Car Free Family Minneapolis

Tuesday came and went with no mention of the word “Anniversary”. I couldn’t decide what to do. Should I mention it to anyone? “A year ago, Daddy’s body was trashed and he could have been killed, kids. Let’s go out for dinner and celebrate.” It just didn’t feel right.

So, I avoided it. It’s been a year. And 2 days. I don’t like to think about what could have happened, but my brother would sure like me to. He sells insurance. Life. Disability, et al. I just don’t like to think about it.

On a brighter note, it seems as if I’m stalking our green mayor. After I invited him on a family bike ride around town, he seems to be ignoring me. One quick Facebook exchange and then nothing. I know he’s got a full life with all of those Elephants coming to town, so I will forgive him for now, but I’m waiting, R. T. Still waiting.

Last night on our all-too-often walk up to Pop! our favorite french fry joint, we saw an amazing bike. After we fed a 1/3 of the french fries to our dog (really people, the vet tells us to. . .balances her electrolytes) the owners of the bike came out.

What a story. They ride this thing all over. 800 miles this year. 2,000 total last. And they aren’t uber athletes, either. Just regular people. They came from Roseville to dine at Snap, two doors down from Pop! I hope to have a photo, soon! The Big One has a camera phone, we just have to figure out how to make that happen. In the meantime, visit: blackbirdbikes.com it is a local company!

We got a ride, good conversation and knowledge. Car-free living is so sweet.

I’ve driven a whole lot in Tom’s car. We’ve had it since Friday and I’ve been to the movie store twice, the grocery store once, and today in the extreme heat, I drove to yoga. Down the hill. I’d like to flog myself, but my blood pressure tanked yesterday and the dizziness from the heat is staggering. Literally. No apologies for that one. The useless trip to the thrift store the other day was ridiculous. It really is seductive.

Took the bus to acupuncture earlier today though, dragging Devil Baby down the street. We met up with Papa at the train stop on Hennepin. He was there on his fancy french bike, newly repaired by the brilliant bike monkeys at Scallywags Bike Shop. Tomorrow is another day.

I plan to let the car just sit along side my own slow moving body. With diastolic in the low 30’s, what’s a girl to do?

Car-free family tip of the day: Buy cellphones for everybody. It makes car-free life so much easier. Especially with a teenager who likes to take off on his bike!

The Big One at One

The Big One at age 8, opening presents on the toilet.

Look at how The Big One has grown!

Today is The Big One’s golden birthday. Yeah! He woke up, and in the tradition of confetti at wake-up on your birthday, I dropped 12 gold coins on his body. Then Papa did the same. Devil baby woke up an hour later and now we are all making breakfast, borrowing cars (more on that later) and getting our swimsuits on for our chilly afternoon at the Johnson Street Waterpark (known to some as Jim Lupient Water Park, but I just can’t fathom the idea of Minneapolis Parks being renamed for car dealers).

Gotta hop in my wheels to get eggs. I’m remembering the lazy days of owning a car. The seduction is overwhelming. Go, go, go. Go, dog, go.

Yesterday I rode a very crowded 10 bus downtown to my acupuncture appointment. I sat next to a 20-year-old kid who struck up a conversation with me. I was reading junk mail from the College I attended and he was interested. He went to a high school on the North side, the same one my dad graduated from. This kid was bright. Not just smart, but bright. “Do you go to College?” I asked him. “Nobody told me about College until I was in 12th grade. I didn’t even know what it was. By then my grades were so bad that no college would let me in. They told me I wasn’t college material. So now I work all the time.” he said.  He has his first child coming next month. He said, “Working or Babysitting. That’s what my life will be.” We talked like peers, which he never would have done if I wasn’t on the 10 bus with him. “You gotta get this straight, man. You can’t call it babysitting. When it is yours, it’s just parenting,” I told me. “Yeah,” he smiled at me. “That’s cool.”

When are we going to stop discounting kids? Who decided this kid wasn’t college material?  Kids always become what we expect them to be. A father at 20.  With a high school education.   I told him not to give up hope for college. I expect this kid to do great things. I hope that he sees that he still can.

The Northeast Parade was as toxic as usual.  The Big One still loves it, and Devil Baby was up north with Grandma & Grandpa so he missed it.  Most years we see lots of neighbors and friends.  This year seemed less.  I think the whole suburb of Anoka was there though.  Laura Murphy and her volunteers at Eastside Neighborhood thrift store made my list of highlights.  They were walking down the street with a rack of great thrift store finds, including the Twister pants I bought the next day for The Big One for his birthday.  Shhhhhh.  It isn’t until Saturday so keep your mouth shut.

Check out those polka dot Twister Pants!

Met Al Franken’s daughter.  She was a joy to meet.  But the environmental factor?  Ugh.

Big Diesel Truck and the excessive balloons:

The beauty queens selling bottled water.

One of the hospitals giving away bags to hold your medical records.

The garbage.

The saving grace: Bike Power!

The best part though was seeing R. T. Rybak, Minneapolis’ fine Mayor. I told him I’d like to take him on a bike ride of our city with my car-free family. He agreed. I’m holding him to it, but I’d like to wait until it gets a little cooler. The diesel particulate seems lighter when it isn’t so hot.

We are so far behind on our posts about our amazing adventures.  I saw our State Rep’s (Diane Loeffler) husband on the bus last week.  Cool.  He’s trying to do his part.  And, we’ve been eating a whole lot of diesel particulate.  I come home really dirty when I ride.  My kids, too.  I had lunch with my friend Rolfing Research gal who works for the PCA.  When I told her the “hug the bus” story, she said, “diesel particulate, it’s pretty bad,” or something like that.  It forever burned a diesel particulate sandwich image into my head.

Yesterday I rode to acupuncture down Central/3rd Avenue.  Almost got hit by a car as I crossed through downtown, but luckily, the Washburn McGreevy hearse that was following him gave me a wide berth.  Very nice.  I didn’t want my final bike ride to end with the side of a hearse coming at me.  I smiled at him.  He really did give me space.  It got me thinking.  Do driver’s really know that Bicyclists have rights?  That they get to just become traffic just like they are?  I don’t think so.  Did you learn that in driver’s ed?  I certainly didn’t.

Off to the parade.  Lots of diesel particulate from KDWB trucks, etc., a fair amount of horse droppings and lots of pretty girls for The Big One to chase.  Life is good, and Devil Baby is up at the lake with RV Grandpa and RV Grandma.

Yesterday Devil baby and I went to the airport to get The Big One. Trip was great, but instead of being 20 minutes early, they were late, and Devil Baby was his typical self. I’ve got this funky adrenal thing that makes my blood pressure drop when I am exerting myself and life with Devil Baby is constant exertion. I don’t have the energy to run down the street to save him from getting smacked by a bus, so I decided to play “red light, green light” on the mall outside the library with the boys yesterday. I got to sit and listen to my heart barely pump while they ran and stopped, ran and stopped.

Today, looking at the day from hell, I’m sitting here exhausted and crying. I know it will pass, but it will take us 4 buses to get The Big One to a concert tonight. I can’t rent an hourcar again because it isn’t in the budget AND we need to rent one this morning, unexpectedly, so we can quickly get to the uniform store to replace the navy shorts that he somehow lost on tour. Last minute crap doesn’t lend itself to a car-free life.

So, no yoga for me today. And hours on the bus. Today I say, “red light” on this car-free life. I want to give up.  And, I’m so far behind on posting.  I think I might just go back to bed.

Last Thursday, we were on our way home from (me) busting my back at circus and Mom Working lazily on her laptop. ON our way back Mom was Unlocking her bike but mine was already out so I tore off on my BLUE bike after my friend Clown Boy To the Left. (We normally go up to the right.) So my Mom Biked up the hill and saw a Lot of cars stopped and a BLUE bike on the ground. And Was crying “Is it Big One? Is it Big One??”  Meanwhile I had come around and biked up the hill and I thought “Car crash.” Then I saw the bike and the woman on the ground with blood all over.

She had a lacerated skull and you know how heads BLEED!!   Mom Yelled “Hasn’t  anyone called someone?”

2 minutes later we heard the sirens.  The whole nine yards came.

The person who Hit this lady was my friend Ariel Girl’s dad.  He Was…. Ok I mean think about it This lady we were thinking that she had *had a couple* and she Jumped out in front of the car anyways… But they said she was gonna be fine. As this lady is saying:” Get your @%$*Ing Hands off me. No you can’t use my *^&% Sweat shirt to mop up the blood.”

All this time Ariel girl is just sitting there shaking. So Mom goes over to her dad and says “I’m Just gonna sit with her over here okay?”

Then a really kind fire-fighter came over and said: “You have no need to worry… she’s going to be fine, you know how heads bleed.”

So then we said goodbye to Ariel girl and her dad and we hopped on our bikes and rode home. Making sure to look where we were going. we didn’t need another Bloody detour in our day.

When we got home Devil Child said “I’m not going to sleep unless we go the the fire house.

So after we told Dad about the Bloody detour We left for the fire house.

We had a Full tour including the JAWS OF LIFE!

On our way Home we met this woman,  Curly haired dog owner. So my parents Talked and talked with her but finally it was time to go home. (this was at 10:00)   But on our way home we saw Curly haired dog owner’s ipod on the ground. I picked it up and said “Here’s another detour in our day.” Mom and I went to go return it and Devil Child and Dad went home…

After we found her house (by asking the neighbors where it was) We found out she wasn’t home. So we went home and tried looking online for her number and we found nothing. My mom went and got a facebook account and lookey there There she was. The next day she came and picked it up…

That’s all for The Big Ones First post.

MORE TO COME!

Got a ride home from the Boychoir auditions from one of my all-time favorite Boychoir moms, Joiner Mom. She is to Boychoir what I will never be. Nope. Not a joiner. I learned something really important from her. She is married to Eagle Scout Dad, and he taught her not to wear jeans when it is raining.

I should have married the Eagle Scout. I was in a long Jean Skirt, The Big One was in jean shorts, and we stood out in the pouring rain under our gigantic umbrella. “No need to wear your rainpants honey.” My husband is clearly not an Eagle Scout. Handsome. Charming. Talented. Not an Eagle Scout.

We are still feeling a little water logged and my shoes will never be the same. New addition on the things we need to buy list. Rain Boots.

I was thrilled to see the blog listed at Best Green Blogs Editor’s Choice section this weekend. He called me “snarky”. I love that he was able to capture my true nature in one simple word. The Big One is mad as hell about the Car Free Family Blog and the fact that I’m getting all the “credit”. He is forced to “hug the bus” as we are pedaling on Broadway on the north side instead. A couple of angry hungover men yelled at us yesterday, one of them saying, “YOU F$#*kheads”. The Big One said, I don’t even get what that compound word means, Mom. Diversity in action. I think we took at least 2 years off our lives driving across the Broadway bridge back to Northeast. This was mile 10 or so. We rode our bikes to Unity Christ Church in Golden Valley. We were spiritually fed, and then got to suck the exhaust of a cement truck on our way home.

That’s living.

Just an FYI: The Big One is threatening to post on the blog. He wants credit where credit is due.

Chuck at behind bars is not a very social creature. Broke my heart today to hear a tale of how he lost business again because he sometimes appears to be a little gruff with his customers. We love him, gruffness and all. Today we were on our way (late) to Boom Island to meet up with the Urban Unschoolers. Cool group of folks. We stopped to see Chuck at Behind Bars and to buy a kick stand. Tears, tears, tear from both kids, and we ended up with 2 pairs of biking gloves to go with the kick stand. Biking is an expensive sport. To have a bike shop in our neighborhood is divine. Stop there. Don’t let Chuck scare you away. It is at 208 13th Ave NE in Minneapolis.  My kids love the shop more than any other in the neighborhood.

Anyway, as we were leaving, I told him the tale of my brother’s van, fence and house getting in the way of a high speed chase. My brother was asleep in his recliner like an old man. Glad he is okay. This is my local brother, the real estate agent. Be sure to buy a nice strong house from him. Check out these photos:

This was where the drunk hit the house. Bet the city attorney drops the charges so the County Charges will stick. That’s what happened with our felon.

This is where the fence used to be, but the drunk ran right through it, missing two huge boulevard trees. This guy was being chased by the police. Wanted for a hit and run. Lovely. Glad there will be some felony charges.

So, Chuck quotes me some figures from the CDC that I didn’t know. Less than 1,000 bikers died last year, but hundreds of thousands of motor vehicle fatalities. Cars are coffins. Or at least that’s what the t-shirt says. Yet another reason not to own one.

I thought about those figures all the way home, even though I don’t remember them, and I’m too worn out to find them on the CDC website. That hill seemed bigger today. Instead of having The Big One heft the Devil Baby up the hill, I pulled him on the Kona. Biker Mama, one of the Urban Unschoolers says I need to toughen up. I made a face at her when she mentioned that we should meet in Southwest Minneapolis. Toughen up? She is right.

On the way home, devil baby dropped the $20 gloves out of the burley, “just for fun”, and I had to leave the kids and backtrack to find them. The Big One needed the restroom so we stopped at the Hotdish King’s house. Luckily Mama Hotdish was home with her 2 little tator tots. I love Northeast.

There is a sort of belief that people have about car-free people. That we are all bike loving biker folks.

When I was at the Hub bike shop this weekend, it was packed.

It is where I purchased my Suede two years ago. This trip I needed couple of flags for the burley trailer and the trail a bike.

They have a class for women in how to fix a flat that I’m really interested in taking. First though, they ride for an hour, together. It was a moment of revelation for me. People actually like to ride bikes. Really. They buy bikes they like to ride. They ride for sport. They ride because it is fun. It never really occured to me to get on my bike and go somewhere because I wanted to ride. I ride for transportation. And I think that is okay. Wind in my hair? No. Cruising down the hill? No, it reminds me of the time that I fell head first over the bars when I was 8 years old, and knocked unconscious. I’m always a little shaky when I bike too fast. Exercise? I’d rather go to a yoga class or swim. Really.

What do you suppose I could do to get people to keep commenting on my blog? I’m going to try this post, and see what happens.

I called my brother yesterday with some good news. Really good news for me. I’m always afraid that I’ll interrupt something corporate with John. I never imagine that he is shuffling for his phone inside his pocketbook and spilling his Kombucha all over his stuff like I do. I do worry that he will see the infrequent “little eco-friendly sister” on his caller I.D. and think there might be an environmental crisis on the horizon just when he is advising some big hot-shot about some financial something-or-other.

It keeps ringing. No answer. And then, when I’m leaving this good news on his vm, he beeps in.

“I wasn’t interrupting some big corporate thing was I?” I said.

“No. I’m in Hawaii!” he said.

I’m thinking he must be researching solar power in Hawaii.

Must be. He is in the energy business. He is in oil.

In Texas. Now, I know what you liberals are thinking and I can assure you that he isn’t one of those greasy Bush lovin’ oil guys. He might be a republican. Okay. He is. But he isn’t a Bush-lover, and I like him, and I’m not afraid to admit it. He thinks we should be exploring for oil in Alaska because “we can do it and not harm the environment”.

He claims that things have gotten so much better and I believe him. I wouldn’t believe anybody else, but him, I believe.

How can a self-respecting eco-friendly, kombucha lovin’, car-free, green funeral supporting mother think that drilling for oil in Alaska might be okay?

I trust him. We still need to live our lives differently, but we shouldn’t we only be using what we can produce ourselves?

On more than one occasion he has said, “Be careful, next you will be voting Republican.”

Only if Arne Carlson runs. It is the only time I’ve ever voted Republican. No regrets.

Remember last fall when I mentioned that Lucy said that a day like this would be balmy in the spring? It isn’t. It was freezing when we got on our bikes to have a bad, overpriced dinner at the St. Anthony Village Pub.

I was mad at everybody and the Big One whined through dinner.

But we rode our bikes. Hated each other, but we rode our bikes.

Head Cold. Rushing on the bus to get the Big One to an audition. He didn’t get the job. He is a talented actor, yet he has no skills in auditioning. But still, I picked my snot-filled head off the pillow, got dressed and hopped the #4 to downtown. As I’m getting off the bus I see the face of Denny Hecker, greasy car-salesman extraordinaire. The bus sign actually said, “Nobody Walks.” Where the heck does he live? What planet?

I’m hoping that the fever and the head cold actually caused a delusion. A bus sign. Advertising a big SUV. Ridership up 15%. That can’t be right.

Later, when the head cold got better, I was able to gain some perspective.  Denny, if you are listening, let’s get this straight.  When we are out of fuel, and we can’t fabricate another war to get any, we will all be walking.  Make a bus sign out of that.

Well, we drove it to Martin Lake for our Mother’s Day celebration. We fit right in. The funniest part of the day was Papa looking around at all the traffic and the big cars speeding along the highway. “If you ever need a reminder about why we need a war in Iraq, drive 35W North. That ought to do it!”

There is even a billboard that says, “Too dependent on Gas? Burn E85.” Oh yeah, that will help. Let’s start burning our food sources. How about this for a new I-35 billboard: “Trade Food for Gas!”

Gluttons. And this weekend, we belong right with them.

Enterprise Car Rental has always been super reliable for us.  When we need a car for more than just quick trips around town, we turn to them.

Today, however, our local place in Lauderdale was closed, so we ended up at the Roseville branch.  I confirm the reservation with one of the sales reps, very clearly stating that I wanted an upgrade to an intermediate size car, I wanted my husband to purchase liability insurance only, and she calculated the rate, which was all-inclusive.

At the counter he was sold a bigger car (more carbon footprint), personal liability insurance and was given a higher daily rate.  Did I mention that I confirmed everything in the reservation and that it was all set to go?

Yep.  I thought so.  I was so angry at Enterprise when he pulled up with this big-ass car.  Slick, they are.  All in all, it will cost us at least $50 more for the weekend, which would cover the hourcar and gas.  Live and learn.  We will not be renting from the Roseville branch of the Enterprise Rental Car Business.  Nope.

And, did they pick us up?  Nope.  Too busy.  So, as a car-free mom, I make a reservation for a rental car, I trust that they will actually give us that car, and be clear so that my husband can understand them (instead of pulling the slight of hand trick), and I expect them to be true to their slogan, “We’ll pick you up!”  If we feel like it.

Got errands to run.  Pick up an oak tree, some plants, some more plants, a rain slicker for the Little One, and have to drop the big one off at his concert.  The Minnesota Boychoir with Alison Scott.  I’ve got a car.  I might as well go!

As many of you know, we are working to increase traffic on our blog. Anyone care to share how you might spell Car Free? Car-Free? I’ve got some mighty bright, wordy friends. I’m hoping to get their opinions, because the Santa Fe Family who owns the blogspot blog gets top billing on google.

And, speaking of opinions, comment folks, comment! Do you think we are sanctimonious fools? Do you think we need to be reported to child protection? Are you car free and loving it? Hating it?

Keep us inspired. Help us with Car Free, Car-Free Love. Here is Devil Baby’s favorite mode of transportation. “I’m thinking about being a fire-fighter one day.”