alexandriacardinals

I’m sure you are all aware by now that the Mayans have hypothesized the world will come to an end next year.  This is not to be confused with the predictions that the world was going to end earlier this year . . . or when it was going to end at the turn of the century with Y2K.  Now that you have all been hardened by such doomsday scenarios and didn’t break into full-fledged panic, I can finally reveal the actual truth of the matter.

Back in the day (OK, 10 years ago) when they were excavating the foundation of our current abode, they discovered an artifact of import much beyond that of the Kensington Runestone.  However, the Runestone does provide corroborative evidence.

The backhoe operator unearthed a stainless steel vessel whose markings indicate it was a lutefisk pot belonging to one Ole, The Slobberer.  Through carbon dating, we were able to ascertain the pot was of the same vintage as the Runestone and was manufactured in Krumkake, Pennsylvania, c. 1362.  In fact the pot contained a TV Guide for the 2^nd week of November 1362, as well as a couple of autographed 8×10 glossies of Helga, The Fascinating, an empty Wheat Thins box, and a half-eaten Twinkie (it is believed the other half was used as stuffing for the Thanksgiving coot).

[Editor’s note:  Our property is the high point on Lake Darling.  We assume The Slobberer chose this place for strategic reasons.  From this vantage, he could always tell when the Sioux [sic] Line train was arriving from Green Bay, where evil Packers loaded it with Bears and Lions, and direct his laser-directed fire power accordingly.]

But back to the point.  The Slobberer’s rudimentary scratchings on the surface of the lutefisk pot appeared to predict a terrible year for the Vikings in 2011.  Well, as it happens, The Slobberer hit the nail on his head (always looking for that convenient spot to hang his horns).  War, pestilence, bad lefse – run ins with the cops.  King of the Vikings, Leslie, The Frazier [sic] Fir, was in danger of being ousted by Wall Street investors.

Anyway, The Slobberer recognized he had the venue, his lutefisk pot, to cash in on end-of-the-world predictions (he noticed others were signing fat contracts with Reader’s Digest Condensed Books regarding such).  So, either through random chance, or through an assortment of numbers on his Power Ball lottery ticket, The Slobberer forecast on the side of his lutefisk pot that the world will end in 2013 – something to do with a run on cod . . . or possibly another bad draft by the Vikings.  Now you know.

But until then, you will all be delighted to know your Cardinals were ranked 27th in the state this year in Challenge Cup points.  Not bad for a high school that is 88th in the state in total enrollment:

[Thanksgiving morning]

Just the photos taken Thanksgiving morning, and then the initial lighting of the Christmas lights on Broadway with pre-festivities at Fort Alexandria on Friday.  Interspersed among the photos are some Alexandria videos (not mine) borrowed from YouTube where they were accidentally discovered!  🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5D_wOYLw5Q

[This one was interesting.  Taken by Jefferson High students 9 years ago to be used as a campaign document for a new high school!  🙂 ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyzsHCPeXA8&feature=related

[Alex tornado?  With commentary?]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Mgj6hZSXI&feature=related

[Vacationland Alex]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2BQ-sY2Q08&feature=related

[Cruisin’ Alex – love that “Mercury Blues” is on the radio!  🙂 ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fFyadxc5j4&feature=related

[“It’s Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas”]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2mVD-_Q_CE&feature=related

[Carolers Jingle Bell Rock @ Rotary Club]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEIZd-Wg2ao&feature=related

[Heading north between Carlos & Le Homme Dieu.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VbtplJ8oKA&feature=related

[The band in 1990 Rose Bowl Parade.]

[The supervisor . . . shopping?]

[By far the warmest such event we could recall.  The last time we took Mom, we had to leave her in the museum to warm-up as a permanent display!]

[Pent up Black Friday shoppers ready to . . . CHARGE!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEam0hmL4X8

[This video is my first attempt at editing on YouTube.  After several attempts, I was able to cut it from 6 minutes (I started too soon) to 2 minutes!  A geek thing!  Of course, this is always better if it’s snowing . . . or at least if there’s snow on the ground.]

Bonus coverage:  Lady Gaga had a TV Thanksgiving Special.  This reporter is gaga for Gaga.  A certain Super Fan has never seen Gaga perform.  So, here she is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E8MhqiyLTA&feature=related

[A confused and schizophrenic Lake Darling can’t decide to freeze or not freeze.  This Sunday morning we have more open water than we’ve had in over a week.]

Our snake-bitten hockey girls were in The Cities this weekend and lost 2-1 and 1-0 to Mound Westonka and Orono, respectively.  I bet we had a shot advantage in both again.  On the plus side, those teams are ranked 7th and 9th, respectively (I think), in state class A – so those were good road showings!  😉

[The latest Newsweek had a story about the requirement to do exactly that on college application forms.  I have no recollection of ever having to do that in my time.  So, I thought I’d see if I could still get into college today – I’d like to experience massive student loan debt.] 

[We are currently at the day before Thanksgiving.  The photos herein are from the two days after our only snow of the season, four days ago (3 1/2″).  Beautiful Lake Darling can’t decide whether she wants to freeze over or not.  Today was like a late spring day – beautiful and melting the snow.  Thanksgiving Day will be in the 50’s – I’ll be dreaming of Pickle Lake.]

I was born on September 4, 1947 – a date that will live in infamy as the day immediately preceding September 5, 1947.  It was hot in Minneapolis that day – very hot, like 100 degrees hot.  I suspect that created what ultimately became my lifelong aversion to hot, humid weather.  Any time the thermometer breaches 50 degrees now, I start perusing real estate ads in Pickle Lake, Ontario.  But I digress.  The hospital in which I first entered the world no longer exists. Life is fleeting.  I made a note of that at the time.

Those first few days of life were extremely uncomfortable.  The heat wave continued unabated and Dave Lennox had yet to invent air conditioning.  My diapers were changed regularly due to excessive sweat – and my Izod golf shirts (I preferred pastels) often had perspiration stains down the back.  I was regularly using Cruex before Cruex was even invented.  [Sidebar on diapers:  Recognizing early on that I would be a bachelor until I was 53, I was fastidious from an early age.  Others had different words for it.  But as a result I was “potty trained” before the end of that first week.  I mean, sheesh, who wants to carry that stuff around in your Calvin Klein’s?]

We moved to Alexandria when I was a year old.  We had to.  How else would I have eventually been able to write an Alexandria Cardinal blogsite?  It had to be kismet.  (Kismet is a funny word – sounds like a country in South Asia.)  Shortly thereafter, I uttered my first word.  Mom and Dad were so . . . embarrassed!  You see that word began with an “S,” ended with a “T,” and said “Hi” in the middle.  Dad apparently was working under the bathroom sink, slightly miscalculated where his head was in relation to the sink upon arising from his task, and said “the word” in response to the unintended contact between porcelain and pate.  And that was my only word for weeks – and I went around saying it quite proudly.  This is a true story – my parents had to quarantine our family from the good people of Alexandria until “the word” was subsequently displaced by the more conventional “mommy” and “daddy.”

By the time I was three, we had lived in four different places in Alexandria.  That was surprising for two reasons:  a) Mom told Dad when they first moved here she would not stay in this outstate backwater for more than a year; and 2) Who in their right minds want to move that often?  They built a house in Victoria Heights, Alexandria’s first suburb.  Dad owned a house before he owned a car.  He walked out to old Highway 52 and hitchhiked to work.

[OOPS, time (or words) is up!  See, that wasn’t so hard – only took about a half an hour.  My life in 500 words couldn’t even get me to kindergarten – and likely not into an institution of high learning either.  See you ‘round the playground!]

p.s.  May as well include Uncle Dick here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9G5LPkZQlo

Just to cover the “news” that occurred after Nature Calls II hit the airwaves last night.  Grandson Tom, above, in his role as Arpad Novack in The Perfume Shop, a play at the Belfry Theatre in Noblesville, Indiana.  Tom is a high school senior this year and will matriculate to Purdue University next year.  With his Purdue degree, he will be able to make enough money to care for his grandparents in their elderliness.  Kinda makes me feel . . . is it old?  The following photo is of grandpa and grandson Tom from many years ago!

In other news, Super Fan “adopted” granddaughter, Danielle “Roadblock” Justice, just established an all-time save record at Gustavus!  Congratulations, Danielle!

http://athletics.blog.gustavus.edu/2011/11/18/danielle-justice-records-1000th-career-save-women’s-hockey-tops-st-thomas-5-3/

And finally (well, it is just a Quickie!), we received confirmation today (the original source was of dubious quality) that Milica McMillen is going to play hockey for my Minnesota Gophers.  Who is Milica McMillen, you say?  Well, if you look to the top left side of the background wallpaper for this blog you will see a young lady in a Breck hockey uniform.  She made the all-tournament team as an 8th-grader in 2008, the year our Cards won the state championship (our girls are on the right).  In fact, we beat Breck 2-1 in the championship game – Milica scored the Breck goal (the only goal Breck scored in two games against Roadblock that year).  Now as greater Minnesota public school types, we readily admit to a certain bias against the big city private schools.  We call them the cashmere sweater, camel hair coat crowd – who cheer at the games by rattling their jewelry.  This feeling was exacerbated a few weeks ago when the Academy of Holy Angels girls team came up to scrimmage our Cards – in a brand new Mercedes bus!  (We understand all-pro wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, is a major contributor to his alma mater.)  But who cares now – Milica can really play hockey!  😉

Here’s a “toast” to them all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BILAFuSi-i0&feature=related

p.s.  The super and I just finished our first shoveling of the year.  We just got a couple of inches – the St. Cloud area got a foot!  But shoveling is still a lot better than summer yardwork – no sweat, no bugs!