Team wrestling presents some pretty big mismatches. You can easily get a top ranked wrestler in the state wrestling a kid 2 years younger who is a .500 wrestler and the “weakest link” on their own roster. How Minnesota arranges their sports’ “sections” creates big mismatches too. Certain regions of the state dominate specific sports most years where their section runner-up is probably the 2nd or 3rd best team in the state. I wish the MSHSL did more to guarantee the best teams get to state for all sports versus sticking to concrete sections for everything. Wisconsin goes through a seeding process for some sports that throws more of the Geography out the window in the name of competition (at least for football).

Bump.

I’m in the market for a 12.0AH (probably the forge), anyone have any other up-to-date sales?

I’m looking for the 16″ rear handle chainsaw too. It’s a retirement gift for an old farmer down the way who has been a great neighbor forever.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I would never rip a deuce on a plane. I don’t think I could.

I fly regularly, and still haven’t even considered crossing that threshold. My longest flight is probably 9-10 hours so far and still have retained my dignity. It’s the trip my wife wants to take to Italy that will probably do me in.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>DaveB wrote:</div>
Waterville Mayor Lutheran have two twins ranked #1 (Friedrichs), would be interesting to see twins get state titles.

Built in practice partner from birth. Before birth actually

I remember the Sanders brothers from Wabasha. Although not twins, they were eachother’s best competition. Both are 5x state champions. The only reason they weren’t 6x state champions is that they couldn’t make the minimum weight to wrestle in the lowest class as 7th graders.

One of them is an assistant coach at the U of M now. I think he also wrestled overseas for quite a while too after college. They were the most dominant wrestlers I ever saw at their respective weight classes. It was a foregone conclusion what was going to happen no matter how highly ranked their opponents were.

Shoot – I forgot to add something to my list. It’s probably an “Honorable Mention” listing but annoying nonetheless.

Don’t be the person who gets onto a full flight will some giant spicy smelly plate, entre, burrito, etc. and then force the nearest 40 people to smell that the entire flight. When we flew out of Miami last year a probably 300#, 5’10’ guy sitting next to me (and half in my seat which is a whole different issue) thought it’d be a good idea to rip open a platter of 18 hot wings that he ordered “to go” from an airport restaurant. I hope every flight that guy takes for the next decade is significantly delayed.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Perfect! It’s going about 20 yards from the low end of a culvert that drains one field’s runoff under the driveway.

We had 2 giant willows in my old yard, absolutely beautiful trees. More of a pain in the ass then any of the giant oaks we had. They make such a mess. The juice was not near worth the squeeze
[/quote]

It’s probably 100 yards from the house. We have an awkward patch of an old hay field sandwiched in by the driveway and the woodline that is more than I want to mow regularly (probably an acre that’d add to mowing) and is too small to be worth the time to run hay on it. I think the wife is going with a few trees in the area and then I will get the task of tilling it up for her to try and plant as many wildflower seeds as possible. I too stressed that willows can be messy and they weren’t going somewhere close to the house with landscaping that I regularly mow.

The top 3 things I hate about flying:

1. People 15+ rows back immediately standing up the second the plane lands and attempting to grab their stuff from the bins. You create a traffic jam and get in other peoples’ way. Don’t stand up or grab your s**t until the people a row or two ahead of you are exiting. If you do this, I have to assume you don’t understand how to merge on a highway either.

2. The people who the second the seatbelt light goes off and you reach cruising altitude choose to use the plane like their own workout center. They stand, stretch, are spotted taking 3 restroom breaks on the same 3 hour flight, and usually flag down the flight attendant for a minimum of 2 stupid things. These people are often the ones who go on a device and play some annoying game or watch a show without headphones too.

3. As previously noted, the concept of racing onto the plane just to sit there is asinine. The bins sometimes fill up because people cannot follow directions about carry-on size, but I like to travel as light as possible and appreciate efficency.

***Honorable Mention*** I have a wife, 2 kids (with a third on the way), and more irons in the fire with work, side jobs, community stuff, etc…..I don’t want to attempt to make lifelong friends with the person sitting next to me. I’m polite and will help grab bags, keep stuff in my area, but I don’t want to hear about your 11 grand children or all the places you’ve traveled or your dogs back home. If the plane is quiet it might be the most relaxation I get all week. Silence is an underrated thing.

mxskeeter wrote:

The best deer resistant evergreen trees are Colorado blue spruce and Juniper varieties. Never plant an Arbvitae species if in deer country/city if deer are a problem. Deer think Arbvitae are candy.
Also the Norway spruce is very suseptible to winter sun/wind burn if not protected for the 1st 2 years. Don’t ask me how i know. After established should not be a problem.

How do you suggest protecting them? My 3’ers seem to have done fine thus far…by just putting fence around them. They’re in a pretty windy spot too with no real protection from that or the sun

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
Who is planning to plant trees this Spring? For those who are, what are you planting? It’s hard to imagine but a lot of the nurseries around here are not only taking orders (but filling up for the Spring Season). If you haven’t ordered but want to plant a large quantity of small trees, check with your local soil conservation district as some still have availability and sell them to landowners at cost.

We plant trees every year, but the deer are hard on ones we can’t protect at the hunting land. This year we are dialing back the number of trees and will be purchasing larger trees and fencing/protecting what we can.

Homestead List:
-x5 6-10′ potted maples
-x15 3-4′ potted norway spruce
-x2 8′ potted willows

Hunting Land List:
-x250 white pines
-x100 red oak

Get those Willows in a low wet spot and they will double in size every year.

Perfect! It’s going about 20 yards from the low end of a culvert that drains one field’s runoff under the driveway.

fishthumper wrote:

These fish that we catch here in Minnesota that people think are Warmouth are most likely some type of a hybreed sunfish. I’ve caught a ton of fish that look far different than a normal sunfish or Pumpkinseed. Every time I’ve asked DNR about what they are they say a Green sunfish hybreed. That is their answer to anything they can’t really tell what it is. My understanding is a true Warmouth will not survive anyplace in Minnesota or even Iowa for that matter. I lived down south for many years and the odd fish we catch around here with larger mouths and odd markings are far different than the warmouth I remember catching down south. They also have shell crackers that look a lot like like the odd sunfish we catch around here. What every they are, there is getting to be more and more of them in many Minnesota lakes. They are super aggressive and will bite a fairly large bait. I have caught them on a 1/2 oz spinnerbait and other rather large lures.

^Spot on.

I’d guess some sort of hybrid green sunfish as well. They’re notoriously aggressive and take over water without predators in a hurry. If you want something that you can catch on a bare hook in a backyard 1/4 acre pond, they fit the bill perfectly.

Dan wrote:

I’m sure I’ll be planting something. My guilty pleasure/toxic trait as they say is adding trees to our property. And the way I view it (or maybe I’m just justifying the money to my wife) is that to even enjoy some trees on the landscape on our property in our life, we’ve got to keep planting now.

Agreed on the tree protection. I’ve said before on here, I’ve probably got well over $300 invested in fencing between our gardens and young trees and I’m sure I’ll be adding to that this year. That can get expensive but it’s a no-brainer to me. Paying money for trees and not protecting them is completely wasting that money because our local deer will destroy them.

Last year we spent about $300 combined between a potted white oak and a potted birch cluster. Don’t know the size but they must’ve been at least 6 feet tall already. Might add another birch cluster this year. These were purchased from Sargents in Red Wing, which from what everyone says seems to be the gold standard as far as plants go around here.

Three years ago we planted two apple trees that have been fenced and are doing quite well. We bought them in May or June from Runnings in Red Wing so by then they were marked down a little and were about $75 apiece. As long as they continue to survive we’ll easily make our money back on them in apples.

And I’ll probably continue my habit of randomly picking up some 2-3 foot potted pines from Menards, Runnings, or Walmart depending on the price. Typically I’ll grab a few when they’re $25-$30 and put them in the ground in the hopes they’ll make it.

I’ve never gotten a large volume of saplings. I’d be interested but not sure I’d have the time to tend to them (mainly watering the first few years) and protecting them.

I’m trying some of the cages off those large water totes this year for trees. I’m hoping they’re light enough to move for some mowing/weed tending but enough of a deterrent to keep deer off some of the more spendy trees we plant. I’ll report back with how well they work. Fencing has done well, but I get sick of tending to weeds and either stepping over fencing or untying it to get at the tree base.

orve4 wrote:

I have quiet the kit that I bring on hunting or fishing trip. I have a medical/EMT back round. I have super glue, CAT tourniquet, Stitch kit, Gauze Band aid, Bolt cutter. Its basically my ditch kit from when I was an EMT. When we go to Canada we are 10 miles from the landing and 40 minutes from the nearest town.

I also just updated my fire extinguisher.

The local CO told me a few years back when visiting that he wagered 75% of the extinguishers on boats were expired, and crazy undersized given that boats keep getting larger and so do their methods of propulsion…..yet an extinguisher the size of a pop bottle is still the norm.

Next week brings back more snow chances (allegedly) per some of the future models. It’s way too early to know if that will come to be or if we will be outside applying sunblock in 70 degree temps.

March 25th at 8:26am

The one with the traditional outboard still is intriguing…especially in the tiller models. I would be a pass on any of the larger console models if a kicker isn’t an option.

The rotax version of any of them is a hard pass

If Pabst is a sponsor, Charmin toilet paper would be the logical next sponsor considering how closely related the 2 are.

BigWerm wrote:

x2 on the topper and truck camping. Andy Fiolka (old IDO guy) has a whole series on YouTube about building out his truck camper. I think his channel is Outside605.

I looked at a few of those videos and he’s got an impressive setup. With that said I think I’d opt for a completely seperate tent more often than not. Heights, bugs, water, snakes, none of that bothers me whatsoever. …but put me in a small tight space with no headspace and my gear packed around me and I’ll want out in a hurry. I’d wake up in that box and be kicking out windows.

buckybadger wrote:

The neighbors stopped by last night and said they are putting out one round of taps this weekend to see what things do. We don’t have many mature maples near the house out here, but I told them to have at it if they find a tree they like.

32-49 degree temps every day for the next 8 days here, with temps at night in the 20s and low 30s. I’ve got a feeling the temps could overachieve once this snow is gone early next week and the dark ground is out to soak in the sun.

Update: I stopped next door and the sap was flowing. We are a couple miles off of Pool 4. It’s definitely “go” time for now. The coolest day in the 10 day forecast is 38 with nighttime lows in the mid 20s to low 30s.

The girls wanted to sled yesterday all afternoon on the hill and today they want the bounce house outside on the bare lawn.

Put me #1 on the walleye list. Please.

Probably the river somewhere.

The neighbors stopped by last night and said they are putting out one round of taps this weekend to see what things do. We don’t have many mature maples near the house out here, but I told them to have at it if they find a tree they like.

32-49 degree temps every day for the next 8 days here, with temps at night in the 20s and low 30s. I’ve got a feeling the temps could overachieve once this snow is gone early next week and the dark ground is out to soak in the sun.

Damn

The bill about Sheriffs is crazy. Sheriffs here are an elected position. I’ve had the privilege of meeting some great local sheriffs and some who are brutal and were nothing more than the unqualified winners of a local rural popularity contest. The local sheriff here would retire probably before taking on that added burden.

My guess is both are dead on arrival, but it still makes you think about the hired/elected stupidity working on our behalf.

Don’t take this as a green light to start driving all over, but I know x2 drove out from Pepin by the Pickle a couple weeks ago. I was over there meeting with a guy about marina stuff and they were coming off. The foot of the lake loses chunks of ice with the slightest weather/wind change, so you have to know what you’re doing down that way

Buschman have you ever carved a walleye or have any available for purchase?

If you aren’t going cross country through the mountains at highway speeds, I wouldn’t hesitate.

Vehicle size (wheel base, weight) are big factors in towing for both stopping and handling…but the largest factor that is overlooked all the time is driving habits. Take your time, have decent tires, do maintenance on your vehicle as directed and I bet you won’t have any more issues than anyone else would with towing a boat regardless of vehicle size.

Bearcat89 wrote:

No most people’s cars are actually owned by the bank one day it’ll the theirs

That’s what I assumed this post was going to be about…car loans and the financial craziness of the world

Do killdeer migrate? We have a ton of them that just randomly showed up a couple weeks ago that look beyond lost in these temps and the little bit of fresh snow we have. They were my first clue to an impending change, but they definitely jumped the gun a bit it seems if they do in fact migrate.

^0% chance that is enforced with fidelity. Some of the largest schools cannot even keep drugs or weapons out…much less cell phones.

There’s not a poster here who would have the time or energy to walk hallways of crowded high schools taking phones from 16-18 year old kids who have them and use them. If/when that happens, the parents are lined up at the office to get them back anyways.

You can probably do it successfully in a classroom with a rigid teacher who commands respect and has administrative support, but as far as a district wide ban in all areas with literally thousands of kids…..no chance.

It’s a flashy headline though that garners blind support, despite the fact that enforcement is impossible.

Luckily my kids will be going through a small rural school system where there’s a pretty old school adminstrative team that does push the cell phone issue to the forefront. They do confiscate phones and stuff when necessary, but even here in the land of cows and rocks there are so many crazy parents who are the real issue…not the kids, nor the phones. They will be at the district office demanding their students’ phones back AND will hand them right back to the kids to break the policies the next day.