Deer River, Minnesota
A Roadside Attraction Edition:
Not to be outdone by the town of Garrison, Deer River has its own aquatic idol: the lean, mean, northern pike. Although the general consensus of our little band of hunters was that the fish looked more Muskie-like.
Photos were taken of a thirteen year old caught in the jaws of this magnificent carnivore, but they are too gruesome to share here.
Itasca County, Minnesota
As The Boys and I explored the Chippewa National Forest, we crossed the Mississippi River several times.
Its a small river this far north, as we were only an hours drive from its headwaters at Lake Itasca.
It was a beautiful day to spend some time along the northern banks of the mighty river.
For Parker
A Flashback Friday Edition:
I was almost finished with the morning chores. All of the animals had been watered and fed. I went back to the chicken coop to retrieve the morning eggs. I was at the far end of the coop, with several eggs in hand, when there was a loud “BANG” and the door swung open.
There in the doorway stood my four month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever. Her eyes gleamed with lust; she had just won the Canine Lottery. I yelled for her to stay, which she did for a brief moment in time. In the end, the clucking of the oddly colored, and slow moving grouse-like creatures was too much for her.
Everyone remained completely still for that split nanosecond, then hell broke loose in the form of a brown, curly-haired blur of fur. Birds were everywhere. I dropped the eggs and tried to make my way past the wall of feathers. It seemed that the birds realized that I was suddenly the lesser of the two evils in the room, and they rushed towards me. I felt like I was in a twisted Hitchcock film. My dog raced about in utter joy, flushing birds to the left, and to the right … just like I had taught her. It was feathery pandemonium, and it was ugly.
A hen made it to the door and to freedom. It was the prize layer of the flock; the Mother of many breakfasts. The dog followed her out, and was on her tail
feathers immediately.
I rushed out and saw my dog do me a huge favor, which at this point, I thought she certainly owed me. She chased the runaway chicken into her fenced area, and the bird promptly ran into the doghouse. Then my dog sat down and looked up at me with a look that asked, “Did I do good, Dad?”. I have never been so angry, and so proud of something all at the same time, as I was of her. I made a mental note, that having chickens on The Ridge may not be a good idea.
I reached into the doghouse and brought out the traumatized hen and returned her to the coop. After locking up the dog, I returned to get the eggs. The female turkey came over and laid down. I stroked her back and apologized for the rude intrusion. She seemed to understand, maybe I will get an egg from her tomorrow. The chickens, on the other hand, gave me looks of pure evil. They wanted me to pay; you could see it in their eyes. Those hate filled eyes.
Collecting eggs will never be the same. For any of us.
Katmai National Park has been holding its annual Fat Bear Week over the past few days.
Complete with a March Madness type bracket, the park has been posting before and after pictures of various bears, in a head to head, or possibly, belly to belly, face off.
Highlighting how much weight brown bears need to put on over the summer to get through hibernation, Katmai has found a unique way to raise public awareness.
Two bears now go belly to belly for the 2018 title of Fattest Bear of Katmai.
First we have Bear #409, also known as Beadnose. Beadnose comes into the championship round having beat out three time champion Otis.
Challenging Beadnose is Bear #747. This Bear carries a lot of weight, but no nickname. Although, I expect that will change next spring. I have to admit, 747 is appropriate, just look at that wide body.
I believe voting closes today at 3 pm Alaska time on the Katmai Facebook page.
Golden Gopher Hockey at Mariucci
The 2018-19 Division 1 college hockey season is now underway.
The University of Minnesota opened the season against last year’s national champion Minnesota-Duluth with a home and home series.
On Saturday the two programs skated to a tough 1-1 tie in Duluth.
Stub & Herb’s, a campus tradition
Minnesota came out in a flurry for new coach Bob Motzko’s first home game. At the end of the first period, the Gophers held a 3-0 lead, with sophomore Brannon McManus netting two.
The Gophers were overtaken by an unnatural desire to sit in the penalty box for period two, which gave Duluth some life. The Bulldogs would score the first two goals of the period, but Sammy Walker would follow up with a goal for Minnesota and Rem Pitlick would add a short handed tally for the Gophers. Minnesota now led 5-2.
The two teams would trade goals in the final frame, giving Minnesota a 7-4 win over their in-state rival.
The Bulldogs outshot Minnesota 46-23, mainly due to the nine penalties the Gophers took. Junior goaltender Mat Robson was solid in net for Minnesota.
It was a good atmosphere at Mariucci, with 8000+ fans in the stands for a Sunday night game.
Trudeau International Airport-Montreal
The Curator and I dropped off Brazil Lucas at the Montreal airport in the afternoon, then drove south across the Saint Lawrence River and back into the United States. There we met with two good friends from Ogdensburg, NY for dinner.
The following morning we picked up another wonderful friend from Iowa at the Syracuse airport, then had lunch with The Catamount Fan. It was a great lunch, and nice to finally meet Mr Catamount.
Syracuse Train Depot
After visiting the William H. Seward House, I was dropped off at the Syracuse Amtrak Depot for the trip to Saint Paul. I checked my bag for the first time while traveling Amtrak, because I didn’t want to lug it around Chicago’s Union Depot. That worked out great, and the bag was immediately available for pick up once I reached baggage claim.
The route to Chicago saw a 2-1/2 hour delay, which cut into my 4 hour layover in Chicago. Still, I had more than enough time to eat lunch and explore the Depot a bit before boarding my train to Saint Paul.
Wisconsin zipping past
Eventually I will have to board a plane again to get back to Fairbanks, but I wasn’t quite willing to do so just yet. I enjoyed the leisurely pace to the Twin Cities, and met a couple of people on board both trains to keep me entertained for at least part of the journey.
