Out in Left Northfield

Continuing in the observational vein, a few things recently seen around Carleton and Northfield.

1. The giant table and chairs which three seniors put up as a prank.

2. A couple weeks back, as I was stopped at the exit to the parking lot, a loud car came barrelling down First Street toward me. It looked like the kind of beater that would have a bad driver at the wheel, so I didn't chance crossing the street. And good thing: he slowed when he saw me, then gunned it when he saw I was giving him the right of way, and the acceleration caused a full-size Weber grill, jammed into the open trunk, to fall out with a horrific clatter, spilling briquettes, ash, grill tools, and the grill rack right in front of me. The car hadn't even stopped when the passenger leapt out to stick the grill, tools, and rack back in the trunk.

3. A small John Deere tractor - the farm kind, not the lawn kind - puttering down the street in front of our house, driven by a very fat shirtless man.

4. Students playing afternoon cricket matches on the Bald Spot over the last few weeks. The headlong motion entailed by delivering the ball to the batter is terrifying: it looks like the bowler is going to fly right into the batsman and get a bat in the head. Interestingly, most of the players looked to be white and probably American; there were just one or two South Asians on the pitch.

5. A student riding his bike at a good clip while using one hand to hold his cell phone to his ear and the other to carry an unlidded cup of coffee. No, his bike didn't appear to have a coaster brake.

6. Driving back home from the Arb on Sunday evening, I had to wait until a massive turkey-hauling truck jake-braked down the hill past my stop sign, then drove back up the hill through a half-mile cloud of white turkey feathers. Didja know Minnesota produces more turkeys than any other state in the Union? Gobble gobble.