A bar and restaurant explicitly aimed at revitalizing Downtown, and at “bringing Minneapolis together”,as a “place of healing for people” as one of its owners said, and overturning the image of downtown Minneapolis as a crime-ridden area enmeshed in a death spiral, has…
…oh, do I even need to finish the sentence?
I mean, let a thousand lights shine and all. It takes more gumption to try to open a restaurant downtown than I, for one, have.
But some of this stuff just seems to be the cosmic equivalent of taping a “kick me” sign on your back. The “Baghdad Bob” vibe alone was just tempting Murphy’s Law…
In March, a bartender at Ties Lounge & Rooftop told Alpha News that downtown Minneapolis is “very, very safe,” even though the city had released data at the time showing increased thefts, gunshot victims, and assaults in the area compared to the previous year.
…even if crime, and downtown’s eroding status as a destination, didn’t do it first.
Didn’t even make it for nine months. How’s that community spirit working for you?
Even before the epidemic and surge in crime, starting a business there was a fool’s errand. Macy’s closed well before both George Floyd’s death and the epidemic, after all, and I remember visiting around the same time and saying “wow, this place is dead.” Not much there but government offices even in 2017.
There is a nascent movement developing in cyberspace to free Julian Assange, and to a lesser extent, Edward Snowden.
It’s gaining traction on both the left and the right.
Of course, I’m all for it, but I cannot help but wonder who is pulling the strings, and to what purpose.
Anyone who watches Rachel Maddow and Tucker Carlson deliver the same monologue, and thinks it’s hands across the water for the 1st amendment probably also has a Ukraine flag on their social media profile.
I’d also be remiss not to observe that while there is an uproar over their treatment, none of the actors named in the files released by Snowden and Assange have faced the least sanctions; nor will they.
In fact, I wonder how many people reading this right now will even remember what is was they exposed, without looking it up.
But hey now; don’t get your daubers down Patriots ™️….soon weed will be legal, and everyone can stay baked 24/7…Freedom©️ 🫠
For those interested, we’ve finally knocked a road down to the compound HQ building site. Just starting to clear it now.
Road is just short of 1/4 mile. Had to take down 31 trees, average 60’tall. What do with all those root balls?
Gonna be one hell of a bonfire, lads.
https://vimeo.com/778500427
You can see the lake through the trees there…we’ve got 800′ of shore front. I’m not going to clear it for views. Don’t really want my house visible from the lake…or anywhere else for that matter.
Blade – I suppose clearing the trees to make a road to your place also makes it easier to mine that road.
I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of any anti-personnel ordinance, NW.
It’s just good manners to call ahead when visiting anyone at home, though.
“What do with all those root balls?”
Use them to build a “natural” landscape barrier wall along one of your flanks, to keep people off their ATVs and moving through predetermined paths when accessing(uninvited) your property – you want them on foot. Plus it provides great habitat for game birds. Check out some Landscape Architecture books from the library, you know how to create barriers that don’t immediately betray their purpose. For instance place them at regular intervals and plant cockspur hawthorn(or something with big thorns) to link them all together – better than a barbed wire fence any day.
Not a bad idea, Pig.
There will be a motorized gate at the top of the road, and there is no way around it (deep swale on one side, trees on the other). In order for someone to ride an ATV, or anything else in there, they’re gonna have to cross my neighbors land…he ain’t friendly that way. But obstacles are always good.
I have purchased a Frontier OS23 saw mill (with the optional 10hp motor) to make lumber of all those Oaks (mostly white, but some red). I calculated each tree will yield an average of 86 board feet of prime wood. White Oak is going for around $7/bdft right now (Biden price).
I’ll have at least 40 to saw up. Will pay for the road and my Ford 555B, or the electrical utility, septic and well install.
BN
A woman I know bought a farm 25 years ago that had a stand of 41 Black Walnut trees in a grove along the north property line. They were mature, straight, no disease, at 70-110 feet in height. A few years ago she decided to cut down half dozen of them nearest the house so she contacted a tree service. They gave her a bid of $900 to cut down and remove the lot. She asked her Amish neighbor what he thought of the bid, he explained that each tree was worth at least $25K. She contracted with a local sawmill to cut down the half dozen trees, she paid off her mortgage, and bought a new truck and a horse. Thees can add a lot of value.
I have a friend who has a mini-mill for his woodworking shop he learned the hard way that if the tree came from farmland some farmer probably tacked a barbed wire fence to it (or worse some environmentalist spiked it) at some point or another so he scans his trees with a metal detector before running them through his mill.
Good luck with your build
Pig, I have several large Hickory trees, but sadly no Black Walnut.
I’ve made a concerted effort to spare the Hickory’s and only lost 1. I’m mindful that once you cut a mature tree down, of any species, that’s a tree you’ll never see again in your lifetime. Even changed the route to save some big ones.
I’ve was contacted by a tree services that got wind of the project, and offered to give me a quote to take away the downed trees. I said “I’ve got a quote. Cut me a check for $50k and they’re yours.”
Just the sapwood will provide me with enough 1″x6″x8′ fence boards to do every fence I need. I’m not worried about barbed wire, or nails. My land has sat untouched forever.
But I got a lot of work to do…sigh…
Pig,
There are two businesses in the metro that make lumber from trees felled by municipalities and/or tree companies. Wood From the Hood in Minneapolis and Logs to Lumber in Hastings. Logs to Lumber cuts slabs and lets them air dry in closed sheds.