Meet Mojo

Rhonda sent me a photo of Mojo so we could all see how small and cute he is.

Catching up...

My sisters good friend Bobbi Meyer, whom I've met and adore has lymphoma and is in Denver getting a stem cell transplant. Yesterday she lapsed into a coma and is on a respirator. Her temp at one time had spiked to 104. Let's keep our fingers crossed. She's been fighting very hard for a very long time. She deserves a break! Lorrie is driving down there tomorrow to be with her.

Last night was Fellowship. We went to Grizzlies for wings. Then we went over to Black Bear and Mac sang Karaoke. Everyone showed up this week. Jen's ultrasound shows that little Kimmy has a peepee.

Bill and Rhonda got a new kitty. Mojo. Haven't seen him yet. Don't have a picture to share.

I've adopted a new soldier. My previous Soldier, James, who was stationed at Camp Victory in Baghdad was sent home at the end of January. My new soldier is Estella and she's stationed at COB Summers in Iraq.

My brother is leaving on March 7th to go to Virgina for a couple weeks of training and then off to Afghanistan. He bought a new laptop to take with him, so maybe we can communicate easier with that. It will depend on the Internet service there in Kabul.

My daughter Tonya got into a car accident 50 feet from my house yesterday morning. She had her three kids and Kyle in the vehicle. All where fine. Airbags didn't go off. But I have no idea how her van is???? Okay I hope.

Saturday we're heading down to Benson for my brother's going away party. Should be a good time. He's been sick so I hope he snaps out of it before I get there.

St. Patricks day is all set for St. Paul again. Wild and Av's play that night. Can't wait! Sad part is Lorrie and Brad won't be able to come this year. Won't be the same.

Welcome Nakita

The Boeckermann's welcomed their new addition, Nakita, in to their home last night. She's eight weeks old. She's a handful. She's a cutie!

Superbowl Party

The Superbowl party was a good time. We all were equipted with the 3-D glasses for the halftime commercial. Here's Rhonda, Bill and Mitch.
Here's Robin and Ellie (both were traders and were rooting for the Steelers).
Dan Goshey was looking sharp in his 3-D specks.

Makita grilled hotwings for the shindig. It was up around 25 degrees I think.

Last nights Fellowship was pretty quiet. Nice and relaxing. Makita worked up in Lakeshore and Moon was a no show, so there was just five of us.

This photo I commandeered from my sister Lorrie's blog. It's my niece Erin with her new puppy Mason. Erin got Mason for Christmas. How darn cute are they? Mason is a weenie. Or maybe a doberman? My mom will remember when she took us kids to get a wiener dog puppy and it grew up to be a doberman (with long floppy ears and a killer long tail). Bootsie (how gay is that for a boy dog) got run over by the cop that lived down the street from us. Bootsie had a little car chasing problem. Bye bye Bootsie. Oh well. Mason won't have much opportunity to chase cars up on Casper Mountain. Nice life for canine and human alike.

I watched Scott last night on "Without a Trace". He played Detective Wayne Stevens. He was really good. Kind of a bad ass cop.

Tonight Fellowship resumes at Grizzlys. Wings Wednesday. Good stuff. Jen's birthday is fast approaching. She's a Ground Hogs Day baby.

It's still below zero. You hate to be the complainer but good
golly Molly. Last night when we went shopping for stuff for the Superbowl party it was 1 above and I thought we were in a major thaw. It's getting ridiculous.

Dad is stopping by this afternoon so we can work out a "plan" for installing a closet door in my bedroom.

This dog has no association to anything.

Scott MacDonald

Scott MacDonald, brother to my buddy Mac (Colin MacDonald), whom is an official member of the Fellowship, will be appearing on CBS "Without A Trace" tonight at 9:00 PM CST. "Without a Trace is a riveting drama about the New York Missing Persons Squad of the FBI. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons, by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques to peel back the layers of the victims' lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they have been abducted, been murdered, committed suicide or simply run away. The team reconstructs a "day of disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance and digs into every facet of the victim's life, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is".

Scott's made lots of TV appearances and has been in some movies as well. You can see an entire listing of his work at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531924/

You may remember him from Bud Light Ladies Night back in the day (big guy on the left with dark hair).

Weekend's Gone

NHL All Star Game

Final score, 12 to 11 East. What a high scoring game. It ended in dramatic fashion when the East took it in a shootout. Alexei Kovaleu, of the Mondreal Canadiens, earned MVP after making 2 goals in regulation and one in the shootout. Alex was on his home ice and his mvp acheivment won him a new 2009 Honda Ridgeline truck.

Backstrom (MN Wild) was in the net for the second period. He saved 17 shots and surrendered 4.

Hejduk (Col Av's) had one goal and two assists.

Over the weekend I painted my bedroom. It turned out interesting. I thought I had picked out a nice, mellow, light, warm yellow which turned out to look like "Lemon Yikes" when it went on the wall. I think I'll learn to like it. I'm calling it my sunshine room. It's just about done. Dad's going to help me put in a much needed closet door. For over 8 years I've had curtains hanging where doors should have been. But of course the opening isn't standard and it will need some serious carpentry work. I'll keep you posted on how that projects goes.

The ice auger is still at Doc Pete's. It will be summer before we get out fishing.

TGIF

Well another week has pasted by. This weekend I'm going to take on the project of painting my bedroom. That should be a hoot. The ice auger is still at Doc Pete's. And besides that it's going to be very cold and windy this weekend. So we'll probably not get out ice fishing.

Next weekend is Superbowl. We'll be gathering at Makita's to watch the game on the big 42 incher. Kurt Warner is my man! Go red birdies.

My brother Bob and his family are suppose to come up to Brainerd next weekend. Bob is leaving on March 7th to go to Afganistan and work for 12 months. So it will be nice to see him before he leaves. Maybe he can stick around for the Superbowl party.

Fellowship got a bit messed up this past week. We moved it to Tuesday and only Stella, Makita and myself showed up. So it's back to stay on Wednesdays. Stella wanted to watch Lost on Wednesdays, so she'll either have to record it or miss Fellowship. Makita works most Wednesdays so he'll be missing out too. But I guess that's the way it goes. We'll toast whomever can't make it as well as Helen!

NHL All Star Game

This weekend the NHL takes a break for the All Star Game in Montreal. The Avs have one player making an appearance, right wing Milan Hejduk. The Wild have one All Star Player in goalie Niklas Backstrom (whom they are considering trading....). Neither player is a starter. As a matter of fact all the Western Conference starters are from either Anaheim or Chicago.

Saturday Jan 24th 6:00 PM CST NHL Super Skills.
Sunday Jan 25th 5:00 PM CST NHL All Star Game.
Both on Versus.

U.S. Has A New President

As I write this I'm listening to Obama's Inaugural Speech. I'm trying to stay focused but after ten minutes all I hear is "blah blah blah".

One thing I thought was cool was that Obama's luncheon will sport some of the same menu items as President Lincoln's Inaugural Luncheon. First, a seafood stew. The main course, pheasant and duck served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes. As for dessert, the Obama lunch will end with an apple cinnamon sponge cake topped with sweet cream glace. I'm having leftover Hamburger Helper.

Long Weekend

Friday night we went to the radio station's Christmas party over at The Lodge. We got into the wine that was set out on the tables. It actually was pretty good. I especially liked it. We ended up at Sheps before going home. I sorta remember eating a potpie at 1 o'clock in the morning.

Saturday we went to Walmart so I could stock up on supplies. I was down to my last two squares of toilet paper. Walmart on Saturday is like the dentist with no Novocaine. But the temps outside climbed to around 20 above. That was so nice.

Saturday night we went over to Dave and Ellie's. Ellie made a "Big Pizza". I had never had "Big Pizza". I guess it's a secret family recipe and they don't usually serve it to guests. Well let me tell you, it was a very big pizza and it was delicious. But one piece and you are really full.

The photo here is of me having a bonding (kissing) moment with Maggie (you can plainly see she's very much in love me). She has blown out her ACL in one of her back legs. You can see they have her rigged up in some fancy brace from Doc Hanson (used to be "Hundred and Eighty Dollar Hanson" but those days are gone. I think it's somewhere around "Six Hundred Dollar Hanson" now). Anyway I felt that some bonding was necessary to make her feel better. So I got down there and administered some.

Sunday we were going to go ice fishing. We got everything ready and the auger wasn't running right. So it's off to Doc Pete. Maybe next weekend. So we ended up going to the movie "Mall Cop". It was silly and cute.

Today, being a holiday, I'm not working but instead doing some much needed house work. I finished the 10th Lee Child's Jack Reacher book "The Hard Way" this morning. I have the 11th, "Bad Luck and Trouble", I'll start tonight. Then I need to find #12 "Nothing to Lose" and #13 "Gone Tomorrow". Great series.

Let me Tell you About the Gar

To my doubtful Fellowship friends, let me introduce you to the Gar.

"Longnose Gar" Lepisosteus osseous / Other names: Needle nose gar, billfish, Billy gar / Status: Texas nongame fish / Description: Lepisosteus is Greek, meaning "bony scale," and osseous is Latin, meaning "of bone." Longnose gar are distinguished from other gar species found in Texas by the long snout whose length is at least 10 times the minimum width. / Angling Importance: Longnose gar may be captured by entangling the teeth in nylon threads, or by bowfishing. In Texas, specimens in excess of 80 pounds have been landed using a bow and arrow. Biology: Spawning activity occurs as early as April, in shallow riffle areas. Females, typically the larger sex, may be accompanied by one or many males. Although nests are not prepared, gravel is swept somewhat by the spawning action itself. Each female may deposit a portion of her eggs at several different locations. The adhesive eggs are mixed in the gravel, hatching in six to eight days. Yolk-sac fry have an adhesive disc on their snouts by which they attach themselves to submerged objects until the yolk sac is absorbed. Fry feed primarily on insect larvae and small crustaceans such as water fleas. Fish appear in the diet very early. Longnose gar are typically associated with backwaters, low inflow pools and moderately clear streams. They often do very well in man-made impoundments. / Distribution: Longnose gar range widely throughout the eastern US and north into southern Quebec. The species is especially common in the Mississippi River drainage and in the Carolinas. It may be found as far south and west as the Rio Grande drainage in Mexico, Texas and New Mexico. Longnose gar appear in most Texas rivers.

From the Brainerd Dispatch: "School has been canceled for several area schools Thursday as the Brainerd lakes area braces for continued bitterly cold arctic air and strong winds.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Brainerd, Crosby-Ironton, Pequot Lakes, Pillager, Pine River-Backus school districts, along with Emily Charter School and Crosslake Community School, canceled school for Thursday. Other area school district officials said they are considering the possibility after the National Weather Service issued a wind chill warning in effect from 6 p.m. Wednesday until noon Thursday.

According to the National Weather Service, wind chills Wednesday night will range from 25-45 below and may continue until early Friday. Thursday's wind chill may drop as low as 43 below. On Friday temperatures are expected to rise above zero with a high near 5.

The lowest air temperature ever recorded in Brainerd was at 51 below in 1996. Brainerd's record for consecutive days at 25 below or lower was 12 days in a row in 1977, according to NWS meteorologist Amanda Graning."


Yippy Ki Aye! Not going to break my stride...Fellowship tonight at Grizzly's.

This and That....

This past weekend I came down with a bit of a cold. But that seems to be behind me now. It probably has nothing to do with the fact it's below zero every stink'n day.

We went down to Ryan and Bria's and heisted the Pickled Bean recipe. .
If you've never had a Makita Bloody Mary with a Ryan Pickled Bean, you haven't had a Bloody Mary. But they are not for the weak and meek. They're a bit on the "OMG" spicey side.

Mike's 26th birthday was this past Saturday. Here he is in the BWCA during a warmer, softer water time.

Got the Turtle

This morning Brainerd Power and Light changed out my water and electrical meters. These new meters have the ability to take readings and send them back to the electrical company through the power line(called the Turtle). The Turtle was invented and developed right here in Pequot Lakes by Hunt Technology many moons ago. Power companies all over the world use it now. Funny it took this long to get it here in Brainerd.
I was a little excited to learn they were coming to my place because I'm getting ready to change out my fuse box (yes... fuses) to breakers. I'm told that's how you get to be 100 amp service. Well so far four people have looked at my fuse box and not one of them can tell me for sure if it's 60 amps or 100 amps. This would include the two guys that came here today from the power company. So there seems to be some confusion about what exactly I have going on here. My garage, which feeds off my house, is 100 amp. So if you are an electrician please call. I'm obviously in need of an expert.

Fellowship at Sheps

Last night Fellowship was held at Shep's. We had a couple brewski's and some pizza. Gotta love the Loyal Order of Elbows. I'm number 3054. Currently there are over 14,000 Elbows.

We're Having a Heat Wave

This morning us hearty Brainerd Minnesotans were greeted with 12 degrees ABOVE zero. Now folks, that's a heat wave. Actually it's a 36 degree difference from the same time yesterday morning. 36 degrees. That's like the same difference between 40 and 76 degrees. Huge. But let's try to simmer down. There's still a whole lot of winter left.

Fellowship Adventure to North Dakota

First stop, after traveling through a blizzard for four hours, was Whitey's Wonderbar. It's a fairly historic place that was actually moved a few blocks after the flood of 1997. http://www.whiteyscafe.com/



We caught bus #7 at one of the local establishments. That bus took us right up to the front door of the Engelstad Arena. But upon departing the arena, bus #7 drove away, with us chasing it. Evidently the "bus was full". So we hitched a ride with Shannon on bus #17. Thanks Shannon. You rock! http://www.theralph.com/

The game was a lot of fun. North Dakota beat Bemidji in overtime. We loved our seats. They were right on the red line. A ways up (top row) but awesome all the same.

We visited a bunch of local bars after the game. We ended up at a little hole in the wall joint for what they call "grinders". Good stuff at 1am!

More Snow on the Horizon

Good Golly Molly. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the 6 inches of snow we're suppose to get tomorrow. The banks are over my head and I just can't pile it any higher. I'll have to go to plan B. Not sure what that is exactly but it's going to require moving those huge snow banks further back or something. Snowblower is still broke. Waiting for part. And if it would stay above zero for a couple days, that would be nice.

We're suppose to be traveling to Grand Forks tomorrow. We'll have to play it by ear. They've issued a Winter Storm Watch.

Bringing in the New Year

Here's the Fellowship, minus Mac (who made an appearance with Deb in tow, but opted to leave before the real fun started). Nick looks almost angelic. Or maybe re- birthing from the womb.

Stella brought the head gear and Makita brought the champagne. Evidently men over 25 cannot simply wear the head gear. They must make it into something more weird than it already is. Like Renaissance gear.

And if you're wondering, I made it 18 minutes after the ball dropped before the f bomb dropped. Resolutions and rehab are for quiters.

New Phone

After 4 and a half years I gave up my "anchor" phone and got me a Samsung Rant. It's so advanced in comparison I'm still trying to figure out how to simply make a call. It has unlimited texting, Internet, TV, GPS, email, photo sharing, blah blah blah. Lots of interesting things. I also joined the Sprint family. Now I'm an official Nascar Redneck. The coverage is a little better up North of here and the same everywhere else. And the best part is, I'm not paying anymore than I was with the anchor.

Another good feature is the auto locking keys. After just a few seconds the keys lock themselves. That means, hopefully, I won't accidentaly call anyone anymore. Like 911 from the toilet in Target. OOOOOPPPPS. Those dispatchers have very little sense of humor.

New Year Resolutions

Do you have your list of New Year Resolutions? Most folks have at least a couple things they'd like to change and what better time than at the start of a brand new year. So as 2009 kicks off this week what's on your list?

Well the number one thing most people put on their list has something to do with weight loss or fitness. I'd have to say that would include me. I'd love to get in shape and be more healthy. Sounds like work though.

How about finances? Lots of folks list items related to finances. Maybe lower their debt or save money. Yeah, yeah.... I'll work on that.

Some people list quit smoking or quit drinking. I conquered smoking almost 11 years ago and you can bet that quitting drinking is not on my list.

Last year on top of my list was to slow down on the potty mouth. That lasted until I had my first drink. Hmmmmm. May or may not try that one again.

How about learning something new. Okay, I'll bite. Something new. Hmmmmm. Got it. I'll learn to eat with chopsticks.


So in summary, I'm going to drink, swear and eat with chopsticks in 2009. Oh yeah, and maybe save some money and lose some fat. Although I doubt either of those items will happen. My only hope for losing fat is the chopsticks. Maybe I'll starve myself half to death trying to eat with them. And with drinking comes loss of money and gain of fat...completely the opposite of what I want to accomplish. I'm starting to think I may not be as devoted to my list as one should be.

Happy New Year Everyone and good luck with your list!

Vikings Win NFC North Title and Advance to the Playoffs

After a very very close game yesterday against the NY Giants, the Minnesota Vikings win the NFC North in the final seconds. At that point we knew that MN would be going into the playoff's due to Chicago's loss to Houston. But it was sweet to see them take the title. They'll move on to play Phili on Sunday night at 3:30 pm Central time.

Merry Christmas

Vikings Suck. Packers Suck

That's all I have to say about that.

Anchorage Alaska

Well it looks a lot like Minnesota except with Mountains. Brrrrrrrrr. My friend, Marcia Chase, took these photos last week while she is up in Anchorage working at KAFC/KATB. I suppose she thinks it's cold up there. Originally from Wisconsin, Marcia now lives in Alabama and is rather spoiled with the warmer climate down there.

http://www.katb.org/

My Bright Idea

Why the hell don't the oil companies loan the auto makers the money they need? They make more in PROFITS in one quarter than GM and Chrysler are asking for. And it's only a loan. It's not like they won't pay it back :). Why are the tax payers being asked to pick up the bill? We already bought the freak'n vehicles and continue to drive them even when fuel was $4.00 a gallon. And so that's where all our money went: to the oil companies. Seems like a no brainer to me.

And here's another question: where the hell is Lee Iacocca? Isn't this deja vu for him?

Kyle's Basketball Game

Saturday after going to breakfast with Santa I went to Kyle's basketball game. Here's a shot of him dribbling the ball. The little booger is pretty good. As a matter of fact he tried out for the traveling basketball team and made it. I believe he'll be on the A squad.


Here's Kyle guarding what appears to be a "special" child. Yes, I know, I'm going straight to hell.


Lindsey was a little scared of Santa, so she made her dad sit in with her. Forget about sitting on Santa's lap. Out of the question. That's alright, the guy kind of gave me the creeps too.

Wednesday Fellowship

What started out as Wings Wednesday has now migrated into Wednesday Fellowship. We temporarily abandoned Grizzley's wings to visit members homes. This past Wednesday was at Stella's. She made a bunch of nummy appetizers and we ended up playing Catch Phrase (which I tanked at).

We took this photo in front of the Christmas tree but it looks like we over powered the tree.

Next week will be at Alleman's and New Years Eve will be at Brian Moon's.

Pictured here:

Bottom left to right = Makita, Nick Alleman, Colin MacDonald (Mac from the Powerloon), Brian Moon (from the Loon also).

Center left to right = Me, Jennifer Alleman and Stella Watson.

Top = Mitch Ryan (from the loon as well).

Pancake Breakfast with Santa

This Saturday from 8am to 10am the Brainerd Fire Department is hosting a fundraiser Breakfast with Santa at "Applebean's" (as Lindsey's says it). Stop by and have pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee for $5.00. Santa will be there so you can take photo's of the kiddo's with him. The Brainerd Fire Fighters will be the servers.

To my Soldier

I just got back from the post office. I mailed my soldier James in Iraq a box of goodies for Christmas. It doesn't seem like very much when I think of those kids over there away from their families during the holidays. So if you are writing out Christmas cards and you have an extra one, a spare postage stamp and a few moments, I would ask that you send him a holiday greeting. James is stationed on Camp Striker in the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad. He is from Illinois. He has a five year old daughter waiting for him there. Just tell him "thanks for your service" and that you're my friend or family member. I'm sure he would appreciate getting your card during the holidays.

James V. Hand
62 QM Company
68th CSSB
APO, AE 09344

Brigid's Irish Pub

This past weekend we made a trip to Bemidji to celebrate Makita's birthday with parents Shirley and Bill. We went to a Bemidji State Beavers hockey game. That was a lot of fun. Bemidji won against Huntsville Alabama.

We stopped by Brigid's Irish Pub for a "quick one" prior to going to dinner and then on to the game. Well we ended up staying for hours. We never progressed to dinner from there. The boys got into the Jameson 12 year Whiskey. I think if we would have stayed anylonger they were going to the Midelton's. Yikes.



Check out their website http://www.brigidsirishpub.com/index.php