alexandriacardinals

[Thursday night.  Section semi-finals.  Detroit Lakes.  Last year DL upset us in the section finals.  The six seniors, in their final game ever at the RCC, were not about to let it happen again this year.  Total domination.]

The band was there.  It was sections after all.  When the band is there, they play the anthem – as it should be.  But we always wonder if we’re playing with fire if Roger and Dusty don’t sing it.  Superstitions, you know.  I guess I never realized how much I was into pomp and circumstance until I noticed I took more photos before the game even started than . . . during the game?  It’s easier – you can see stuff comin’.  When we arrived – maybe 20 minutes before face-off, Roger was all by himself at his spot on the red line.  No one else was around, except for a few band members – their promptness is to be appreciated.  For with just minutes before game time, the arena was still unpopulated.  Was it the wrong night?  Then, suddenly, a big crowd seemed to arrive at once.  Were they playing Bingo in The Warming House?

[Mitch Loch, the head coach of the state championship team, was subbing for Andy who was away on family business.]

[“The Voices” were there and in fine fettle.  I have no idea where “fine fettle” is?  And I just ended a sentence with “is.”]

[Micaela (34), in warm-ups.]

[Is it Hanah (11)?]

[Starts with a “2” but I have no idea because the first letter of the appears to be a “G.”  We have no Gees!

[Hanah (11), but if these people were on the road they would be ticketed because their ponytails block their “license plates”!]

[Becca (36) and Taylor (24) along the boards, McKenzie (29), foreground.]

[Rachel (4)?]

[Rachel (4)!]

[A numberless player with a good looking slap shot.]

[Shelby (38) chasing Melissa (6)]

[Melissa’s slapper.]

[Kaila (7)]

[Becca (37)]

[Becca, the aftermath.]

[Rachel, again?]

[The band – and I knew that even without uniform numbers!]

[Madi (12) and Bailey (35).  Pot roast, you?]

[Alfalfa sprouts and a plate of mashed yeast.]

[Now what?]

[Just a couple folks hanging around the Zamboni.]

[The line-up for introductions.]

[How many players can be on the ice at any one time?]

[The introductions – Micaela (34).]

[Shelby]

[Becca]

[Anna (31)]

[Shanee’ (40)]

[McKenzie (29)]

[Amy (33)]

[Aaaaaayyyyyyy!]

[Saddle-up, ladies!!]

[Band, part deux.]

[Aaaaayyyyyyyy!!]

[AAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!  (Of course, that’s just a guess.)]

[Congratulations, if you hung around this long you made it to the start of the game!]

[Amy tending our goal.]

[Goodness, it appears our Cardinals have scored!  Becca, from Shanee’ and Anna.  Let the celebration begin!  🙂 ]

[Let’s go tell the bench we scored!]

[Did you guys see that?  Woo-woo!]

[Taylor (24) takes the face-off; Madi (12) jumps the gun.]

[GOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!]

[Anna, from Shelby and Becca]

[The lonely life of the goalie.]

[Anyone??]

[More hugging?  Melissa, from Taylor.]

[Not looking good for the Lakers with 7 minutes still left in the 1st period.]

[Then the Cards had a defensive boo-boo.  A Laker got in alone and scored – only their 2nd shot of the game.]

[Becca and Shelby seem perplexed?]

[More likely, they didn’t like it!]

[So the Cards scored right back!]

[Melissa again, from Taylor.]

[As we say, Melissa always scores in 2’s.  😉 ]

[After one – it was pretty much decided.]

[Allegedly known acquaintances of a Bemidji State Beaver.]

I thought I’d try something different with the video this time, wild-eyed adventurer that I am.  At the start of the 2nd period, I went down to ice level behind the DL net.  Uffda, with players and pucks whizzing by me, I got a better feel of what it’s like to be part of the action.  And as a certified coward, I’d want no part of it!  The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9P9k-3kRLg

As usually happens, because the Cards were so dominant in the game, they had lots of scoring chances while I was shooting.  But no goals during the video.  Within seconds of shutting down the camera, Becca scored on a beautiful one-timer from Shelby.  I was talking to Dan Rooney behind the net and didn’t even have the camera ready for stills!  Arrggghhh!

[The aftermath of Becca’s goal.  Nicole also assisted.]

[Back in my regular seat, the Cards buzz the Laker net again.]

[Becca and Shelby head back on D.]

[Card around the DL defense.]

[Looks like Hanah taking a draw in the DL zone.]

[With Kaila (7) and Mari (18).]

[More Cardinal pressure.]

[Taylor]

[Madi]

[After two, the Lakers 2nd goal was on a power play – a deflection on a long shot.]

[The Cards were more dominating than the 3-goal lead would indicate.  So, we scored again (puck in the back of the net).]

[Becca completing the hat trick, from Shanee’ and Shelby.]

[Then Shelby wrapped up the scoring, from Becca and Anna.]

[Yay!]

[When explaining hockey to a novice, the first rule is if your team is hugging, that’s good!]

[Wrapping it up.]

[Game over!  🙂 ]

The Cards were the section’s No.1-seed; DL was seeded 4th.  On Friday night, the Cards will face 2nd-seeded Fergus Falls in Detroit Lakes for the section championship.  At least some of the Super Fans will be there – likely hitting Zorbaz first for a pre-game nosh!

[Actually, we’re not “here” yet, but it seemed like a good lead photo based on the post title!  😉 ]

*  The actual full quote is:  One would not recognize it but I do believe you both have eskimo blood since you travel from cold areas to cold areas.  ~ Jo Lee, next door neighbor and Florida snowbird

As previously noted somewhere herein, the supervisor had a hankering to take our spring vacation . . . in January, in the Northeast!  We boarded an Amtrak train in St. Cloud at zero dark thirty on Wednesday, January 23, for the first leg to Chicago.  We did not know at the time we made reservations that we would have local company along as far as Chicago.  Some of you locals may even recognize Jeanne and Ken Howell, in the above photo taken as we all de-trained in the Windy City, a/k/a, That Toddlin’ Town.  The Howells were doing a long weekend in Chicago, Ken’s hometown, to catch a live broadcast of PBS’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Me and to see the play, The Book of Mormon.  We amused ourselves all the way down by playing Hearts – and the supervisor amused herself by always giving Ken the queen of spades.  Nevertheless, I believe they are still friends.

[We did not have daylight until we hit the Cities, so our first photo op was of tugboats iced in the Mississippi . . . ]

[Then the Pioneer Press.]

[The beauty that is Wisconsin.  Amazingly, the Eastern half of country had had little snow this season.  But on our train trip, it pretty much snowed from St. Cloud to Boston.]

[The supervisor works on her word comprehension.]

[Guess?  (Remember you can increase the size of the photos with a double click.)]

[Their girls’ golf coach is a native Alexandrian.]

[Through the Lake Pepin – Wabasha stretch of the Mississippi we literally saw hundreds of bald eagles.  I, unfortunately, just had the snap shot camera along for this trip and with the speed of the train, I was not able to capture any in pixelated national symbols.]

[Ken shooting a “nature” shot.  (Go Gophers!)]

[“Nature”]

[Maybe the only time on the trip we had a hint of sun.  Ruthie noted that the Canadian Via Rail train washes its windows along the way.  Unfortunately, our Amtrak windows made this photo look like the “floaters” I have in my eyes all the time.  But that does appear to be an eagle in flight at 11:00.]

[Guess again?  😉 ]

[Ken & Jeanne, our traveling companions.]

[Do you have any Grey Poupon?]

[Chicago – the end of the line for Jeanne and Ken.  Did this country ever build any more attractive buildings than the old train stations?  Resurrect them all with high speed rail to the heart of our major cities!  🙂  But, I editorialize.  We had a 6-hour layover, the Howells were just going to their hotel, so we decided to go out to dinner together.  See the photo at the top of the page.  In the middle of the photo you’ll see an orange sign – for Dylan’s, our dinner destination.]

[Libations on hand, we awaited our nosh.]

[Then it was back on the train for the supervisor and me.  For those in sleepers, a/k/a, the “A” listers, there was an immediate wine and cheese party in the dining car!  😉 ]

[The Fat Boys Walking Club was interested in what the sleepers were like.  For the trip out, we didn’t have a bedroom – I believe it’s called a sleepette or roomette or something.  A bit cramped for sleeping but fine for sitting.  The facing benches becomes the lower berth and an upper berth is like a Murphy bed you pull down from above.  We had our own toidy.]

[Our mirror, sink, and toilet.]

[And whom amongst us doesn’t enjoy towels?]

[A fish-eye effect trying to capture the whole “room.”]

[As you’ll recall somewhere at the start of this missive I mentioned snowfall through most of the trip.  Well, there are flexibility gaps between the cars so as we travel these gaps, the transition between cars one had to endure to visit the dining and/or observation car, would fill with snow and had to be shoveled at each stop.  Above and in the following photos.]

[The toilets in all roomettes, such as ours, froze.  They are vacuum operated.  Fortunately, the old “blue water” toilets at the ends of each car continued to function.  The supervisor took a shower on the way out – the drain was frozen, so she quit early as the water was rising at her feet.  A regular on this winter route said this stuff happens all the time – just made the trip that much more exciting!  😉 ]

[The Erie area was the only place that had any snow on the ground.  Chicago had no snow; Buffalo and Syracuse both average well over 100 inches of snow each season yet had less on the ground than we had in Alex; and Boston, which averages more snow than Minneapolis, was snow free when we got there.  Weird!]

[Are we there yet?]

[The guy with the supervisor was our butler outbound.  🙂 ]

[Maybe Rochester?]

[An empty, though much sought after, bedroom.  We had one on the way home.]

[“Welcome to Syracuse.”  Home of the Orange.]

[Somewhere between Syracuse and Albany.  I may think of it eventually.  A classic old mill town.  Utica?]

[The Hudson . . . and below.]

[Guess?]

[Almost there.  We arrived in Beantown about two hours late, almost midnight.  It’s a good thing we decided ahead of time to stay in a Boston hotel that first night.]

[This is the following morning.  This is also the Tufts Medical Center.  We were on an 8-minute walk to our tour bus location.  There was a raw, 20-below windchill whistling through the buildings of downtown Boston.  I have never been so cold in my life!]

Next up:  A tour of Boston.  Put on your history hats!  🙂

[We hated missing senior night, but as it happened on January 26 the supervisor and I were in Boston freezing our tukhuses off!  So thanks to fellow Super Fans for providing the materials for this posting – the staff photographer changed venues to cover hockey and took all the photos herein, and Bob “Weakie” Annen dusted off his old Sony video camera to shoot the following introductory video.  At some point I hope to include a copy of the program, as I’m sure other staff members collected one for me?   😉 ]

“Weakie’s” video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln34sdTe5ns

[Senior Anna Carlsen (31).  One thing we’ve learned over the years is that it’s hard to get good photos when the only lighting is a spot light.  A recommendation to all that in the future the arena lights be turned up max for the photo ops!]

[Senior Madi Houska (12)]

And here’s that aforementioned program:

[Pre-introductions milling around.]

[Senior Sara Schmidt (27), senior Shanee’ Herd (40), freshman Amy Jost (33)]

[Amy, sophomore Bailey Serum (35), senior Shelby Iverson (38), junior Rachel Drew (4), junior Taylor Ellingson (24), and Anna]

[Rachel, Taylor, Anna, senior Becca Illlies (37), sophomore Nicole Bartels (23), sophomore Marisa Larson (25)]

[Joe Crouse, Andy Shriver, Brittin Boike]

[Nicole, Marisa, junior Melissa Drown (6), Madi]

[Madi.  See what a difference full lighting makes?  😉 ]

[Sara]

[Becca]

[Shanee’]

[The six seniors]

[Super Fans Dusty Johnson and Roger Riley sang the National Anthem – and remain undefeated.  BTW, we were playing Bemidji and won 4 – 2 in what all the fans reported was just a terrific game, well played by both teams!  🙂 ]

[I have asked hockey moms about what is being said in these pre-game huddles.  Apparently it is only disclosed on a need-to-know basis.]

[Well, whatever was said this time made Bailey laugh . . . but then goalies will laugh at anything.]

[Madi, as the giant Lumberjacks look on from their bench.]

[Mel, who I think has rather quietly has had a terrific year.]

[Becca, with Shelby are the dynamic duo.]

[Here’s that size thing again as Shelby is dwarfed by a towering Lumberjack (OK, OK, it’s just a matter of perspective here).  😉 ]

[Shelby and Shanee’ – looks like a power play face-off in the zone.]

[Let the “no contact” in girls’ hockey begin!  I wouldn’t be surprised if even sometimes  salty language may be exchanged?]

[Face-offs in the zone are good.]

[And Shelby again.]

[At the end of one, we have no score.]

[“The Voice” is in the booth with Lumberjack reporters?]

[The SBA line of Shelby, Becca, and Anna.]

[Up close and personal.]

[Shelby on the go, and below.]

[Aaacckkkk!  Get it out of our end!]

[And here comes Madi.]

[Cards are buzzing the net with Mel in position.]

[And here comes Madi again.]

[Into the zone.]

[Possibly Lauren Niska (21), and below?]

[Shelby’s loose!]

[In on goal!]

[Ohhhhhhh!]

[Now Madi’s loose!]

[Setting it up!]

[

[The shot!]

[SCORE!  Great sequence by the staff photographer!]

[Yay!]

[Yay!  Yay!]

[Yay!  Yay!  Yay!]

[What could be more fun than celebrating a goal?]

[And then I noticed Madi wasn’t on the ice during this goal?  So the goal obviously came later and our on-site stringer reported the goal by Taylor with an assist to Shanee’!]

[Let’s start again with the SBA line.]

[There’s Taylor.]

[And Shanee’.]

[Becca and McKenzie Revering (29), 8th-grade, making a move.]

[GOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL!]

[Becca, assisted by Shelby and McKenzie.]

[Yay!]

[Hugs all around!]

[Coming in again with Mel and Madi.]

[It’s a Cardinal jail break!!  🙂 ]

[Hanah Hansen (11), freshman, from the point.]

[Cards are up 2 after two.]

[Between the 2nd and 3rd periods, Shelby’s dad supervises the puck shoot.]

[Shelby’s dad hands a stick to Shelby’s mom.  It’s a couples thing.]

[It appears as if the staff photographer gave her a shout out.  😉 ]

[Missy is appropriately clad in Cardinal red and black.]

[She readies to shoot – a righty like her daugher.]

[Just a tad wide left.]

[Shanee’s mom, and arena scorekeeper, takes a crack at it.]

[Marnee’s miss almost identical to Missy’s.]

[Finally, we have Becca’s mom – better known as someone who works out at the Y at the same time the Fat Boys Walking Club is in action.]

[Sara was a basketball player and is dumfounded that all her daughters went into hockey!  😉 ]

[Nevertheless, she displays good shooting form.]

[Right through a $25.00 hole!  Her eldest daugher, Claire, a Cardinal alum and now a Cobber at Concordia, also made a $25.00 shot when she was home for the holidays marking the first time, we believe, that family members scored in the same year.]

[Then the daughters got back into action again . . .]

[As we begin the final period.]

[Shanee’ controls.]

[GOOOOAAAALLLL!  Mel unassisted!]

[Shelby has it.]

[GOOOAAAAALLLLLL!]

[Shelby unassisted!]

[Yay again for our side!]

[To be the final score.]

[An attempt at an empty-netter obviously came up empty.  😉 ]

[We won!]

[Celebrate.  A good win against a good team.]

Thanks again to the staff for your superior coverage.  AND MANY THANKS TO ALL THE SENIORS FOR ALL THE GREAT TIMES YOU HAVE GIVEN US!  🙂

[The excitment that is a weekend in Alexandria began Friday with a visit to the AAAA Theatre to see Rumors.  Yes, it is profane – but it is also Neil Simon.  So laugh yourself silly and enjoy the fine performances by your friends and neighbors!  Echo Press photo.  (Editor’s note:  We had initially planned on seeing the Sunday afternoon matinee (i.e., right now!), but Mother Nature had other plans.  Today is indeed postponed.  But you have all next weekend to enjoy the show!)]

Saturday offered the usual plethora of possibilities.  We ultimately decided on an afternoon at the winery with The Salty Dogs (the supervisor stayed home to rest as she is still battling the “don’t feel so goods” she carried with her through the eastern trip), and an evening with Harper’s Chord at SAWA.  This required the ultimate sacrifice – missing the girls’ basketball game against Bemidji – but Harper’s Chord had only made one previous visit, in October, so we were really looking forward to their return performance.

[The Salty Dogs at the winery on Saturday.  From l-r: Bruce Kelly, Annie O’Flynn, Al Lieffort, Erik Schultz, and Tom Mulder.]

[As you can see, they randomly changed positions for the 2nd photo and are now, l-r: Tom, Erik, Al, Annie, and Bruce.]

[Actually performing . . . to the delight of the assembled masses.]

[We go to see Annie.  Her “usual” group is Skilly & Duff, w/Annie O’Flynn.  Of course we  believe a more appropriate name would be Annie O’Flynn, backed by Skilly & Duff.] 

[Erik is getting so proficient as a lead guitarist that I believe he is thinking of leaving his day job, which has something to do with telling people where to stick their money.]

[Couldn’t get into Zorba’s for their post-performance repast.]

[I left the winery, swept up the supervisor, and headed for SAWA.  We had a little nosh and a BV cab, as I recall.  Then I began coverage of the entertainment because . . . I don’t do gardening.  Here Roger Fink and Paul Drinkwine, both of St. Cloud, practice moving their fingers up and down a set of vertical wires for the purpose of making pretty sounds.]

[They were then joined by Jill Moore, of Little Falls, who made pretty sounds with her vocal cords.]

Let’s enjoy Harper’s Chord rendition of a Simon & Garfunkel masterpiece.

“The Boxer”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9J7qiK5fnw

“Come On Up to the House”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9MTk0pW1Ug

“Amie”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9-iPMZ2zu8

“Angel From Montgomery”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=672YK8fELLs

[Paul plays the guitar, mandolin, harmonica, cello, and the viola (like a cello).]

“Dust in the Wind”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEqBF2Uxnhw

“If I Needed You”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjAGn8WimVw

“I Was Here”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLIzdp_BC6w

(Apologies on “I Was Here,” one of the supervisor’s favorites.  Operator error – couldn’t get the darn thing to focus -caused me to miss about the opening 30 seconds of the song.)

“Natural Bridge”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfxmYj9jXAQ

(Apologies on “Natural Bridge” as I changed positions to video “everyone’s” favorite song, and the title track on their CD, as the video and audio aren’t the crispest?)

Thanks again to Jill, Roger, and Paul.  Had a great time and look forward to seeing you again!  🙂

The Blizzard of ’13

[Actually began to some degree on Saturday with an all-day mist, drizzle, flurries that had us worried our out-of-town “guests,” Harper’s Chord, being able to make it.  But the snow began some time overnight, and this was the view out front early this morning.]

[Lake side]

[Dangerous Dan side]

[Master bedroom deck, and below.]

[Master bath]

[I went out to clear the front door and garage slab in mid-afternoon.  They had predicted 8 – 12″, and that appears about right.]

[Beautiful Lake Darling is hiding in the background.]

[Northwest across the neighborhood.]

[The driveway – I think we’re gonna need help!]

[Potty break?]

[Modern-day warrior, not some sort of snowbird weenie!]

[Some guy on a snowmobile stopped and gave a shout out to my legs.  Eat your heart out, buddy!!  😉 ]

[The supervisor stepped out to . . . well, supervise.]