I took the pontoon back to La Canne’s for winterization and storage. I got it out on May 10th this year for 127 days on the water. With the flooding this year we have done very little boating. I tried to avoid the rain but ended up getting pretty soaked on the ride in.

Pontoon boat bow with gray upholstered seating and gear on deck, gliding across a calm lake under overcast skies.Pontoon boat bow facing a low concrete road bridge over calm green water on an overcast day, trees lining both shoresLog cabin with red metal roof beside a calm lake, small dock with life ring at water's edge, overcast skyMan in a wide-brim hat and plaid shirt takes a selfie on a pontoon boat on a calm misty lake under overcast skies.

After our TeamSPS Kubb Tournament a small group of us had a pickup game that was awesome. We had all 10 kubbs in play!

Four men playing Kubb on a city lawn, one mid-throw rolling a wooden baton toward a cluster of standing wooden blocks.

Tyler's Gaming PC: GPU Unlocked!

Tyler hit his savings milestone yesterday so today we went to Microcenter to get the GPU for his gaming rig. A short while later he was carrying out a PURE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT 16GB eager to get it setup.

This is another one of those moments where I realize so much has changed in the last 20+ years since I built my own PCs. These graphics cards or more appropriately classified as a whole computer on a PCI-E card. Three fans, massive heatsink, and its own power connections.

He got it in mostly on his own and got the drivers installed. Minutes later he was getting high 200 frames per second on some test games, even hitting over 300 fps at some times. The quality of the graphics is amazing. 🤩

Sapphire Radeon RX 7800 XT white GPU installed in a white PC case alongside a large CPU air cooler and case fans Sapphire Pure Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU installed in a white PC case surrounded by RGB rainbow-lit case fans

Sidewalk poetry found in Northfield in and around this mornings 5k.

Poem stamped into a concrete sidewalk reading The whistled tune travels along the sidewalk stepping up up up down up jaunty as the man who follows Poem about sidewalk squares etched into a concrete slab beside a grassy strip with fallen leaves. Poem titled Contents of the Angels Pocket engraved into a concrete sidewalk slab bordered by grass

We all completed the Defeat of Jesse James Days 5k Run/Walk and had a grand time. Tiffany and I walked the course in 57 minutes. Everyone else ran it and Tammy and Mazie put in better times than they expected! Tyler had some cramping that made him have to take some breaks.

Five people wearing Outlaw Run race bibs and finisher medals pose together on a downtown Northfield street after a 5k race.

Our neighborhood. 52nd Street, Lynnhurst.

Tree-lined residential sidewalk with an American flag hanging vertically from a large tree in front of a two-story home.

In our neighborhood the Taschler’s host an annual Fry Party. What is that? They fire up multiple fryers and the guests bring fun things to fry. We brought Twinkies. Fried Dill Pickles were popular. I tried a Fried Peppermint Patty. It was a fun evening and Tyler and Mazie got to help the hosts!

Person using a red-handled basket to fry food in a commercial deep fryer outdoors, with paper plates and spice bottle nearby. Outdoor patio table covered with labeled plates of fried foods including pickle dip wontons, fried chicken bites, a veggie tray, cheeseballs, and flowers. Outdoor fry party setup with two electric deep fryers, a bowl of batter, and an open bag of food on a folding table in a backyard. Spicy chicharrones piled on a paper towel on a dark plate outdoors, seasoned with chili powder and hot sauce

See also 2012 Fry Party.

You would be hard set to find a better desert than Pizzeria Lola’s warm Chocolate Chip Cookies and Fresh S’more Cookies with delicious soft serve ice cream drizzled with olive oil.

Warm chocolate s'more cookies topped with toasted marshmallows on a plate beside chocolate chip cookies with milk and soft serve ice cream drizzled with olive oil

Tyler's Playdate Game: The 5 Piece Sword

The most open of the Summer Challenges I gave Tyler was to create a Playdate Experience. No requirements other than something that could be played on the Playdate and created in Pulp. Tyler really got into this and created a full interactive game experience — The 5 Piece Sword. 🗡️

He wrote additional blog posts on the simple enemies in the game, how the heart system for health works, and the spikes and spike balls in the game.

The game is fun to play and has a lot of challenging levels. He’s still crafting the final boss stage and at that point he may publish the file so others could load it. Nicely done! 👏