I'm actually gritting my teeth because I've never caught a Northern. They are really slimy and exude a mucus like slime when they are out of the water. I'm trying to make sure it doesn't slip out of my hand before the picture is taken.
We had an excellant vacation. Weather was perfect. The kids did a lot of fun things (knee-boarding, tubing, swimming, go kart racing, biking along the famed Paul Bunyan trail or just hung out).
The Brainerd Lakes area is to Minneapolis what Okoboji is to Iowa. But with much less commercial development around the waterfront. Right outside our cabin I watched a hawk swoop down and grab a fish out of the water. On a pontoon ride around the lake we saw at least a dozen bald eagles.
The resort we stay at are the old time housekeeping cabins. Each with their own dock and beach area. There are very few resorts like this left because the land has so much value that many of the resort owners have sold out to developers. This particular resort could sell out for tens of millions. I'm glad they haven't yet. It's family run in it's second generation.
The only down side to the vacation was the fact that our kids missed a week of school so Sunday Nance cajoled, berated, bribed and tutored as 21 hours (3 x 7) of homework was completed. I took a nap.
An interesting tidbit...while in Brainerd watching the local newscast a story cautioned homeowners who live out of town to keep their pets inside. Pets have gone missing and wolves spotted in the area are suspect.
So I am totally geeked up for the college football season coming up. I set my playstation to simulate a game between ND and Nevada and Notre Dame didn't have any trouble running the ball especially late in the game and the offense looked good in general. ND didn't get much of a pass rush but the line didn't have a trouble with the Nevada QB running. Game was tied 17-17 at halftime and then ND took over and the final was 34-17 ND.
We'll see if the playstation is right.
Nice fish, Tom. Can't wait to see how big it grows over the coming years.
Dad got two breathing apparatuses (apparati?) to keep his lungs healthy during recovery. We could use them to see who can sustain the little bead between the two arrows the longest. It's an inhale event.
Ahh, Tuesdays. My least favorite day of the week. I have a golfer, a football player and a basketball player in my current morning class. The football player and basketball player sit in the front row. They are huge. P
The post surgery lung testers (the fun blow toy) will become a thing of the past when these commies pass their health care plan...I'm gonna find it and hide it in my suitcase...with my duct tape.
The country with the greatest life expectancy and with a citizenry most satisfied with their health care system is Japan. They have a combination of public and private systems. Everyone is covered.
How is it different? The government sets the rate for all procedures. Doctor's are still well paid and yet the costs are reasonably contained.
This should be our approach. I've worked with enough down and out people and see no reason why everyone should not be covered. The problem is so many want a free ride. There should be a signifigant contribution from everyone no matter your income. Whether it be in the form of a monthly premium of a more than nominal copay.
According to a recent study, the Danish are the happiest people. I don't know exactly what their health care system is, but they do have just about the hisghest taxes in the world and they're still happy.
BTW, Muhammamed Ali is in IReland. It turns out his great grandfather was irish - from Ennis- and married a freed slave.
I read that in spite of all the scandals VA patients are the most satisfied with their care of all hospital patients in the US. Of course, that doesn't say anything about how long it took them to get in there.
Something is wrong with me. Last night I ate popcorn and rootbeer for dinner and today I actually ordered and devoured an Angus 1/3 pounder. Gross. I am never going to lose the last of the baby weight.
So-any predictions for the Iowa State-North Dakota State game tonight in Ames which kicks off the entire college football season and so may be the most important single event of our age? Watch the Bison flung thru the air like that cow in "Twister" as the Cyclones inflict an atmospheric catastrophe of sci-fi movie proportions upon the dull, hapless, cloven-footed quadripeds. Teach them to wander aimlessly into Jack Trice Stadium (moment of silence...), where they'll get the IBP treatment, boxed up and shipped back to North Dak. It's not "...only a movie". C'mon-anyone going?
Liam came home from his first full contact football practice. I had told him that since he had missed a week of practice because of our vacation that he needed to do a lot to impress the coaches.
He was fantastic. He played DT the whole practice and shortly after it started they were doubling him with 2 linemen and sometimes throwing a fullback his way just to keep him out of the play.
None the less he was beating the blocks with regularity (great spin moves, shooting the gap, whatever it took) and in on nearly every tackle.
In one play the sweep was going away from him - he disengaged the blocks - pursued down the line and just as the back was turning the corner lauched himself like a missle and laid waste to the kid.
This isn't to say he didn't get knocked on his butt a couple of times and he was fairly well bruised afterward. But he is a natural ball hawk and loves to make hard tackles. Kind of funny for a kid who is otherwise pretty sweet and conscientious of others.
When we left practice we were walking off the field and one of the coaches from about 40 feet away yelled "Liam!" Liam looked back and the coach didn't say anything but gave him a thumbs up.
It's going to be fun to watch this kid play through high school.
I have about 30 leftover hot dogs and chili & fixins for chili dogs from Generations. The dogs are almost all split open from too long in the steam pan but otherwise tasty. Should I bring them for a lunch this weekend? Chili dogs, yummmm.....
Man, I have about 30 nice big green tomatoes. I don't think they're ever going to get ripe. I predict snow before Halloween. Not complaining, not complaining, summer days in the 70s are my idea of heaven, I'm just sayin'....
We did have some Brussels sprout sightings and we've had some nice broccoli with more to come I hope.
This ISU offense is pretty exciting. But I think the defense is going to be eaten alive in the Big XII. Three quarters into the season, and they're barely holding off a school from the lesser Dakota...
Perhaps you should get some of these for the farm:
Urinating into yoghurt cups while careering down the motorway will be a thing of the past for women thanks to a new German invention for ladies -- the disposable mobile toilet which turns urine into an odorless gel.
A German company says it has designed the world's first pocket urinal for women and claims it will put an end to nightmare encounters with filthy public toilets, time-consuming queuing and having to relieve oneself into yoghurt cups during car journeys.
The disposable Ladybag is a plastic bag fitted with absorbent polymers that turn urine into a gel. It's the size of a chocolate bar when folded. It has a wide opening and can be used squatting, sitting or standing. Its gel can absorb half a liter -- enough to process the average amount of urine per sitting -- but the bag itself can hold a whole liter in an emergency.
Liam had practice again last night. He didn't do as well. His performance and intensity was pretty much average. I told him no more Teddy Grahams until he does better.
Well, the Cyclones finished pretty strong. And I just found out they had to run that newfangled offense without working headsets for most of the game. Not bad.
We're going to a wedding Saturday afternoon (during the ND game, of course) and then we'll be at the farm later Saturday night. See you there!
All Things Crack Written by grizzly Saturday, 29 August 2009 23:15
From the Telegraph:
It's a question that all animal-loving Christian evangelicals must address: who will look after their pets on Earth when the Rapture comes and they are taken up to heaven? Now a group of atheists in the US have come up with a tongue-in-cheek solution, offering to take in the cats and dogs of "saved" believers in return for a small fee. All the atheists signed up by Eternal Earth-Bound Pets are self-confessed sinners and blasphemers, guaranteeing they will be left behind when the chosen are selected.
The ISU game wasn't televised here but I did hear some of it on the radio and I took a quick look at the stats this morning.
Sounds like it isn't a completely pass happy offense. In fact, if I read the stats right, they ran the ball quite a bit more than they threw it.
I think it's cool that they have a running back named Schwartz. Don't know how he looked but they had him in late in the game and he was turning in good runs. Was it him or the line?
Ellen Kennedy won the trophy at the Games! With a sizzling score in Trivial Pursuit and scoring 8 out of a possible 10 in bb gun marksmanship, Ellie Oakley came out of nowhere to take home to her dorm room, (at least for a little while) the Surfing Elvis. Aided by a graciously-allowed do-over in walnut chipping because of a disintegrating walnut, Kennedy showed a steep learning curve, improving her walnut-chipping score from 0 to 4. She was presented the trophy by the previous champion, Tom, who would have been the current winner if not for his gentlemanly allowing of the do-over without protest. There were several ties for third place and a real crowd tied up at fourth. Lisa Milbrath stunned the spectators by knocking four cans off the shed roof with her shooting, which made Emma and Mary very proud, and Andy Reeder awed the crowd by shooting one-handed and behind his back, among other trick shots, none of which hit the targets or even the shed. Mary Straub made a courtesy appearance at the range, not competing, but aiming and hitting considerably better than Andy. The shootin' Kennedys as a whole garnered impressive scores in the new event. Non-contestant Eli demonstrated great potential for future marksmanship contests. Look behind you, Lisa! Bicycle polo was cancelled due to extreme apathy and fear of injury. The pork chop dinner was sensational as always, as were other meals heavy on the flavor (and meat) and aside from heavy early-morning fog, the weather was beautiful. Future events may include use of two gigaballs in a sumo-style event, as young attendees rigorously tested the indestructibility and safety of the oversized bubbles, but hot-pepper tasting is probably a no go. The swing is defunct for now but Betty is OK, and Peter has a new survival story to tell his friends. All in all, a good weekend.
I want to have the games next year. I want them to be what they should be: an opportunity for silly competition between people who love each other, using useless skills, untainted by political or personal agendas. This will take above-and-beyond maturity on the part of everyone. First event: gigaball wrestling.
Fishing off the dock at Sandy Beach Resort on Gull Lake in Brainerd, MN
70 comments:
That's a great picture! You look so happy.
I'm actually gritting my teeth because I've never caught a Northern. They are really slimy and exude a mucus like slime when they are out of the water. I'm trying to make sure it doesn't slip out of my hand before the picture is taken.
We had an excellant vacation. Weather was perfect. The kids did a lot of fun things (knee-boarding, tubing, swimming, go kart racing, biking along the famed Paul Bunyan trail or just hung out).
The Brainerd Lakes area is to Minneapolis what Okoboji is to Iowa. But with much less commercial development around the waterfront. Right outside our cabin I watched a hawk swoop down and grab a fish out of the water. On a pontoon ride around the lake we saw at least a dozen bald eagles.
The resort we stay at are the old time housekeeping cabins. Each with their own dock and beach area. There are very few resorts like this left because the land has so much value that many of the resort owners have sold out to developers. This particular resort could sell out for tens of millions. I'm glad they haven't yet. It's family run in it's second generation.
The only down side to the vacation was the fact that our kids missed a week of school so Sunday Nance cajoled, berated, bribed and tutored as 21 hours (3 x 7) of homework was completed. I took a nap.
Now, back to the grind.
Tom
An interesting tidbit...while in Brainerd watching the local newscast a story cautioned homeowners who live out of town to keep their pets inside. Pets have gone missing and wolves spotted in the area are suspect.
Tom
It kind of looks like you're water skiiing with the fish.
p
Tom, is sounds like you all had a great vacation. In about 2 years, that is just the sort of place we'd like to go.
Did everything go smoothly at Sarah's while you were gone?
I don't buy it, I think you were smiling.
Did you eat the Northern?
That was my first wonderment... did you eat that fish?
sounds like a perfect vacation!
Lisa
So I am totally geeked up for the college football season coming up. I set my playstation to simulate a game between ND and Nevada and Notre Dame didn't have any trouble running the ball especially late in the game and the offense looked good in general. ND didn't get much of a pass rush but the line didn't have a trouble with the Nevada QB running. Game was tied 17-17 at halftime and then ND took over and the final was 34-17 ND.
We'll see if the playstation is right.
Nice fish, Tom. Can't wait to see how big it grows over the coming years.
Ed, that is too funny. You ARE totally geeked over the coming football season.
lisa
Dad got two breathing apparatuses (apparati?) to keep his lungs healthy during recovery. We could use them to see who can sustain the little bead between the two arrows the longest. It's an inhale event.
BTW, Tom, nice fish. You could name it "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and keep it in your spare bathtub.
Cathy...it was funny when we couldn't figure out how to use it! How was everything back in C.B. after being gone for 5 days??
That lung tester thingy sounds like it'd make a good drinking game. Let's do it at Christmas.
Ahh, Tuesdays. My least favorite day of the week.
I have a golfer, a football player and a basketball player in my current morning class. The football player and basketball player sit in the front row. They are huge.
P
Did you make them sit there. Are they trouble makers?
I think its sad that the last passenger pigeon died in captivity. Why didn't they let him go home?
The poor pigeon's name was Martha Washington...some other chic was in the White House!
Make them your "special helpers" and let them pass out papers and clean the erasers.
Pat...give the football player detention for the weekend, no team travel!
Pat...sit crossed-legged on the desk and throw out gummy bears they have to catch in their mouths...it will level the "playing field"...
RE: The Fish
I named him Alphonse and released him to go forth and multiply.
Tom
The post surgery lung testers (the fun blow toy) will become a thing of the past when these commies pass their health care plan...I'm gonna find it and hide it in my suitcase...with my duct tape.
The country with the greatest life expectancy and with a citizenry most satisfied with their health care system is Japan. They have a combination of public and private systems. Everyone is covered.
How is it different? The government sets the rate for all procedures. Doctor's are still well paid and yet the costs are reasonably contained.
This should be our approach. I've worked with enough down and out people and see no reason why everyone should not be covered. The problem is so many want a free ride. There should be a signifigant contribution from everyone no matter your income. Whether it be in the form of a monthly premium of a more than nominal copay.
This way we aren't commies.
Tom
BTW - if you want an insite to a government run health care plan look at the VA. It's ugly.
Tom
it's early...insite = insight.
Anyone going to the Iowa State opener Thursday night to watch the cyclonic fury (Bob's phrase)overwhelm the hapless NDSU Bison?
According to a recent study, the Danish are the happiest people. I don't know exactly what their health care system is, but they do have just about the hisghest taxes in the world and they're still happy.
BTW, Muhammamed Ali is in IReland. It turns out his great grandfather was irish - from Ennis- and married a freed slave.
I love the photos of Ali in Ireland...they let school out for his arrival.
Finn slept from 10:30-4:30 last night. That's his longest stretch yet! Woo hoo.
I read that in spite of all the scandals VA patients are the most satisfied with their care of all hospital patients in the US. Of course, that doesn't say anything about how long it took them to get in there.
Something is wrong with me. Last night I ate popcorn and rootbeer for dinner and today I actually ordered and devoured an Angus 1/3 pounder. Gross. I am never going to lose the last of the baby weight.
That sounds like a perfect dinner. Lots of fiber and root.
p
Maybe Finn like the popcorn and root beer...what did he think of the Angus?
So-any predictions for the Iowa State-North Dakota State game tonight in Ames which kicks off the entire college football season and so may be the most important single event of our age? Watch the Bison flung thru the air like that cow in "Twister" as the Cyclones inflict an atmospheric catastrophe of sci-fi movie proportions upon the dull, hapless, cloven-footed quadripeds. Teach them to wander aimlessly into Jack Trice Stadium (moment of silence...), where they'll get the IBP treatment, boxed up and shipped back to North Dak. It's not "...only a movie". C'mon-anyone going?
The little clones should fear any team that is coached by a former Nebraska coach. Go Craig Bohl and the Bison.
Last night: popcorn and a vodka tonic for dinner. Finn slept 10:30-5:30.
you shd give him whiskey instead of vodka if you want him to sleep longer!
We bank at Liberty Bank.
It's logo is red, white & blue with a flag and the statue of the liberty on it.
Yesterday on the way to Generations of Faith, Mary was singing "America, America" like this:
America, America God shed his grace on thee, and bank at liberty bank for God and liberty.
lisa
Liam came home from his first full contact football practice. I had told him that since he had missed a week of practice because of our vacation that he needed to do a lot to impress the coaches.
He was fantastic. He played DT the whole practice and shortly after it started they were doubling him with 2 linemen and sometimes throwing a fullback his way just to keep him out of the play.
None the less he was beating the blocks with regularity (great spin moves, shooting the gap, whatever it took) and in on nearly every tackle.
In one play the sweep was going away from him - he disengaged the blocks - pursued down the line and just as the back was turning the corner lauched himself like a missle and laid waste to the kid.
This isn't to say he didn't get knocked on his butt a couple of times and he was fairly well bruised afterward. But he is a natural ball hawk and loves to make hard tackles. Kind of funny for a kid who is otherwise pretty sweet and conscientious of others.
When we left practice we were walking off the field and one of the coaches from about 40 feet away yelled "Liam!" Liam looked back and the coach didn't say anything but gave him a thumbs up.
It's going to be fun to watch this kid play through high school.
Tom
I'll bet he had a priceless look in his eyes all through this.
Good going, Liam!
Lisa
I have about 30 leftover hot dogs and chili & fixins for chili dogs from Generations. The dogs are almost all split open from too long in the steam pan but otherwise tasty. Should I bring them for a lunch this weekend? Chili dogs, yummmm.....
Toss them in some baked beans.
Man, I have about 30 nice big green tomatoes. I don't think they're ever going to get ripe. I predict snow before Halloween. Not complaining, not complaining, summer days in the 70s are my idea of heaven, I'm just sayin'....
We did have some Brussels sprout sightings and we've had some nice broccoli with more to come I hope.
WE grew four tomato plants this year... I think we've seen 15 tomatoes in total from them.
Lisa
Everyone loves chili dogs.
Pete and Mely are coming to the farm!
Yea!!
Bring the dogs. If nothing else we can lure coyotes with them. I've never seen one alive.
Monica
We knew that and that's why we still have her Christmas gift. Lucky Mely.
Tom
Last night I made burgers on the grill, an arugula beet salad and dutch apple pie ala mode.
Tres bien!!
p
Haven't heard any coyotes lately. Maybe it has something to do with the bobcat.
Oooh, there's a bobcat. Cool.
Do they come near tents?
This ISU offense is pretty exciting. But I think the defense is going to be eaten alive in the Big XII. Three quarters into the season, and they're barely holding off a school from the lesser Dakota...
Have fun everyone! Wish I could be there!!
p
Perhaps you should get some of these for the farm:
Urinating into yoghurt cups while careering down the motorway will be a thing of the past for women thanks to a new German invention for ladies -- the disposable mobile toilet which turns urine into an odorless gel.
A German company says it has designed the world's first pocket urinal for women and claims it will put an end to nightmare encounters with filthy public toilets, time-consuming queuing and having to relieve oneself into yoghurt cups during car journeys.
The disposable Ladybag is a plastic bag fitted with absorbent polymers that turn urine into a gel. It's the size of a chocolate bar when folded. It has a wide opening and can be used squatting, sitting or standing. Its gel can absorb half a liter -- enough to process the average amount of urine per sitting -- but the bag itself can hold a whole liter in an emergency.
p
Pat,
you need that for your ride up to the farm.
Monica
Liam had practice again last night. He didn't do as well. His performance and intensity was pretty much average. I told him no more Teddy Grahams until he does better.
Tom
Well, the Cyclones finished pretty strong. And I just found out they had to run that newfangled offense without working headsets for most of the game. Not bad.
We're going to a wedding Saturday afternoon (during the ND game, of course) and then we'll be at the farm later Saturday night. See you there!
All Things Crack
Written by grizzly
Saturday, 29 August 2009 23:15
From the Telegraph:
It's a question that all animal-loving Christian evangelicals must address: who will look after their pets on Earth when the Rapture comes and they are taken up to heaven? Now a group of atheists in the US have come up with a tongue-in-cheek solution, offering to take in the cats and dogs of "saved" believers in return for a small fee. All the atheists signed up by Eternal Earth-Bound Pets are self-confessed sinners and blasphemers, guaranteeing they will be left behind when the chosen are selected.
The ISU game wasn't televised here but I did hear some of it on the radio and I took a quick look at the stats this morning.
Sounds like it isn't a completely pass happy offense. In fact, if I read the stats right, they ran the ball quite a bit more than they threw it.
I think it's cool that they have a running back named Schwartz. Don't know how he looked but they had him in late in the game and he was turning in good runs. Was it him or the line?
Tom
Well, I'm wondering who urinated in yogurt cups in the first place?
p
The detail of urinating in yogurt cups on the German autoban was making quite an impression in my brain...
Too difficult, if you ask me.
German rest stops must be really gross if people are doing this!
And yet another use for plastic! We're poisoning our subsoil.
lisa
THey must eat larger portions of yogurt in Germany.
p
And they must have lids? Otherwise it could get pretty messy.
Ellen Kennedy won the trophy at the Games! With a sizzling score in Trivial Pursuit and scoring 8 out of a possible 10 in bb gun marksmanship, Ellie Oakley came out of nowhere to take home to her dorm room, (at least for a little while) the Surfing Elvis. Aided by a graciously-allowed do-over in walnut chipping because of a disintegrating walnut, Kennedy showed a steep learning curve, improving her walnut-chipping score from 0 to 4. She was presented the trophy by the previous champion, Tom, who would have been the current winner if not for his gentlemanly allowing of the do-over without protest. There were several ties for third place and a real crowd tied up at fourth. Lisa Milbrath stunned the spectators by knocking four cans off the shed roof with her shooting, which made Emma and Mary very proud, and Andy Reeder awed the crowd by shooting one-handed and behind his back, among other trick shots, none of which hit the targets or even the shed. Mary Straub made a courtesy appearance at the range, not competing, but aiming and hitting considerably better than Andy. The shootin' Kennedys as a whole garnered impressive scores in the new event. Non-contestant Eli demonstrated great potential for future marksmanship contests. Look behind you, Lisa! Bicycle polo was cancelled due to extreme apathy and fear of injury. The pork chop dinner was sensational as always, as were other meals heavy on the flavor (and meat) and aside from heavy early-morning fog, the weather was beautiful. Future events may include use of two gigaballs in a sumo-style event, as young attendees rigorously tested the indestructibility and safety of the oversized bubbles, but hot-pepper tasting is probably a no go. The swing is defunct for now but Betty is OK, and Peter has a new survival story to tell his friends. All in all, a good weekend.
I want to have the games next year. I want them to be what they should be: an opportunity for silly competition between people who love each other, using useless skills, untainted by political or personal agendas. This will take above-and-beyond maturity on the part of everyone.
First event: gigaball wrestling.
Ever heard of feather wrestling?
How about the slip'n'slide distance challenge?
Or barn door painting teams?
Going to see Inglorious Basterds tonight. (did I misspell that right?) Then, hopefully, gyros.
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