BWCA was a bust…

It was disheartening leaving there so early. I didn’t know we could bring big guns up there though…

It was definitely a strange start to our trip as we were heading up on 35W, we saw a ton of cops on an overpass in Blaine. Chris said, “huh, jumper…” kinda jokingly. No joke, dead guy on the freeway, looked like he got hit by a car after he jumped off… I guess the story around here was he had murdered his GF earlier and then took his own life this way. Weird. That was at 4am on the way up…

As you can see, I’m back in civilization already. Crap. The weather turned ugly the first night, rain and T-storms and we were on top of a rock, but our (Chris and I’s) tent was in a little gully and I woke up with a wet sleeping pad, arm, sleeping bag, and we had an instant water bed. We did see a moose on the way up and a bear on the way back on the road to Sawbill Lake. That was pretty sweet. We gathered up our stuff and were really excited to have sun and the wind at our back as we launched! Sawbill lake is pretty dang long, about 2.5 hrs to paddle to some sites at the end of the lake. We set up and went fishing. I was stuck with Rick, so my luck was already on the outs. We came back when we heard some thunder. I’d hate to be stuck out on a lake too far out during a thunderstorm w/ no motor! Of course we were skunked fishing, but Chris and Mike brought back 3 walleye.

Then the weather got rough. Non-stop rain the next day. It actually started off with some sun and wind, got most of our stuff dry by, oh, 9 or 10 am. Then we put most of it in the tent and went fishing. Again I’m with Rick. That was the least of my aggravation. No fish, rain started. Never stopped. It was miserable, cold rain. We headed back to the campsite and hoped it would clear. I peeked into the tent and it was getting wet again. Everyone was crabby, our rainsuits were leaking, boots and feet were wet, and from what we remembered, it was only going to get colder. A LOT colder. After some humming and ha-ing, we packed up and went back to Sawbill outfitters. Wen we got there, the sun broke out. *insert curse word*

All was not lost. We hit up an American Inn in Silver Bay, cheap, swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, free breakfast. On the way home we decided to stop off and see some sights. This included the Temperance River (if we had stayed, we would have gone to the lake where it starts) and gooseberry falls. We also hit up a smoked fish store (awesome spicy jerky), stopped in Duluth for a while, and cringed all the way home as it just got nicer and nicer.

BWCA, here we come!

Rain, shine, SNOW, we’re heading up.

The weather isn’t looking too good, I hope the fishing rocks! It should be a good experience regardless! Easy way to loose a few pounds as well.

Um, nothing above 50 when it’s not raining… right…

I’ll be back with a full report on May 28th or 29th!

We’re going to have company

My old friend Geno is heading up from New Ulm as I type! He’s flying out of MSP tomorrow morning to go to Las Vegas to get hitched with Cara! (Insert marriage joke here). We’re going to do some grillin’ and swillin’ and stupid talking tonight for sure. It’ll be great to see him again. Maybe his folks would take care of Bobby…

Rhino is going to be “under the big top” @ Diamonds this Friday. We’re playing outside for a tent party and G.B. Leighton’s going to be inside. We play 8-11 (nice and short!) and GB’s inside until close. I’m sure I’ll call it early. Gotta get home to the woman of my dreams!

Beth and/or I may be heading out to Jen and Cletus’ engagement party on Sat. as well. Down in Elko or the likes (New Market?) We haven’t seen them since we moved out of Waconia.

Which brings me back to Geno, who will be flying back in to MSP w/ his WIFE on Sunday morning. We’ll just be hanging on to his truck until he gets back. No big deal for sure.  Then they’re heading up to his parent’s cabin up by Ely (I think) for the week for their honeymoon. I’ll be pretty close since I’m still planning on going to BWCA w/ my Bro-In-Law starting on Wed. through Sunday (27th).

Should be good times!

Doctors and Dentists

NOTE: I guess I forgot to “publish” this one when I wrote it (May 11th, 2007), so back date it in your mind….

I hadn’t been to a dentist in 2 plus years (1 cavity), before that, I hadn’t been to a dentist since before I met Beth (1 cavity) … and I had insurance (when I worked at LSI, not HCA)! This time around, not nearly as lucky. 5 freaking cavities. All small ones, apparently, but more metal for my mouth (I haven’t looked if they are the metal ones or white ones…). Here’s the best part – only took half an hour. The bad part? That was at 10am. it’s now 2pm and I can finally feel my lip again. 3 shots of novocaine. top right (2), top left(1), bottom left(2). Good God. I was scared to eat and drink, thinking that I would chew right through my lip!

Beth had her first “official” prenatal visit today. We didn’t get to use the “good” ultrasound machine, so no good views of the fetus. Next time! I hope her conversation with the NP helped her out and calmed.

Off to Brian Benz’s send off party in a little while. He’s my now former boss here at Pearson VUE. He accepted a stay-at-home job with a financial company. He was here for 10 years! The dept. is going to a seafood bar (Stealls’ in uptown) and tip a few back in celebration.

Primetime tonight and St. Croix Live tomorrow. Joy, joy!

Preparing for next week (BWCA)

The BWCA is still suffering from a wildfire, but we’re heading up. The entry point for Sawbill is going to open on Sunday, and we’re heading in on the 23rd. It’ll be Mike Urista (brother in law), Rick Urista (Father in law), Chris Whirley (sp, friend), and myself. Sounds like I’ll be the only one really not buying the entire outfit. We’ll make sure I like it first! I’m sure it’ll be a blast. They set a person up pretty well for $350. Canoe, tent, rope, bag, stove, fuel, pans, pots, cups, and about 20 other things a guy needs. Still going to have to take a ton of other things with was well, plus get a hold of some food. I still need my fishing license!!! A water purifier will probably be needed as well, I may just go with a $20 personal one, should be good enough (for me!). I’m sure I’ll have stories to tell when I get back!

Two nights in a row?

I had a gig Tuesday night with Rhino @ Sneaky Pete’s, DT MPLS. Good times, got home at around 1:30am. Not too bad. Didn’t feel like hell, which was nice. The smoking ban is definitely something I could deal with!

Adventure Weekend… “productive”

Not sure where to start. Let’s go with Friday. Flash’s birthday, we hit up Kahn’s BBQ in Bloomington, awesome as usual… My dumb ass decided to eat a jalapeno right off the bat… well, these aren’t exaclty the ‘watered down’ variety you get with nachos. Mouth was ON FIRE for about 10 minutes, completely ruining my second go-round at the place. Got a little hell for that. Teary-eyed, red faced, brother-in-law laughing at me… Good times! Then we went bowling at Louisville Lanes (Shakopee/Chaska). Haven’t done that for some time… I bowled pretty well, Beth too! Tipped a few back, went home!

We thought it was over

It started like a usual morning. First day of May! Dogs were done eating and doing their business, I was dressed and ready for work, taking out the garbage when Beth yelled for me… and it wasn’t a good or nagging, “Honey, come here!” This was serious.

She was crying in the bathroom. Sobbing. She though she lost the baby. There were a couple things that lead her to believe this, including some brown spotting on Monday, but this was a little more red. We both called in to work and called the doctor.

The soonest we could see someone was 1pm. Why is it so hard to get in to see a doctor when you’re pregnant? Fearing the worst, and after a morning of tears, we proceeded to the clinic.