Bob Ingrassia

Here’s the good side of waking up crazy early at the cabin. This is about 5 a.m. Sunday, June 21, on Big Eagle Lake near Big Lake, Minn.

Click the image for a larger version.

Sign spotted on Hamline Avenue just south of Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Check out this old receipt from the St. Paul Daily News.This crumbling piece of paper fell out from behind a trim board that I had removed to install a door bell.

It's interesting in a number of ways. First of all, it's old. There is no specific year listed, but the receipt form says "191__." So unless the paper carrier was using a really outdated pad, this receipt is probably from the 1910s.

I also like the reference to "the boy." No chance a girl would be delivering the paper, I guess. And the prices! Get the paper for $.07 per week or $3.50 a year. Adjusted for inflation using this calculator, that's about $75 per year today.

The St. Paul Daily News is long gone, of course. The St. Paul Public Library informs me here that three publications used the name St. Paul Daily News, but only one was printed during the time indicated on this receipt. That Daily News lived from 1900 to 1938. My house was built in 1903.

Here's a copy of my house's building permit. The Ramsey County Historical Society maintains an archive of permits issued from 1883 to 1975. You can get a copy of a permit for a small fee. Info on the process here.

I just got around to fixing some pocket doors, those big old heavy wooden doors that separate the dining room and living room in Victorian houses. I found this old ad in the dusty area of one of the pockets.

It’s on card stock, so maybe it came in the mail or got handed out somewhere. Who knows how old it is. When did suits cost $25? A quick Google search reveals that the Menter Clothing Company was a Midwest chain.

Here’s the back. It’s interesting to see that the ad gimmicks of yesteryear (fake check that you “cash” when you buy something at the store) are still common today. And it’s effective … when I peered into the pocket with a flashlight, all I could make out was “Pay to the order of.” I had visions of finding a long-lost cashier’s check for $1,000.

The St. Paul Saints minor leage baseball team is one of the wackier franchises in any league. The Saints trot out their pig mascot every game and offer fans Sister Rosalind’s therapeutic massage.

Now the Saints are offering up this doozy: A "bobblefoot" knick knack that ostensibly is a nod to National Tap Dance Day, but is really a thinly veiled tweak of U.S. Larry Craig.

Craig, busted in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, became famous for his toe-tapping "wide stance" in the stall.

Here’s how the Saints tap around their joke in a press release:

‘During the Sunday, May 25 game the first 2,500 fans in attendance will receive a bobblefoot. The design is a bathroom stall, with a foot that peaks out of the bottom and “taps” up and down. The day coincides with National Tap Dance Day.

While many people tap their foot because they are impatient, others may do it because they are nervous. It doesn’t matter if your tapping style is done with a “wide stance” or is used as some sort of code, the Saints are asking all fans to tap to their heart’s content on May 25.’

From New York Times columnist Frank Rich today:

"And then, on Sept. 1, comes the virtually all-white G.O.P. vaudeville in Minneapolis."

Uh, Frank ….

Xcel Energy Center

199 Kellogg Blvd W
St Paul, MN 55102
(651) 265-4800

more info »

Reporter Herbert Morrison’s description of the Hindenburg crash on May 6, 1937, is about as famous as the disaster itself. His urgency and obvious emotion ("Oh, the humanity!") chill listeners even today, 71 years after the airship crashed in Lakehurst, N.J.

But that recognizable high-pitched voice is not what Morrison sounded like. His sound engineer’s recorder was running slow that day, so on playback, Morrison’s voice sounds higher that it should. (The landing was not broadcast live. Morrison was recording the event for broadcast later.)

The video has two versions of the original recording. The first is what you normally hear. The second one is adjusted to lower Morrison’s voice to compensate for the faulty recording equipment. I used audio editing software that allows the pitch of a sound clip to be lowered without changing the playback speed. The adjusted version gives Morrison the deeper voice for which he was known.

Here’s another take on the Hindenburg crash, including both versions of the Morrison recording set to a song called "Que Sera" by Stereo Type.

Minnesota trivia buffs may be interested to note that dirigible maker Ferdinand von Zeppelin spent time as a young man in St. Paul during the Civil War years. The German cavalry officer, in the United States as a foreign Civil War observer, took a tethered balloon ride near the International Hotel and loved it. Much later in life, he’d become a Count — and a builder of dirigibles.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno takes over for Gen. David Patraeus as top U.S. commander in Iraq. Odierno’s been in country since April 2003. Back then, he led the 4th Infantry Division, which originally was supposed to invade Iraq from Turkey as part of a north-south punch into Baghdad.

When Turkey balked at becoming a staging ground for U.S. troops, the 4th ID rerouted its big guns through the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf to Kuwait. The delay cost the 4th ID a chance at glory. The division was still sighting its cannons in the deserts of northern Kuwait when the heavy fighting went down. By the time the 4th ID brought up the rear into Baghdad, the Marines, the 3rd ID and others had done the heavy lifting against Saddam Hussein’s forces. I saw some of the 4th ID’s work as an embedded reporter with the New York Daily News. I was attached to the "divisional tactical" unit, the HQ group from which Odierno and his top aides directed operations.

I left Iraq just as Odierno’s 4th ID was  moving up into Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit. I never knew until I read "Fiasco" by Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks that Odierno would become known as a hard-core general who essentially liked his guys to shoot first and ask questions later. According to Ricks, Odierno shunned the touchy-feely tactics that might have won over a few hearts and minds early in the post-invasion period.

Above is a picture I took of Odierno in April 2003 at Saddam International Airport, since renamed Baghdad International Airport, where the 4th ID and just about everybody else set up shop after the invasion. A nice head shave before a hard day’s work rounding up a few "dead enders."   

Here’s a fun video remaking the Sopranos intro with scenes from the Twin Cities. Check out Eluko79 YouTube channel for other Minnesota-based videos.