All posts by snowdeal

250/365. i accidentally found a new parking spot at organic valley hq.

250/365. i accidentally found a new parking spot at organic valley hq.

a colleague peered into the office i was squatting in at organic valley hq ( new digs still under construction and my regular office is not at hq which is why i was squatting ) and asked somewhat sheepishly, “yoooouuuuu drive a gray jetta tdi?”

“uuuuuuhhhhhh, yes!”

and before he could respond i spun around and looked out the window to see it was definitely not where i parked it.

“looks like it rolled out of its spot.”

indeed, it had. now i have to admit that i’m wasn’t *completely* surprised. the car is 11 years old and the manual transmission is a little finicky. sometimes, when you think it’s in gear it’s not, and it has a tendency to pop out of gear easily. aaaaaaaand the parking brake is loose so you reaaaaaaallllly have to crank on it to get it to work. up until today we could rely on either the transmission or the brake to keep it in place without both failing simultaneously ( well, actually – true confession time – both failed once before ). maybe i should travel with blocks that i can put under the tires when parked? or maybe i should just stop procrastinating get the car into a shop 🙂

it was mildly amusing that it rolled back to rest perfectly between bushes on either side and a tree to the rear without an inch to spare anywhere. i couldn’t have parked it that perfectly if i tried. *super* !SUPER! glad nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged.

for some reason, i personally think the most amusing part of the story is my boss owns the red jetta wagon in the photo and pulled into the spot where i was parked not long after my jetta rolled out ( and didn’t notice, or just though, “oh i guess snowdeal found a new parking spot.” ).

249/365. the upper peninsula vacation rulebook is very clear on trenary toast.

249/365. the upper peninsula vacation rulebook is very clear on trenary toast.

if you visit the upper peninsula, you have to leave with a bag or two of trenary toast which is sort-of like a cross between cinnamon toast and a crisp bread like biscotti. in keeping with areas Finnish heritage, the bread is inspired by the finnish crisp korppu breads.

they’ve been making the bread at the bakery since the 1930s so they pretty much got it perfected by now and they don’t seem like the types to tinker with a good thing. when asked by a detroit free press reporter, what’s with the boring bag?”, the owner replied, “it’s always been that way.”

you could always make your own, but it probably wouldn’t be the same.

day 4083 – 248/365. (manual) labor day.

day 4083 - 248/365. (manual) labor day.

odin contemplates the american labor movement’s impact on child labor while helping grandpa salmi clean out a trailer on labor day.

while i am making light of the irony of him doing work on labor day, we did visit the flint sit-down strike memorial earlier in the summer and never got around to posting it. i think he might have had some distant relatives who were involved in the seminal event in labor history.

day 4082 – 247/365. odin and frida go for their first swim together in lake superior!

day 4082 - 247/365. odin and frida go for their first swim together in lake superior!

they very much enjoyed the swim at a nice beach where the au train river empties into the chilly waters of lake superior just west of munising.

the surface water temperature maps claim the water might be breaking 60°F but it sure didn’t feel like a degree above 50°F. brrrrrrrrr.

246/365. herb’s bar. rock, michigan.

246/365. herb’s bar. rock, michigan.

odin’s great-grandmother, ida salmi lived in rock michigan ( population: herb’s bar through the late 60s and 1970’s. she’s since passed but her house and sauna are just around the corner and down the street. we’re lucky to have a sauna mirror that her son, odin’s grandfather, made hanging in our own sauna.

while i’ve never had a drink there, the inside of herb’s has the vibe of a a great upper peninsula dive bar in the very best sense of the phrase.

we were in rock on this particular day to watch them celebrate their 150th anniversary labor day parade.