Twas the night before Thanksgiving . . .

And all through the house, the smell of baking and . . . . .

waiting for something to fall . . . .
some creatures weren't stirring . . . .

or . . . .


or . . . .

but some were still waiting for the morsel to fall . . . .


and the reason for waiting is seen right here:


She sure does spoil those dogs!! Even though I told her!


One of our Mini-Dachshunds was diagnosed with mammary cancer last week and due to her age she had to be put down. We are thankful for the 16 years she was a part of our life. The above picture was taken sometime in the late '90s.

Everyone please have a

Happy Thanksgiving!

EasyButton, The View

Rosie leaves The View

Let them do the nickname

This whole UND nickname thing is strange. A few years ago I was all for keeping it because I have yet to see anything other than a couple of anecdotes for removing it. Sure have heard a lot of claims on both sides showing support for keeping and removing the "Fighting Sioux" nickname.

Haven't seen any attempts at voting about the nickname on any reservation either. Are the tribal governments afraid of something?

The remove the nickname folks are really good with the "anti" stuff so my suggestion is come up with something positive, come up with a nickname that will make Indians, North Dakota, and UND proud. Show something positive instead of negative.

I don't mean something stupid like "Fighting Whitey" either, just a positive step to eliminating the issue completely.

Sure haven't heard if UND has asked the tribes for their input into a new nickname either.

Bet they can't do it. It's too easy to be negative about things and so much for being part of the solution instead of the problem.

Our parents drugged us!

(This is not an original story - it came in an email & I think it's worth repeating)


The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question.

"Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?"

I replied I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flowerbeds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.

I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.

God bless the parents who drugged us.

Misc.

Saturday morning we took Joker and Mattie to the Paws Against Pet Cancer walk at Lincoln Park. It was a little on the damp side but it was for a worthy cause, the Animal Cancer Foundation. The turnout was low but everything has to start somewhere and hopefully this will catch on and grow in the future.

Some pictures are here.
_____________________________________

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. There will be a few events in Grand Forks this month to include these:

Annual Display of the NDClothesline Project
October 8-12, 2007
UND Memorial Ballroom
Monday thru Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Take Back the Night March and Rally

Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 7 p.m.
UND Memorial Ballroom
Speakers will include local survivors of domestic violence - march to follow.

Domestic Violence Awareness Flag Display
A visual display of flags respresenting the number of domestic violence and sexual assault victims served by CVIC in 2006 can be viewed at the Grand Forks Police Department front lawn the month of October.

If you can't make it to any of the events, at least drive by the Police Department and take a look at all of the flags. Remember, this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month which is intended to make us aware that it isn't just something you read about in the paper or hear about on the news, it's right here in our own neighborhood.

Doesn't need introduction

Ask the American Indian what happens when you don't control immigration.

Funny (at least I thought so)

I received this in an email a couple of days ago & thought it funny.

This is why women should not take men shopping against their will.

After Mr. and Mrs. Fenton retired, Mrs. Fenton insisted her husband accompany her on her trips to Wal-Mart.

Unfortunately, Mr. Fenton was like most men -- he found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out.

Equally unfortunately, Mrs. Fenton was like most women -- she loved to browse.

One day Mrs. Fenton received the following letter from her local Wal-Mart.

Dear Mrs. Fenton,

Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and may be forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr. Fenton are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5 minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, "Code 3 in Housewares - get on it right away."

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.

6. September 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

12. December 6: In the auto department, he practiced his "Madonna look" by using different sizes of funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

14. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed "OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!"

And last, but not least,

15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, "Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!"

Regards,

Wal-Mart

Someone told me they wish I had never received this as they believe it is something I would do. Maybe that's why I thought it was so funny.

Oh yeah, for the WalMart impaired please substitute the "box-store" of your choice.

ND farming of Deer, Elk and other species to end?

It seems s few arrogant "We know what's good for ND!" folks have decided to define what they call "fair chase" for you and have instituted an initiated measure.

Before making a decision read this first.

Hunting season is near

and it's time to get the reloading done.


left to right, my favorite cartridges

7 Rem Mag - 140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip
243 Win - 87 gr Hornady V-Max
22-250 - 50 gr Hornady V-Max
.223 - 55 gr Hornady V-Max
17 Mach IV wildcat - 20 gr Berger
10mm - 170 gr Nosler HP

7 year old sings National Anthem

2007 Knoxville Nationals

08-11-07
Saturday evening live coverage:

9:00P-12:00m SPEED Channel

Knoxville Nationals: Top drivers from the National Sprint Tour and World of Outlaws compete against the stars of local and regional series to become The Knoxville Nationals Champion, Knoxville, IA, L

and rerun on Sunday 08-12-07

3:00P-6:00 SPEED Channel

Knoxville Nationals: Top drivers from the National Sprint Tour and World of Outlaws, Knoxville, IA, Aug 11/07, R

next best thing to being there :-)

Does she know??

GF Herald classifieds, Friday August 3,2007

ATVs

2003 POLARIS Sportsman 700, 1100 mi. Wench, rear rack, snowplow, windshield, $4500. 218-684-XXXX

Someone call the number and ask her if she knows she's going. . . .

Patton speaks out on today's War on Terror

Largest crowd ever at GF Fairgrounds??

June 29th World of Outlaws sprint car race. About 6,ooo ± in attendance. The stands have never been so full. Not only were the stands nearly full but the areas near the food vendors and bathrooms were pretty crowded. I think they reached the maximum number of people that the facility can handle.
---------------------------------------------------------

Here's the bleacher just east of the main grandstand. (sorry about the quality as they were taken with a cell phone)
---------------------------------------------------------





Looking south at the west end of the main grandstand.
---------------------------------------------------------



Looking west from the main grandstand.

For better pictures and a review of the evening check out Goon's ND Redneck.

Only two local drivers made the A-main, Dobmeier & Shirek and the racing was as good or better than I've ever seen at the Fargo World of Outlaws events.

Red Dots

6" Ruger SA .17HMR


The Bushnell was just too bulky, it was replaced with an ATN Compact Digital sight. It has a choice of three reticles and has an on/off switch unlike the FirePoint on my 10mm Glock.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the ATN


These are 10 yard sight-in groups. The red dot sight sits high above the barrel so I like to have it sighted in to hit a little low at this distance and then be just about right on at 50 yards or so.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------




These were shot at about 45 yards in fading light this evening. The ATN's red dot is a little too big as it seemed to cover most of the 5.5" target. It worked well on 20oz water bottles at about 25 yards so it should shoot minute-of-gopher. Maybe find out this coming weekend. The two large cartridges are 17 HMR with a 22 long rifle for comparison.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Musings

It's too wet !

I think some parts of the lawn are going to be subject to "drown out." Makes me think I'm back farming but at least our life savings aren't planted in the lawn like a farmers field is.

Spoiled, whining fans !

Show me another race track with two main features every week. Stop whining about the River Cities Speedway and show me where, anywhere, they have Late Models AND Sprints racing every week throughout the summer. There are a lot of tracks that don't race any higher than Modifieds every week. If the same number of folks that come to each Friday night race, showed up at special events like the Late Model Special, maybe the tickets would be cheaper. Just guessing here as I don't know for sure.

Ex-Wives Club

While working on Joker's training trail log and waiting for my turn on the treadmill (is working & waiting multi-tasking?) I happened to channel surf onto the Ex-Wives Club. Sorta interesting, especially when they blew up Ex-Hubby's pride and joy ski-boat. Wonder what the environmental expense for the clean-up was. Dumping gasoline in the water and throwing a lit flare in the water/gasoline. I wonder how they got the boat to stop where it was when they sent if off from the dock with nobody in it. It was pretty neat watching it explode.

Weather & Dog hair

ND weather! Where it's 90* and humid one day and nearly jacket weather less than 48 hours later. The heat really makes the big dogs shed. My wife claims we get enough hair to make another dog every spring. I hope not. We buy enough dog food and scoop enough poop as it is without adding any more. If someone could come up with a marketable use for doggy doo, count us in.

"Invitation only" blog. Why bother?

What's the deal with Voice of Dakota Blog? Were some of us too hard on her? Too controversial for her "day job"? It seems to work pretty good for 2E at the City Beat but since he does a lot of research for his "day job" it may not work as well for others. I guess there's a difference between having time to write it and wait for it to be seen/read and having to think fast at a microphone. (honestly - I couldn't do justice to either, but don't tell anyone)

Later . . . . .

NPBA Seminar pictures

National Police Bloodhound Assoc. Seminar pictures.

Vilas County, Eagle River Wisconsin

2 months short of her 9th birthday

"Trail" was one of our first bloodhounds and she died one year ago today.
------------------------------------------------------------



I always thought she was "flipping me off" in this picture.
------------------------------------------------------------


Here she is with one of our granddaughters.
------------------------------------------------------------


Alyssa is going to read to Trail.

------------------------------------------------------------



here's my email message sent to friends a year ago:

Trail died today.

She had been throwing up and we thought she had eaten something she shouldn't have, but it didn't get better as the day went on.

She refused to eat anything all day and this morning she was way too lethargic. We took her to the vet and he found a lump in her abdomen and it appeared that she was bleeding internally. She died on the table with Helen & I with her.

She was a champion counter surfer and we had to keep everything back from the edge. Her hips were getting arthritic and she would have good & bad days. Every time we went out to scoop poop she would come along because she knew she would be let out of the fence for awhile. She would prance around in front of the other dogs that were still inside the fence.

She taught me which end of the rope the dope was on and it wasn't the one with the raised tail.

It's been a terrible day around here and Trooper appears to know something is wrong.

Trooper is one of her pups that we still have.


"Trail" and "Trooper" (about 2002)

Latest project

About 90% finished. Needs a coat of paint, a rear tie-down, and a padded floor.

It should get us and our gear most anywhere we need to go.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mattie isn't too impressed.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

Joker says "Add some carpet down here and not so bad!"



-----------------------------------------------------------------

Joker & I are leaving in about 8 hours for a National Police Bloodhound Assoc. training seminar in Wisconsin. He's laying by my chair wondering about all the preparation going on over the past few days. Mattie won't be happy being left behind but she had her training weekend away from home a couple of weekends ago. Now it's Joker's turn.