Paul

We spent this misty afternoon going through a box of old photographs, the kind we used to make before we got computers.
We're thinking about Paul "The Wall" Matthies again today, and we're thinking this is the picture we'll most remember him by, standing tall in the north woods with his mouth shut, letting his stringer of fish do the talking.
Other old photographs show his kindness: building a cedar deck for his friends, assembling a complex barbecue grill for another, acting as designated Winnebago driver on a booze cruise to Wisconsin, paddling an old man through the Quetico wilderness, then volunteering to extinguish a raging brush fire before it could take out the forest.
There's some video too, of a good man hunting pheasants in South Dakota, cleaning fish in Canada, golfing in LA's Griffith Park, and joining in a stout all-male chorus of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" inside an ice house on The Lake of the Woods.
That big box holds a ton of wonderful memories, which is a very good thing, because it is what we have left, now that our dear friend has gone.

Not here

Despite repeated attempts, we sadly report that this household failed to win in last night's lottery for half a billion dollars.
That new house we were going to buy for you will have to wait.

Winter-fresh scallions

Matt Drees called them "winter onions" when he invited Stan to pull a few from his rural Shakopee garden yesterday. The thinned plant will quickly replace itself, Matt said. The early green shoots border what will soon be a bountiful, productive vegetable patch, once Matt finishes deep tilling the dried leaves to loosen his clumpy soil. Lettuce first.
Yesterday Matt also kindly hauled away a load of Stan's brush produced by winter storm mishaps, advised him on a faucet repair, and then loaned him a vintage hammer drill for today's downtown drapery rod reinstall.
Stan stowed the fresh onions way in the back of the van, but you could still smell them from the front seat, all the way home. This morning he crushed just one into a brave carrot juice experiment. Yowsa!

Man at the top of Stan's good guy list.

Record ice out frozen at International Falls

Cold nights have stalled the ice melt on Rainy Lake, the dividing body separating Canada and the U.S. Until now, it appeared all records would be shattered with a March ice out on the massive lake that feeds the legendary International Falls falls. Our reporter, Wayne Kasich, still believes we'll reach an all-time record. Present record is April 10. We don't know what year that was, because Wayne did not include that detail in his report.

Wayne

Wayne continues:

"We are off to the shack until Monday sometime. We don't get very good cellphone reception unless we go around back and up on the ridge. We went down Tuesday and cleaned and I took inventory of materials to begin the process of transforming the 8X8 shed into a sauna.

"Good working weather."

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Godspeed as you venture into the wilderness, dear elder. Be careful out there. Keep your wits about you and your cellphone in your vest pocket.

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But wait, there's more!

Dear Readers, we have an additional report from another monitor of a Great Body of Water in Minnesota. Our faithful reporter there is Matt McMillan, partner in MessAge Media Co., based in Aitkin. He holds an actual job.

Matt writes:

Matt

"The ice officially went out March 26 on Mille Lacs. The former record, April 2, was smashed. Columnists in papers in this part of the state are trying to decide whether the record means anything tied to a changing climate or global warming. State climatologist Mark Seely, who stays out of the political debate, was in Grand Rapids recently. He said the temperature in Minnesota has risen during the recorded history from the late 1800s to now. That could be too small a length of time to determine anything. But, writers at papers here are offering their opinions. Most seem to believe in the global warming.
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"I am in the Isle office each Thursday. So this e-mail comes to you from the southeast side of the lake. No ice in sight.
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"Just sent the first real estate guide of the year to press yesterday. The guide takes a break during the winter. Realtors here say sales, listings and activity are busier now than in the past couple of years. Signs of a perking economy? I hope so."

Five years ago, our lake reporters, Wayne and Matt, enjoyed a free
breakfast as part of an overnight poker package hosted by St. Paul Katie.

East African Antelope

Photos by Stan Rolfsrud

Five Gerenuks, a breed of East African Antelope, browsed on a sunny afternoon at the Los Angeles Zoo. We're expecting an important phone call this morning, browsing through our favorite winter photos while we wait. Want to see a giraffe? OK. Here you go.

Tooth story

Next one comes from the top row, front. First one was lower, front.
First one was spit out down the drain, due to inexperience.

After reading about Emily's sink mishap with the handling of her first tooth, Lorlee writes:
The Bartos family had a tooth down the drain drama of its own.

Our practice was not to put the tooth under the pillow but rather in a glass of water on the window sill. Well, to Stephen's chagrin, someone either drank his or dumped it down the drain. To preclude that from happening again, when he lost the next tooth, he taped it to a piece of paper and drew water squiggles around it. That paper showed up years later in the drawer where my mom saved childhood memories.

It sounds like a tooth in a glass of water may be a Midwestern thing??? Maybe our tooth fairies don't want to risk waking us up in the night???

Here goes the first smoothie. . .

Here's our first smoothie in our brand new Vitamix. They were on special yesterday at Costco ($394) and we had to do it, after hearing Sosie, Jennifer and others extol the virtues of this blender on steroids. The out-of town jasper selling them says you can make salsa, peanut butter, sherbets, smoothies, waffles, cobbler, dips, honey butter, a veggie tofu scramble, etc., etc.  He made us tortilla soup while he was pitching the product. It was great. He threw the chips in at the last second. (Hurry, hurry, this is the last day of an 11 day sale, he said.)

There are thousands of recipes. Today we started out with "Cindy's Midday Smoothie" for no particular reason except it was midday. We're feeling better already! Cheers and To Your Health!

Cindy's Midday Smoothie
2 medium oranges, halved and peeled
10 small fresh or frozen strawberries
1 banana peeled
1 apple, quartered and seeded
2 cups washed fresh spinach
2 cups ice cubes

1. Place all ingredients into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
2. Select Variable 1.
3. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to variable 10, then to Hi.
4. Blend for 45 seconds

Drink up. Yield is six cups, we halved the recipe. It tasted great and good for you, no sugar, oil, salt, etc.

Cindy's Midday Smoothie tastes better than it looks.

New living room soon

Painters and skim coaters are giving our daughter Melissa's house in Eden Prairie a good going over. It will be great when it's finished but it all seems to take forever. We dropped by today to help Melissa choose an accent wall color (Kilkenny, perhaps) and to have a good sit down visit with our kindergartener, who doesn't seem to be too bothered by all the chaos at her house.

(Photo, right: Getting older. Emily shows off her "fake makeup" and house key.)

Paul Matthies

We mourn the passing of a good friend who died Friday afternoon near his home in South Minneapolis. Paul "The Wall" Matthies, 63, was Stan's Concordia College classmate and was our guest this year for Christmas Eve dinner.