Weekend in Jay Cooke

Well we didn't let the cool damp weather slow us down this past weekend. We got up to Jay Cooke Friday night and sat around the fire and relaxed. It rained pretty hard most of the overnight. Then Saturday we hiked a little ways down the Superior Hiking Trail (no Ellie, no Drainpipe).





The St. Louis River was really moving fast. It was roaring loud.
Sadie kicked back also. She's doing a bit better as she recovers from her surgery last week.


Sunday we went Geocaching in the park. We were able to locate two of the three we set out to find.

Weekend in Jay Cooke

We're taking off to stay at Jay Cooke State Park for the weekend. We were all set to go to Effie four wheeling but the trails are closed for another week. So instead we're going to kick back at Jay Cooke. It's one of our favorite parks to hike. This time though we'll be taking Eddie and doing the opposite of roughing it. We will be doing some Geocaching.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/jay_cooke/index.html

http://www.geocaching.com/

Hey There Thor Bear....

There's a rather large bear taking up residency at Dave and Ellie's land in Thor. You can see by these photo's, taken by an motion sensor digital camera, that he's a dandy! I think Maggie caught wind of him the other night when we were there, because she went into a barking fit that included some strange howling noises she doesn't normally make.



Standing on his back legs to reach the can of bird seed on the clothesline. "Myyyyyy you're a big one".

Stuck in Thor

Everything we touched got stuck. We ripped that place up bad. I managed to get the Bobcat stuck. So there's some really deep ruts from that. Just happens to be on the main trail.


Eddie was stuck from the get go. Friday night we got it stuck and left it stuck until yesterday. We thought it would miraculously unstick itself over the course of a couple days. Nicki was a lot of help.


After several attempts (broke one chain), Ellie's come-a-long finally was the answer. More ruts. We'll never be invited back.

In between getting everything stuck the fella's got the threatening tree cut down and me and Ellie were splitt'n son's of bitches.

Samantha's Senior Prom

On the same theme as "It's a Small World", here is a photo of my niece, Samantha Borden, during the Grand March at the Benson High Senior Prom. Here's the small world part, her date, Brain Freeman, is my friend's Dave and Ellie's Nephew. Brian and Sammy are both graduating from Benson High this month. Brian is going in to the Air Force and Sammy is going to Bemidji State Univeristy. Good luck kids! Make us proud.

Bob Finds a Friend

Recently I received an email from my brother Bob, who is currently in Afghanistan working. He sent me this photo and wrote that this guy picutured with him is Sgt. Anderson. He added "This is how small the world is. I went to college with Sgt. Anderson and we even used to drink a beer or two together back then. I haven't seen him since college and now 15 years later we are working together halfway around the world. What's even wilder then that is we grew up only 30 miles from each other".

Talladega or Bust!

Talladega Motor Speedway was incredible.

Jerry was very organized. All I had to do is show up. He picked me up at the Atlanta airport on Friday and took me back there on Monday. He had all the food and supplies we needed. We camped on the infield with the track all around us. It was quite a learning experience. We are going to rewrite the rule book. Not one thing they wrote in there was correct. But being seasoned Nascar campers, we adapted and survived.


Jerry seemed to be enjoying himself as he met other Nascar fans.

Here's Jeff's car before they duct taped it together after the "big one" on lap 7.


One of the highlights for me was a tour of the Fox Sports Network Broadcasting booths (yes multiple). It was incredible. Thank you Jerry for arranging that. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all that goes into a broadcast.


They say "you haven't been to a Nascar track until you've been to Talladega". Well we've been. Check out the complete slide show on the left.

Leaving for Talladega

Jerry and I are getting ready to head to Talledega. These photos are from our last Nascar trip to Atlanta. We'll have lots of new photos next week.

Avery's progress

Here is the link to Avery's CaringBridge page. She came through her surgery yesterday very well. You can see her progress here:

http://caringbridge.org/visit/averykillian

Back from Vegas

Makita and I met Lorrie and Brad in Vegas to celebrate Brad's 40th birthday. More details to follow. Have to get to work now. Another short week for me. Going to Talladega on Friday.

Visit from the Borough

Ellie's sister Barbara is in Minnesota this week. She lives in the Borough of Stonington, Connecticut, where Ellie is from. Last night we went over to Dave and Ellie's and had a really nice visit and some nummy burgers and dogs on the grill. Mom Eleanor and Dad Andy was suppose to come too, but Mom's hurt her back quite badly and couldn't make the trip.

You can keep track of Barbara on her blog: http://bjperry.blogspot.com/

Nakita (aka: Devil Dog) was wound up!

Avery's in Children's Hospital

My friends Robin and Kurt Hopp's new baby grandaughter, Avery, is in Childrens Hospital in the cities. It was discovered on Tuesday that she has Congestive Heart Failure and will require a six hour surgery on Monday. Please keep little Avery in your thoughts and prayers.

Deep Frieded a Turkey

Sunday was Makita's first attempt to deep fry a turkey. He had assisted once before in Atlanta when Jerry Katz brought a fryer and a turkey to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. So he had some background. It turned out pretty good. Maybe it was a little tiny overdone.

Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday we took the grandkids to the Nisswa American Legion Easter egg hunt. I think they all had fun (with the exception of Kyle, whom must being getting too old for this kind of thing. He was a very crabby and unhappy kid). After the egg hunt we went to Pizza Hut. That place will never be the same.
Kaleb didn't want his photo taken, so he hid behind this giant tree.
Kiehra was a good egg hunter. And yes, that is snow on the ground.
Kaylee and Lindsey pose for their picture.
Kaylee really liked the Easter bunny.

NCAA Hockey Update

Last night was really disappointing when Miami (Ohio) beat Bemidji 4 to 1. Game over. So tomorrow night the NCAA Hockey Championship game will be between Boston and Miami at 6pm CDT.

Going to Talladega!

My friend and co-worker, Jerry Katz, won infield camping and race tickets at the Talladega races the weekend of April 25/26th. Jerry's been promising me Talladega for years and years now. So he's finally living up to it. He's letting me come along. Happy Birthday to me. I'm stoked. Talladega baby! Super Speedway! Restrictor plates. Big wrecks. Bigger parties. Go Jeff Go. Roundy round. Yippy.

Bob at Work

Here's a photo of Bob going to work. Hmmmm, my heavy artillery (pencil and paper) is looking pretty silly. I shan't bitch about my job anymore.

Gordon Finally Wins One

Yesterday Jeff Gordon ended his 47 winless streak. It was also his first ever win at Texas Motor Speedway. Jeff is leading in points.

Eddie's Equipped with Direct TV

Yesterday Eddie (the motorhome) got equipped with satellite TV. Now no matter where I'm at on this planet I won't miss a minute of racing, hockey, football, bull riding, boxing, cricket, soccer, dog sledding, Olympic snowshoeing, an episode of the Golden Girls, Girls Next Door, Girls Gone Wild, Survivor, Idol, Leno, Laugh-in, Ax Men, Cops, Good Eats, Dirty Jobs, Bill O'Rielly, Sex in the City or the 10 Minute Abs infomercial. Break out the Cheetos.

Good Grief Already. Enough Snow!

I took this photo this morning. I have no idea how much snow we've gotten but I know I'm getting pretty sick of it. This has been the longest winter I can ever remember. Enough already.