Going to Winstock

This weekend I'll be heading off to the Winstock Country Music Festival. Here's the line up:

Winstock 2006 Schedule

Thursday, June 8, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. - Winsted Fire Dept. Spaghetti Dinner near the beer tent with music by The Beer Daddys

Friday, June 9,
4:30 p.m. - White Creek
6:35 p.m. - Roy Clark
8:40 p.m. - Phil Vassar

10:45 p.m. - Lonestar

Saturday, June 10
12:45 p.m. - Diamondback
2:50 p.m. - Jamie O'Neal
4:55 p.m. - Charlie Daniels
7 p.m. - Blake Shelton
9:05 p.m. - Terri Clark
10:30 p.m. - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Emerging Artists Stage
Friday, June 9
5:45 p.m. - The Law
7:50 p.m. - Shannon Brown
9:55 p.m. - Shannon Brown

Saturday, June 10
11 a.m. - Pre-show beer tent bash with music by White Creek
2 p.m. - The Lost Trailers
4:05 p.m. - The Lost Trailers
6:10 p.m. - Little Big Town
8:15 p.m. - Little Big Town

Maggie's Puppies recap

I recieved this photo and the following email from my friend Ellie last night:

"This is Jimbo saying his farewell to Thor. He got to spend the night and tonight he is with his new family in Maple Plain - he has a 2 year old girl and an 8 month old boy to take care of. His Mommy and Daddy (Jimmy is his Father's Day present) are very nice - so excited that they showed up to get him 2 hours early! Since they are avid Nascar fans, his new name is Bristol. It seems very lonely here tonight- we were getting ready to keep him...

So to recap - KimKay is named Abbey Kay with David, Jimmy is Bristol, Frank is in Aitkin now known as Louie, Greenie is in Brooklyn Park called Elphaba, Brutus , my favorite, is in Buffalo - hope he is OK - I will have to call her..."

More Trout pictures

The trip out to Trout is always fun. As you can see by these photos we haul a canoe on our boats to Trout Lake so we can use them to paddle into Little Trout Lake. Anthony (my little boat) has a new addition this year. Makita and Mike built him the "aircraft carrier" for Al to ride on. This makes it really nice to travel across Lake Vermilion and Trout. You can also see that sweet Maggie May got to come with us on our adventure. She's a good dog.
Here's Maggie May on a canoe ride during a firewood hauling expedition.
And my friend Ellie caught this nice walleye in Little Trout. She's a great angler. And a great fish fryer. Here she is just a frying away over the fire one evening.
Makita is outdone by Miss Ellie on this particular outing.....

Back from Trout

Look at all them walleyes. We had pretty good luck fishing. We had more fish than we knew what to do with. Stay tuned this week for more pictures of the Trout trip.

Heading for Trout

It's finally time to get back into the woods. These are shots from last years Memorial trip to Trout Lake in the BWCA. It's me and my son Mike heading out in Anthony (the little 14 foot boat with a 25 horse motor) bringing along Al (the 17 foot aluminum canoe) for an all out adventure. We take the boat as far as we can, setup camp and then paddle in even further to fish. It's awesome and I can't wait to get back out there again. This year Mike is not able to go as he's still in school, so Makita will be back in the stern working on his "J" stroke. Ellie and Dave will be going as well and kicking our butts in both paddling and fishing as usual. Look for photos next week of this years Memorial/Trout Adventure.

Beautiful Beach

Atlantic? Pacific? Indian or Baltic? Nope...Lake Michigan. This beautiful beach is just down the road from Vickie and Ted's home in Holland Michigan. It's awesome. The sand is unbelievable.

New Holland Brewing Company

You won't find it in Minnesota yet but if you ever get to Michigan you'll want to sample the taste of New Holland Beer. That's just what I got the pleasure of doing while there last week. Ted Cothran, my friend Vickie Morgan's husband, is a brewer at NHBC and he took us to the New Holland Brewing Company's Restaurant and Pub. While we were there he treated us to samples of many of their brews. My favorite was Sundog Amber Ale. They have quite a few seasonal brews of interest. The Red Tulip is a deep ruby red ale and is only available from March 1 - May (tulip time) and an Ichabod Pumkin Ale only available from Labor Day to Thanksgiving (I'd like to try that one!!)

Ted also showed us around and told us how they make the beer. It was very interesting. Ted even sent me home with a few bottles. I should have taken a bigger suitcase. You can visit their website at: newhollandbrew.com

Mike's Graduation

Whey...2006 acedemic year is finally wrapping up. Mike received his AAS in Criminal Justice from Central Lakes College last night. He still has a couple weeks of Hibbing College Law Enforcement Skills yet but it's getting close to concluding. Great job Mike! What a great mothers day present!

Tulip Time in Holland....

Holland Michigan that is. I just happened to be working in Holland this week during Tulip Time. In addition to the excitement of visiting there during Tulip Time, my friend Vickie Morgan lives there as well. I haven't seen Vickie in seven years. So there was a lot of catching up to do.
Vickie and her husband Ted sitting among some of the tulips in downtown Holland.
A family dressed in Dutch costumes for the occasion. I don't know who they are. There were bunches and bunches of people dressed up. Mostly women. Some of the women were dressed in men's costumes because, in Ted's words, "the men aren't going to get dressed up in those stupid outfits".

Ellie's most recent masterpiece

Ellie is getting so good at her stained glass. I'm not going to lie to you, when she said she was going to stained glass class, I thought "what in the hell are you ever going to do with that"? But as usual, she continues to surprise me. This is her most recent masterpiece. She custom made it to fit in her window in her newly remodeled bathroom. It is gorgous. Another job well done. Bravo. 

Mike gets maced!

All in the name of learning, here is my son Mike getting sprayed with mace as part of his Law Enforcement Skills class. He is just about finished with his Criminal Justice Classes at Central Lakes College. His graduation is this Thursday night. He will graduating from the Law Enforcement Skills course from Hibbing Community College on May 26th. He will take his Minnesota Post Test to become a license law enforcement officer on June 16th. His super kick'n graduation party will be Saturday July 1st. We're pretty proud of him. He's worked really hard to finish these courses and will be graduating on the Presidents list from CLC. 

Big Ole Brutus

Here's big ole Brutus last weekend. He's sooo cute and really really cool. Next Tuesday the pups get their shots and will be ready to go home with their new parents on Wednesday. Greenie, Jimmy and Brutus are still for sale. I think that if no one scoops up Brutus, Ellie and Dave might not mind keeping him. Kimmy Kay is going to Dave Jr.'s. I wonder what he'll name her??? I'm going to continue to call her Kimmy. Her mom's name is Maggie May...why not Kimmy Kay? 

Rainy, cold weekend

This past weekend was a good old April weekend with those famous April showers and nice cool temps that forced me to bring out the long johns again. Along with the Hopps, we drove all the way up to Chippawa National Forest by Effie and found the campgrounds closed. So we ended up at Scenic State Park out of Big Fork. There was only one other camper in the park besides the two of ours all weekend. We had a good time making big fires and visiting with the Hopps. Mary Poppins or Robin Hopp? Hard to tell.


Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya, Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya. Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya. Oh Lord kumbaya. Someone's crying my Lord, kumbaya. Someone's crying my Lord, kumbaya. Someone's crying my Lord, kumbaya. Oh Lord kumbaya

Right after the changing of the guards in front of the Royal Castle of Kim. (No the awning isn't broken....it's raining and we don't want the water to build up on it).

Happy 15th Birthday Matt!

Today is my nephew Matt's 15th Birthday. Happeeeeee birthdayyyyyy toooooooo youuuuuuu!

Meet Abby Kay

My friend Robin just got her new Yorkie Terrier, Abby. And of course the perfect middle name for a cute, sweet, gentle animal is Kay. Abby is really little and really funny.

Splitting wood

Last Sunday ...after digging the crap trap, we proceeded to split wood. Look out Paul Bunyan, we're kicking butt. Okay...I'm simply running the machine but hey my friends are really kicking butt. 

Digg'n the crapper hole

Here's a glamorous job! Kurt and Makita digging the crapper hole at Thor last Sunday, April 23rd. Looks like Dave Boeckermann is supervising. Believe me, when this project was completed the "facility" was a fit for a king (or queen). 

Kyle and the puppies

Kyle got to go on a field trip saturday to the Boeckermann's to meet the puppies. He had a great time! They seemed to really like him too.

Kyle and Lindsey

Kyle and I went home Friday night from the hospital and watched the blue stuff out of his hair. Then we watched the new Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which, by the way, is a bit different than the first one). The next morning Kyle just couldn't hardly wait to get back to see his sister Lindseyand to hold her again.

New Grandaughter

Here she is! She finally arrived at 5:46 pm on Friday April 21st. Lindsey Elizabeth Dieter weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and is 20 inches long. Her brother Kyle (who has blue hair due to "Wacky Hair Day" at school yesterday) is sure proud to be holding her!

The-Wnuks.blogspot.com

My sister Lorrie has a blog now.

There is a link here on my blog sight or you can login directly at the-wnuks.blogspot.com

Busy weekend...

Well the camper went on it's 2006 maiden voyage. As you can see here, Sadie thought the front storage compartment was a dog house. It was a great weekend for camping. The weather was awesome. The park was empty. There was only one other site that had people in it besides us.
Then yesterday afternoon we went over to Ellie and Dave's and colored Easter eggs (me, Davey and Ellie hard at it) and Ellie cooked a turkey with all the fix'ns. Oh wow was it delicous. She's a great cook. I stuffed myself.
And of course there was much playing with the puppies. They are three weeks old today. They are between 5 and 6 pounds now. Brutus and Kimmy Kay are the two biggies. Here's a picture of Ellie with Brutus (it's her favorite).
Here's a picture of all five pups sleeping. Brutus is the big pig that piled up on top of the rest of them. If you look close you'll see the one up on top has their tongue sticking out. That's either Jim or Greenie. Hard to tell.

Hoppy Easter

 

This and That...

The weather has been really awesome here. Yesterday saw temps in the 70's again. I've been messing around with the new camper, getting it ready to take out. Maybe this weekend will be the first voyage for the year??? I still have a little work to do to get it completely ready. I also need to bring home the old camper and sell it. It's been out at mom and Jerry's for the winter. I just need to get it here so I can show it to anyone interested. I put together a blog just for that camper, so interested parties could go there first and take a peek at it. The address is playmorcamper.blogspot.com

Next Friday, the 21st, we are expecting Lindsay Elizabeth to come join us. Lindsay is my new grandaughter. Her mom, Jessi, is being induced early that morning. So be prepared for pictures of her. It seems like we've been waiting forever for her.

I haven't heard any news about the puppies since Sunday. At that time they were opening their eyes some. Actually Kimmy Kay (aka: Fat Kim) opened hers last Friday. I knew she would be the more progressed one.

In honor of her 40th birthday, my sister Lorrie went and got a tattoo this past week. I'll post a picture of it soon. It's pretty cool.

The Twins won two in a row now against the Athletics. That brings them up to a 3-5 record. And it actually moved them up one place from the bottom in their division. Today at 1pm they play a third game against the A's. Then look out, here comes the Yankees, tomorrow through Sunday.

Twins Opener

Today is the Minnesota Twins Home Opener game against the Oakland Athletics. The ceremonial first pitches will be thrown by the children of Kirby Puckett, Catherine and Kirby Jr. Part of the ceremonies will include the introduction of the #34 patches that Twins players will wear on their uniforms all season. Today there will also be the number 34 painted in centerfield. On field ceremonies start at 6:35 pm with Twins pitcher Brad Radke starting against A's pitcher Dan Haren at 7:10 pm.

The Twins are currently in last place in the American League, Central Division with a 1-5 record. Lets hope being at home under the dome will bring some life to the team. After this three game series with Oakland, Minnesota faces the Yankees and that hunk/trader Johnny Damon, starting this Friday for another three game series at home. Then with one day off (Monday) they stay at home for another three games against the LA Angles.

LET'S PLAY BALL!

Quiet my ass...

Saturday night I went to the worst concert ever. Slaughter (awful) and Quiet Riot. It was at the Northern Lights Casino (great acoustics....NOT). I had a stabbing pain in my right eyebrow for the next 30 hours. I was the driver so I couldn't even drink myself into pretending it was okay. If you want a sample of the music (music...that's a stretch) go to kevindubrow.com (at your own risk). And if you think that's bad try playing some Slaughter. I think I'll stick to my country.

Pups at 10 days old

It's hard to tell, but I'm holding three of the five pups here. Frank, the chocolate, is hiding. Frank actually isn't Frank anymore. A nice family, the Ryans, have spoken for Frank and have renamed him Lewie. So from now on that's what it'll be...Lewie. These little fellows have more than doubled in weight in 10 days. Next week their eyes should be open and they'll be causing all kinds of havoc. Maggie is already showing signs that she'd like to get her old life back.