alexandriacardinals

For those of you just tuning in expecting to see “Get Down, Get Funky,” that is now the preceding article.  We were overwhelmed today by a plethora of nature – undoubtedly as a result of the first snowfall.  So, I had to remove the swan photos from the previous column and include them here.  And it’s all from inside the house (haven’t been out since exercising at the Y at 7:00 am) – it will be tough to move from here when we downsize.  But after the swans came an eagle – perched for quite some time in our lakeside cottonwood tree.  And then a nuthatch caught my eye.  John J. Audubon, eat your heart out!

The swans (I think up to 20):

The eagle:

The eagle kept eying these guys but came to the conclusion – too big!:

A nuthatch:

The eagle perspective:

In a week in which we have already lost too many friends, we got a call just as I was wrapping up this “bird” article that our friend, Bill Zimmerman, died today.  Bill was a famous “bird” artist – he lived in Nashville, Indiana, a small artist community and was a close friend of Rita.  Here’s a photo I took of Bill (front right) and friends a year and a half ago – Rita’s in the center:

And these are some of Bill’s works we have in our house:

http://www.southernin.com/Pages/archives/october_99/zimmerman.html  (About Bill)

OK, more about the scoreboard later.  In keeping with tradition, we will first attempt to have the storyline have something to do with the title.  That means, of course, Funky Gumbo Trio (though sometimes more).  Thursday night, the boys were playing again at Sixth Avenue Wine & Ale (SAWA).  We now know, after several years of following the group, that you have to be around for the final set – we’re quick on picking up on such things.  Accordingly, though we usually appear at a SAWA group’s 7:00 starting time, we rested up a bit first and arrived at 8:00 so we could be there at the finish.  (And I believe I told the story before, but as a short recap, the group was formed (though the players change with matriculation) when Bill Engebretson, the drummer, posted a notice on the University of Minnesota, Morris campus requesting musicians beyond the scope of the three chord rock ‘n roller – he was looking for musicians with some classical training who could be adept performing jazz and blues and stuff.)

Most groups take a break on the hour – but on this night, Funky Gumbo played straight through from 8:00 – 10:00 (way past our usual bedtime).  There was a good crowd when we first got there, but it thinned out as the evening progressed.  By 9:30, you only had the hard core fans left – and also the rare SAWA (or any such similar place) occurence where the remaining patrons were solely focused on the entertainment.  And the requests began.

The supervisor loves it when Mike Gill, on sax, channels B. B. King through Joe Cocker.  And Spencer Christensen, on guitar, gives us our Alex connection – Spencer started playing with the group last year as a senior in high school; now he is studying guitar at McNally Smith College of Music in the Cities, and loving it.  Unfortunately, the bass player was new to us and I didn’t get his name.  Here are the last four songs they played that night – including a requested encore of “Sweet Home Chicago” where the memory chip on my camera ran out of . . . memory about half way through the song.  Sorry ’bout that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH6v1-oDdFM – “The Thrill is Gone”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=842gV1qTJbE – “It’s a Man Down There”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kojz4aMIpFU – “Shake It Up and Go”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6m8PXRAUtw – “Sweet Home Chicago”

OK, now back to hockey.  We hosted Sartell-St. Stephen-Sauk Rapids-Rice last night.  They are a conference team – and a reminder our schedule includes mostly class AA teams because it’s hard to find enough class A teams to play against.  Sartell and Sauk Rapids high schools, individually, are as big as Alex, so we’re always at a disadvantage in the numbers game.  Not whining, just the facts.  The scoreboard reflects the final score of the JV game.  The two home JV games so far have ended in 0-0 ties.  Again, we had a big shots-on-goal advantage – a good sign.  I decided to spend a lot of camera time this night on the JVers -several players have been on that team most of their high school careers and we have enjoyed watching them play as well.

[The scoreboard on our arrival.  The red state championship banner in the background a reminder on how difficult that is to attain.]

[Bailey Serum, freshman goalie – would suspect she may get some varsity playing time this year.]

[The supervisor rushed up to preserve our seats on the red line.]

[Ellen Lanman, senior defense – very good JV player, has had varsity time.]

[Rachel Drew, sophomore center – will play for the varsity in the future.]

[Marisa Larson, freshman defense.]

[Chelsey Klingbeil, senior forward.]

[Sara Schmidt (27), junior forward – though last night she played defense.  You can’t help but develop certain favorites – Sara fits that bill probably for the reasons given in the following photo.]

[Undoubtedly, one of the best lines in the history of the state.  Kat DelZopo, Abby Williams, and Michelle Anez led the Cards to the state championship in ’08.  We affectionately called them The Smurf Line.  (We proudly noted that Abby calls her current Bemidji State line, The Smurfs, as they are all under 5’4″.)  Sara Schmidt would qualify for The Smurf Line.]

[Sara]

[Rachel in on goal.]

[Sara (27) and Kaila Dewanz (7), freshman forward, chase down the puck.]

And now – the varsity.  I have no idea what the Stormin’ Sabres record was coming in – I get those lovely “error” messages when I try to go the hockey websites?  But we knew they have probably the best player in the conference in Kendra Rasmussen – and they have a transfer from St. Cloud Tech who is also very good.  Sure enough, the Sabres’ stars got them off and rolling early – a 3-0 lead after the first period.  It didn’t look good for our Cards.  Then a funny thing happened on the way to the 2nd period – the Cards played great, easily their best period of the year.  Shelby Iverson scored early to pull the Cards within 3-1 (Shelby has scored a goal in all three games so far) – then I believe it was Rasmussen who scored shortly thereafter made it 4-1.  The Cards dominated the rest of the period scoring two more goals, one by Rachael Finley and the other by Danielle Carlson.  Now down only 4-3 going into the final period, it looked like the Cards had the momentum.  But then it appeared that having played a road game just the night before took its toll – the Cards played a weary 3rd period and lost 6-3.  They can take some positives from this game – and they will need them as they now begin a mind-numbing 7 game road trip, against a lot of big schools.  Hang in there, ladies!

[Shanee’ Herd’s dad, John, caught trying to steal a net between periods!]

[Kendra Rasmussen (2) appears to have D-1 abilites – it’s fun to watch her play, except when it’s against your team!  There is an 8-minute video of her goals from last year – don’t need to watch it all to get a feel for her skills.  No. 12 is the transfer from Tech, also a very good player, whose name escapes me now (a mind is a terrible thing to waste).]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNwuNaRHv-Q  – Rasmussen video

[Shelby – unfortunately, not all of the introductory photos turned out, stuff happens.]

[Becca Illies]

[Taylor Ellingson]

[Stephanie Drown]

[Super Fans Barb and Roger Riley sang the National Anthem.]

[Opening face-off]

[Card goal celebrations.]

Get used to seeing Bethany and Megan Hasz a lot over the next four years.  Here they’re competing in the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland 5k championship in Sioux Falls (Echo Press photo):

And John Hawkes has a new movie – Martha Marcy May Marlene (photo Pioneer Press):

Viking fans need something to celebrate:

And finally, as today’s column comes to end, we are enjoying our first accumulating snow fall of the season:

Just for fun:  Bob Annen lives in Australia.  He is the son of Super Fans Bob and Vivian Annen.  Bob, the son, is in the States for the first time in 6 years.  Bob, the dad, said today’s snow will be the first snow Bob, the son, has seen in 10 years.  🙂

And what the supervisor does on snowy days:

[For those of you who previously visited this column, the nature photos have been moved to the next article.  Something to do with volume.]

We do have some reviews:

Great Job!  As I said lots of positives from last night!!!   Here’s some more hockey scoop. Kendra’s Grandpa helped me do the score book last night.  We knew him from Kendra and Shanee’ playing together.  He developed a computer program for hockey scoring and wanted to see if we would be interested in it.  It worked great.  Anyhow I asked if Kendra has many D1 schools looking at her.  It didn’t sound that way.  I know last year Providence was but they no longer are interested.  He said all the D3 schools want her but she is also getting attention from D2 schools for soccer.  ~ Marnee’ Herd (proud mom of Shanee’)

Thank you SOOOO much! Much better quality than the ones I have. ~ Jo Colvin (proud mom of Spencer Christensen)

Beautiful that is Minnesota at it’s coolest, enjoyed.  ~ Jo Lee (proud neighbor of the cub reporter)

[I’m leading off with the voices of the Cardinals, Dave Harris and Bob Cunniff, because I can.  The new camera exposes vistas on the far side of the arena.]

*Those five words are the medical equivalent of “your gall bladder has to come out.”  It’s not a good thing.  Our Cardinal girls’ hockey team opened the season last night with an unfortunate 2-1 loss to the North Metro Stars (if you Google “North Metro,” you still cannot find how many schools are involved in the conglomerate, but it encompasses most of the northern inner suburbs of Minneapolis).  We have high hopes for our team, so an opening season loss at home is an owie.  The teams played evenly in the first period until there were just a few minutes left.  Then the Stars applied constant pressure, the Cards couldn’t clear the zone, then, as usually happens after extended pressure, North Metro scored on a shot on which Card goalie, Stephanie Drown (senior), was totally screened.  It was 1-0 after one.

Warm-ups:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjhqQeUi53o

The Cards began to take over the game in the 2nd period.  Nevertheless, the Stars were able to score again on a long shot that was deflected.  Then the Stars star was awarded a penalty shot – she had already scored one of their goals and assisted on the other.  Things looked bleak for the Cards if they went down 3-0!   But Steph stopped the penalty shot.  With new life, the Cards scored late in the period on a power play to close within 2-1.  We thought we’d win then – we were the faster team, were carrying the play, and now led in shots on goal.

The 3rd period mirrored the 2nd – the Cards had the better of the play but could not dent the Stars’ goalie.  There were several good attempts, including one by Alia Kopischke (senior forward) where she stick handled by several defenders for a point blank shot.  The Cards pulled their goalie for the last minute, buzzed the net constantly, but could not get the tying goal.  The Cards finished with a 28-20 shot advantage, but as Mitch Loch used to say – that’s just a stat.

Shanee’ Herd (junior defense) was named player of the game.  No dispute here.  Shanee’ is now in her 5th year as a starter and is solid in all aspects of the game.  She is a solidifying force on the blue line.  We were also impressed with Nicole Bartels (freshman defense) -her first game with the varsity, she has a good feel for the game and was able to get off many shots toward the goal.  We have pretty good speed on our forward lines – they should be able to produce offensive pressure all year, and then the goals will come.

[A portent of things to come?  The JV dominated its game, but it ended 0-0 in OT.  Shoulda known it would go to OT, because we had an after-game event.]

[. . . and note the story about names on the uniforms.  Of course, they’re generally hidden by ponytails!  😉  ]

[Coaches]

[Mark Illies, father of Becca, on the PA system; John and Marnee’ Herd, parents of Shanee’, scorekeepers.]

[2008 state champ alums:  Ashley Holmes, now playing for the North Dakota Fighting Soon-Not-To-Be Sioux, on the puck shoot.  Abby Williams, now of the Bemidji State Beavers, came over and had a nice visit with the Super Fans.  Rumors were Kat DelZoppo was also in the house.]

[The previously referenced Shanee’ (40) and Nicole (23).]

[Kalley Kragenbring (10), sophomore forward]

[Tripped on the blue line?  Anonymity will ne preserved.]

[Alia]

[Kalley (again?)]

[Rachael Finley, senior forward – and, as noted below, front page columnist for the Echo Press.  The epitome of the student/athlete!]

http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/89515/

[Nicole (again?) – honestly, I’m just firing at moving targets through a telephoto lens.  🙂 ]

[Steph]

[Quinn Kragenbring (20), senior forward – sisters are always a good idea on hockey teams; and Shanee’]

[Rachael centers Alia and Quinn]

[Shelby Iverson (38), junior forward, and Shanee’]

[Becca Illies, junior forward]

[Shelby, centers Becca and Kalley]

[Time-out for the last minute push.]

This is Vacationland USA, so of course hockey wasn’t the only game in town.  The Salty Dogs (Annie O’Flynn, Bruce Kelly, Erik Schultz, and Tom Mulder) played the winery that afternoon.  We were heartened to see a certain basketball/soccer/softball mom, w/friends, there – she advised their attendance was a direct result of advertising by the camp social director in this blog.  As novices, however, they did not know to stay until the final set – that’s when the talent really let’s their hair down (well, if they have any) 🙂  .  The boys and Annie had the joint rockin’ at the end – to the extent that an afternoon on diet pop and pretzels had emboldened them to advise customers they could not leave without paying a cover charge!  Tom even successfully completed back-to-back Roy Orbison numbers without the aid of a truss!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-NFQORWgw  (“Cannibals”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpwHqKPiWJQ  (“End of the Line”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxeSIGvuhk  (“Running Scared”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZm1wydspOw (“If I Had a Million Dollars”) 

And there was an after game event – Lisa Lynn was at SAWA.  Naturally, with the JV game going to overtime and the varsity game going down to the wire, we arrived at SAWA much later than we had hoped.  Lisa was on break when we arrived – a bit overwhelmed by the business she’s in.  SAWA was absolutely packed – good for business, not so good for a single entertainer of the mellow variety.  The din in the place – by multiple parties having a raucously good time – made it difficult to even hear her perform.  So, we could not video her – in the absence of such, we’ll reprise her performance of “The Law and the Lonesome” at Bug-A-Boo Bay this summer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OZINpLpMo

 [Lisa’s CD is permanently ensconced in the Obert-mobile – and it has yet to wear out its welcome.]

Several recent retirees are now regular attendees at these events.  They have advised, however, that they are not ready for these types of all-dayers.  We understand.  Our experience has shown you have to ease into these things and gradually build up your stamina.  😉

And yesterday, on the grandson’s 18th birthday, Patty and the Pine Tones played a reunion concert at the Pines as a fund raiser for Helps International.  The supervisor also partook of a silent auction and came away with a couple of nice bottles of wine.

[Al Lieffort, Terry Kennedy, Annie O’Flynn, Bruce Kelly, Patty Kakak]

Finally, an alumni report – “Roadblock” has her Gusties off to a 4-0 start.  And we heard through the hockey grapevine that Ally Nielsen scored the winning goal in St. Ben’s season opener.

This is the sight that greeted me as I arrived at the Y @ 7:00 am today.  Today is Veterans’ Day, 11-11-11.  The full November moon is called the Beaver Moon.  We suspect that is in honor of our Ms. Williams and her Bemidji State hockey teammates.  We are still in the “Doughtnut Hole” – the first girls’ hockey game is tomorrow tonight (the anticipation is palpable).  The Super Fans have again purchased a sponsorship for the puck shoot.

We have attempted to fill the Doughnut Hole with other events.  Last night the supervisor had us lined up for a meeting . . . and two concerts, all at the same time!  In our ever increasing attempts to, as my sister used to say, “not miss anything,” we made it to all three.  You would know how if you have been following Brian Greene’s NOVA series on PBS about the Universe – while I am unable to understand any of it, I find it fascinating.  We learned that as Einstein predicted, you can go forward in time.  Thus, the supervisor and I merely put the Edge in double secret probation overdrive – et voila, perfect attendance!

Today, unfortunately, was an off day according to the calendar.  That means I am at the beck and call of the supervisor in my super hero role of . . . Mr. Maintenance!  Aaaaccckkk!  So, though it is only mere hours later, I am trying to recall the order in which I endured.  I believe first it was washing walls – yup, if you have interior log walls.  I tried to lessen the load by posing we just do one room a day.  Then it was out to vacuum both cars and put the rubber, i.e., winter, floormats in the Edge.  Then back upstairs to wash the exteriors of all the big windows before winter sets in – the dry September and October had left them spotted with dirt from the occasional sprinkle. 

Metaphor for life:  You can’t see things clearly . . . without a good squeegee!

Then I carried the tile covered outdoor table down from the deck – I don’t how many more years I’ll be able to do that without a forklift?  I think I’ve earned the rest of the afternoon off – though I’m afraid to ask.  Tomorrow’s reminder:  The Salty Dogs are the winery in the afternoon; the girls hockey game and Lisa Lynn @ SAWA (will try to do both!) in the evening.

[“The Peeper” rode Ms. Hauger of Shakopee (ranked 25th in the country) all the way in the state cross country meet, took the lead toward the end, but lost by .7 of second.  Jamie has never beaten Hauger in this event – but she has in the state 1,500 and 3,000 m., and in some regional and national meets. (Photo from the Echo.)]

The rest of Nature Calls:  The Beaver Moon from last night –

And yesterday, a pileated woodpecker –

[Upset squirrel.]

[The Libster, ’92]