Brewers vs. Twins in MN 2010

Reese was really enjoying her Dairy Queen slushie. She loved it so much that she sucked down every last drop drop. Then (as you saw in the video on the previous page) she drank most of mine while I let her make noises with the straw. I know that kids love sugar and candy, but you would think that Reese would get an ice headache from drinking that much at one time. Maybe she is one of those people that is immune from the ice headache. Despite being the Iceman, I certainly am not. But maybe that's because I was given the nickname in college and I wasn't born with it. Because that would make a difference. Maybe she just wanted the sugar high so badly she didn't care about the side effects.

We had walked around the park and along the shores of Lake Bemidji and Katie met us at Dairy Queen. Our car was parked back at the park so she gave us a ride there. She had the truck so I had to ride in the bed for the short distance and hang on to my sombrero.

Mike dug out a small section of his lawn and lined it with stones, creating a man made fire pit. In the city it would be illegal to do something like this, but Mike lives so far out in the country he could practically do whatever he wanted. Since he also helps to fight forest fires (as well as starting controlled ones to burn dead trees and brush) he is very responsible when it comes to this sort of thing. Sometimes he takes his work home with him (all of the wood that he could ever need) so he has plenty of fuel for the fire. We stayed up kind of late and hung out for a while and talked. I didn't get to see them when they were in town for Christmas, so Mike and I had a lot of catching up to do. Between the inside jokes, goofy laughter and reminiscing of old memories, we managed to update each other on our lives. And then we kicked back, had a few beers, then faded off into the quiet Blackduck night.

Sugar causes kids to do crazy things, like wanting to drive cars despite not being able to see over the steering wheel or reach the pedals. But being the good responsible parents that they are, Mike and Katie did not allow her to operate the motor vehicle. She just pretended.

Mike is a big fan of fire. So am I. Mike loves nature in general, which led him to his College Degree in Forestry and his job working for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. When we were in Boy Scouts together we set many controlled fires, so why wouldn't tonight be any different? Every night is a good night to have a fire.

The Brewers were in the midst of a 9 game losing streak. After loss #8 I pledged a Hunger Strike and vowed not to eat until the Brewers won a game. Mike doesn't have internet at his house, so I had to wait until I caught the box score on Sportscenter before I saw a 5-4 victory, then I chowed down on some Cherios in celebration.

Lake Bemidji is one of 10,000 lakes (which I'm still calling shenanigans on because although Minnesota uses that as their official state slogan, Wisconsin has more lakes than that) but it is one of the primary ones that feed into the Mississippi River. I didn't realize that I was this far North to be at the site where the Mighty Miss gets all ramped up to head South. What I didn't know would not come back to haunt me this time.