River Rats and Bumble Bees

It's almost 2 miles from the Hennepin Bridge in downtown Minneapolis to the Broadway Bridge. I've been walking that route a few times each week in the last month.  The Twin Cities River Rats waterski group put out their rafts a few weeks ago. They give shows up there on Thursday nights during the summer months.  Maybe I'll go up there next week to watch it.

 
So I was up there a few weeks ago and it looked pretty bad.  My goal was to walk this stretch and see what I could accomplish before the 4th of July weekend.

Of course first I usually have to check on the beach that is closest to home.  This was blooming by the water.  Have not been able to identify it on the Minnesota wildflowers website.

Yesterday there was a lot of broken glass all over the concrete sitting area across from the Federal Reserve Bank building.  More than I had ever seen before.  Party the night before I guess.  A couple of folks were organizing a kayak tour and had all their boats laid out waiting for the people to arrive.  That's a nasty way for things to look when your business is getting people out on the river.

On another day, just north of Bassett Creek I checked in on Fisherman's Point and collected a bag of stuff.  There was a pair of sunglasses (my second pair in a week) plus a full bottle of spray paint and some batteries.  I think I have found about 8 pairs of glasses in the past year.

At the top of the stairs going down to Fisherman's Point was this little wildflower.  I think this is a Creeping Bellflower and unfortunately it is considered to be an invasive species and hard to get rid of once it is established.

This is a baby diaper I found along the shore.  It takes 450 years for that to decompose in a land fill. I know that because I won a prize for knowing the answer to that at a training at Snelling State Park.  Who doesn't love prizes!

I found three pieces of Styrofoam laying in this patch of Crown Vetch.  I took it but later after looking at this photo realized that someone was probably using this as a place to sleep.  Sorry. Crown Vetch is a plant that is everywhere.  Take a look at the roadways next time you are out driving around the Twin Cities. It is an invasive species that spreads and turns everything into a monoculture. There is a group that is working with the park service to remove this stuff from Mill Ruins Park. They meet every other Saturday in the morning.



Crown Vetch has not taken over everything on "The Stretch" and there are plenty of other wildflowers in bloom.  These are Grey Headed Coneflowers.

These are some interesting little guys: Purple Prairie Clover.

There were bees all over these plants, Wild Bergamot or Bee Balm.

I saw more than one variety of bee on my walk yesterday.  The giant Bumble Bees were loving these thistles.  I have been following a local nonprofit group on Facebook called Neighbors for a Pesticide Free Minneapolis.  They have some very informative articles on getting our city free from pesticides, pollinator health, etc.



The kayak group finally caught up with me up river.

I rolled that tire up to one of the Park and Rec trash cans.  Hello little dolly, goodbye dolly.

Located one ski from last week's water ski show!  I left it there in the weeds for them to find.  Hint: it's just south of the little blue stairs.

Last bag of the day.  Time to walk home.  Taking that little blue hand home with me.