October 8

[The Salty Dogs at Carlos Creek Winery.  The inside edition is indicative of the change of seasons.]

October 9

[The Kiehnes were in town from Austin, Texas.  The European tour group of last spring reunited in Ashby for Oktoberfest.]

October 11

[While Professor Doctor Colonel Kiehne was still in town, The Tumbleweeds of ’65 held our monthly luncheon, in Starbuck this time.  We were accompanied by a large contingent of coots on Lake Minnewaska.]

October 12

[Fall colors off our front deck.]

October 14

[Oktoberfest at the newly christened Legacy of the Lakes Museum.]

October 15

[Back at the winery, inside, with Anthony and Jim Miltich.]

[And it was such a beautiful day, we went home topless . . . ]

[Good-bye to the winery . . . ]

[Past the stables at Arrowwood . . . ]

[And home.]

[That evening was an event for which the Performing Arts Center at the high school was specifically designed.  A terrific show by the world’s best athletes.]

October 16

[As posted in Facebook – went viral like nothing else I’ve ever posted!  COLORS!!! An orange Lake Darling on the east side; a red maple, with a full moon, on the west side. All taken within minutes of each other, this morning, October 16, 2016.]

[OK, a little later in the morning, neighbor Arnie’s Norwegian maple . . . ]

[And more coots!]

[And that evening, more big time entertainment – this time by our own local folks.  The Super proclaimed it their best show ever.]

The Game – October 19

[As Facebooked:  Reminder, football is a game of attrition. The healthiest team standing at the end of the year usually wins. So, Viking fans remember – we’re only 5 games into the season and if Bradford goes down . . . So, last night our Cards hosted the equally undefeated St. Cloud Tech Huskies. We were missing our 1st and 2nd string running backs, our flanker had been moved to running back but often was back at flanker this game (where he had 14 catches) as we had a tight end at running back, and our starting middle linebacker was out. Of course those were contributing factors in the final result – but more so were our 3 fumbles lost to their one. Tech won a hard fought game 26 – 19. I don’t recall either team breaking a long gainer – it was just a slugfest, and after Tech scored on its first two possessions, I thought our defense played great. We’re still the No. 1 seed in our section, and if we get healthy by the time we have to play again . . . ]

[It was the first indication of a new weather season – as I recall Brad reported the windchill to be in the 20’s at game time.  Larry McCoy joined us in the parka and stocking cap brigade.  In an effort to create warmth, small children were running up and down the field prior to kickoff.  And, of course, kids just wear hoodies in this kind of weather because they are born with antifreeze in their veins.]

[And the kickoff – Jaran Roste with what we have now established as the usual pattern of laying the ball on its side and doing hard squib kicks.]

[The Tigers scored touchdowns on their first two possessions for a 13 – 0 lead (we blocked the second extra point).  They have a very athletic quarterback and a 6’7″ wide receiver, who is also large, with great hands and athletic ability.  Both touchdowns were just lobs into the end zone where he could outreach everyone.]

[Likely the Cards first offensive series.  Not a great shot, but what are ya gonna do?  Roste (1) is looking for downfield receivers.]

[And again.]

[This was our modus operandi most of the night.  For the first time all year, we did not have a ground game.  In its absence, we threw flare passes all night to get the likes of Cody Faber (33) out in space. And you can see tightend Tyson Hoelscher (89) was playing out of the backfield.]

[In a game without big plays by either team, these 7 to 8-yard pass plays were the norm.]

[This looks like a keeper by Roste.  We could never break anything loose.]

[Here’s Cody up the right sidelines that may have been a kick return.]

[The series leading to the Cards’ first touchdown . . . ]

[The touchdown on a pass to Faber.]

[And this would be the halftime score.]

[And a Cardinal drive late in the 2nd quarter . . . ]

[On the night, I recall at least three long passes where we just missed connecting with receivers behind the defense.  But they were passes of probably 50 yards in the air and each was just barely out of the reach of the receiver.]

[After no scoring in the 3rd quarter, we’re in striking range in the 4th.]

[After the Cards got a safety, by Hoelscher, after pinning the Tigers on their one-yard line, we capped a long drive with a touchdown run by Roste to take a 16 – 13 lead with less than 6 minutes to go in the game.  We thought we had pulled it out!]

[To Tech’s credit, they came back to score with just under 3 minutes left abetted by a helmet-to-helmet penalty on the Cards that the coaches said upon video review never happened.  Oh well!  The Cards had time but lost a fumble on the 2nd play – Tech scored again on a short field.  The Cards got a late field goal, hoping to recover on on-side kick afterwards because they needed two scores.  It was a good, hard-fought game.  Tech did everything they could to keep the ball out of our offense’s hands – on this night it worked as they were successful on 4 of 5 4th down plays, some around midfield.  Now we just hope we can get some people healthy before the sections start.]

October 21

[Our red maple, so beautiful a mere 5 days ago, now just a skeleton of its former self.]

If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.  ~ Murray Warmath, Minnesota

Up Next:  Gotta get back to Europe.