Very personal
Mood:  a-ok
Hello chilly Northland!!
Winter has arrived here up North so I can put the boat away without any shame. Now I will have to wait for the water to get real hard before I fish again.(Crunchy water is bad for your health)I am preparing to head south to Illinois to visit family this week but do not anticipate warm temps.
i am very much looking foward to seeing my father.Like most kids, I have taken him for granted my whole life. It is only of late. as I have been beset with the onus of real life as it is now, that I truly see my Dad for the great man that he is. I see now that alot of what I am enduring now could have been avoided by following his example or at least listening a little bit more. My father would be the first to admit that him and I have never seen perfectly eye to eye, and that on more than one occasion we have completely frustrated eachother. But what I have never told him face to face is that I have always felt he was infallible, and at times I hated him for it. I kept proving all the time that I was a screw up, and he never missed the opportunity to let me know it. But great men never appologize for being what they know is right. The rest of us just are just wanna-be's.
I know for sure that when my Dad arrives at the pearly gates, and St. Peter realizes who he his, the heavenly hosts will welcome him with thunderous song, and then show him where all charriots are that need wheel bearings packed, and ask him if he could find a way to keep the pearly gates from squeaking when they opened!!
The last few years have been filled with pain that I know a father and a grandfather feel equally. I sometimes am tormented by the feeling that i could have been a better father, and have spared my father the agony of viewing his grandkids' life through bars. But I get respit knowing my dad is a tough seasoned old bastard, and that he lays his head down at night in peace knowing he did everything right.
I love you dad
Mike

The Deer must die!!
Mood:  quizzical
Good Evening Northern Minnesota!!
Well, this weekend begins the much awaited deer harvest here in Minnesota. Being an Illinois transplant, I am having to learn about the culture of the indigenous population in regards to hunting.
Today I was querried several times about where I was hunting, and when I replied that I don't hunt I felt as though senator McCarthey had just asked if I was now, or have ever been a member of the Communist party. I realize now that had I responded differently I could have had the day off with pay!!
Do not missunderstand, I have in my not so distant past been an avid hunter. I owned several rifles, shotguns,pistols and such. I hunted with my uncles and my grandfather and father and bank those memories as some of my most personal. I have killed racoons, possums, pheasants, quail, rabbits, squirls,mice,ants,cockroaches, and even mosquitoes.The overlying problem I have with hunting is that I am damn lazy!! Not to mention that I am a terrible shot. If I could get up the ambition to get up before dawn( which by the way, God never intended man to do), and if I were to don the 700.00 dollars worth of gear needed to pursue these illusive creatures(please see State Farm Insurance for their latest stats on deer being hit by cars with halogen headlamps), and I smothered myself in animal urine and sat in a cold stand depriving myself of my morning coffee and smoke, I still couldn't hit one of those basterds if he climbed up my stand,put the barrell in his mouth and said "Kill me now, the woods are full of little orange men!!
So I will wait at home patiently for some go-getter hunter to bring me some of his extra deer sausage later this season. ( I like venison if the butcher grinds it up, adds some BEEF!, and 30 or 40 different seasonings,stuffs it a pork casing and I can put horseradish on top, them wash it down with cheap whiskey. In the meantime I will turn up my electric blanket, tune the sattelite dish to Sex in the City reruns and sleep in on Saturday with the knowledge that the ACLU and the NRA cancel eachother out, that my dad and my grandpa took me hunting the only times I would ever really enjoy it, and that the deer are laughing at me and sleeping well tonight.
Mike

Still fishing
Topic: Angling partner
Good Morning Clearbrook!!
This is a day that the Lord hath made, let us be glad and go fishing in it!!! I have a notion to call off work today due to lack of enthusiasm an go fishing. I have the perfect excuse-- there are 3 minnows still alive in the bucket in the boat, and I am fairly certain it is against the law in The Peoples Republic of Minnesota not to use them. We should all make good use of the few nice days remaining. Old man winter has woke up and is sitting on the side of the bed putting his work boots on. ( Did you know Old man winter and the grim reaper are cousins?)
I went out fishing Saturday with my wife of 25 years. We didn't have any luck but it is good to have gone anyway. I do not think it tells of any lack of testosterone to admit that my wife is my favorite fishing partner. I have had many men on my boat that can't tie a decent or know which side of the boat to troll from. She understands that worms and leeches are cleaner than our bathroom sink, and that it takes time and effort to catch fish. One nice effect of fishing with someone you have lived with for so many years is that you really don't have that much to say to eachother any more. The end result is a nice quiet day of fishing. The only drawback I can think of is trying to keep the boat positioned with her downwind all the time so I can sneak a ciggarette now and then( She hates me when I smoke, I think only because she knows I am smarter than that) I think we are at our best together when fishing.
Well, I guess I really can't afford to take the day off to go fishing so I will get to work now. Oh and Terri, if you read this, just kidding about the not having much to say to eachother. I meant to say that we have a lot we would like to say, we are just smart enough not to say it, and most of the rest is minutia. The real important things are usually said without even speaking.
Bigmyk

Good morning Clearbrook
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Go away Vikings
Good morning Clearbrook and beyond!!
Welcome to my maiden venture into bloggerdom. I am a little nervous, there are so many people in here! I am constantly consumed with pointless ideas, and kinetic diatribes that I felt the desire- no- the responsiblity to spew them all here so everyone can experience my angst.
How 'bout them Vikings?!! When Bud Grant was asked his thoughts on the Vikings latest display of greatness, he ceased vomiting long enough to ask "Minnesota who? Never heard of 'em" For the love of God guys!! Even Jim Marshall admitted he ran the wrong way!! If my boss told me he was going to pay me a kagillion dollars to play games at work all day, and all I had to was not get caught being a pervert.... For cryin' out loud, if the orgy boat was sailing on Clearwater lake tonight, I would be the first on board, but if I didn't want my wife to know, I wouldn't invite the Clearbrook city council and the school board to go with. Keep it on the down low.
You would think college educated men (sic) would be a little more stealthy about their indiscretions.I still regard the NFL as the last bastion of veiled purity on TV and would still like to labor under that dillusion. I am not suggesting that famous overpaid icons of savage imagery and corporate lust behave as Jesuits, just don't let me find out about it!!
I think Ziggy should shut down the whole pathetic project. Mail in forfiets( and apolgies) to all the teams left on the schedule, fire the entire coaching staff, vendors and ballboys and say goodbye to all the miscreants,neer-do-wells,morons,dolts,reprobates and other laughable chaf he inherited as players, and try again next year.
But hey, who am I. Just a fan right? Well I would stay longer but I have to go see the boss about a raise---a big one!!
BIGMYK

ggggggggggggg
Topic: ggggggggggg
gggggggggggggggg

testing
Topic: testing 123
This is atest

Here we go!!
Mood:  caffeinated
Testing one two---checkkkkk--checkkkk!! Good morning Clearbrook and beyond!!!