I am writing this from my bed in room 605 (I think W) at St. Luke’s hospital.   It’s a nice room with cable TV and phone and adjustable bed and a south facing view of downtown Duluth.  Perfect view for the huge nighteime  lightening show.  The nursing crew wakes me every four hours to pester some blood or temp or blood pressure from me, but they’re nice enough to bring a nice supply of pain killers every so often, also.   How did I get here and what is wrong with me, you ask.   Wow.  That’s the same question I was asking on the drive to the hospital.  Six, no seven, doctors would help the quest this weekend.

            It
started Saturday morning around 2:00 when I awoke with chest pains.  Not that chest pain, but on the right side just south of the rib cage. Driving me to St. Luke’s, my wife
even broke the speed limit and ran three red lights.    

  The Emergency room is very, very busy at 4 am on Saturdays.  So, I was stuck in an odd room that would likely be a closet or storage room during daylight, but it had
a bed and professionals that would answer my questions.  What’s causing this horrible pain?  Draw blood.  Give urine.  Squeeze the arm for blood pressure. Run down the hall for a bed pan.  STAT!!!  Poke a hole for an IV.  Not possible, his veins are collapsed.  Move 8 inches north and try again.  No, try the other arm.  Good, now flood him with magic pain relievers.  Ah, much better. 

            In
the Emergency Room, I talked with the first of what would be seven weekend doctors.  He asked the right questions.   Off to x-ray.  Back to ER.  Fall asleep.   Move to sixth
floor.  Off to a kidney-stone checking machine.  Still no answers.      Next is the Machine That Goes BEEP.   That’s $2000 per beep. 

            Wake
up around noon and find the pain in the abdomen is diminishing.  I thought that would be good news, but DR.  W says they still don’t know what caused the initial problem.  Better stay another day.  DR W says it’s not a chest doctors area, so they call in a kidney guy.

            DR. E is pleased as heck to meet me.  Apparently his office remembers me from an elusive kidney stone in1992.  Could this be a replay?   Off to another look in that expensive room downstairs.  My calculator is burning up.  But we may solve the problem if there’s a hidden kidney stone.

            Inconclusive.  That’s the news from the machine that peeks at kidneys and their attached tubes and such.  Next to enter room 605 is a bright, young, DR.B who growls that he’s taking out my gall bladder.   But wait.  I am not fair, forty, female or fertile.  “You cannot have my gall bladder”, I protested.  He smiled a knowing smile.  And I had a hunch he may be right.

            DR. B was terribly disappointed the next day when the VERY expensive Pluto-Nuclear-Atomic  machine showed a really, really, healthy gall bladder that was acting like a teenager instead of a boomer.   DR. B then called DR. O to dig around the stomach for a while.

            Sunday night another masked invader enters 605. 
It’s DR. O in awhite mask, so no fears here and the doc is actually older than me, and I am feeling safer and better already.  So, down the elevator to a cold storage room
they called an Operating Theater.  I was the movie.

  DR. O has hired some  boys and girls from GLEE Practice to assist in this “down-the-throat” procedure.  He did manage, on a Sunday night, to scrounge up another DR. B to put me to sleep and wake me up again.  “This may burn a little bit, but you’ll be
sleeping nicely in a few………….”

            I woke up in room 605 again, and the sympathetic DR. O smiles grandly.  We have found the answer he says and fixed a couple of problems.  Sounding like a car
mechanic, I’m listening to my health issues flash by at 65 MPH.

            Not
the kidneys, not the stomach (exactly) not the gall bladder (exactly) and not
the heart or lungs.  It’s couple of stupid tubes that weren’t fully pulling their weight as I advance into the Grey Years.  DR O stretched out a little stomach lining and reamed out a couple of tubes and pronounced me ready for  another 60 some years.

            Next  Month The Bill !!!  From 7 doctors, three x-ray readers, the TV guy, food service, St. Luke’s. the parking lot, and John Strange who I told people I knew really, really well, so they’d better be nice to me.  Lot of good that did. 

                        May
14, 2012   Just after opening weekend

            Sun
burned from fishing on Minnesota’s Opening Walleye Weekend?         I wouldn’t have bet .50 cents that sunburn
would have erupted.  Unheard of.  More likely snow or a day of reckoning.  I even heard one angling sage arguing that the
weather was too nice. 

            KDAL
 producer, Geoff Richards, and I slipped
into Waconia Friday afternoon for the annual Governors Fishing Opener,  Number 66. 
My days of the G.F.O. go back to Wendell Anderson and Rudy Perpich.  The year that Gov. Anderson ended up on the
cover of Newsweek or Time Magazine  holding a small Northern Pike.  (Allegedly caught by his guide).  Over the years, we’ve developed some good
friendships with attendees, including State staffers and Media people alike.  Carol Altapeter from the Tourism Office is a
gem of a lady.  She keeps the G.F.O.
between the white lines, while the local organizers are near breakdown.  Curt Johnson is now retired.   Northlanders may remember him as CJ Johnson
of the Minnesota News Network.  A class
guy, though I’ve never seen him hold a fishing pole.   He’s retired now…….bless him in his free
time.

            Back
to Waconia.  If you go to that town west
by an hour from Minneapolis, not far from Minnetonka, you’ll find a 1950’s
feel.  No Walmart, thank God.  The town is small enough to enjoy, yet close
enough to the fancyness of the Southdale’s, Megamalls and Freeways that get you
revved up when you need it.  I loved Waconia’s
stately-ness coupled with the farm feeling on the edges.   Plus, the town uses the lake properly, too, a
lot like Walker uses Leech Lake.  The waters
right there if you want to use it, but it doesn’t slap you in the face like
Mille Lacs will do sometimes.    I’d love to take my wife down there, without
the boat, to enjoy the back-in-time feeling that the city of Waconia gives out.  If you stop in, make Zola’s a restaurant visit.  We had a beautiful breakfast and nice dinner
there.   It looked like a party could
erupt at any moment too, if you need that. 

            As
for fishing:  I did it again.  Nothing in the boat.  And this, while my two companions are
bringing in largemouth bass and Crappie. 
Our host was Bruce Pawlik, a telecom installer who travels the state
setting up everything from phone service to multi channel television.  Nice guy and good guide.  He did EVERYTHING he could to get us onto
walleyes.   The bass were fun, maybe six
of those, and the crappie were busy, about six of those also.   But what really got our jets going were the
muskies.

            Yes.
Muskies are stocked every other year in Waconia Lake.  We didn’t catch any, other than for one half
second for Geoff.  But because of the
clear, calm water, we could watch the muskies cruising the shallows between the
reed line and the drop off.  We counted
about six or seven of the monsters and had a couple of them turn toward our
spinners for a second look-see.  No
takers though.

            I
know it’s called the Governors Fishing Opener, but for the second year in a
row, I didn’t see the Governor.  Duluth’s
Yvonne Prettner Solon had to do most of the meeting and smiling and the evening
dinner vocalizations.   She was great as usual and a good ambassador
for Duluth.  Why Dayton is avoiding the
limelight is a mystery.  Other Governors
have been at the openers with wives and kids and spent every waking minute
having a great time.  Is Mark Dayton
running a secret life somewhere?   Stay
tuned, for next year we are in Park Rapids. 
No place to hide there.   Keep a tight line.

                      Hurray we’re into May

            The fishing season is on us.  First Wisconsin, then Minnesota.  We should be ready after the all the warmth of March, and the teasing of April.  I know it felt chilly in April with that east winds, but from the statistics I saw the other day, even April had above normal temperatures.  Oh, but that east wind.  Ouch, it really took a toll on trying to work on outside equipment. 

            Since 1973, I have been fortunate to have been invited to the Minnesota Governors Fishing Opener.  A different Community Festival in a different town every May.   And a chance to fish with a local host each year.  If they were called Guides, they’d need 200 fellows with official Coast Guard licenses.

  My first, I think, was in Willmar.  My guide, I mean host, was a avid Muskie angler with a beautiful Ranger boat.  Of course, the Muskie season isn’t open in Mid May, so he took me and a guy named Joel, to three different lakes in search of walleyes and northern.  We didn’t get any walleyes or northern, but I did catch a 4 pound Sheepshead.  I had never heard of one before, much less caught one.  But it was the biggest fish caught at the Governors Opener that weekend.  My prize:  a lusty booing from the assembled multitude and an embarrassing night.  What  really bugged me was that some schmoo won a Lund boat, trailer and Johnson motor for a one pound walleye.  Not sporting. We’ve been back to Willmar twice since, but nothing as big as that Sheepshead.   In 2009 on White Bear Lake, I caught a 44 inch Muskie….out of season, naturally, but the BIGGEST fish again.  That time I got a few cheers,  hankfully.  However that  weekend, not even a dozen walleyes were caught by the Governors invitees.

            During
the era of Gov. Arnie Carlson,  I had my own boat with two friends fishing on the south end of Mille Lacs.  It was hot and calm and we were all bobber fishing and snoozing.  John Hines casually said “Hey Rik, where’s your bobber?”  A minute later, we netted a nice 22 inch walleye.  Did I win anything?  Nope, I wasn’t with an official GUIDE, ok HOST.  That was Gov. Carlson’s first year in office, and fished off of a pontoon boat with a bunch of friends including Clem Haskins, the Gopher basketball coach.  Arnie denies it, but I did see him catch a walleye.  He kept up that “no fish” theme until his last opener.  Always denying that he caught a walleye during HIS Governors Opener, but my son, and Hines watched him bring it in.

            Of
all the Governors that I knew as anglers, Al Quie was the best.  In the early 80’s he had a great opener in Lake Kabetogama his first year in office.  He’d gone out with his host around midnight and had a beautiful, full stringer of six walleyes by breakfast. 
Nice guy too. I had lunch with him…just the two of us.    Also right up there was Tim Pawlenty.  He looked like a real city guy and dandy, but he and his wife Mary were skilled and avid on the water.  However, one year at Lake Vermillion, his host and several DNR boats surrounding him, nudged me off a prime reef near Potato Island.  I am positive they spotted me and Scott Kuitti slamming the fish that morning and figured the Governor was more important than me.  Probably true but a little rude.  I’d had my limit anyway and the weather was also rude. 

            As
for the legendary Jessie Venture:  He was nothing less than enthusiastic while fishing.  He usually had his buddies from Roosevelt High School with him on a big pontoon boat.  There was always  lots of singing and merriment, but very few walleyes to show.

            This
year, it’s off to Waconia.  That’s west of Minneapolis in farm country.  The
locals say that Lake Waconia is a walleye Mecca.  It really doesn’t matter.  The opener is a time to join up with old friends, have a Pepsi or two and talk about the Good old Days.  I’ll probably get another jacket, but never the biggest Walleye.   Then Mike Sertich will call on Sunday and tell me about the limits caught off the bridge on Island Lake.  Ouch. 

            By
the way, folks can see the progress at the Abbott Road landing on Island Lake.  The work is progressing at great speed.  Look for asphalt to be put down soon.

          Fishing season is lurking around the corner.  Like a big Pike hiding in the weeds.   Except, we can make a plan of attack using our brains and the next few weeks to lay down a strategy.  Of course, our plans get blown up the day of the opener with winds and clouds and bright sunshine.  But still, its fun to visualize anyway. 

On the Friday Fishing Frenzy (April 27) we talked with several “pro” anglers who gave incredibly similar ideas.  Super Guide Tom Nuestrom of Grand Rapids suggested throwing a jig and minnow into the shallows.   Scott VanValkenbergh of Fishermans Corner in Pike Lake agreed with the shallow idea but added the first drop off as the next move.   Pete Schultz of International Falls emphasized the emerging weed line as a potential hot spot.  A nice Rapala tossed near a rocky shoreline is never a bad idea either.

          But the majority of walleyes will be caught on live bait, and 80% of the live bait hookups are on minnows….big and small.   However, there could be a problem this spring thanks to the abnormal weather.  The bait suppliers may have shortages.  So, if you find a bait shop with the right minnows, buy some extra wigglers and keep them lively for the next outing.  I know that can be complicated to pull off, but a little pre-planning might be a darn good idea.  Ask the bait guys for tips on that.

 I draw my home water from a well, so no worries on the treated city water.  I put in an aerator to keep the bubbles coming, change water on a regular basis and keep the cooler out of the sun, and a charitable supply of ice.  Warm water kills live bait rapidly….just when you need it.  By the way, the bait wells in some boat are kind of hit and miss for minnow care, so tote that cooler in and out of the boat to guarantee good minnows.  I do change water after I land on shore to keep everything legal.

          Now to that new sticker.  Another Boat sticker.  Every boat,. Canoe, kayak, sailboat…everything that floats has to have a new information sticker affixed.  The Minnesota DNR wants to keep those blasted invasive critters from spreading.  I am staunchly behind any effort to stop them in their place, but I am not sure a sticker alone will do it.  Only tougher enforcement will work.  We’ve tried the information route but it’s only as good as the person towing the boat.  When word gets out that the DNR is putting teeth (read $$$ here) in the enforcement, will things improve.  Spiny water fleas, zebra mussels, flying carp or whatever, we have to keep those things out of our Northland.  It’ll be really, really hard.  Maybe impossible.  But let’s try.  Clean the boat after every use, drain the live wells, and throw out the bait bucket water………maybe we’ll have to boil the boat and trailer in

 Lysol or Lloyds Cleaning solution.  But let’s do everything possible to stop the invasion of unwanted alien critters.  Please.  Oh yeah, get a sticker too.

                           PLUG     PLUG     PLUG

          On the Frenzy of May 4^th  Dave Marciniak of Minnesota Power will be one of our guests.  He’ll describe the new construction at the Abbott Road boat landing on Island Lake.  It’s a busy place and needs some T L C.

April 20, 2012

            Jimmy Buffett has been playing music since he was 12.  He grew up in several southern states, and a couple of Caribbean islands.  Or, as my wife said, maybe he never did grow up.  I am glad he didn’t.

            Years ago, as a “DJ” ( I hate that term), I could play only two of his songs on the radio, at least two that he himself  preformed: Changes in Latitudes and Margaretville.  Since then, I found out that he’s composed many tunes that were covered by other performers.  Margaretville is my favorite, along with 5:00  omewhere.    I’ve been in Margaretville a few times, and it hurts the next day.  Nancy and I even met Jimmy Buffett, by accident, in Honolulu three years ago.  Got
a picture to prove it.  If I knew how to make the web thing work, I’d put it right here ###riknancyjimmy#@@8(*(&!!!##$$_%^^.

            My wife and I are now official “Parrott Heads”, thanks to our son who got tied into a Parrott Head Group while living in the Twin Cities.  They do have fun, those Parrott Heads.  And it’s easy to join the group.  Just find one on the line and
invite yourself.  Don’t know of one in the Twin Ports, though.

            Now, to Omaha.  #1 son got a text message that tickets were on sale for a Buffett show at the Omaha Civic Center on April 14^th with a screaming banner that urged you to BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW  A SELLOUT IS ASSURED.  It was, but, you could only by the tickets in pairs.  Not 3, or 5, or 7.  So we bought 4 and sold one on the sidewalk in Omaha and lost$35.00.  Ouch. 

We found a well-bred little room at the Holiday Inn just five blocks from the concert hall .  We’d hoped to party our way to the show, but the thunder, lightning and tornadoes required us to take a boring Shuttle.  Parrott Heads by the hundreds, set up pre-party tents, campers, 50 foot umbrellas and other Tail-Gate paraphernalia to revelry under.  They were first worried about sunburn.  The emergency sirens caused everyone to clear out NOW.   Because of 60 MPH winds and possible tornadoes.  The party atmosphere was drowned in a drumbeat.  That was very sad given that a Buffett Concert is more than music.  It’s like a Packer game that only happens in your city once in a lifetime. 

By 8:00, most seats were filled with clapping, howling, whistle blowing fans.  These were not teeny-boppers either.  I am guessing the average age was closer to
50 years than 25 years.  Lots of grey on the heads of guys, with lot’s of $8.00 beer in their belly.  The ladies had the $9.00 red wines and made most of the noise.

The Buffett that walked to the microphone at 8:00 was WARREN BUFFETT who lives in Omaha.  Ultra rich in his three piece suit and all, but no relation to what he called Cousin Jimmy. 
 Oh, what the heck, we’re old, out of town, and finally ready to rock and roll. 
My wife and I haven’t attended many rock concerts, as such.  Rolling Stones in 1964 (pre popular for $1.00) Blood Sweat and Tears in 1970, Beach Boys at the State Fair in 1998 is about it, other than the DSSO and Tony Bennett and Gordon Lightfoot…..how boring are we anyway?    Not last Saturday.  We changed latitudes and sailed around the world with the Coral Reefers. 

            I’ll sum it up. 
The Buffett show was a perfect 10 and perfectly fantastic. They played all the right songs just like the CD, and that’s a hard-hitting thing to do.   Deafening, yep, pricey for sure.  But our last chuck at being a Parrott Head.  If he brings his group to our
area, I’ll be the first in line.  And I’ll wear something stupid. 

                              Mid April 2012

            My wife and I love to travel.  You’ve hear that from dozens of couples, but our travel got away from us in March/April.  It all started with some free time between
dogs.  Our greatest dog ever, Rainy, died suddenly in January.  Our next greatest
dog ever will arrive home April 18^th.   So I suggested  a quick trip to  Chicago by Amtrak since we don’t have to dog-sit. The Chicago trip followed a sunny time in Hawaii.

         The Amtrak trip was chronicled recently in this space.  Not great
writing, but okay typing.  The trip itself was grand since it included some Van Goth, Matisse, Collette, and other of the elite Impressionists of Europe.  Good beer and  Chicago pizza too. 

            On
our slow, rolling ride to St. Paul, a message comes via Internet that our
Number 2 son is getting leave in a few days and will be in Dover,Delaware.  Can we join him on the Air Base?  You bet. The flight over to Dulles Airport was perfect, and so was the overnight in Reston VA.  (Great Holiday Inn Express).  The flight back stopped in Detroit….and stayed there.  Apparently a ground-crew guy operated a luggage carrier into the nose cone of our little plane.  The pilot wouldn’t fly it and United
had run out of aircraft to go to Duluth.  So, at midnight, we are portaged to a dull Best Western and told to be at DFW for an 8 am takeoff.  Opps.  No seat assignment.  No ticket.   I wanna go home.  

            We finally made it and now its Thursday, I think.  As we landed, another E-mail tells of the death of our niece Elizabeth in LaCrosse.  A tough year long battle
ended with lung cancer winning.   She was a 25 year old nurse.   So, as we finally land in Duluth, it’s with heavy hearts that we repack and drive to LaCrosse.

            From LaCrosse, we meet Number 1 son for a simple little jont to Omaha and our much anticipated Jimmy Buffett Concert.  We can have more about the Jimmy Buffett phenomenon later.   As I write this, the gas prices are dropping, and our little Ford is
comfortable.   Now to backseat sleep.      Rik

Dear Diary.

 It’s Sunday at 2:30 AM and we are headed for
Chicago.  We’ll see if it’s a toddling
town.  Whatever that is.  The alarm is set for the time I was getting
up to work the morning shift at KDAL with Mr. Cadigan.  We got some great prices on twoAmtrak tickets
on the Empire Builder for Chicago. 

Never have had a chance to actually “tour”
Chicago other than the airport.  Our 2011
Amtrak trip to Washington DC was missed badly up by Amtrak.  But, they admitted it with a $300 certificate
EACH, and we had to use it or lose it. 

3:30 am Sunday.  Car is packed.  One little suitcase each and a laptop
computer.  A thermos of coffee.  An audio book to listen to:  Winston Churchill vol. 2 of his World War II
chronicles.  I hope my wife can put up
with it.

3:40 am Sunday.  Stopped for gas because on the way home. It’ll
probably be higher in price.  (Dear Diary: 
It was)  Now, it’s nonstop to
St. Paul for the Amtrak Station off of University Avenue.  Our GPS will guide the way.  44 degrees and calm.

6:30 am St. Paul.  Arrive at the Amtrak station on Transfer
Avenue, two blocks off of University.  It’s
packed in the general seating lobby. 
Now, the question: will the ticket agent honor our $300 certificates. 

6:45 am Sunday.  Yes. 
He did with no questions.  Got the
pass code to enter the first class lobby. 
It’s empty.  Got coffee, cold
water, a TV and four couches.  Kept a
National Graphic Magazine to read on the train. 
Interesting story about Ancient Egypt. 

7:05 am Sunday.  The Empire Builder arrives from Seattle.  Right on time. The conductor takes our
tickets and says to wait for a few minutes as they make up our rooms.  Rooms? 
We only want one not plural. 

7:15 am Sunday.  We’re on the Empire Builder.  One room. 
Small.  Very small.  It’s the bottom run of 1^st. class accommodations,
with a small couch, captains chair and small table.  But there’s a sliding door and curtain to
screen out the rest of the world. Wow.  First
Class.  That means we get meals included
and it’s already time for breakfast.

7:30 am rocking and rolling and
eating French toast for breakfast.  Sign
our car and room number on a slip of paper and walk away.  Left a little tip of course. Go take a nap.

8:00 am St Paul  Empire Builder car 2780 room 10.  Not great scenery as we travel the back wall
of St Paul.  It’s like when your neighbor
hides his garbage pile behind the garage sohe can’t see it, but you do.  Everyone on the train sure can see the trash.  Maybe that’s why St Paul was once called Pigs
Eye.  But we make out the old Schmidt
Brewery, St. Paul Cathedral, and Harriet Island.  That’s the one that floods so often.  Not this year.  Too dry.

8:53 am first stop:  Red Wing.  Right on schedule.  Nice old Buildings.  Marina on the Mississippi River. (filling up)  The old St. James Hotel is popular with Twin
City folks.  Quick stop.  Interestingly, the Empire Builder train will
be back in Red Wing in exactly 12 hours. 
So this must be like the half way point between the Twin Cities and
Chicago.  Is that right?

10:11 AM Winona.  Cool bluffs. 
The last views of Minnesota.  The
train barely came to a stop, and we are rolling again.

10: 47am LaCrosse. (spell check hates
this word)  My sister lives here with her
extended family.  Didn’t see her but did
get a peak at Grand Dad Bluff.  Lots of
college kids getting on and heading to Chicago. 
We track the La Crosse River for 25 miles.  It’s slow going.  Have to admit its a little rock and roll too.

11:30 AM arrive at Tomah and quickly
set off to Wisconsin Dells.  The crazy
town where you can ride the ducks. This town invented the water park!!! Home of
Tommy Bartlett’s water ski shows and it is pretty calm right now.  Nothing appears open.  Wait a few weeks.  It used to be the honeymoon capital of the
Midwest.

12:31 pm Sunday we pull into Portage,
WI. Hundreds of years ago, it was a fur trading center.  Why did this become an Amtrak stop?

12:59 pm in Columbus.  Closest stop for students in Madison.  Lots of students carrying student stuff.  They put their blankets over the seat and
make a nifty little tent around their seat. 
Looks comfy and surprisingly, they do have  large seats in general admission.

2:10 pm it’s Milwaukee.  Wow. 
If this train station is the first thing you know about Milwaukee, you
are disappointed!!!  grubby and debris
strewn.  The train parks under a rotten
over hang and we wait.  The smokers on
the train get an extra puff here. 

3:11 pm Sunday.  We are a minute or so ahead of schedule in
Glenview. Nice suburb type city outside of Chicago. Think Woodbury in St. Paul.  Hundreds of commuters here on weekdays as
workers park their cars and ride The “L” trains into Chicago. 

4:00 pm and right on time.  It’s Chicago and Union Station.  The glory that was Rome in this big building.  Grab our bags, walk about two blocks into the
station.  Now.  Where’s our hotel.  Left or right on Jackson.  Or is it Adams.  Or Canal. 

As we look confusingly around, a
local guy offers directions.  Only three
blocks walk from the Union Station….the Holiday Inn.  Temperature is 44 degrees.  Just like home.  Very nice folks in this Holiday Inn offer
some upgrades. 

Dear Diary.  Its 4:45 pm Sunday:  we throw our bags in our room.  Hello Chicago.  Now where is the Art Institute?  Is it toddling?

This will be a little bit of fiction with a little bit of truth.  Actually, a lot of truth sprinkled with some speculation on my part.  My mind runs wild sometimes when I
am watching my Bulldog  hockey.  It seems like my brain digs back into the times
gone by and puts two and two together and arrives at five apples.  So Bear with with me. 

            Friday morning, March 23^rd, I was talking with Pat and Johnny Lee prior to
the Fishing Frenzy about 7:30 am in the KDAL studio.  I mentioned how an incident at the Maine Black Bear Hockey Alford arena during the 85-86 season could have led to the demise of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.  Please keep in mind that this is a little reality and a little hypothesis.

            The WCHA had, at one time, a lot of big colleges as members.  Perhaps for several years UMD was the smallest.  It had teams like the Wolverines, the Spartans, Notre Dame, Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech.  For reasons of their own, they
left the WCHA and formed the CCHA.  Notre Dame dropped hockey altogether.   Thus
leaving the WCHA with a tea cup full of teams and they quickly grew weary of
playing each other about every other weekend.  Bear with me, it’s coming.

            So
the WCHA, needing rivalry and diversity, worked out a deal to play under the
name Hockey West and play interlocking games with a assemblage called Hockey
East.  And it would count as a conference game, not non-conference.   At first, it
was lots of fun.  Trips to the Boston schools, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Providence and others.  As a broadcaster, it was a hoot. Two straight years of Thanksgiving in New England was appealing.   And lots of frequent flyer miles and a lobster meal on the KDAL/KDLH expense
account.

            The,
the dreadful started during 85-86 season at the old Alford arena where the Maine
Black Bears then called home.  The Bulldogs
were highly ranked with some great players playing great hockey.  UMD had whipped the Maine Black Bears at the
DECC early in the season and now it was their turn for a visit to Maine.

            During the Thursday “skate around” previous to Fridays contest, all went just very well.  They slammed pucks off the boards to test the bounce, practiced a little power play trick or two, then after the hour long skate, the ‘Dogs set to working on their equipment.  Now, this was an old arena, and the players always use this time to “adjust” their sticks by bending and shaping them over a couple of hot-plates plugged into the wall sockets.

            The rink attendant got pretty testy as the Bulldogs kept blowing fuses in the
locker room lobby.  I was there and saw his face get redder and and his language saltier.  Thinking nothing was amiss, the team and this broadcaster, who also had a nice skate around that afternoon, boarded the bus for the hotel and a nice hot meal and relaxation.

            That rink attendant had other ideas.  He apparently spilled the beans on the stick bending that UMD had done and he apparently notified the Maine Head Coach Shawn Walsh.  It’s very possible that after the locker room emptied, he used his key
to slip in and measure the curves on the Bulldog sticks. And take notes.  (Think the ½ inch diameter of a dime or so for legality). 

            The Friday night game was dominated by UMD.  But, Coach Walsh had other ideas to even the score.  He asked the referee for a stick check of Skeeter Moore, Mark Odnokon and I think Matt Christianson.  The goals they’d just scored were disallowed
and penalties were assessed.

            It was a wacky, wild night.  UMD spent a heck of a lot of time in the sin bin for those illegal sticks but won the game 7-2 anyway.  They played without those three skaters for thirty minutes. (10 min. misconducts)   And I think they had to fight off nearly 8 straight minutes short-handed.  Not only did UMD have a great mix of team
chemistry, but they were beyond fired up.  Which they needed.

            The next night, no stick checks, nothing illegal and UMD won 6-3.  I don’t have to tell you the language on the plane ride home.  But, Skeeter Moore broke the tension by letting his fresh, giant lobster run down the airplane corridor.   Darn fun.

            Stay with me here please.         Soon, Maine returns to play in the rinks of
Hockey West.  The referees already had the skinny about the stick check, and let me say right now, in all of my playing years and broadcast years that total about 57 years, I have NEVER seen a stick handed to a ref to be checked for exactness.   I cannot say for certain, but I think the West refs got the message.  Phantom calls, non-calls and some general mistreatment started to escalate as OUR refs may have given a message to Maine and a few other Hockey East teams thus making up for what was happening out East.  UMD was not the only team to have experienced malevolent treatment on the East coast.  If it weren’t so important, it might have been funny.

            So the Hockey East/Hockey West interlocking conferences passed away.  And the WCHA went looking for teams to fill up its schedule.   I don’t know the exact
order of entry, but in came St Cloud, Mankato, Alaska, Michigan Tech (again)
and Bemidji and Omaha. 

  Here is where I may be putting a lot of supposition into this epic. 

Our WCHA’s been a fine conference over its history, but the two Big Ten Schools of Minnesota and Wisconsin MAY and a emphasize MAY, not care too much to play teams like Bemidji, Anchorage, Mankato  et al.  With that in mind, could that have started
the move toward their own conference?  Call it The Big Ten Hockey Conference if you’d like.   Also, watch for a huge television contract.

            I know that the dots don’t connect directly, but over the years of talking with hockey big shots (think Hockey Talk for 20 years), I have more than a little hunch that the above mentioned Big ten institutions may prefer to avoid playing the little guys in little towns in little arenas.  I don’t think it would hold up in a court of law, but it doesn’t have to does it?  Something caused the dissolving of the conference, why not a greedy little coach in Maine.

            It’s food for thought.  I could (probably) be wrong, but isn’t it fun
to connect a stick checking incident from November 1985 in Maine to the demise
of the WCHA

Per our conversation with Johnny Chalstrom.....this is the bow that is perfect for your kids.  It can be adjusted and grow with the youth.

http://missionarchery.com/product/craze/

            Its March 18^th, and there’s no snow left on the ground.  Oh sure, there’s a few piles left by the shovel and plow, but we should be getting that horrific St. Patrick’s Day storm.  I predicted it and waited for it, and it didn’t come.  Instead, outside it
was warmer than inside the house.  The green nosed fly is everywhere.  The birds
are fighting the squirrels for the seeds in the feeders.  Even a blush in the buds of the hardwood trees. Forget the Robins, I have heard Red Wing Black Birds already and eagles and geese.   And the shoreline creep on our little lake is growing by the hour.  Has global warming arrived?

            The one thing that is daunting about this heat is the lack of moisture.  With the snow gone, and very little rain due, I am worried about brush and forest fires. 
The authorities just issued a NO BURN announcement that should help, but
a stray match or cigarette could be a real problem.  Please pass the word for caution in and around rural areas.

                                                        
#####

            My wife and I took a warm day visit to the Duluth Zoo the other day and had a smashingly good time.  Sure, the Duluth Zoo isn’t San Diego or the Apple Valley Zoo, but it’s in our backyard and darn fun.  Don’t expect too much, just enjoy the critters
that do come out to greet you.  Like the Miniature horse named Darla.  Darla wears a muzzle because, we were told, she tends to assume you have food in your hand and snuffles up your whole hand.  Oh, she kicks a little too,
so the docent advised to not stand too close to her backside.

            It wasn’t packed on that warm Tuesday afternoon, but pleasantly attended by
families of all ages.  Grade school kids begged me for quarters to buy food to tempt the sheep and goats….I dug into my pocket a few times and had more fun than the kids.

            The pride of three big lions was basking on a rock looking proud in the bright
sunshine.  A porcupine climbed up and down a pine pole, while the mate hid in the northeast rocky corner.  Prairie dogs bobbed in and out of their holes,
trying to tunnel out to Grand Avenue.  The big bears were shy on that Tuesday. 
Doing their best to find the shade far away from our prying eyes.  Overlooking Kingsbury Creek, two docents were feeding and schooling a Red Tail Hawk in a large pen.  The hawk was lunching on raw egg and fresh rat as it was teased into flying away and back several times.   Good lunch for the Hawk and a learning experience for us and him.  Training session over, we wandered down the hill to the water exhibit.  Its rock and thick glass only held water.

            Barren but striking, the water filled polar bear exhibit looked dejected and cheerless.  The sign says this exhibit is closed for renovation
or something like that.  So it’s tough to reflect back to when Bubba and Berlin made national news with their antics with beach balls tossed by fans.  No penguins,
no white bears and no laughter from patrons

I know the zoo people are doing their best to raise funds to get our park  back to respectability.  I believe they have received a national zoo stamp of approval, so now it’ll take money.  Lots of it.  With no chance of state funds coming north from the legislature.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we could somehow get money into the zoo coffers  and at least fill up that horribly empty Polar Bear exhibit.

         A few items I found interesting on the internet!!!

Swiss voters reject 6 weeks paid vacation

- Who turns down a long vacation?
Known for their work ethic, Swiss citizens appear to be leading the way on
European austerity, rejecting a minimum six weeks paid holiday a year.
Switzerland counted ballots Sunday for five national referendums, including one
pushed by a union to raise the minimum holiday up from four weeks, which is the
standard used in Germany, Italy, Russia and a few other countries in
Europe.  Wow.  Six weeks paid vacation.  That would sure feel good in the summers when
the fish are begging to be caught.  I guess around our country, we have to negotiate our vacation time along with our salary and benefits package,  Come on Swiss, you had a great offer.

BWCA Campsites in Minnesota closed after summer fire.

With just  weeks before the spring camping season opens in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the U.S. Forest Service expects as many as 76 campsites on 23 lakes to be unavailable thanks big Pagami Creek fire last year.  It may be intersting to look at, but it’s dangerous to walk through.

Rangers had hoped to have most back in operation when paddlers returned. But standing
scorched trees known as snags and burned latrines raise safety and sanitation
issues that still must be addressed, spokeswoman Kris Reichenbach said.

Foresters
hope the wind and snow will take down some of the snags before crews get into
the area later this month if conditions permit, Reichenbach said. As those
crews reopen portages blocked by trees and clear campsites of the dangerous
snags, the number of closed campsites could drop quickly, she said.

A few of the sites will need extensive work that may require keeping them closed
all season, Reichenbach said.

As big as the Pagami Creek fire was, it blackened only a small part of the BWCA.
The wilderness has more than 2,100 campsites scattered across 1,700 square
miles of wilderness dotted by more than 1,000 lakes. So while the fire was a
disappointment to people whose favorite campsites and routes were changed
forever, vast untouched areas remain to be explored.

Visitors who venture into burned areas will be able to see deeper into the woods than
before, which increases their chances for spotting wildlife, he said. Berry
picking is usually good in burned areas, he noted. And most of the Ely-area
entry points and routes where Piragis sends customers aren't affected at all,
he said.

The fire started small with a lightning strike in a bog about 13 miles east of Ely
last August. It exploded in mid-September in abnormally dry conditions and high
winds and swiftly burned around 145 square miles inside and outside the BWCA
before all but stopping in its tracks.

The closures include 13 of the 46 campsites on popular Lake Insula, while only two
of 11 campsites are due to be open on Lake Isabella. The Forest Service also
has lowered the number of permits it's issuing for six entry points into the
BWCA, including the popular Lake One portal, where Frank Udovic owns the
Kawishiwi Lodge resort and Lake One-Ely Outfitters.

Only a sudden wind shift prevented the fire from reaching Sawbill Outfitters north
of Tofte, owned  co-owned by Bill Hanse.  Camper use of the BWCA generally begins
picking up in April and May, and entry permit reservations become necessary
starting May 1.

Warm winter may bring pest-filled spring
earlier than normal.

-Are we looking at more mosquitoes this year, or maybe an army worm invasion?  The warm
winter, with lesser moisture could change the rules this spring and summer.  The mild winter that has given many northerners a break from shoveling and a welcome chance to catch up on winter clean up. But it could lead to a tough spring as many pests that would normally freeze, have
not. The Upper Midwest, Great Plains and a few other areas were "much
above normal" in temperature, NOAA said.

Along with the Head Of The Lakes, most every state had a warmer-than-usual January,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  . In Tulsa, Okla., the average high last month was about 9 degrees higher than normal.

Martha Sylvia, a research technician at the University of Massachusetts cranberry
station, said growers should expect to start spraying earlier and more often
because there's "definitely an upswing" in winter moths, she said.  "We just know we're in for it,"
Sylvia said.

"Winter is like a big reset button for the Midwest," Krupke said. "It wipes out lots of insects usually."

However, the warmer temperatures generally don't affect insects that spend their winters
burrowed deep into the ground, he said. And some insects may be threatened by a lack of snow.

But the warmer weather hasn't been all bad, said Henry Talmage, executive director
of the Connecticut Farm Bureau. He compared this winter with last year, when
southern New England endured back-to-back snow storms and an ice storm. In
early February 2011, farmers in Connecticut lost nearly 150 barns and other
structures as feet of snow accumulated. Those in Massachusetts and upstate New
York also struggled with roof collapses.

This year, farmers were able to spend the winter working outside, maintaining
equipment and buildings, Talmage said.

"Instead of shoveling snow, we are getting our spring and summer toys ready to go.  But, if those mosquitoes hatch early in the Northland, it’s going to take a lot of the fun out of being outside. 

                Thanks to AP, Orange Net, Euro Net and others for assistance today     
Rik J.