Happy Ground Hog's Day

Winter? Pathetic. I think I have given up on xc skiing this year. I only went once, and that was out on my classic touring skis at Jon's farm. At least it's been ok bike commuting. I'm still on my old Miyata with 27" rims and 12 gears. It's 6 miles one way to work. The worst of the commute is the last 1/4 mi when I have to ride through UM campus, it's like the state fair every day there.

I've been working in a geology lab at UM. For work, I got to spend the month of September out on a different lake every day, sometimes two lakes in a day. I was out with my field partner, Chris, collecting sediment and water samples for a study. We drove 3000+ miles in 4 weeks, coming back to Minneapolis for a short weekend, then back out on the road. We went to 25 lakes around Minnesota. We hauled two boats at all times, canoe and a small fishing boat on a trailer. I learned pretty quick how to drive with a trailer, never had to learn otherwise.

Getting ready for a swim after a long day of field work.


Filtering water samples at the hotel room.


A few times we had to rely on friendly people allowing us to access lakes through their private property. This gentleman bent over backwards allowing us to use his Gator to get into the lake, we wouldn't have been able to get in otherwise.


Best cheap breakfast find on the road, we ate 3 times at a cafe when we stayed in Willmar.


Lady Slipper Lake


Me with the swedish gravity corer.


Where did this year go? It went by so fast. Working, doing some research, and spending time between Minneapolis, Foley, and Duluth.
I presented a poster at Geological Society of America's national conference this October in Minneapolis. My research title, "Phytoliths from food residues provide the oldest date for use of wild rice in Minnesota". I got interviewed from Science Sort Of, on Episode 109, about 27 min. into it.
Presenting a poster at GSA.


We have been ice fishing a few times, this photo was at Prior Lake.


Up at the Split Rock Lighthouse



My brother, Ted and Jon at Split Rock Lighthouse



Jon and I at Split Rock Lighthouse



My Mom's little Shih Tzu, Haga, passed away this winter. It was very sad. I sewed him a pope costume for last Easter. His name, Haga, means '3rd born son' in my Mom's first language, Ho-Chunk.


Jon goofing off on Halloween.





Me and the homies, it was Dress to Impress Daven/bar bike ride in St. Cloud. I remember I had homework that night but they went to Pesty's, Lincoln Depot, Ace Bar, ending at the White Horse, where I finally joined in on the fun.
I miss the road riding around St. Cloud, it's way better than the Cities. You can get out of town pretty fast and ride for hours.


Fun times in Foley, Jon moving stuff around on the farm, I was probably working on the fish pond in the photo.

Indexed Shifting

I'm still on crutches, it's still not fun. My ankle is getting better, sometimes it's stiff and it moves like indexed shifting. I can put weight on the ankle, but I could be on crutches for another week.


I got some work done at the UM LacCore lab for the cores from the wild rice lake. It's fascinating what you can find in a core. There was an exoskeloton case of a midge head, complete with antennae and mandibles. There was also a piece of grass charcoal from a fire that happened about 300 years ago.


Jon and I hit up Fleet Farm yesterday. It seems like we are there almost every week. This time I found a pair of Joka polar gloves, made in Finland. I wish there was more in stock, I would have bought 3 pair. These gloves come in handy when working with frozen lake cores and ice fishingk.

AD Annoyed and Disabled

I've been on crutches for the last couple of weeks. I have a sprained right ankle. Jon and I were in an accident. I'm tired of telling the story, I should just
wear a sign with my story. I dislike the sympathy attention from crutches. Using crutches is almost like double poling all day. I suppose the good thing about crutches is that my triceps made a comeback.
Ok so here goes, Jon and I were going to his place out in Foley and it was the end of a snowstorm and the roads were pretty bad. There was a car in the oncoming lane so Jon instinctly moves over a bit to give the guy some room when he got tugged into the deep snow on the shoulder, he lost control, we fishtailed, did a 270 when the other guy slammed into my side of the Jeep. It was enough force to crush the front axle, tip us over on my side and the other guy went into the ditch. I got the wind knocked out of me, and I knew my ankle was hurt right away. I managed to unbuckle and crawl into the back of the Jeep so Jon could then unbuckle without falling or crushing me. Jon was fine, he called 911, then called his Mom. We got out of the Jeep much like getting out of the hatch of a tank, through the top, I hopped down despite the ankle and by that time his Mom was there since we were only half a mile from home. Jon had a sore back/neck for a few days, but he's ok. The other guy told us right away he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He was in the hospital for a week with 5 broken ribs and a busted spleen.
Jon's Jeep has been replaced with a 2006 Subaru Legacy wagon, it's no Jeep, but he is happy with the mileage it gets.


A few days BC (Before Crutches), I went to Glen, MN. My research project is studying how lake levels effect wild rice growth. The lake is used by members of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. They have been harvesting wild rice, manoomin (in Ojibwe), on it for ages.
Using an electric auger to drill through the ice.






This core didn't work out, it splattered all over the ice.


Me taking temperature of the water from the lake bottom.

Hwy 23, St Cloud to I-35

I went with some friends snowboarding a couple of weeks ago at Spirit Mtn up in Duluth. A bunch of us were carpooling so we straight back to St. Cloud that same night. It's weird being in my hometown and not actually going home. So the drive to Duluth is something I've done a billion times. For me there's certain landmarks on Highway 23, the stretch from St. Cloud to I-35 near Hinkley.
When I first moved to St. Cloud there used to be this little town called Ronneby near Foley, it was too small so they disbanded. I think the Auto Sales is still called 'Auto Sales of Ronneby' though, whatev.
In the town of Bock you will find Fat Jack's the strip joint. Bock is the only town on this stretch of highway where the speed limit doesn't slow down when you drive through the town.
There's a house on the stretch between Mora and Milaca that always has something for sale at the end of their driveway, it can be anything from a snowblower to pallets. There's a guy like that near my Mom's place in Duluth--everyone just calls him 'Walmart'.
Brook Park has the BP that's attached to a Lounge. It's always an interesting stop at the BP. A couple of weeks ago they had sheets for sale in the Lounge.
In Quamba, all the streets begin with "Q". I hate to be the guy who lives on the corner of Quaalude and Quagmire.
Be prepared if you are going to be on the road after 10pm, because most gas stations shut down by then.


Gumby in Quamba, I love Gumby.


Bock village hall


Quamba city hall


Sheets for sale in Brook Park

Jon and I competed in an ice fishing contest on Krueger Lake near St. Joe. We didn't catch anything.



Jon. xoxo.


Derek at Spirit Mtn. Derek's living the dream this summer, he's going on a BMX tour. I think he's going to do at least one crit this spring before he goes on his tour.


Connor skiing in shorts!

Winter

I love winter. I love all seasons, every season is my favorite when I'm in it. One of the big reasons I love winter is because so many people hate it. It's nice to do stuff outside at parks or trails and you get the whole place to yourself. Other nice things about winter, Irish coffee, down comforter, sweaters, hockey and hotdish.

I went running today, and it's hard to believe that I used to run everyday. I still like it enough, I just don't love it the way I used to. When roads clear up a little I'll get out on the bike. I have a pair of Bar Mitts on the road bike but it has to be really cold for me to use them. I bought them at the Stillwater crit when they were on special. I resurrected my Polar Coach heart rate monitor, I haven't used it in 4+ years. I think I bought it 10 years ago. It is so old! I borrowed Dr. Jeff's copy of Polar Coach on cd to download it on my laptop and it wouldn't work because the program runs on a 16 bit system and mine's a 64. Talk about ancient. I think I can upgrade it though on the Polar website, something I'm not motivated to do yet...motivation. I have different motivations now than I did back when I used to use the HR monitor regularly and a bike computer. However, I am the very proud winner of Sam's old wireless computer! I can't wait to use it. I go through phases, sometimes I use a computer and sometimes I don't. The last time I had one was 2 years ago then it broke and I never bought a new one. So now I have one again! Thank you!


I have been helping Jon lately with his subwoofer box. I didn't help with the construction, just the sanding part. I just like being in the shop working on stuff. Jon fixed my laptop charger cord last week, too. It was all bent out of shape and he cut it open then soldered it back together--what a man.

Feeding the horses out at Jon's family farm.


My nephew Noah about a week before he broke his leg in hockey. He's so fun to hang out with, even watching tv with him is fun, he is hilarious.


XC skiing near my Mom's in Duluth.


Walking one of my Mom's dogs, Cheggy.

Beef Bouillon

I found beef bouillon cubes in my cabinet this week. I don't remember buying them so I must have inherited it from a roommate at some point. It says on the label directions, "Add one cube to 1 cup boiling water for a hearty beverage at mealtime or anytime". I don't know, my Mom could have bought me the bouillon, too. Sounds like something she would do, since she likes all kinds of things. As a kid, I remember my parents feeding me things like liver, headcheese, evaporated milk, oatmeal with bacon grease, but we never had beef bouillon tea. We still make milkweed soup and fern fiddlehead soup.

Looks like winter is definitely here, it was a really nice autumn. The bike riding was good, not too hot and the trees full of color. Jon grew lots of pickles and 15 pumpkins out at his Mom's farm so that meant lots of pumpkin carving and baking pumpkin seeds. We were on a streak for baking apple pies for awhile, too, our favorite was using the Honeycrisp apple.


I went with Jon's family to go visit his dad in Redwing a couple of weeks ago. It's a nice little town. I have a pair of Redwing workboots that I like very much, steel toe and steel shank--solid.

Jon, xoxoxo.


I have a new niece, Cadel Cameron, she's named after Cadel Evans. Let's just say that my sister Phyllis has become a huge TDF fan in the last couple of years. I'm getting used to the name, since I've never heard it as a girl's name. She's gorgeous, nonetheless, dark hair and already making girls jealous with her natural tan, haha.
Me and Cadel


Cold weather motivates me to stay busy inside, Jon and I made dreamcatchers recently. I made the two on the left. He made the black one.

I tried making a Halloween costume, but it fits like shite. This photo shows as far as I got. I need my Mom the pro sewer to help me with the fit and final tailoring.

I was a witch instead for Halloween. The night before Halloween, me, my brother Ted, and Jon went to a roller derby bout in Minneapolis. It was our first roller derby bout for the three of us. It was hard to get into because we didn't know what was going on. I guess that's what people feel like when they show up to a crit and cheer for someone who they think is the leader and it's not, it's just a bunch of people cruising around a circuit. So we asked some girl who was skating around carrying a sign, 'Ask me about Derby'. Then it was all good. I will go to my next one when my friend Willow makes her comeback in derby since she just had a cute new baby boy. I think I will have more fun watching when I actually know someone. After my first derby experience we met up with Katie and Kristin at a glass blowing party. $15 for a glass you get to keep and all you can drink Primo.
The cool glasses.




I saw Gumby on the street, I love Gumby.


Winter's here and I haven't skiied yet, downhill or xc. My xc skis and snowboard are up in Duluth at my Mom's and I won't be able to go up there for a couple of weeks, sigh. I'm pretty anxious to play in the snow, I can only handle so much of the gym. I'm hoping my classic skis will be enough to plow through the snow out at Jon's Mom's farm. I'm trying to talk Jon into building an igloo with me so we can do some winter camping in the yard. There's already a big pile of snow where the neighbor used his tractor to plow the driveway, haven't convinced Jon yet. Until then I will have to bust out the winter moccasins with a warm sheepskin liner and curl up in bed with a cup of beef bouillon tea.