Fin's 1st Birthday!

Yeah, so we don't have human kids so we celebrate our furry kids' birthdays.....
On the 23rd it was Fin's 1st birthday. I made him a cake.... carrots, peanut butter, cream cheese frosting... nice.
We put our party hats on and got a little crazy......
What a horseshit picture... I don't think I was ready for it..... those are ultra-thin carrot slices on the top of the cake.... Fin snuck into the fridge before the big event and ate a 1/4 of the cake...BAD BOY! He loved the cake....LOVED it!
Had a good time.
The other picture is Fin with his new sister, Poppy....an Australian Shepherd/Irish Setter mix....we're done with dogs for about 15 years....no more! I think half a dozen is plenty. Anyways...Happy Birthday To Fin!

Hope & Virtue

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Without trying to sound like a freaked out ABC news reporter....

It is a bit cold out there....not crazy cold....I reserve that qualification to temps hitting 30+ below zero....we're only hit -22 this a.m........ though Embarass, Minnesota hit the -47 this morning....Embarass is about an hour and a half -give or take- north of us and sits in a big pothole so the cold air pools down into their settlement.
So I took a picture last summer in my photo essay "Summer of Wayne" and I tried to recreate that same photo today - it was approximately the same time of day - around 4:30ish.... here it is....

So we went from a good 80 degrees and a good bit of sweat
to
-9 and the beginnings of a beard full of ice.
I LOVE MINNESOTA!!!!!
Nobody is laughing at my big-ass beard now are they? I ran into a cat I knew and hadn't seen for a good year or so today in the parking lot of the grocery store and we stood talking for 5 mintutes or so and he said...."I'd love to keep chatting but its freezing out here and I don't have all the big facial hair to keep me warm." So...think 'bout that!

So... to warm you up tonight....a picture of our woodstove.....can you feel the warmth??? I can!
Stay warm out there....

2008-09 ED FITZ TRIVIA CHAMPION....DAN JOHNSON!

Hey party people....

We had a dingwop last night - the now famous and storied EDMUND FITZGERALD TRIVIA CHALLENGE.

The History

Not sure who, if anyone, can take full credit for the birth of this game. If memory serves it was a collaboration with Carrie and me. Who cares. The game has 5 categories - the Ed Fitz, the Journey (which includes questions about the jouney the Fitz took that fateful night as well as the band Journey - how sweet is that??), Sailor Speak, Theories (as to why and how the Fitz sank), Gord (a category about Gordon Lightfoot since he wrote the most famous shipwreck song ever....the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald).

The Game

So here's the deal. You get a little ship, of which you get to pick your country flag, that you have to fill with real pieces of taconite. You use a beer bottle cap of your choice and move around Lake Suprior, hopefully landing on the categories you need to fill your boat with taconite. You get taconite by answering some jackassy questions correctly. You have to get a taconite from each category in order to fill you boat. When you fill all 5 categories and your boat is loaded full of taconite YOU WIN! Thats not to say its all that simple. For example, Al got "milfoiled" this year. He was instructed to make his way back to Duluth one roll at a time - he was at the opposite end of the lake so he was basically screwed big time. To boot, he was rolling two's all night... He was SO hoping to take home the newly constructed trophy. No dice this year Al. Though he did come up with a dandy idea - each winner gets to add a component of their choice to the actual trophy - so in a few years that baby will be beyond sweet!

Here is DellMarie reading a "Gord" question.

The Winners

2005-06 - Dan Johnson

2006-07 - DellMarie Misgen

2007-08 - DellMarie Misgen

2008-09 - Dan Johnson

These two have had a monopoly on the wins here.... not sure how or why....I guess they have the luck of the seas with them.

This year's game was a sea(pun intended)saw battle with Ricky (Kenny's bro) and Dan coming out with a quick lead. Kenny made a surge and we had three guys sitting with 4 out of 5 taconites in their boats. Ricky got a screw-over card and lost a taconite while Phoebe and I made a late run...both with 4 of 5 in their boats. So it was Dan, Kenny (under some very sketchy circumstances) Phoebe and I posed to answer one more question for the win....it came down to a Gord question for Dan and he took the win and loaded his boat 5 taconite full.... he went home with the big trophy and a SWEET Duluth Shipping poster calendar.

Check the ANCHOR paper banner dingwop Carrie strung up....and Dan with the trophy - he's the guy with the Finish flag next to DellMarie.
And finally, Kenny - all the way in the back - looking as though he just filled his drawers from all the excitement. Oh Kenny....we love you so...and all the great pictures you provide us and the world!

I even made up some t-shirts for the event (Carrie bought them all - I just screened them).... check em out....

It gets better every year.... definately one of the highlights....AHOY!

Fin

Quick couple pictures of Fin playing with a stick at sunset and then sleeping on his mama on the couch on a chilly winter night (Malek is up top on the couch too!)

The Season of GoodWill

Does the holiday season ever end? Not here... last night we had the post-Christmas Par-Tay at the Misgen house in Wrenshack. This year we did a $3 Goodwill Gift exchange. Cheap & a whole lot of fun!
As you can see by the pics we had a good time... especially the simpleton, slightly retarded Kenny. He went home with a nice yellow Van Gogh tie and a nice and loud blue silk Hawaian shirt courtesy of DellMarie. Mitch "Knasty" Knase was the big NAME THAT TUNE winner and got a nice orange rocker wig along with a big can of macaroni and beef...mmmmmm.
Carrie scored a nice mini-piano that plays a tune... DellMarie came away with the sweetest gift of all... a puke colored taco holder....at least thats what we are guessing it is. But the best part about it is that it has an hand scratched inscription on the bottom reading..."1987 To Judy Thank you - Carol Olson". If Judy isn't dead, I'm sure Carol would be pissed to find her taco boat at Goodwill...damn Judy. Anyway, a very fitting gift for DellMarie because she would eat tacos five days a week if you let her. I ended up with a nice tangerine trivet for my hot pots and whatnot.

Carrie arrived with a nice Russian made tennis racket inscripted decanter that they saved from the rubble of Chernobyl and found its way to the Goodwill. She filled it with Svedka Vodka and cranberries....wow! We were eating a few berries - sour but potent! The vodka should be GREAT... one of our best friends...vodka. All in all, a good time - a few no-shows due to the snow storm but we carried on.

Happy New Year!!

Hey folks...wishing anybody who happens along this rambling dingwop a very happy and healthy year to come. May peace be with you my friends.

My New Year's Day picture...