Of Boats, Carolers, and . . . Cold

Posted on December 8, 2013 by tomobert63

12-5-13-1

[Already known near and far as the sun dog over Lake Cowdry on December 5, shot on my way home from the gym at about 8:30 am.  😉  Not with the “big” camera but with the little snap shot camera I keep in the car at all times for just such occasions.  The open water is a result of the channel flow from Lake Taylor into Cowdry – it stays open all winter.]

1-18-08-1-1Taking a slight break from hockey reporting – the games are now stacked up in my photo files like traffic at 3rd and Nokomis on a 4th of July weekend – to report on some other stuff going on.  You may have heard about the cold?  Still two weeks before winter and we’re in the midst of what will be two straight weeks where the temperature seldom (if ever) creeps above zero.  Actually, we kinda like it (well, if the wind’s not blowing).  Put out some food, and you can watch all manner of critters coming to eat.  We went to “A Christmas Story” at the AAAA Theatre (go see it!) last night and drove home with the car’s thermometer hovering at an invigorating minus 14.  It’s beautiful – all Christmasy with bright, sunshiny skies lighting up a blanket of white.  And from December 2, we had the first Ole Slushball weather report:

Ole Slushball:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w11GpCO-5A

12-4-13-1

[Lake Street in Alexandria, December 4.]

12-4-13-2

[Noonan’s Park, December 4]

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[Maple Street, December 4]

12-4-13-4

[Noonan’s]

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[Noonan’s]

12-4-13-6

[Noonan’s, clearing the ice for skaters.]

12-4-13-7

[Noonan’s, with the warming house on the right.]

12-4-13-8

[Maple Street]

12-5-13-3

[At home, December 5, the same sun dog as above now taken over Lake Darling with the professional camera.  Unfortunately, when the sun gets this high it’s so bright it gets a bit washed out.  It’s best to “shoot” a sun dog early in the morning.]

12-5-13-4

[That evening, it was at the second Christmas party of the evening that the supervisor ran into her old buddy, Dangerous Dan, bartending at the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum.]

12-5-13-5

[The Jefferson High School Carolers were performing, for the last year ever.  Next year they will be the Alexandria Area High School Carolers.  Following below, I took four separate videos of them.]

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dswAvTIYTk

12-5-13-6

Video 2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moiAoC1iDN8

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Video 3:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_gXSsfnzaQ

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Video 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbZNUoJMBac

12-5-13-9

12-5-13-10

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[And now for some new museum displays . . .]

12-5-13-12

[More canoes, rowboats, and sculls . . .]

12-5-13-13

[A really old scull . . .]

12-5-13-14

[The supervisor’s fave!  🙂  ]

12-5-13-15

[Museum personnel are finding some of these older boats in the area, some times literally digging them out of the ground, and then “cleaning” them up . . .]

12-5-13-16

[Aluma craft with the very rare aluminum oars (I think I remember that right?) . . .]

12-5-13-17

[The supervisor’s boat . . .]

12-5-13-18

[Sailing canoe?]

12-5-13-19

[Birch bark canoe]

12-5-13-20

12-5-13-21

12-5-13-22

[The museum is still hard charging into all kinds of new stuff.  Phase II of the Maritime Gardens will go in next year, making it a real destination place for visitors.  There will be more entertainment in the gardens and the will be an art show next summer with some major nationally-known artists.]

12-5-13-25

[Well, we’re ready for Christmas!]

12-7-13-2

[Thanks again to Jim and Wanda Hafdal!]

12-7-13-2-1

[The Lehman Bros. on Hole No. 7, and an unclaimed Hawaiian shirt that Wanda said looks like an Obert’s!  😉  ]

12-5-13-24

[Well, I took it . . .]

cam's12-7-13

[Cam & Karen’s in Mounds View this morning . . .]

Up next:  Likely getting back to the hockey games.

About tomobert63

The Journey Begins Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described: 10-26-07-4 “It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits. ~ The Editor, May 9, 2014 p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State. *********************************************************************************** Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin! **********************************************************************************
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