Gary Allan

I haven't told you about the Gary Allan concert I went to last Friday night. Gary was awesome. It was the fourth time I've seen him perform. The concert previous to this past friday (the third concert) I met him (pictured here). Gary is an "Alright Guy".

Here's Bill playing the harmonica for us up in Rhonda's hotel room during "Happy Hour" before the concert. If his hat looks too small it's because that's my hat not his.

Miami

Just a quick note to everyone that checks into my blog...Miami...NO THANKS. Not my favorite place. Be sure to ask me about my horrid accomodations if you see me. Unbelievable. The radio station traded out my room....great. Traffic = el sucko! Bad bad bad. I'm staying on South Beach and working 16 miles north of there. Yesterday it was 55 minutes to accomplish that trip. Cars seem to just flip upside down on the six lane highways. No super food to report. I did get to Hard Rock to get Bill's shot glass (think I'll use it if I find any Jose). I did stop into Miami Ink to marry Ami but he wasn't there. To bad..... Will be home Friday night.

Lady Luck!

I'm not usually very lucky. I've come to accept that. But on Saturday night Lady Luck came my way. There were so many things to win. Everything from a freezer full of meat to a wheel barrow full of booze (of course I bought some chances on that). There were quite a few guns. A couple for door prizes, several on the general raffle and a few you could buy chances on. One of them came with the Bird Package. For $20 you got a stretch (as many as you could stretch from one hand to the other across your chest) of tickets. Well Dave Boeckermann Jr. Had just bought his stretch when I went over there to buy my stretch. We compared stretches and his was longer than mine, so he so kindly did my stretch for me.

When they finally drew for this prize there was a five gallon bucket damn near full of tickets. Wow ....It was a very popular raffle and even though I had somewhere around 40 tickets from Dave's very nice stretch, it was pretty small odds that I was going to win. Besides all my tickets would have been way down on the bottom of the bucket because I was one of the very first people to buy my chances.

Well they called the number. I think I looked at my tickets. But I guess I didn't hear right or didn't look at them right because I didn't think I had won. I actually threw my tickets down on the table. And then no one came forward. The emcee kept reading it over and over. He was going to draw again. He read it one more time and for whatever reason I picked up my tickets and it was the last one on my long stretch. Dale Kaiser was standing next to me and he said something like "you have the ticket". Good grief... I jumped up and down and ran up there to claim my prize. I almost missed out on it. And it was a goodie! The Bird Package had a pair of $90 Rocky Boots (men's but I can trade them for women's), Browning chaps with the Pheasants Forever logo embroidered on them, blaze orange bird hunting vest with the Pheasants Forever logo embroidered on it, leather Pheasants Forever shooting gloves, a Pheasants Forever/Miller High Life cap and a $1500.00 Ruger Red Label Over and Under 12 Gauge. It's awesome. I still can't believe it. Thanks Jr. for the good stretch. It was the last ticket on the end. If I would have pulled my own tickets I probably wouldn't have pulled as many as he did and would have shorted myself the winning ticket. Thanks Ellie and Dave for inviting me to join you guys at the banquet.
Here I am with a stupid "I'm in shock" grin in front of my Bird Package Prize.







The Dave's (Boeckermann and Makita) where very very busy with the Dave's Dice Game. They brought in over $2600 running it. They gave away a gun just like the one I won. Out of all the folks that played only one guy qualified for the drawing for the gun. He was one happy dude. But it's not Jeremy Jansen (pictured here rolling the dice). Jeremy was probably the most popular player and spent the most money on the game but didn't win for all his efforts.

Aitkin County Pheasants Forever Banquet

The newly formed Aitkin County Chapter of Pheasants Forever is having it's 1st annual Membership Banquet tomorrow (Saturday) night. Social Hour (my favorite hour) will begin at 4pm with dinner to begin at 6pm at the 40 Club Convention Center in Aitkin (Convention center in Aitkin??). Actually I'm volenteering to assist at this event and will be helping with the silent auction. It should be a good time. Maybe I'll win something like a new shotgun (ya right). 

Gary Allan

Tomorrow I'm going to see Gary Allan perform at Grand Casino Mille Lacs. It will be the third time I've seen Gary. I won't be meeting him this time. I met him the last time I saw him. He doesn't do meet and greets anymore, ever since his wife killed herself in 2004. Regardless, he's a great singer/entertainer and I look forward to seeing him again. I haven't seen him since he released his latest album Tough all Over.

Brainerd High School Talent Show

My second cousin, Andy Fischer, performed this past Monday night in the Brainerd High School Talent Show. My photo isn't very good but he's the lead singer playing the white guitar. He also sang a solo and played his guitar and harmonica. Both performances where of original songs he and his buddy's wrote. He was really good. But he didn't place in the top three (they only announced the top three that night). Andy placed fifth overall.

If you ask me the whole thing was rigged. I say that because some of the very best people didn't place in the top. Some stupid stuff won. The guy that came in second place read some stupid poem. And there was a girl, Gretchen Retka, that sang sooooo good. She is a future star, no doubt in my mind. But she didn't place in the top three. And who were the judges??? Teachers. Shouldn't it be a little more impartial than that? It was fun anyway. And there were a lot of talented kids there. There was even a student juggler that juggled knives (he was later suspended for bringing knives into the school).

Happy Valentines Day

 

It was awesome...

Me and Toby...damn that was cool!

Toby played for two hours. He was great! He sang all the songs I wanted to hear and then some. I'm trying to remember some of the songs....let's see....."How Do You Like Me Now", "Country Comes to Town", "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight", "I Wanna Talk About Me", "Beer for My Horses" (with Willy singing on the video), "Stays in Mexico", "You Ain't Much Fun" (since I quit drink'n), "Should've Been a Cowboy" (he made it into a Raggae song...Weird), "Honkytonk U", "As Good as I Once Was", "Who's Your Daddy", "I Love This Bar", "Whiskey Girl" and "Weed With Willy" (and I didn't even have to ask). And he also sang two songs from his up coming album to be released April 11th (Get Drunk and Be Somebody).
And as you can well imagine (if you're at all familiar with Toby's music) he did some of his patriotic songs including "American Soldier", "The Taliban Song" and he finished the night with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue".


Me and Joe...that was very cool also. Joe rocked the house. As I walked up to him backstage he started singing. I thought that was neat. He has a great voice. It's very deep. He sang all his hits.

Going to meet the stars.....

Tomorrow I'm going to get to meet Toby Keith and Joe Nichols when they preform at the Xcel Center in St Paul. My radio connection (aka: Makita) has gotten us backstage passes with access to both artists. Now let me tell you, I've met a lot of country artists but to meet Toby is going to be the ultimate for me. I hope I don't do or say anything really stupid, like "I'll be your whiskey girl" or "Please sing the song Smok'n Weed with Willy"!

And Joe Nichols...guess what? Tequilla makes my clothes fall off too.

Chainsaw Sisters Saloon

Well a trip to Ely should also include a trip to the Chainsaw Sisters Saloon. Here's a great shot of me by the sign outside the bar and one of Dave, Ellie and myself enjoying a afternoon toddy in the wood heated saloon (thanks for taking over the photo duties Makita).

This place is something. We traveled 18 miles north of Ely on the Echo Trail to end up driving down a snowmobile trail in the truck to the most remote bar I've ever been to. There is no electricity there. The place was absolutely packed. We happened to luck out and get this booth after a group of snowmobilers offered it to us as they left. We were the only people there via vehicle. Everyone else had arrived on snowmobile.

The saloon overlooks Picket Lake and is the only privately owned entry point in to the Boundary Waters. Michele Richards, originally from Richfield Minnesota, and her twin sister Marlene eventually moved to Ely after spending several of their summers working and living up north. They bought the forty acres of land from the Potlach Corportation in 1986. The buildings on the lot include the saloon, the family cabin, a shed and an outhouse (yep .... that's the only place to "go"). The only power comes from a generator. Most appliances are run off propane.

The twins acquired the Chainsaw Sisters name while working for the U.S. Forest Service planting trees and clearing trails of dead falls. They didn't particularly like the name at first but it stuck.

And here's the best part. You can actually buy the saloon. Yes it's for sale! Check it out at http://bearislandland.com/data1151.html

Hey Lorrie....what do you think?

Snow Sculpting

Here are a couple examples of some awesome snow sculpting we saw in Ely this past Saturday. It was some kind of winter festival up there. Although, other than the the snow sculptures, we didn't see anything else that even remotely resembled a festival.

Crazy Water-mobiling

A trip to Ely this past saturday enlightened me in several areas. One was these crazy guys on snowmobiles that where skipping open water. It was the wildest thing. They've taken their sleds and rigged them up to go on open water. The tracks have large paddles built in to help them. They've removed the seat and off they go. After reading about this strange activity, I learned that you must be at speeds of around 90 mph to stay above the water. The state of Minnesota says that this sport is illegal unless it's done at an authorized event. I question that this was an authorized event. There where quite a few fellas there to try their sleds on this body of water. They would go along way and we didn't see anyone sink. I'd say "that was cool"!

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow

Six more weeks of winter? We haven't had much of any winter. It's been so warm here in Minnesota that we didn't bat an eye when old Phil saw his shadow. Bring it on. Then this morning we did wake to cooler temps (currently it's 14 degrees) and a skiff of snow. 

Groundhogs Day

Groundhogs Day is a big day for me. Eight years ago today I quit smoking ciggarettes. Gosh I miss them. Every once in awhile (usually when I'm around bad influences) I'll have a puff off a Backwoods cigar. Gosh I like them too. As someone I once knew said, "I'll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a cigar today"....the dude never paid me.

All dressed up with nowhere to go.

Thanks to my friend Dave Boeckermann Jr., who just returned from Spokane, I have this super duper great shirt to wear this Sunday. Problem is, I have nowhere to wear it to. The past several years Dan Goshey has been hosting a real nice Super Bowl party but he's decided not to this year. So I'll be wearing my nice new shirt, eating my smoked salmon, sulking and cheering loud for Seattle on the confines of my own sofa.

BWCA Trip Planning

Now you may ask "Why would you be planning a BWCA trip already"? I would answer "because there's nothing else to do now" or "A person needs to get your permits early....they go fast" or "I dig it (planning)". Whatever the answer, the first trip is planned. It will be the biggie of the year. It's going to be a 9 or 10 day'r (depending on when we come back out). We'll be going in on June 15th and coming out somewhere around the 25th. This year we will not be bringing any teenagers that have attitude and ambition issues.

We (Dave and Ellie B., myself and Makita) must have been drinking (we were) when we planned this trip this past Friday. I say that because after deciding our route and obtaining the permit, I started looking hard at our decision. Well it's a goodie. Here's a brief description of the first days portages: Launch in Round Lake and paddle to the SW corner and do a 85 rod portage to West Lake, then a 50 rod portage to Edith Lake, then a 36 rod portage to Brant Lake, then 100 rod portage to Gotter Lake, a 10 rod portage to Flying Lake, a 90 rod portage to Fay Lake, 45 rods to War Club Lake, 15 rods to Seahorse Lake, 25 rods to French Lake and finally a 132 rods to Peter Lake. Wow. That's 10 portages at somewhere around 600 rods. Good golly Molly. I can't wait!

23 Days until the Daytona 500

Get ready to hear the most famous words in racing, "Gentlemen, start your engines". It's only 23 days until the Daytona 500, which kicks off the 2006 Nextel Cup racing season.

Currently I have put myself on the waiting list for camping at the Kansas Speedway. They said they'd let me know if I made the cut by the end of February/beginning of March. So I'm hoping to get into the campground for the weekend of my birthday, October 1 and 2. You know what they say... "football has a three hour tailgating party. Nascar has a three day tailgating party".

Maggie Moonshine gets another Chance

Maggie (Ellie and Dave's dog) got another "date" with Chance, my brothers black lab, last week and we're hoping this time they'll have a litter of little Kimmy Kay's. A year ago Maggie confused us with a false pregnancy. So hopefully this time it's the real deal. We'll know soon enough. A dog is usually pregnant for 63 days. So that leaves around 56 days until the big event.

Community Education

Expand your horizons and your pea brains. That should be the slogan for Community Education. As you can see here, my friend Ellie has super sized her pea brain. It's a lima bean! This is a picture of my xmas gift she made me right after she expanded her horizons in the art of stained glass. It's amazing. She's really working hard on several projects right now. She has a nice large working area set up in the basement and she's really going to town creating pieces of all kinds.

The Brainerd School District Community Education Guide to Classes and Activities just arrived yesterday and it's packed full of ideas for folks to get out and expand their horizons. Some good examples (besides "Journey into Stained Glass"...page 11) are: "Find Yourself in the Night Sky", Ten Quick and Easy Scrapbook Pages", "Thai Cooking", "Doggie Treats - For the Dog in Your Life", "Healing Through Divorce", "Feng Shui - Prosperity and Partnerships" (what the hell), "Introduction to Fly Tying for Women", "Get Your Bass on the Lake - Beginning to Advanced Fishing Seminar" by my own friend Scott Roesner and many more ideas.

So browse the book, choose a course and expand your pea brain to a another, larger legume.

Ice Fishing Extravaganza

Here's a few photo's from this past weekends Ice Fishing Extravaganza.


I managed to get a lovely shot of Dan Goshey and his big ole' cigar out in front of the B93 broadcasting center. Dan does the morning show on B93 Monday through Saturday each week.











And Big Mike in his Big Hat handing out swell prizes to some anglers. Big Mike is the General Manager of B93 as well as several other area stations.










And you may recognize this guy as one Mr. Kent Hrbek star 1st baseman for the Minnesota Twins. Kent was drafted in 1978 and played until 1994.

Super Bowl XL

Congratulations Seattle! I'm loving that. I was a little disappointed with Denver's performance yesterday, to say the least. Oh well. I'm still going to stick with the Seahawks for my pick to go all the way. Pittsburgh looks good and ready though. It's going to be a good game!

So I assume you all are getting your tailgating parties in order. There's only 13 days until the game. How about some hotwings and chips? Maybe accompanied by a Bloody Mary, a Captain Coke or an ice cold Coors? In honor of Seattle I'm going to have some smoked salmon as well. 

Brainerd Jaycee's $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza

The tournament is on! Originally, due to the thin ice on Gull Lake, the Sheriff's department wouldn't issue a permit for the expected 10,000 participants. But earlier this week they did issue one for Round Lake (across the street). So you can expect the lakes area to explode with anxious anglers.

Tune into B93.3 to hear yours truely reporting live from the ice. I'll be out there with three others, Dan Goshey, Brian Moon and Dan Michaels. Dan Michaels and myself will be cruising the ice, handing out prizes and reporting what's going on. While Moon and Goshey will be at the weigh-in site. So tune in from noon to 3pm tomorrow (Saturday). I'll take the camera and bring back some shots for next weeks blogs.

Mike makes the Presidents List

I just read in the Brainerd Dispatch that Mike made the Presidents List for Fall semester at Central Lakes College. Good job! Congratulations and keep up the good work. It's almost over (one more semester to go).

NFL Playoff's

Holy cow, what a weekend for NFL upsets. I must confess I didn't think Denver could pull it off but they did. I may have secretly (or very openly) been cheering for Tom Brady and the boys. And what about the Colts? That was painful. The only thing I knew for sure was Seattle. And I don't think Carolina can even come close to winning next Sunday.

So all that said, I'm going to stick with Seattle all the way! After 40 years I think they're going to finally pull it off. Thanks Mr. Holmgren. 

Abby at work

This is my sister Lorrie's SAR (Search and Rescue) dog Abby. Together they work with the Wyoming Search & Rescue Association. You can see a picture of Lorrie and Abby together by logging into http://wyohomelandsecurity.state.wy.us/sar/sar.htm

I think they're on the lookout for a couple "lost" cowboys on Brokeback Mountain.

Happy Birthday Mike

Today is my son Mike's 23rd birthday. Holy cow. Time flys. Have a good one kid!

Happy New Year!

At the stroke of midnight this morning we rang in the new year with a little champagne! We had a lot of fun bringing in the new year. Good drinks and great food. Ellie had a huge spread. She must have worked on it for the entire day before we got there.

One note of interest: their furnace decided not to work last night. But with Dave's stockload of electric heaters the house stayed very warm. It actually went from 66 degrees to up over 70. Since the price of electricity is less than gas now, I think (in Ellie's words) they're weaned off the gas and are prepared to heat with electricity from now on. Okay maybe not but it worked for the night, until this morning when the furnace guy came over and told them there was nothing wrong with the furnace, but instead it was the batteries were dead in their fancy dancy thermostat.

Hey does it look like Dave B. Sr. is staring at my butt???