Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Roller Skating

Saturday night we had a group that went rollerskating in Delavan. It is a really old skating rink. But it reminded me of the gymnasium that the movie "Carrie" was filmed in. What do you think?Here is Vanessa in action. They didn't have any races, but when it was an "All Skate Backwards Only" I dominated.Trinity, Angela and Al.Harper was certainly a handful.I told these two kids, that if they put their noses in my rollerblades for a minute that I would give them a dollar. I can't believe how easy it was to get them to do it. I thought it would be at least $5 a piece. And those things did not smell good.After skating we went to the bar across the street. We ended up playing bar dice. 7-14-21. I haven't played that in a long time. We eventually ordered what the bar was calling a "Mystery Shot". 4 of us had to do the shot, I would classify the taste as black licorice covered with red peppers. It was awful as you can tell from Al's expression.But I was delighted to find that this bar had Karyoke that same night. However, I can not just stand at the mic stand, I have to get out and mingle with my people when I perform.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving

This year was very special Thanksgiving for me. It wasn't because the Packers won. Or that we played the Turkey Bowl. It was special because I got to carve up the turkey. 38 years and I have never been asked to do the craving. And let's be honest here, I have more than enough experience wielding a knife. Although up until this Thanksgiving turkey, I had absolutely no experience cutting a bird.
Thanks for taking the picture Erin.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Turkey Bowl

Last year I tried to get a Thanksgiving Day Football Game together, but the weather was just too cold. This year however, the weather sort of cooperated and we had a game. Here are a couple of photos. Chucker getting ready to heave it. He proved after the game that he can throw a ball 58 yards.
Ethan and Carson going after the ball.Zach going out for a pass.We had four teams in a and one tournament just like college football should do. Team Kleppe (1st Place), Team Haus (2nd Place), Team Chucker (3rd Place) and Team Rickie. As I mentioned, Team Kleppe was the winner. Here they are. I guess that is what happens when you invite a former D1 quarterback to play football with you. Although I did think I was going to see Kleppe back of his claim of throwing a ball 60 yards, but that didn't happen. I want to thank everyone who came out to play. I hope everyone had a good time. The best idea of the day came from Will Perdue, who at the conclusion of the game said, "Hey, let's go to the bar for just one drink." An MVP was not awarded because as Kleppe stated, "It was a team effort". However, I would like to hand out the Sterling Sharpe award to Josh and Jacob, who both claimed after every play, "Uncle Rick, I was open!!!"

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Bones, Them Bones, Them Deer Bones

Deer season is complete without at least one picture of the dumpster full of deer bones. Here it is.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Head Boner

Well it is deer season. And what do I do during deer season...cut deer. I am the self appointed and undisputed "Head Boner". I thought I would post a couple of pictures to help demonstrate just how much fun it is. At least that is what most of my nephews tend to say. Here is Chucker skinning out a deer.I will say this about Chucker, he can skin a deer better and faster than anyone I know. Let me amend that statement, he can skin a deer better and faster than anyone as long as he is sober and isn't talking to anyone. My other brother, Dan, was pretty good, but he would have to take second place to Chucker. And then there is a pretty big gap between those two and the next three which would be my dad, Haus and myself. But as I always say, it would be amazing to see how fast Jeff really could be if he didn't have any distractions while he was working.And here is the guy who started it all. I was trying to get all of the facts that other night but I might have some dates wrong. He first started doing this around 1968, when the rest of his hunting party all chipped in for a grinder and a saw as long as my dad would cut their deer for free. The operation became full blown around 1976. I have never known a day, at least that I can remember, where my parents parked cars in the garage. So here is my dad, 74 years old (I think) taking part in year 43 of cutting deer. And just like my nephews, he thinks this is fun. Look at that smile on his face.I have been helping out since I was 9 years old. Making this my 28th year, I did boycott one year when I was in college. And with all that experience, I still just the 3rd best, behind Haus and then my dad. My dad is still better than me, he just can work as long.
Last night we discussed the record, it happened probably 9 or 10 years ago. (I wouldn't doubt that my mom has it written down on a yellow pad somewhere.)In one day we cut 51 deer. I think it was my idea to cut the 51st deer, because Chucker had skinned 50 and I wanted to do one more than him.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Badger vs Gophers

The reason for my trip to Minnesota was to see the Badger / Gopher game. Here we are in the bar parking lot. TJ is very green and doesn't believe in cups. I have to admire that.Liz, Ryan, TJ, Liquid, Borky and LynnBorky and I did walk over to the stadium to try and scalp tickets after the game started. I didn't see one person selling tickets. I did make the most of my trip over there by engaging in conversation with some cops. When ever I see cops I usually lip off to them. My first question is: "Hey, how many of your buddies do you think you would need to apprehend me?" They normally say just me. Then I laugh pretty hard and say "No seriously, 4...5?" Then I asked these cops, who were on a golf cart, if they could sneak Borky and I into the game. That didn't work. I then tried to get a picture with them on the golf cart. They weren't game for that either. Finally, I asked them if they would Taz me for $50. They were visibly unimpressed with me, so we headed back to the bar.Borky putting on lip gloss.Ryan, Kelly, Myra and TJ.




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Air Bourne Toxic Event

Here are the pictures from the concert last Thursday. Borky at the Lightrail Station.Ryan and Borky on the train.The show was at 1st Ave. I haven't been there in 13 years. I forgot how small it was. As you can see from the picture, we were reasonably close. It was far from crowded. And our locale during the show was only steps from the bar. And I don't recall there being a long line at the bar when you went up there. I thought the band was great. But they only played for about 70 minutes. I needed another 5 songs out of them to walk away from the show really impressed. Plus they didn't play my favorite song: Innocence.K-Mart also came with us to the show, he is in the back of this photo in the black cap. But he was at the show with his girlfriend and seemed to want to distance himself and his girlfriend from Ryan, Borky and myself. This fetching lady in the photo, I have no idea who she is.Here are two more friends I made at the show. We must have gotten pretty close because I see we are drinking Jaegerbombs and I don't recall doing any of those.I have to admit I had a "Hangover" (you know the movie) moment the next day. I woke up and didn't know where I was. I was in Borky's spare bedroom. But when I looked at my pictures the next day, I don't recall the majority of them. This is one of those pictures. The story with this picture is that I was trying to convince this homeless guy to let me take his bike for a ride. But he was less than accommodating.

16-0

I don't want to be the one to say it and curse the team. But after that total domination of the Vikings Monday night, I don't know which team they are going to lose to. I am a little worried that the Lions will deliver some cheap shots on Thanksgiving Day. Speaking of Thanksgiving Day, the Turkey Bowl is on. Anyone interested in some football before the Packer game, let me know. We will play at the high school at 9:30 a.m.
Back to the Packers, it was a fun game to watch. Even when the Packers were facing a 3rd and 8 or 3rd and 12, I felt like they would pick up the first down. I am sure none of you have been keeping track, but my prediction for Monday's game was 40-3. Pretty close. So now that I have gone off bragging about the Packers, when they lose this Sunday, you can blame me.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Screw You ESPN



I am so sick of all of the talking heads that are on ESPN. They all think they know so much. Number one, top of my list: Chris Berman. Please get over yourself. And hey how about some new material? The nickname bit, that ran it's course in the 80s. It is about as fresh as Gallager and his Sledge-o-matic.
Number two: Trent Dilfer. What makes you such an authority on football? You can take that
Super Bowl ring you were given by the Ravens and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. They won in spite of you, not because of you. Your career quarterback rating is 70.2 (158.3 is the max). 14 years in the league and you have thrown 16 more interceptions that touchdowns. What makes you more qualified to breakdown film and see what is happening on the field when you couldn't do it when you played? The only expert advice you should be giving about quarterbacks in the league, is pointing out the ones that suck as bad as you did.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Public Apology

I am not wrong often, but when I am, I admit. At least I hope I do. I need to apologize to my brother in law, Tim. I think this goes back to when I was in college, or maybe just out of college. But it was deer season and I was home during the day slaving away in my parent's garage cutting up deer by myself. Tim was there helping out where he could. He would grind hamburger when needed, make a run to grab some boxes, help my mom by putting the meat on the paper before she wrapped it or make a drink when someone was thirsty. Tim then made the mistake of stepping up to the cutting table to help me. As far as I know, up until that point the closest Tim had been to butchering an animal was slicing up a steak at Sizzler. It also didn't help that Tim is color blind and couldn't tell the difference between the white fat or the red meat. I know that I didn't yell and scream at him, but also didn't give him too much encouragement. And for that I am sorry. What made me think of this, was Tuesday night when I stopped by parent's house and stuck around to cut up a couple of deer that were waiting to be processed. Two of my nephews, Zack and Ethan, helped out. And I gave them much more attention, understanding and instruction than I gave to Tim. Tim deserved better from me. And the main reason that I was so attentive and understanding towards my nephews was due to some advice I got from my sister in law, Jody, this summer that I hope I never forget. It was at my Freeman Party before the games started. All she said was, "Be nice." So this is my public apology and the next time I see Tim face to face I will also apologize.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Call The Fire Department

I am not too proud. As promised, here is a video clip of some not so great juggling that ignited some leafs briefly.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Fire Juggling

I told a co-worker about my juggling and they seemed a bit skeptical of me. So I shot some video to prove it to them.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Costume Contest

Here are the entries I have received for best Halloween Costume.
Kmart and Borky as Jay and Silent Bob
Liquid as Katy Perry
Doug as The Baby Arm Character from SNL. (Kristin Wig)
Chris and Rebecca as Sonny and Cher. That is a real mustache.Al and Vanessa as Batman and Robin
Best Costume
Jay and Silent Bob
Katy Perry
The Baby Arm Character
Sonny and Cher
Batman and Robin
And not that I am in the contest, but if you were wondering what I was, I was the Karate Kid before he learned Karate. He went to the school dance as a shower.

Winter Is Coming

Here is another picture I was just talking about. I have probably posted this one before, but I think I was talking about this incident at the Badger Party. I have this as happening back in 2000. This was Preston's car. I was out that morning shoveling the sidewalk, and I had so much extra energy that I decided to clear a major portion of the street and pile the snow up around the driver's side door. Bubs, I would like to say that I am sorry about this, but to be honest I wasn't and I am still not sorry. It isn't that I don't like you, but that I thought it was funny. And like you have said in the past, if it is funny, you are not in trouble. This also serves as warning to anyone even contemplating crossing me. While I don't have as much energy, I still have an abundance of time on my hands. Maybe I will make a trip to Sun Prairie some early morning this winter and clear the street in front of The General's house.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Nate Buddy

This picture is for my aunt and uncle. I was telling Nate stories Friday night and I was describing this picture I took of Nate. It appears that he passed out the night before while going for another piece of pizza.