Chicken Swap Time!

This morning was the Carlton Feed Mill Spring Chicken Swap... sounds pretty darn backwoods hick style don't it? But it is a good time.... folks there swapping/selling/buying all sorts of things.... birds of all varieties such as chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys.... puppies, kittens, goats, cows, rabbits, horses, donkeys, as well as all sorts of other non-living stuff like jewelry, honey, feathers, wool, maple syrup...etc,. etc.

There is also an Amish family that comes every year and makes outstanding homemade bread, cheese, doughnuts etc. YUM!

So we took Fin and got a shitload of comments like "look at that huge dog!" and the like.... its a bit weird to us because we don't think of him as that big - because we are with him everyday I suppose.... He did great - let everybody pet him and even gave a little boy a kiss.... he was really interested a Scotland Highland cow and the goats in the pickup.
here are the pics...

After the Chicken Swap we went off to Grandma Diane's where Fin got spoiled with way too many treats... she couldn't believe how big he has gotten since he hasn't visited in a while.
DellMarie asked if she should bring him down for Thanksgiving or Christmas and she said Grandma Ann would have a stroke! HA!
Alright... sun is shining... I'm going to go make a cocktail and grill some burgers!
Good day to all you!

Two Weeks Ago......

I was shaving my beard off... wow... time flies by huh.
Anyway... an update.... I got a bit of hair cut off too... trimming up all that winter fuzz I guess.
By the way... I really, really don't want to come off in any way as being vain here.... just providing a picture for the record....
We had the kids out for their weekly "community outing" at work today and ended up at the lake walk in Duluth... freakin' awesome today... 70 degrees... sun.... YES!
Yes, you are looking at a huge chunk of ice/snow/beach sand/gravel... it is about 4 feet high and 50 yards long. The white you see in the pic below off to the left is ice.... still out there... almost gone though.

Tomten 09 planning commission party next weekend. Look for invites next month! We are just three months out! DINGWOP!

Sping Has Sprung Because....

... I shaved my beard!
I had a sneaking suspicion that the horseshit weather we've been having - snow, ice, cloudy, stuck in the low 30's crap had to do with the fact I had my winter beard still intact.
So with that bit of knowledge, I went ahead and shaved the thing off last night!
And, as if to prove my theory, I woke up this morning to sunshine. When I let Fin out for his morning pee, a robin red breast came tweeting along beside us, as if to say....
"Thank you, kind sir, for shaving your beard... you have brought us spring, sun and warmth!"

In an opposite reaction, DellMarie woke up - as I shaved after she went to bed - and said, among other things, I look morbidly grotesque! She's claiming the sex is off limits until it grows back... but really, who can resist the WayneMan and his charm?? She'll be wanting to rock it in about 12 hours or so....

Here is the pictorial proof....

Before...
Considering a Burt Reynolds mustache.....
And finally....... remember, I took one for the team here - in order for spring to arrive....
I could post pictures of the mass of beard hair and the three razors I destroyed (kidding!) but I thought that would be a bit gross.....
I haven't shaved the old beard fully for probably 12 years or so.... had the goatee's here and there....
DellMarie keeps shaking her head at me and giving me the stink eye.... I keep trying to tell her... it will grow back.

Never thought you'd be reading about Wayne shaving his beard in such detail did ya???
Now... where's that Robin? DellMarie just said he flew the coop because I look atrocious! HA!

Come On Already!!!

I must preface this by saying I hate when people talk about the weather because is just shows how much they don't have anything else worthy of conversation BUT... this is what Fin and I woke up to on March 31st....ugh......
We still have a couple inches covering the ground...

I have become convinced my beard has had an adverse effect on the weather... so I think it may be time to shave the thing off.... I'll keep ya'll posted.

Oh, my love affair with the cookie tin banjo has not faded.... I was going to throw up another vid but, alas, the camera is dead on batteries yet again... I guess it is time to go buy some rather than using the half dead ones laying around the house... in the meantime... DINGWOP!