Game 1 = W

The Shell Lake boys played at Luck on Tuesday night in game 1 of the Regional Tournaments.  It was an easy win for the Luck boys who played a fast running game.  It's always relaxing to watch a game that is a sure win, especially in the tournaments.

 Great Nephew Gage is #2

Great nephew Jack is #5

Next game is Friday night, every win launches into the next bracket, 

but a loss means your season is over.  

So, we are looking for Ws!

Next stop, tournaments

The last regular season game for the Luck Cardinal boys was last Thursday night.

It was a close game against the St. Croix Saints.

The gym was full and the crowd was loud, all making for a fun night of basketball.

Great Nephew Jack's, #5,  last regular season game as he is a Senior this year,

Great Nephew Gage, #2 is a sophomore, so we have a couple more years to watch him.

Gage is a bit of a 3 point specialist,

Jack is well known for his ball handling and scrapping for possession of the ball.

Jack can knock down the three point shots too,

and Gage can handle the ball well.

It's fun to watch them on the court together.

I hope we get several more games during tournaments.

Go Cardinals!

50

On Thursday night the Luck boys hosted the St. Croix Falls Saints for their final game of the 2017 - 18 basketball season. It was my 50th game for this season so  I kind of wanted to go. 

The weather people said it would snow during game time, but since the roads were dry at my drive time, I decided to go anyway. The drive over was fine. I saw a bald eagle along the way; I always take that as a sign from my Dad. But maybe not this time...unless he was trying to tell me to go back home 😕. 

It was a thrilling game, another close score and a win by our Luck boys.  As always, fun for me. 

But when we came out of the school, we saw what Mother Nature had been up to. 

I headed straight home. It was snowing, about 2 or 3 inches of new snow was on the ground with a coating of sleet underneath. 

I let a group of cars go by me before I turned onto the state road towards home. I knew I wanted to take my time, be careful, stay out of the ditch.  The further I went, the worse the visibility.  It would have been nice to have some tail lights to follow. But I was moving along at about 40 mph or so. 

Not far out of Luck, 2 vehicles came up on me and followed just a little too close behind me. The one right behind was a truck, it was unnerving to have him on my tail. 

So, about 15 miles out of Luck, at a wide spot in the road caked McKinley,  I pulled over and let them go by. This made my driving a lot easier because then I could follow their tail lights and their tracks, instead of be the lead dog. And I was glad to have them off my butt.

But, after only about three miles, first one, then the other,  pulled over on the side of the road and stopped and I had to go by them.  There I was...  the lead dog again and guess what, they pulled in tight behind me. I suspect they were sitting up high enough that they could see even less than I could see.  My Vibe is pretty low to the ground so that was probably helpful for me, not that I could see much. I didn't appreciate them at all. They followed closely all the way to Cumberland, the halfway mark, where I again pulled over and let all the traffic go ahead. (And I gave them an international symbol of annoyance.). They owe me. 

The second half of the drive was better visibilty but more snow on the roadway and slippery.  My buddies didn't go any faster than 35 most of the way home. I was happy to have tracks and tail lights to follow. I hung back,  not wanting to get slowed up on any of the hills as I thought it would be slippery and tricky if I lost momentum. And not wanting to pressure them. 

I was sure happy to see the lights of Rice Lake.  My Dad would not have been proud of me driving away from Luck in that kind of weather. He used to say 'if you have to leave home on a night like this, drive into the ditch at the end of the driveway so you can walk home'. 

Pulling in the garage was a relief, I unwound with a cold beer and some Olympic action I had recorded. 

Game 50 is in the books,

 it was memorable! 

Life is good. 

   

Mizzle

I may have heard this word before, but never have used it in a sentence.

On Wednesday when I was the pronouncer for the Northern Regional Spelling Bee, this word, mizzle, was the end of the bee for the 4th place speller.

I have some latitude as the pronouncer.

I can omit words in the Scripp's word list if it is done before the competition begins, and I provide the two judges with that information.

Normally, I only omit words that I am not confident in my ability to pronounce correctly.

I considered omitting mizzle as I wasn't familiar with it, but I'm pretty careful not to get carried away with omissions, so I left it in.

Dang.

It's hard to see these kids get eliminated.

That student will probably remember that word all his life.

miz·zle

ˈmizəl/

dialect

noun

1.light rain; drizzle.

verb

1.rain lightly.

1. "it was mizzling steadily"

It was a good bee.

The last 3 spellers were really good and we went a total of 16 rounds,

the longest bee in my 3 years history of pronouncing.

No controversy this year either, which is a first and is probably directly related to the judges and me being better organized in how we conduct the bee.

The first place winner had a sort of goth look to her style, and she was very confident in her spelling.

The 2nd place winner was so happy and his parents were totally beaming with pride.

It's a very fun event.  I love volunteer gigs that are quick and done!

We are expecting another big snow storm today, not much chance of mizzle.

Learning

I've been hoping to learn how to use a new photo editing software for over a year, but when push comes to shove, I just continue to use the program that I know.  Yesterday, I had some time and needed to edit the senior photos I took of Anna, the exchange student living with Glenn and Kathy.

I used the old software but did a few edits with the new software too.  I can see it has much more power and is worth me spending more time with.

Here are a few examples of before and after.

Sometimes it looks like just a vignette has been added, 

but there is also a little change to color & lighting.

Anna has a great eye roll that she uses whenever Glenn is being his goofy self, 

so she gets lots of eye roll practice.

I suspect she would eye roll a little about these photos too,

she wasn't all that thrilled to be the center of so much attention.

Thanks for being such a good sport Anna.

And now back to learning how to use that software.

Family Fans

The Luck boys are lucky to have such a loyal fan base and lots of family to show up to cheer them on.  I gathered everyone up for a quick group photo after Friday night's game against Frederic.

Sister Ruby was having a sleep over at a girl friend's house, so she's not in these photos.

I'll identify everyone using their relationship to Jack and Gage.

Top Row:  Great Aunt Wanda Johansen

3rd Row:  Dad Kyle Johansen, Great Aunt Renee Olson, Cousin Alec Mortel, Aunt Jessica Olson Mortel, Uncle Ryan Johansen

2nd Row:  Mom Heather Olson Johansen, Cousin Cole Mortel, Grandma Lois Johansen, Great Aunt Lois Skow, Sister Stella, Cousin Emily Chivers.

1st Row:  Brother Jude, Gage, Grandpa Kenny Olson, Jack, Brother Jens, Great Uncle Harry Skow

Life is good.

One Cardinal season is over

Alyxis, great niece and #32, finished the 2017-18 regular season in a losing effort on Thursday night at Boyceville.  Only one win in their season this year and none in their conference leaves them with a seed number for the tournament matching them against Cameron, who has the exact opposite record for the year.  

Uffda.

I've enjoyed watching these girls, there have been moments of brilliance but more work is needed to put more games in the W column.

I'll be at the Spring Valley vs Cameron Regional Tournament game, 

it will be the closest game to my house for the whole season, 

only 2 miles.

Life is Good.

Winter Carnival

I missed the Luck Winter Carnival last weekend due to my stomach bug, but after last night's basketball game I stopped by the ice palace and snapped a couple of photos.

I'm kind of glad they didn't have the colored lights shining on the ice, I like this natural look best.

I'm not sure how long the palace will last since the temperatures warmed up for a few days, 

so I'm glad I got to see it.

As a kid, the ice palace was huge, built all the way around a big ice rink, with thrones at the one end.

Then for many years, there was no castle at all.

Now, a hearty group of volunteers works hard to create this feature as part of the 

Luck Winter Carnival.

Cool, eh?

Joy

So, you know that great nephew Jude has been diagnosed with PolyMicroGyria, many little folds in his brain.  He's different in some ways, but not less.  He's challenged, but not sad.  He's an amazing little boy who spreads smiles and joy wherever he goes.  I'm sure he has his moments, but I've never seen him be anything but happy.

This month, on the 28th, there is a day to promote rare disease awareness.  This day covers many diseases that aren't in the mainstream conversations and news but that effect friends, neighbors and families.

So, here is Jude getting spiffed up for Rare Disease Awareness Day.

Click the link for more information.

The photo was taken by his Aunt Jessica as Mom Heather was cutting his hair.

I hope it gave you a smile.

Valentine

Today is February the 14th, lots of paper hearts changed hands around the country I suppose.

I spent the morning with my reading buddy Blaine.  He is a special needs adult who wants to read better, and we work together for an hour each week sponsored by the Barron County Literacy Council.  Blaine is in his early 40s and is very interested in almost any musician, but especially the heavy metal genre artists.  It's always an interesting hour trying to focus on reading and comprehension and redirecting Blaine's energy.

After reading, I came home and did a little research and then headed North in search of the Snowy Owl that had been sighted just North of town.  I had an idea of where it had been seen recently, it was a bright sunny day with temperatures climbing towards the mid 30's and it seemed like a good project for today.

I was not disappointed.

When I first sighted him, he was perched on a pile of snow.

Somehow, I spotted him easily, drove down the road about 1/2 mile and then circled back.

I snapped this one photo and he flew.

Dang!

 I waited and waited, circled again, waited some more pulled to the side of the road 

and then decided to drive around the section and see what I could see.

I saw a few flocks of other birds, some geese in formation and then pulled back around to the snow piles to spend a few more minutes waiting, just in case the owl would show.

I was about to give up when I glanced up, right ahead of my car and saw him sitting on an electrical pole, duh!

I circled one more time, there was no traffic, so I took a couple of snaps from as close as I dared stop.

I didn't want to disrupt him, so just paused in the roadway, rolled down the window and got these photos.

He didn't really act like he was hunting, more like soaking up the sun.

What a joy!

To see any owl, is a treat, to see this white beauty is awesome.

And a little bit better

I managed to sit and play cards for the afternoon, so that's an improvement, but don't feel like I can drive to Spring Valley for basketball, so that's a bummer.  But, hopefully by tomorrow, I'll feel like I can drive to Luck for the games.  I think my electrolytes are still out of balance, so picked up some Gatorade and other hydration items, I'll get that fixed.  Or, I'll call the doctor...one or the other.

I finished a good book, A Gentleman in Moscow while I was recouping this weekend, and enjoyed lots of good Olympic action too.

I started a new book, this one is called "Before the Wind".  My friend Karen sent it to me for my birthday.  It was a community read in Port Townsend.  It grabbed my interest on the first page, and then when I read this paragraph, I knew I would love this book.

Our Ruby is only 9, so she doesn't sail on the water, but there's for sure no one quite like her.

Back to my Gatorade and Ruby's book.

Life is good.

Not influenza, stomach flu

I've had a rough few days. I woke up Thursday morning with stomach flu. I haven't been that sick for 10 years. I didn't leave the bedroom / bathroom for 24 hours. It was brutal and It was gross.  I know, TMI. 🤢 Day 2,  I was mostly still in bed. Day 3, I felt some better, ate some chicken soup and a cup of yogurt. Otherwise was living on apple juice and saltine crackers. 

I finally felt good enough the afternoon of Day 3 to strip the bed and wash all the towels.

It was pretty intense. For about 3 hours on Day 1, my heart was in tachycardia, beating about 150 bmm, thanks to my FitBit I know the data. 

So, I could not really get off the bed safely.  

I'm on the mend now, made some jello, I'm anxious for it to set up. 

It was Winter Carnival in Luck but clearly I missed all of that. I couldn't watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I was able to watch some events on Saturday night and I'm hoping to be ready to do stuff by Monday. 

The weather was nice this weekend, cold but sunny.  So, Sunday was quiet. Stayed in my jammies, read, held a cat, played Scrabble and Words &  watched tv.


 Still not feeling 100%, don't think I'll do much on Monday either. But, will see what the morning brings.
But at least I havent had Influenza, that is a good thing.