1st Real Snow of the Season

We had our first snow storm of the season and we survived. According to the National Weather Service we did end up with 8 inches of snow. This was followed by wind and the very cold temperatures. It seems that winter has finally arrived and it came all at once.
During the build up to the storm KFAN radio was calling it a "snonami" and that we were going to be in "snomageddon". This is of course from all of the hype the local weather people were giving out. You think by listening to them you will be stuck inside of a week with no access to the outside world. Well we survived.

Deer Camp

The first weekend of deer hunting has come and gone and our group did not harvest a deer. We went back to our sport near Long Lake off of Cusson Road north of Orr. It was a warm weekend and it seemed that the deer were not very active. I did kick one up after getting out of the car prior to shooting time. That was the only deer that I heard or saw the whole weekend.

This weekend I am planning on hunting with my dad, brother, nephew and possible others that hunt at their deer camp. They had a successful hunt last weekend so hopefully they did not harvest all the deer in their area.

Moving back home

Well maybe you heard and maybe you didn't but our house sale fell through do to financing issues for the buyer. We didn't find out until a week before the closing date that the buyer was unable to secure the funds. This apparently was due to a a bunch of different, most related to our condo association rules, the number of owner occupied units and changes to the mortgage laws.

We have decided to stay as it would be very unlikely that a different buyer would be able to secure financing either. We had nearly everything moved into a storage unit and now we are moving things back home. As we are getting stuff out of storage we have also been selling, donating and giving away somethings. Pretty soon we hope to have all our stuff moved back home.

House Shopping

Well we sold our house in August and close on Septermber 28th, so we have been busy packing and looking for a new house. We will miss the townhouse in Maplewood after we moved as it has served us very well. Our interim plan is to move in with Sue's Mom Diana and Gordie's townhome. We put an offer for a house in house today in St. Paul and are waiting to here back about the offer. We are hoping that it all works out otherwise we will just keep looking and something will come along.

Antique tractors

This past Sunday I went with my dad to the Scott Carver Thresher's Association tractor show. My dad brought two of his tractors (Farmal Cub and his W-6) and my Simplicity garden tractor to be displayed at the show. I had been to this show one time before, but I never had my own tractor on display. We arrived on Sunday in time to have a quick lunch and then drive the tractors in the parade. I drove the Cub while he drove the W-6. His tractors were near the front of the parade and my Simplicity was near the back, so it gave me time to drive mine in the parade as well.

We spent sometime after the parade walking around looking at all of the different tractors and steam engines. We watched threshing machine thresh rye for a little bit and talked about the fire that started on a hay wagon the day before. I missed this, but apparently it added for some excitement on Saturday. While we were loading up the tractors with it being so dry a log started to smolder near the sawmill, probably starting from a steam engine that was runnning the sawmill. It was put out right away and didn't cause any damage.

It was a fun day. After the show we loaded the tractors up and brought them down to the shed in Waseca where they will sit until the next show.

The Rest of our California Trip

It has nearly a month since we got back from our trip to California, but I just have not had the time to put up any posts. It was a really nice trip spending time with family and seeing a lot of California.

After the triathlon in San Diego, Michael got us all tickets to see Chaka Khan and Adele http://www.adele.tv/ at the Hollywood Bowl. Adele was great and it was a beautiful night for music outdoors. Thanks Michael for the getting the tickets.

The following day was Dick and Evelyn's 65th wedding anniversary party at Don's house. Don, Katrina and other's put a lot of time into the party and it really showed. The house was nicely decorated the food was delicious. After eating everybody watched the video that Don and Rob made. It was obviously a lot of work and fun to see all of the old photos and the videos with everybody.

The next days were spent in Mammoth Lakes. The area was so beautiful. We spent a few days trout fishing Hot Creek. Fishing was tough at times but I did manage land some rainbows and browns, including a real nice 17 inch brown.

From Mammoth we drove through Yosemite on our way to Coulterville and then to Bob and Carrie's in Felton. In Yosemite we hiked up the Lyle Fork of the Tuolumne and fished a few of the pools. We caught a few Yosemite rainbows and browns on small dry flies.

After a quick stop at the Stanislaus River and a couple rainbows and fresh cherries we continued our drive through the valley and to the Santa Cruz mountains. We spent the Fourth with Bob, Carrie Rincon and Cienna. The dogs have so much energy and after a day they both took a liking to us. We loved the trip and had a great time. It will be fun to see everybody again sometime soon.

San Diego Triathlon

The San Diego triathlon was a lot of fun. We arrived in town on Saturday around noon and ate at the best tacos El Indio. They were everything the Guy Fieri clamed they were!

The triathlon was Sunday morning in the harbor starting at the Spanish Landing. Sue did a relay with Katrina and Linda. Sue did the swim with Linda biking and Katrina doing the run. Sue said the swim was a lot of fun and is excited for her next swim. The St. Paul Triathlon is going to come up fast, now she knows she will be ready for it.

Mike and I each did the whole sprint triathlon. I was really happy with my swim time and I liked the open water start. We are still waiting for the split results and should have them tomorrow, but I know I did what I expected for a time. It seemed that everybody did not bunch up as much as beach start. The water actually was pretty warm and swimming with the wetsuit did make it easier. My bike time I feel was a little hampered by the bike that I borrowed for the competion. It was a moutain bike that was a not a great fit, but I wasn't going to win anyway so does it really matter. The bike was fun though, it was to end of Cabrillo National Monument and had great views of the ocean and the harbor. The run went ok. I didn't push myself too hard just an easy pace as I was having fun running along the harbor. I probably should have pushed harder and shaved a couple minutes off the time.

The event was really well organized. They had a lot of volunteers and everything was so well marked. It defiantely created a little bit of a traffic headache for the locals who lived in the area. It was a lot of fun and now I need to concentrate on training for the St. Paul Triathlon.

A week to the San Diego Triathlon

The San Diego Triathlon is only a week away. We have been training pretty good, but this past week was not what I was hoping as work really got in the way. I am doing the sprint and Sue is doing the sprint as a relay. I have never swam with a wetsuit before so that will be a new experience. The course looks like a great route and it should be a lot of fun.

Last night I did get out for a short bike ride. I went out on the Gateway trail to the Bruce Vento trail north to St. John's Hospital in Maplewood before turning around. On the way back I took a lap around Lake Phalen and talked with Bob Anderson of Fly Tiers for a while. He was mowing his yard as I was going by. After that I headed home.

I have been really happy with the new (new to me) bike. I have had to do a few repairs, but that would be expected for a used bike. About a month ago I lowered the stem and yesterday I noticed the headset was a little lose, easy repair. I have also had to overhaul the front hubs, and I still need to get new cone nuts as the old ones are a little pitted. Check out the pictures of the bike, it was a great purchase for $300.

Evening Fishing

Last Friday Sue and I decided we would go fishing in the evening after work. We assembled the waders and fly rods and headed over to western Wisconsin. After a quick bite to eat we got to the river around 7:00 allowing us a couple hours of light. I had decided to go to one of my favorite spots, which must be a few other fishermen’s favorite spot as there were a couple cars there when we arrived. I chose this spot since it had been a season or two since Sue last trout fished and I knew it was an easier location to fish than others. She is a novice and enjoys fly fishing, but has only cast to trout a few times so hopes were high for good conditions.

We walked down to the river and watched for a minute or two as the trout were eagerly taking flies off the surface. We decided to try a sulphur dry fly to start. I coached Sue through a few casts to warm up and refreshed her memory on reading the water. Soon enough we were each catching fish. Most fish seemed to like a nice dead drift with no drag on the surface, but there were a couple fish that seemed stimulated by a little drag.

We fished a couple pools working our way up stream slowly. The combination of low light and a strong hatch also seemed to prevent the fish from getting spooked to easily. There was many times that when casting to specific fish a different and unexpected one came up and took a fly right next to the fly line. We also didn’t need to rest the pools after a hooked brown zig-zagged it way through.

The night came to an end when we could no longer see the fly to tie a new one on. This seemed like a sign to call it a night. I probably could have planned better and brought a flashlight, but I will save that fishing for some other night. We both had a lot fun and this evening got us both excited for our upcoming trip to fish for rainbows in California.

Shovelers in a ND field

Here is a picture I was able to get of a few ducks in a ND field last week. The drakes were in full color for mating.

Things you notice while driving

I have always heard about the duck factory of the North Dakota and today I drove for work to a site in Carrington and saw countless ducks in ponds. It seemed that every low spot in a field had water and that water had a pair of ducks in it or along the shore. It was a beautiful day and the birds all seemed to be out and fairly easy to spot.

As I drove I saw that the river levels have come down and some of the dikes have been removed. In Valley City, if I am remebering correctly, the City civic center parking lot was completely filled with pallets of filled sand bags. These must have been extras that were not needed.

All of the water in the area has definately made for good duck breading. I tried to identify as many different species while driving to my site. I was able to easily see mallards and shovelers and lots of them. They were definately the most common or the easiest to spot. Some others were a little more difficult to see at 65 mph. The others were pintails, redheads, blue wing teal, hooded mergansers, geese and coots. If I had more time and a different camera I would have stopped for some pictures.

It looks like many of the fields are still at least a week off until they will be planted. I actually noticed only a few have even had equipment on them. Tomorrow I am heading to Sunny which is just west of Mandan for work at another site and then it will be on to home.

Back to Work

Well the vacation ended last Tuesday and I was back to work on Wednesday. It was a great trip and very relaxing. We are now in the process of going through all of the pictures and going to make a photo book. With digital cameras you definately do take a lot more pictures. We have some 600 total pictures for the trip, so the sorting will take a little bit of time.

I have also started a new blog this one is for the Star Tribune. I am blogging as one of their field reporters about fishing. I am going to concentrate mostly on fly fishing and fly tying. The blog is at the Star Tribune's new outdoor club page. I hope you go to the blog and read it from time to time.

Athens

Yesterday we flew from Santorini to Athens and arrived in Athens in the afternoon. It was a nice partly cloudy day around 70F. So after checking in to our hotel near the Temple of Zeus we walked tothe Acropolis. It is really amazing seeing the Parthenon built high on the hill. We toured the parthenon and took in the view of the city all around us. From there we walked to the Ancient Agora and then down the market streets of Monastriraki and back towards the hotel. We stopped on the way to the hotel and ate at a little place that had traditional greek music. The diner was delicious and it was very entertaining.

Today we are going to see the temple of Zues and wander the city some more. Tomorrow we fly out in the morning local time to JFK airport in NYC and then to MSP getting in around 8:30 tomorrow night.

Fira

A church in Fira next to our hotel.

Oia

Sue enjoying the sun in Oia, Santorini.

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini, Greece on Monday evening it is off season here and some shops and hotels are still closed. After one night in Kamari we decided to switch hotels and stay in Fira, which overlooks the caldera. The city is amazing hanging right on the top edge of the cliffs with the bright blue water below. The last couple of days there have been large cruise ships coming in bringing a lot of people to the little towns.

Yesterday we rented a Smart car and drove all of the island. It was a red and black Smart car with 2 seats. The car was a lot of fun to drive and surprising good pick up even on the hills. We drove to Santos Wine and did a wine tasting that overlooks the caldera. The wines were great! There specialties are white wines and Vin Santo.

Topkapi Palace

Blue Mosque

Vacation

We had a great stay in Istanbul. I would have posted more but the hotel keyboard didn't work the best and I kept getting confused by the i with out a dot above it in the Turkish language and the normal i. Sometimes I wasn't able to log in to websites. We went to many of the site in Istanbul, like the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazar, the Spice Market, we took a ferry acorss the Bosphorus to the Asian side and we did a cooking class. While in Turkey we were quite busy.

We were surprised to learn that tulips are orgininally from Turkey and there are tulips planted everywhere and they all were in blossom. They are so colorful and very beautiful.

On Monday we flew to Athens and then on to Sanotorini. It is early in the tourist season so not everything is open, but it is easy to walk around and the weather has been pleaseant. We are staying in a hotel in Fira overlooking the caldera, about 750 feet up from the sea a top of the cliff. We will be here until Sunday and then we will be heading back to Athens for a couple days before coming home. We won't think about that yet. For today we are going to go to Oia for the day and relax. We hope to post more soon!

Turkey - Greece

We flew out wıth no ıssues and arrıved ın Istanbul yeterday afternoon. After gettıng sıtuated ın our hotel we walked to the Grand Bazzar, whıch was packed wıth people. It was an amazıng place fılled wıth beautıful scarves and jewelryö trınkets and belly dancıng outfıts. We had a wonderful dınner close to the hotel complete wıth rakı and grılled local fısh. Then we sat close by,on some huge colored pıllows and smoked from a shısha pıpe (Apple wood chıps) and some,
local tea. We fınıshed our day wıth a swım ın the warm sea fılled pool and a sauna. Nıce Dıgs.

Start of the 13 Week Training Program

We this week is the start of my training program for my first triathlon this year. I am again going to be doing a 13 week schedule leading up to the San Diego Internation sprint triathlon on June 28th. I am doing the whole thing and Sue is going to be dong the swim portion as a team. I am going to do a second triathlon this year and that one is the St. Paul Triathlon on August 23rd at Lake Phalen.

I have been swimming and doing some running so I won't be going from 0 to triathlon. I have decided to continue with the training schedule that is set for a person to go from couch potato to first triathlon. I have used this one in the past and liked it. I do modify it a little since I usually train swim heavy and I am a better swimmer than most novice training schedules are developed for.

So today (maybe instead of training) I cleaned up the chains on bikes for the upcoming season. To make this easier I made a bike repair stand out of 2x6 lumber, black steel pipe and a pipe clamp. It works great! I had looked at some bike stands and it seemed unless you shelled out $150+ they did not seem very good quality. I wanted my own stand for making repairs after taking my bike to a local bike shop for a tuneup and it was worse than when it went in. So this year I am going to do it myself. Now I just have to give it a tuneup and it will be ready for this years riding.

Sue's bike is the Bianchi and mine is the Gary Fisher.

Late March Weekend

This weekend was a fun weekend dominated by college hockey for me and a trip to Chicago for Sue. It of course started for me on Friday night with UMD vs. Princeton at Mariucci arena for the first round of the NCAA playoffs. UMD pulled out the amazing win to play Miami of Ohio on Saturday night. For more information on Bulldog hockey check out the Hockey HighHorse blog where I am a co-contributor with Andy Craig who does a great job for the blog. UMD fell short on Saturday night to the Redhawks 2-1, but it was a great season and playoff run.

On Saturday Sue went to Chicago for the American Beauty Show, which she attended today. I am currently waiting to pick her up from the airport. The flight out of Chicago was delayed about a half an hour likely due to the snow Chicago got during the day.

Since Sue was gone Sunday night I made diner for myself and thought I would make something nice. So, I thought I would try out a potato au gratin recipe. I decided to make an antelope and a venison roast with asparagus to go with the potato au gratin. Everything turned out great and I think the potatoes are definitely two thumbs up.

Great Waters Expo

Last weekend was the Minneapolis Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo and it was a great show. I worked the show Friday through Sunday in one of the three St. Paul fly Tiers booths. The SPFT had a big presence at the show, running the learn-to-tie area, the fly tying theatre and a membership table. We had some 15 different people volunteer helping out at the expo.

Our display for the theatre was great this time around. We didn't have any of the issues that we ran into while in Chicago. This time we had a better microphone that didn't get bumped by Kelly Galloup or Kevin Feenstra when they were demonstrating. We signed up three new members and lots of interested people. All in all it was a great success.

Now that the Wisconsin catch and release season is open, I need to get working on my flies for the year. Hopefully I will get out next weekend when the Club goes to the Kinnie.

Winter Storm Update

Well, it came and it snowed. We ended up with about 5-inches of the white stuff. The driving wass terrible on Thursday afternoon, but by Firday everything was alright. On Saturday I went to the UMD vs. UMTC hockey game. It was entertaining game with many ups and downs. In the end the Gopher came out on top, putting a 3 way tie for 5th in the WCHA standings.

On Sunday it was nice cool morning. Sue didn't feel up to cross country skiing at 6F in the morning, so I went out by myself. I went to Como and their was only a few epople there. The snow was great and the sun was warm, It felt like it was about 20F. The next few days are supposed to be warm which will be tough on the snow. I am hoping for one more time cross county skiing.

Winter Storm

As I am writing this I am waiting for the "big" storm to come this way. The weather forecasters have been talking about it all week. With all the hype I hope it is able to meet the weather peoples expectations. I would like some snow. I know it will mean a terrible drive home, but with a bunch of new snow maybe some cross country skiing on Saturday. Anyways I am keeping my fingers crossed in hopes of some white stuff.

Up Coming Weekend

This weekend I will be heading to Chicago for the http://www.greatwatersflyfishingexpo.com/. I will be one of several memebers working the booth for the St. Paul Fly Tiers. This show is really a dry run for the Minneapolis show coming up in a few weeks. I hope to post some pictures so check back this weekend.

Last Broomball Game of the Season

Well last night was the last game of the men's broomball season. The weather was pretty good. We thought it was going to be very windy, but it wasn't too bad. We had a total of 10 guys which gave us a good amount of subs. We won the game 5-1 and I did manage to get two goals in the game. We finished the season with 4 wins and 3 losses. We were hoping for better, but a good season none the less. Now we will have to wait until next year.

Broomball

We have another game of broomball tonight. I think this is the last Firday night game. The weather sounds good and it should be a fun game.

XC Skiing

Yesterday I posted a picture of a trout Sue caught well today I thought I would add a picture of cross country skiing that we have done this winter. The snow for skiing has been great. We have managed to get out around 5 or 6 times. Hopefully we will continue to have good snow so we can get out again. This picture first picture is from Como golf course and the other two are at Afton State Park.

Dreaming of Summer

As much as I love winter, I do long to get back out on the streams. A couple summers ago Sue caught her first trout. This isn't her first (actually her second) enough to get the juices flowing.

Men's League Broomball

Big game tonight as we only have 2 left in the season. The weather isn't exactly the best for broomball, just a little cold and windy. We have had worse this time of year though.

This seems to be a continuing theme, that games are not turning out like I would think. Maybe over confidence is our biggest enemy. Last night was a 3-2 loss in a game where we only had 1 sub. They went up 3-0 and we did manage to score 2 in the second half, but ran out of time. This Friday is the last co-ed game and next Monday is the last men's game. It has been a great season none the less.

Getting ready for Broomball

Big game of broomball tonight. The temperature is dropping which will make for better ice. It is supposed to get really windy which will add some discomfort. I think this team is ready to play and we should walk out with another win.

Well it didn't go this way. We lost 2-1 in a game that featured a fight with both guys kicked out and they also had a guy that was kicked out for using an illegal broom. One for the record book in D-league co-ed broomball.

Take 2

Still tryng to see how this whole thing works. Hopefully I will continue to figure out the layout and then I can add the content, which will of course be the oh so interesting blogs.

My first Blog!

This is my first blog. How many I will do is a very good question.