You lucked out on that PDF – Maybe they have nicer maps of the bigger lakes like Osakis and Kab, but I find most of those maps are just crappy scans.

JEREMY wrote:

Cant believe I forgot about the game and watched the cooking channel instead.

Honestly, it was hockey fan’s hockey game. Mostly defensive, superb goaltending and it had the stalemated feel of talent against talent. Lacking were the physical theatrics and hands-throwing of the first game. A HARD-PLAYED GAME, and a few good hits… but one that a casual fan might zone out of and just tune in for the last couple of minutes.

A real entertaining flick from the late 90s that gained kind of a cult following is Boondock Saints. It’s independent film that actually has some star power and really intense plot line.

The real winner was the sport of Hockey. Almost a happy accident how well it worked out doing this instead of the all-star game. Some type of refresh was needed but I think this is a format that can be built on for years to come.

Congrats to Canada, I think they played the better game last night. I was careful not to thump my chest too much after the last game – it’s REALLY tough to beat that talent twice-in-a-row. But the same could be said for team USA, too. Glad it was a tight game and went to OT. That’s the way it should be.

buschman wrote:

I do not.. Just a backyard hobby carver. I don’t want to advertise and give the impression I am doing it for a business or anything like that. It would be different if I was doing it for a living but already have a day job and real bad fishing habit that takes up most my time.

I assume you do commissioned work, though? Or is your yard and house just full of carvings?

Buschman, do you have a website with all of your work?

I have a few in my basement plumbing for the softener and water heater – never had an issue.

AWESOME STUFF! For only doing it three years, you have some SERIOUS talent! I would’ve guessed you’d been doing it most of your life.

Having a hard time responding to this – as it’s my worst fear. I’m blessed to have both parents still energetic, healthy and living independently both in their mid 80s. But they’re both one incident away from their entire situation being turned on it’s ear, and I’m sure it’s coming sooner than later. It’s just a fact of life. I don’t take any day for grant-it with them.

Randy, I’ve never met you in-person, but you’re a great man. I’m reminded of a song lyric that’s always stuck with me… “Love is watching someone die.” Best of luck in your Dad’s final days and may God bring you, your dad and your family well-deserved peace.

more-or-less, I was sick from a week before Christmas through the beginning of February. Only a couple days of being knocked down, but the sinus issues and then the cough were unrelenting for weeks after. Still have a bit of the cough but it’s not nearly as bad as it was. The only thing I’ve avoided so far is the norovirus, and I consider myself lucky for that.

But it’s been a miserable winter for me and my household. Someone mentioned pneumonia, and I believe that’s what it was/is. Many people I know and were around had that as their diagnosis (walking pneumonia)

The 3 Old Guys are off! They had a safe an uneventful day 1 and made it to Iron River, WI. They said there wasn’t a lot of snow, but enough snow. I’m guessing once they put one or two great lakes behind them the snow cover will increase substantially.

Some nice hefty panfish, there! Looks like a mix of scaling and fillets? Bet it was a tasty reward in the end for the boys.

Yeah, Worthy is going to be a threat for MANY years to come, lock that kid in!

This just sucks, Grouse. I’m very sorry to hear about it. I have a friend who also had the bottom fall-out after the destruction of addiction. While he got treatment, he’s still at rock bottom and really is struggling to start his climb out of it. To make it worse he wants nothing to do with anybody, despite many attempts to reach-out. You can only get help if you want the help. And that’s the toughest thing to deal with when you have a friend or loved one going through stuff like this.

mxskeeter wrote:

He is making more $$$$$$ off the football field anyway.

Exactly! Why keep getting beat-up and risking more serious things down-the-line. Get out while the gettin’s good.

I think Kelce will be seriously considering retirement soon. He’s been testing the waters, doing acting cameos on TV series, etc. He’s got default mega-star power through his girlfriend – who knows how long that will last, but I think he could live VERY comfortably if he capitalizes on it life after football opportunities while his star is still shining. At a minimum he will have a broadcasting career if he wants it. If meathead Gronk can do it, I think Kelce will be fine.

Does the fireplace get used a lot? Not sure if this is your problem, but every year I have to purge my gas line for my basement fireplace because it’s across the house from where the gas comes into the basement utility area. Same thing as you – it will chirp but not ignite – so what I have to do is cycle the breaker after each ignition failure (usually 2-3 times) to reset it and eventually the gas gets there and you’re good. At that point we can use it all winter flawlessly, but the first start-up of the year is always a process.

Latex gloves as a base layer sounds interesting, but latex doesn’t breath, so don’t your hands end up sweating?

As much as I can’t stand some of the Eagles teams of the past and a good chunk of their fan base… There’s nothing but good stories and seemingly really good people on their roster and coaching staff. Hurts and Barkley are incredibly humble, well-spoken and all-around decent role models. Some great up-and-comers like Lajean, and Nick Siriani’s a dang likeable guy in my opinion. Glad to see no 3-peat. Chiefs were starting to believe their own headlines and clearly weren’t prepared. Eagles deserved that win 100%!

Will second Morson area for smallies, eyes and bonus big pike and muskie! I went out of New Moon Lodge (also out on an island roughly 15 minutes from Morson), but anyone with a good GPS/Lakemaster/Sonar would find fish.

I think a lot of people look in gravel pits for them around southern Minnesota – but a lot of that is private land and can be dangerous. Check out stream beds, etc on public land. Maybe not agates but tons of quartz and other really cool rocks and pebbles that will keep a rockhoud kid busy for hours!

Yup, native. Not a Sea Lamprey – Have seen them occasionally on the Croix, and if you’re sturgeon fishing the Rainy, it’s about a 50% chance you’ll have to figure out how to get one of those things out of your boat if you land a sturgeon – they’re dang near impossible to grab. It’s a theory that Sturgeon jump so much because they’re trying to shed lampreys.

Yeah, have seen 1-tons with dualies and a 9′ plow tow a double axel trailer with dock sections and lifts across lakes before. A lot of dock deliveries happen that way in the winter.

At first I though clearing a hockey rink but maybe driving over the ice to get to a property that’s more easily accessed from the water? Assuming there must be some construction nearby with the two excavators on-scene. That’s a lot of weight concentrated on a pretty small footprint. Hope the guy got out OK. If over deep water, one of those things would sink like a brick.

wkw wrote:

My dad and I were in the auction business. Every farm sale had a flat-bed hay rack full of misc. hand tools and buckets of nuts and bolts. It took forever to piece it out and sell it. Usually the same couple of guys would buy all that stuff. We always said ” I hope we don’t get his sale when he’s gone, it’ll take a week to sell the pails full of nuts and bolts!”

That’s interesting – and I bet it happens a lot… pack rats buy up this stuff, it goes into some corner for a few years, then they take the dirt nap and it’s back on auction again – only in bigger quantities. I think eventually a lot of it just ends up as scrap.

Take the time to grate your cheese from the block instead of buying the bagged stuff. They put some anti-caking stuff on the bagged stuff that makes it melt into clumps when using a bunch of it at a time.

I remember watching that exact episode when I was a kid – THIS is why I watched fishing shows! (and used to tape fishing shows on the old VCR and watch ’em over and over) Made my imagination run wild!

WOW! my Dad would not approve. I’m a lot like him, I never throw out spare parts from assembly kits, etc. It all accumulates. But when I find that random nut/bolt combo to fix/build something on-the-fly. I walk around with my chest sticking out and dare my wife to resist my animal magnetism.

When I was in college at Winona State, I worked at Fastenal in their Warehouse. When we’d sweep up everything that spilled after a day of packing orders, it all went into a giant bin called “Farmer’s Mix” and we literally sold it as such. Just random nuts, bolts, screws washers of all alloys and coatings. Area farmers (or anyone who wanted it) could come and buy it very cheaply by the pound.

You can avoid it all you want but it’s not going away. If you use it, you began to understand it more. You can start to notice it’s flaws and then you can make your own work stand out from it.

And it’s useful as a starting point. I use ChatGPT to find keywords in job descriptions to ensure my resume will satisfy the AI bot that a hiring company uses to scan every application. And no, I don’t use it to lie, but it tells me what skills I have that should be emphasized over others.

I’ve used it to generate royalty-free generic imagery for presentations, etc – it’s just like the internet, social media, etc. There’s an inherently terrible culture of misuse associated with it, but it also can be a very useful tool and an increasingly necessary one to understand, especially in some fields.

Sent you a PM, Rip!

I’m in the same boat, I haven’t said anything on this site about it, but I was laid-off 10 months ago during a big re-org after 16 years in Marketing with Best Buy. 16 years of leadership and impeccable performance was over in a 3 minute, HR-scripted, virtual meeting. the older you get and the higher you climb, the fewer positions there are and the less-attractive and more expensive you look to people who are hiring. It’s tough for an almost 50yr old in upper-middle management to get serious looks, most of those positions are filled via internal promotions.

Networking is where it’s at – a good connection is worth its weight in gold. I’ve been doing some independent consulting and there’s a huge and growing market where a lot of the more seasoned talent is going – I’m really loving the work and trying to grow it.

If anyone would like to ever have a 30 minute networking convo just to learn more about each other professionally, shoot me a PM and we’ll set something up! And if any of you small business owners need any help with Branding, Design/Ad/Marketing production, or Marketing Strategy, let’s DEFINITELY have a talk. Would love to see if I could help.