olaf College students, with some of us oldsters thrown in as well. Ariel Emery of the Northfield News also wrote an excellent front-page article on Clark’s visit. She did a good job of capturing many of the ideas that he presented.

There’s a buzz now in some corners of the community about what’s possible for nonmotorized transportation here in the Northfield area. I’m not sure where it would be best to direct our energies now, but one idea that emerged after the evening lecture, thanks to Alex Beeby, was to link Carleton College and St. Olaf College with a bike route on city streets. That would be a tangible link between the two sides of our community.

Our  town of Northfield, Minnesota, has a new web site called Northfield Trails. Its tagline is “Catalyzing Human-Powered Recreation and Transportation in the Northfield Area.” Yes, I’m one of the folks behind it, but a more important figure is web designer Michael Christopherson, of Wishpipe Studios, who has kindly joined forces with those of us trying to improve nonmotorized transportation in the Northfield area. Michael had the idea for Northfield Trails a while ago and saw it as a resource for outdoor recreation, complete with maps. Now we’re adding some advocacy to it as well. Go to its web address at northfieldtrails.org for news on outdoor recreation as well as interesting posts about human-powered transportation and local advocacy.

We’re doing well in gaining publicity for the October 5 visit of bike/pedestrian expert Steve Clark to Northfield, Minnesota. The Northfield News published a nice front-page article on Saturday about it, and Northfield.org has a long post as well.

This morning Bruce Anderson and I were interviewed on local radio station KYMN as well. The excitement is building!