Off To DL For The Weekend

Nicole and I are heading to Detroit Lakes for the weekend. We have not seen our niece Hattie since Christmas and I also have to get my braces tightened. I think I am going to have Ryan remove all my crooked teeth this weekend and just be done with them. I'll have a few holes in my smile but at least the teeth I have left will be straight. These braces are the pits, especially with as much public speaking as I have been doing. The idiot in me always thinks the audience is staring at my braces, even though I know they are staring at my big nose, not my braces.

Anyway, hope everyone is recovering after the snowfall yesterday. We maybe had 3-4 inches up here, nothing too serious. All the skiers and snowmobilers are arriving for their weekend of fun.

We'll be back Sunday night and post some new pictures of Hattie Georgina with her favorite uncle.

P.S. This stock market is a drag!

WGC Accenture Match Play

Just an update on golf because I am bored today. My coworkers in the ciy all left for the day as they are scared of a little snow. Try living up north for a while, the last time I was in Hudson all our snow was gone and we still have 3 feet up here. Anyway, I am in a pool for this Accenture Match play, similar to an NCAA pool that you get into. Instead of 64 teams there are 64 players in this. It goes Wednesday-Sunday and in case you hadn't heard it on the news, Tiger Woods is back.
Tiger won yesterday 3 & 2 (George, this means he was up 3 holes with only 2 to play).
So, after 8 months off of competitive play, he birdies the 1st hole and eagles the
2nd hole. Right now I am ahead in our pool, but whenever my friend Jeb Wilson is involved one has to be nervous because he has a horseshoe up his arse!! I swear he wins every pool he ever enters, but maybe this time I'll prevail. My next door neighbor Brian is also in and he is done for as 3 of his final 4 are gone on the 1st day, and Tom Kingsley lost 3 of his final 4 also. So imagine your NCAA board and you pick your final 4 teams and you lose 3 the first game. Pretty tough to win right? It's down to Jeb and I for the money!
Wilson, have fun in Aruba, I hope you fry like a lobster! Send me a postcard!
I am heading up to the Lodge to watch some of the golf as it is on the Golf Channel and we don't get that at the townhome. 2 things the TV company up here has never heard of, the Golf Channel and High Definition. Other than that, this is a great area. We have Showtime for some reason, but no Golf Channel or High Def! Boy would that be a no-brainer trade. Who watches Showtime anyway, what am I going to watch, Boxing?

Tuesday Feb 24th

Today is my birthday! I am 31 years old. I was born in Mankato, MN at 2:02 in the PM. My lovely wife Nicole surprised me this morning with oatmeal pancakes and she even took the day off to stay home with me. We are going to Duluth this afternoon and evening for some shopping and dinner.

This afternoon our next door neighbor from Hudson, Dina Gagne, stopped by to visit us. Dina is an oncology pharmaceutical representative for Novartis and she calls on doctors and hospitals in Duluth and Virginia. She was kind enough to stop over with a birthday present for me (Dina, I am trying to lose weight), but the carameled apples she brought look unbelievable. Dr. Ritchie (dentist) I promise not to eat caramel or apples as they will certainly break my wires on my braces (wink, wink).

Nicole and I left for Duluth around 3 p.m. today and did some grocery shopping. We went to Bellisio's in Duluth for a glass of wine and then to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Duluth, Va Bene Berarducci's Caffe.

It was a great day and thanks to all who called and e-mailed and wrote on the blog for your wishes.

Check out these apples. There is a Strawberry cheesecake, Campfire Smore, Snicker, and a Vanilla Butter.

Dinner at Va Bene. In the daylight, the window behind us is clear blue as it sits over Lake Superior.

Weekend of Feb 21st

We spent the weekend in Springfield visiting our parents. I was in Hudson last week so Nicole and I drove seperately. It is a long drive from Virginia to Springfield by yourself and it is boring. My dad had a lot of visitors this weekend including my sister Shelly, her husband Tom and their 3 girls. My brother Ryan and his daughter Carlyn, Nicole and I, my cousins from Iowa drove up on Saturday, some of them driving 7 hours from Des Moines. Everyone wants to see my dad. People in town stop by all the time. There are more cookies and bars in our house than one should ever have. I ate at least 100 cookies over the weekend or as my wife tells me 10,000 calories. Hap's favorite thing to do is visit with all the guests and he doesn't want to rest at all when people are over, even though he needs to. On Sunday he slept in until 2 p.m. catching up from Saturday's activities. The only thing he said to my mom on Sunday morning was to wake me up in time for the golf, which began at 2 p.m. I talked to him last night after the golf was over (I know better than to bother him during) and he was happy that Phil Mickelson had held on to win, even though he trailed until he birdied 16 and 17 and parred 18 to win it. Steve Stricker put on a good show yesterday, but bogeyed 18 and Phil beat him by 1.
We had a great weekend visiting family, Nicole attended her cousin Elizabeth's baby shower, saw both sets of grandparents and we visited her family for a little while on Saturday night. George got 2 new TV's, a new 46 inch for the living room and a new 37 inch for the basement. Welcome to the world of High Def George, it's a beautiful place to be. Now George, trying watching golf on it, it is the best color you can possibly get. Might even make you want to play the game. :)
That's all for now....

A Day Off!

Happy President's Day! Jason had the day off because the markets are closed today and I decided to take the day off awhile ago. It has been snowing pretty much all day, so it is very pretty day out. Our trip to Ely yesterday wasn't as much fun as we were hoping. Basically, all the snow sculptures were ruined from the past weeks rain and warmer weather. Of all the snow sculptures, there was only one that you could tell what it was...A Cat (see picture with jason). Jason is headed back to Hudson/Mpls this evening so I am not really looking forward to a week here by myself, it just seems to make the week go slower. We are planning on heading to Springfield to visit family this coming weekend and are looking forward to that.

If anyone is looking for a new recipe to try... give this one a try. We had it this weekend and it was great and easy! I would recommend marinating it for several hours vs. just one hour for more flavor. Recipe for: Maple-Mustard Pork Loin with Roasted Potatoes http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/no-recipe-zone/maple-mustard-pork-loin-with-roasted-potatoes/article.html

Wishing Everyone a Happy Week!

Weekend Update

Good morning all. I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day. We enjoyed a day of skiing at Giants Ridge and the company of Adam and Lisa Gomarko. We skiied for most of the day, a nice sunny day up here. Nicole made a great pork loin for dinner wrapped in bacon so we are certainly doing our best to bolster the hog market (something that would help my business immensely). The Gomarko's headed for Duluth this morning to eat lunch at our favorite restaurant in the great city "Va Bene". Nicole and I are headed to Ely for the day and evening for their Winter Art Festival. Even though everyone knows our favorite artist is in Duluth (DJ Gross) we are going to spend the day and look at some of the artwork. Just an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy the weather. Sunny and 15 degrees today.
Enjoy the day and Happy Valentines' Day!

It Feels Like Winter Again

After being in Hudson for a week, a warm week I saw all the snow at Troy Burne disappear. I didn't mind the warm weather, but now that I am back up north I want snow again. With no snow there isn't a lot to do. We have some friends (The Gomarko's), high school friend coming up for the weekend to do some snowboarding. We are looking forward to a 3-day weekend as Nicole and I are both off on Monday for President's Day. I am also hoping for the passage of the Stimulus Package this weekend to put some stabilization under this fragile economy.
We are taking a road trip on Sunday to Springfield where we both grew up to visit my dad, who is fighting against cancer. He is my hero and will never give up. We were home last weekend and had a great time watching the Buick Open and this weekend I'm sure we'll find some golf to watch. We are all itching to get back out on the course. Keep us in your prayers, we appreciate them all.

Always Remember Where You Came From....

I thought several of you readers may be able to relate to this.....ENJOY!

If you grew up in the Midwest, then….

You know how to polka, but have never tried it sober.
You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.
You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception
and wedding dance.
You know the difference between “green” and “red” farm machinery, and would fight with
your friends on the playground over which was better!
You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm.
You spent more on beer & liquor that you did on food at your wedding.
You hear someone use the word ‘uff-da’ and don’t break into uncontrollable laughter.
You or someone you know was a ‘Dairy Princess’ at the county fair.
You know that ‘combine’ is a noun.
You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel post in the middle of
winter.
You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.
You know that ‘creek’ rhymes with ‘pick’.
Football schedules, hunting season, and harvest, are all taken into consideration before
wedding dates are set.
A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer.
Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.
There was at least one, if not several, in your class who had to help milk cows in the
morning.
You have driven your car on the lake.
Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey-pokey and the chicken dance.
Your definition of a small town in one that only has one bar.
The local gas station sells live bait.
At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat processing plant.
You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.
You actually understand these jokes….

Range Update

After spending last week apart, Nicole on the Range and me in the office, we were really looking forward to the weekend together. On Friday night my company Christmas party was going to be held at the Rock Bottom Brewery. It started at 6 p.m. and Nicole was planning on arriving at 8:30 or so as she had to work up north until 5 p.m. I arrived at the party after checking into our hotel room (Westin downtown, awesome place) and had 1 beer before my cell phone rang. It was Nicole and the Saab had broken down just north of North Branch, about 1 hour from downtown. She called AAA, and they were on their way. I left the party to go pick her up. I beat AAA there by a good 20 minutes. Then they came and towed the Saab to North Branch and we headed back to the party. We made it for the last 1hr or so and it was a good time. From Rock Bottom, Nicole and I and my boss Mark and his wife Karen went to the "Living Room", which is the new lobby bar at the W hotel. It is a great place in the Foshay Tower. They also have a great bar on the 27th floor called Prohibition. On Saturday we slept in and then had a nice breakfast at Keys.
Saturday night we went to our friends Matt and Lindsey Quinn in Ellsworth, WI. We went with the Wilson's and Gagnes'. It was so much fun running around again with our old neighborhood friends, we miss them very much.
On Sunday we packed up and made our way back up north to watch the Super Bowl. What a great game, but I was cheering for the Cardinals.
Tonight, we got the news about the Saab and it is done for! We are calling salvage companies to see what they will give us for her and now we have some car shopping to do. Nicole and I both hate cars (amazing as my dad was a car dealer). We both view them as a waste of money and simply a means to an end. I think we will stay with Saab for Nicole's car, but it is up to her.
This weekend we have some friends coming to visit us, I am up north until Feb 16th, a nice 2 week time period. Have a great week!