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.
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!!!"
Liz, Ryan, TJ, Liquid, Borky and Lynn
Borky 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.
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.
Liquid as Katy Perry
Chris and Rebecca as Sonny and Cher. That is a real mustache.
Al and Vanessa as Batman and Robin
I think of all the times I have done this, this was the first time any child has opened the present with out the assistance of a knife or scissors. Joey is making progress. 7:27 PM.
He got it open and once he got the box open, Joey climbed right in. For those unaware, the box was filled with nothing more than 30 or so balloons with candy inside of the balloons. I know, big spender. It is loosely controlled mayhem watching a bunch of kids running around trying to pop as many balloons as possible as fast as possible to get to the candy. This is what I do. 7:35 PM
And what do the adults think of this? Well just look at Sue's expression.
She looks thrilled. 
With the exception of Mick, everyone came prepared with plenty of Bucky gear. Here is Leslie.
Julie.
Here is Al, who is a loyal blog reader. It was a tie between Roman and Al for who displayed the most passion during the game. Neither said that they bet on the game, but they were cheering as if they did.
Steph and Leslie.
Here is the backyard set up. Two TVs because two is better than one right?
And finally nothing puts the exclamation point on one of my parties like some fire juggling. This got me to thinking about the party. If you had a choice between two parties to go to, wouldn't you have to go with the one with the fire juggler. Is there any better way to dominate the conversation with your co-workers around the water cooler Monday morning than by saying, "Yeah that sounds like you had a fun weekend. But I went to this party Saturday night and the guy hosting the party just starts juggling fire. Can you believe it, he juggled fire? He isn't very good and he drops them alot, but it was something you normally don't see."
Also I am in full boycott of the ESPN ticker. I am a simple person and I have a simple mind. And I get too distracted by the ticker. I end up spending all of my time reading the ticker and not watching the plays on TV. And it really aggravates me when I keep reading the same information on the ticker over and over. So I put a piece of painters tape over the bottom 2 inches of my TV. And I am a much happier individual because of it.
We made our home for the Brewer and Badger games the Regent Street Retreat. Here is a sign we caught on our way to the bar.
Doing shots with some Nebraska fans. They were at least smart enough to cheer for the Brewers before the Badger game.
Here is some of our damage during the Brewer game. The Pabsts are mine.
Joe and Dawn left before the Badger game started. I ran into my buddy, Pat, seen here in the foreground. I haven't seen Pat since college so I had to hang with him for a while and ended up watching all of the game with him.
