Friday at Winstock

Winter arrived on Friday. And of course all we had with us was shorts and tank tops. So we had to do a little digging to find something warm to wear. I had to tie a bandana around my head to keep my ears from freezing off. The winds were none stop howling at over 30 miles per hour. We had to put the canopy down on the camper because it started to tear from the constant wind. I wore my pj bottoms under my pants in an effort to stay alive. But hey...we're Minnesotans and we can withstand anything. We'll actually sit outside for seven hours straight drinking and singing along.

Phil Vasar rocked the house. He was awsome as usual. I've seen him before. Great performer. Plays the piano (like ring'n a bell???).

Shannon Brown was a trooper, performing with the wind coming right at her. The temps fell somewhere into the 40's. It started to sleet. Looked like snow.

Ricky McDonald of Lonestar was the greatest. Someone in the audience threw him a bomber hat and he wore it for the rest of the show.

Thursday night at Winstock

Thursday at Winstock was a pretty good day. It was warm and sunny. We set up camp and had some beer (Bill so generously brought a case of Hams.....in cans). It was plain old nasty.













Then we went down to the concert grounds and had speghetti at the Winstead Fire Department's fund raiser. That was nummy.







And we played some games of Corn Hole (more on that later...hey check out the awsome corn hole board... more on that later too).

And then we sat around the fire and had a few cocktails.......good grief, what a bunch of hillbillys.

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).