Occupy Deer Camp 2011

The first two weekends of November I spent attending rallies in the north woods of Minnesota to do our part in harvesting a deer.  The protest message we were trying to convey was that we had not harvested a deer in 3 seasons and this year with my lottery permit we were going to make sure we got our share of venison.  The protests that we participated in were quieter then the knuckleheads vandalising buildings and property in the name of progress.  We basically just did sit-ins in the forest with an occasional march. 

The first weekend of November I hunted with Al Craig, Andy Craig and Greg Olson near Long Lake in Koochiching County at our usual spot. 

Al and Greg arrived early and set up camp and Andy and I arrived late Friday night.  After listening to UMD get a come from behind 3-3 tie at Denver we unpacked and got ready for the opening day of hunting.

Saturday morning we went out to our usual stands and no deer were taken.  After a nice hot breakfast at camp we went back out and had the same results. 

On Sunday I went to Greg's normal stand and watch a small doe with two fawns eat below the stand for 20 minutes.  Even though I had the only doe tag for the group I decided to pass on the doe.  In the afternoon I made a drive to Greg's stand, but right as I started the drive I spotted a doe or fawn about 20 feet into the woods.  I hoped a buck might be in the area, but the deer was very content on eating and was not being pushed.  Again passing on the opportunity to harvest a deer.  No deer were taken.

On Monday we went out in the morning and it was very quiet for a third morning.  As Andy got out of his stand in the morning he kicked up a doe and walked back to the truck where he meet Greg.  They then posted Greg up on the trail and Andy pushed it out right to Greg.  After a short stand off, Greg got a buck that I tagged.  A successful hunt for the first week of deer camp/Occupy Deer Camp.

St. Paul Triathlon

Last weekend was the St. Paul Triathlon and I again was a participant.  This summer I had done a good job training getting in five days of training on average per week.  This usually consisted of running three days a week, swimming at last one day and biking the other. 

I arrived at 6:30 and setup my spot in the transition area which was about half way between the bike and run exits on the second to last rack from the beach.  This basically the same spot that I was at the year before.  Sue and Lisa biked over to watch the event and they arrived around 7:30. 

The Craig's and Doyle were also in the Sprint event as a team. 

Prior to the race we meet up with Jerry House from our swimming group as he was competing in the Sprint once again.

Overall I was very pleased with my results.  I was in the second swim wave which started at 8:03 and finished the swim in a person best of 15:48 for the half mile swim. This was the 89th fastest swim time.  My bike time was 39:21 for the 20K and my run was 28:44. 

My total time was 1:27:21 which was 165th place out of 308 and 27th out of 36 for my age group.  After the triathlon we had about 20 people over for a BBQ, which was a lot of fun.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

For the results follow the link.

http://www.frontrunnerusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/stpaultrilsprint2011results1.txt

Pad locks at the Stone Arch Bridge

After our trip to Venice we could help but notice the bridges in Venice and Verona had padlocks attached to the railings.  Margot and Claus explained that these are love locks and are on many bridges in Europe.  For a Anniversary surprise I decided to put two padlocks on a fence railing along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis a week before our wedding Anniversary.  This is the spot that Sue and I would talk Lily for a walk and was always one of her favorite spots. 

Over Memorial weekend Sue and I walked along the river and locks were still there.  I put a larger lock out that had our wedding date and initials and a smaller lock attached to the bigger one for Lily.  I also brought out another small one for Sue to lock to the bigger one for Honey. 

The river was still very high and flowing fast.  The falls were sending up a lot of mist, if it would have been sunny there would have been nice rainbows at the falls. 



Venice

The last week of April we went on a vacation to Venice.  Neither one of us had ever been there before and we were really looking foreword to visiting a new place and having a few days to relax.  It was a short trip as we left on Wednesday and came back home the following Monday.  Even though it was short it was a very relaxing trip and a great time.  We arrived in Venice Thursday mid-day and took a bus from the airport to the bus station in Venice and then took a boat-bus to a stop right by our hotel. 

We stayed at the Locanda ai Santi Apostoli, which was right on the Grand Canal and our room was one of two rooms that the windows were right over the canal.  We were recommended this hotel and got it early, which got us one of the best rooms available. 

We stayed four nights at the hotel and same most Venice and were able to also get to the Neighboring islands of Murano and Lido.  Murano is famous for the hand blown glass.

We were on the early side for tourists in Venice, which only made us wonder what the peak season would look like.  On Saturday and Sunday all of the street were packed with people and St. Mark's square was very busy during the day.  Thankfully mornings, evenings and night was not crowded, so we actually did a look of walking around during those times. 

While in Venice we met up with  our friends Margot and Claus from Munich.  They drove down to Venice from Munich and stayed in Venice for the same number of days that we did.  It was a lot of fun meeting up with them.  They had been to Venice before and were pretty good about finding their way around.  They also wanted to show us some of the neighboring cities and since they had a car they drove us to Verona for a day.  It was a beautiful day and the streets of Verona were busy with people as well.

We had a great trip and lots of found memories and definately a place we would like to get back to someday.

UMD Beats Michigan for the NCAA Hockey Championship

What a game between UMD and Michigan last night at Xcel Energy Center for the NCAA Championship.  I was lucky enough to be at the game and take it all in as the photographer for The College Hockey HighHorse.  It was great to see UMD come out on top in overtime.  The arena was going crazy and the players and coaching staff were sure enjoying the victory.

Click this link HERE for all the photos from the game.  There are too many (132 photos) to put them all up on this page.  These are a few of my favorites from the night.

Kyle Schmidt making snow angels while sliding across the ice after scoring the game winning goal.

Team photos with the trophy.

Coach Scott Sandelin receiving the NCAA Championship trophy.

 Jack Connolly with the trophy.

UMD Seniors

  Kyle Schmidt showing his hair, he didn't bleach his hair (only the tips) as he is getting married.

The UMD post game press conference.

NCAA Frozen Four

The College Hockey HighHorse reported from the Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center this past Thursday.  I was happy to be the photographer for the games.  As photographer I was given full access to the entire arena and was able to watch the games from the press box.  The best part was the UMD came out on top and will be playing Michigan today for the NCAA Championship. 

Here are a few photos for the games.

New post on the College Hockey HighHorse

I added a post to Andy Craig's College Hockey HighHorse about the future of WCHA hockey and the NCAA hockey in general after the announcement of the Big Ten Hockey Conference.  Andy has been doing a great job following college hockey so be sure to check out the blog.  I will continue to add my two cents as I have time.

http://www.collegehockeyhighhorse.com/2011/03/more-thoughts-on-bi6-10-conference.html

Northern Lights

On this past Thursday news reports were abound about a few large solar flares that happened on March 8th.  The news stories all cited that geomagnetic storms would reach earth on March 9th and 10th.  For solar information http://spaceweather.com/ is a great website.  So with a little additional reasearch I found that the University of Alaska Fairbanks website has a northern lights perdictor http://www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Default.asp?Date=20110313 I checked the forecast it mentioned that the northern lights were active and they would be visible from Minneapolis Thusrday night.

After getting home from Fly Tiers the sky was clear and not too foggy yet.  Sue and I decide to go for a drive to see if we could see the northern lights.  As we were driving north on 35E in Centerville at 11:15pm we looked up the northern lights were dancing across the sky.  We continued to drive north and every time we got to a city with lots of street lights the northern lights were not visible, but every time it got darker they were visible.  We drove to Carlos Avery WMA and parked and watched as they slowly disappeared.  So around midnight we drove back home.  We will continue to watch the northern lights forecast and hopefully see them again and get some pictures next time.

Hawkeye Fly Fishing Show

Me and three other guys from the St. Paul Fly Tiers drove to Des Moines last night to tie some flies today and tomorrow at the Hawkeye Fly Fishing Show.  It runs all day today and Sunday morning.  It will be fun to meet some other individuals that share the same interests as us.  This is our first time attending this show and should be a great time and a sure sign of spring.

Nice day in Waseca

Last Saturday, I drove down to Waseca and visited my grandparents.  It was a beautiful day for a drive.  I was planning on seeing them on Sunday, but with the big storm on the way I decided to change my plans.  I arrived mid-morning at my grandparents house and talked with my Grandpa for a little while and then we decided to go over to the nursing home to see my Grandma. 

She we sleeping when we got there, but woke up when quickly after we arrived.  She was in good spirits and very happy to see us.  She followed and even lead the conversations for a while.  She has really progressed in the last few weeks since her stroke.

Grandpa wanted to eat at the Pheasant Cafe for lunch, so right before they came to get her for her lunch we said goodbye and went to the the little downtown Wascesa cafe.  It wasn't too busy when we arrived.  We each had the roast beef which was very good before heading back to the house.

It was a good day spent with Grandma and Grandpa.  They are both getting used to new schedules and the changes in there lifestyles since her stroke.  There was much improvement and maybe she will be able progress far enough to be able to move back to the house.  Only time will tell.