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Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A day at Kanawha State Forest

Got to spend some time up at Kanawha State Forest last week while I was home and took some pictures. Thought I'd post them and have them up here if anyone would be interested in looking at them.
Here ya go!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Black Walnut Festival and The President of the United States. (Also...a few "x" rated words)

I went up to Spencer on Saturday for the Black Walnut Festival, an event that I hadn't been to since I was 18 years old. The big day of the event is Saturday and the biggest event of the day is the Grand Parade. My roommate Billy went with me to see what all the fuss was about.
We arrived early in the morning, about 930am and parked and headed up to downtown to see the sights. The parade started promptly at noon (which is something I don't remember happening in the past) and lasted for 90 minutes.
Walking back to find a good place to watch the parade, we ran into Amy and Lori and all the kids and watched the parade from the bed of the truck. Amy took it upon herself to encourage all the marching bands as they came by, informing them that she was a clarinet player in high school as well. I dubbed her America's first "positive heckler" for her actions.
After the parade I went to Martha's where the family had gathered for a post-parade chow down! THANK YOU MARTHA!!! I also got to meet three cousins I hadn't met before. They are ALL adorable and a great deal of fun to watch and talk to!

Later Saturday night I attended the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner at the Charleston Civic Center. The keynote speaker was President Bill Clinton, it was thrilling to see a President live! Furthermore, it is refreshing to listen to one that can complete a coherent thought.
Here comes the vulgar language promised in my title. The list of speakers at the dinner was extensive and included both Democratic Representatives and both US Senators as well as Gov. Manchin. Senator Byrd was working his way through another rabble rousing speech that included a large number of "YEAH MAN, I'M BIG DADDY" when he dropped this bombshell line on the crowd; "Joe Manchin is the best FUCKING governor in the US". That's right...Robert Byrd said that TWICE during his speech. We were floored! I bruised my chin my jaw hit the ground so hard when I heard it.

Below are some pics of the BWF from Saturday. Lots of parade band pics! Enjoy them!