Ingestible Pets

From one of my favorite blog fodder sites, gullible.info: “It is illegal to orally ingest duck dander in nine American states due to its intense hallucinogenic properties.”

This is definitely news to me. Duck dander, the down of a duck, is typically not something one would think of to consume. It also seems odd, from a prosecution perspective to consider that as there are more than 26 million ducks killed per year. Actually arresting and prosecuting someone for this crime seems to be a bit of a stretch.

But for those friends of mine that may try to act upon this pertinent information (Bob), here is some additional “bird part possession” information that may come in handy:

Both federal and state laws prohibit people from possessing without a permit feathers or other parts of eagles, hawks, owls, songbirds and other protected species. A good rule of thumb is that you cannot keep or sell parts of species, except starlings and pigeons, for which there are no open seasons. Bluejay, bluebird and purple martin feathers are illegal to possess or to buy or sell. But most duck, pheasant, grouse and turkey feathers are legal to possess.

More Ingestible Pets

I also heard this related story on the radio station NPR the other day during one of my monster commutes. It makes me think there are more reasons to move by a pond than for the duck dander:

“A dog may be man's best friend. But one dog, Lady, decided she needed more friends -- and she found plenty in the knot of toads living at the local pond. A suburban family's secret struggle with an uncommon addiction comes to light in this personal essay by NPR's Laura Mirsch.

Lady "was really perky, and happy, and generally excited to see you when you came in the door every day," recalls Andrew Mirsch. But that was before the Mirsch family moved into a new house.

"We noticed Lady spending an awful lot of time down by the pond in our backyard," Laura Mirsch recalls. Lady would wander the area, disoriented and withdrawn, soporific and glassy-eyed.

"Then, late one night after I'd put the dogs out, Lady wouldn't come in," Laura Mirsch says. "She finally staggered over to me from the cattails. She looked up at me, leaned her head over and opened her mouth like she was going to throw up, and out plopped this disgusting toad."

It turned out the toads were toxic -- and, if licked, the fluids on their skin provided a hallucinogenic effect. What followed was the Mirsch family's quest to stop their cocker spaniel from indulging herself. But it wasn't easy. Lady was persistent, and resourceful.

The situation seemed to resolve itself when the toads went into hibernation for the winter. But when they returned, so did Lady -- and with a vengeance.

"We couldn't keep our dog's addiction a secret any longer," Laura Mirsch says. "The neighbors all knew that Lady was a drug addict, and soon the other dogs weren't allowed to play with her."

In the end, Lady seems to have found a way to manage her problem. "She seems to have outgrown the wild toad-obsessed years of her youth," Mirsch says, "and now only sucks on weekends."

Pipe Dream

Circus Elephants

The other day I went to a thoroughly enjoyable circus with my young daughter. After the show was finished, we left the building and were immediately confronted with PETA protesters. These twisted sisters were displaying graphic images that caused me to hide my daughter’s eyes.

But in spite of PETA protester rants, it seems as though the treatment of elephants in circuses has improved dramatically over the past century. As PETA was founded in 1980, it is doubtful this has anything to do with PETA at all.

Take, for instance, this article from Mosnews:

Drunk Elephant Wreaks Havoc in Chilly Russian Circus

“A Russian circus resorted to giant vodka cocktails in an attempt to protect performing elephants from extreme cold. One of the animals got so drunk it nearly destroyed the circus, the AFP reported Friday.

The clear liquor was added to the animals’ water buckets as they began to feel the chill of temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit), trainer Andrei Kornilov said.”

But at least they didn’t hang, shoot, electrocute or otherwise incarcerate the poor, drunken beast. Judging from the following history of famous circus elephant graves, the drunken beast got off with merely a hoof-slap:

• Jumbo, Medford, Massachusetts
• Died from eating glass
• Norma Jean, Oquawka, Illinois
• Killed by lightning
• Big Charley, Peru, Indiana
• A victim of “several well placed bullets”
• Old Bet, Somers, New York
• she was shot and killed by an angry farmer who murdered her because he thought that it was sinful for poor people to spend money to see an elephant
• Little Bett, Chepachet, Rhode Island
• cut down in a “blizzard of musket fire”
• Black Diamond, Corsicana, Texas
• Killed by a firing squad, manned by eager volunteers, who unloaded fifty bullets into Diamond while he was chained between some trees.
• Kay, Taylorville, Illinois
• Died of kidney failure at age 58 after “a lifetime of free peanut brittle and cotton candy”
• Big Mary, Erwin, Tennessee
• In front of 5,000 spectators gathered to see her execution by hanging, Big Mary was positioned beneath a crane and then yanked aloft by a chain around her neck -- which promptly broke and sent her plummeting to the concrete, knocking her unconscious. A daring spectator, not wanting to disappoint the crowd, dashed forward and reattached the chain. Big Mary was hoisted again, and this time justice was done.
• Old Pitt, Dillon, Montana
• At over 100 years of age, a bolt of lightning zapped down and struck Pitt, knocking her over and killing her instantly
• Ziggy,Chicago, Illinois
• Ziggy died at age 58 after severely injuring himself after falling into an eight-foot moat designed to keep him from zoo visitors.
• Thirsty Mary , Lewiston, Idaho
• Killed from multiple “well-placed” shots.
• Romeo, Killer Elephant, Delavan, Wisconsin
• Romeo killed off five people over a period of 15 years. He crushed one, he impaled another with his tusk, he stamped a third to death. Romeo once escaped from his barn and terrorized the countryside for three days. On another occasion, while appearing in Chicago, he nearly tore the theater apart. He was allowed to live.

Generators

Church Sign Generator: Repent Ye of Little Faith

George Bush Marionette Generator: Robo-Bush

Googlise Yourself Generator:

Romance Novel Generator:

Web Bullshit Generator: "productize viral mindshare"

Viking Name Generator: My Viking name is Tanni Strongbear

Pirate Name Generator: My Pirate name is Dastardly Dick

Ethnic Stud Name Generator My Ethnic Stud Name is Cristo Atractivo

Campaign Button Generator:

Feeling The Love

After 142 blogs, I’ve not yet been able to begin a second career as a writer based on Google Adsense revenue. On most days, I achieve the lofty levels of approximately seven unique visitors and maybe fifteen or so page hits.
But I find pride in the fact my readers are able to find criticism in my blogs. Some of the comments I have received over the past 25 blogs or so:

• Booooorrrriiiiiinnnngggg...Howard
• bad blog today...I think you need re-energize your creative juices...HH
• ZZzzzz...Joan
• You forgot Happy Chef, with his disturbingly poised ladel once ubiquitous in flyover territory...Bob
  
• www.wlra.us/hb/hbhappychef.htm
• You drive by a giant chicken in my town on the way to gravel chicken hunting and you don't take a picture of it and add it to this post, what the Hell TB…Uncle C
• Jeeesssuuuuusss, and you say I have too much time on my hands…Clooney
• Your latest blog reminded me of this South Park episode....
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egqVHrWEwxg&mode=related&search =
• I would also point out that the pictured shitter was a 'double two-holer'. Two holes behind each of the two doors. I tend to overbuild things; but this is a bit much...Bob
• The fact that they have a web site kind of ruins it for me...similar bars in WV don't have web sites...- HH
• What are they feeding you in Moose Lake? You didn't eat the mushrooms, did you?...By Pundista
• oops, fatal error giving you showing those Photos to you…George
• I'm a bad bad man....GC
• Pundista said...Thank you, Mr. Clooney, that made my day.
• why are you so certain he is only photoshoping your neck? hmmm, having seen you in person, i'm sure he might have been helping other areas also – GC
• Who is interrupting our conversation ?
• I think "you have a nice smile" is double talk for...well, forget it...I think you understand.- HH
• Cool. Now I know to look for the guy with the fat neck when I show up at MSP in a couple weeks…Bob
• BTW: I think your photo looks fine: it is the one you posted on the blog right?
• I hope that is an enlarged photo...- Howard
• Sorry, I just can't get over the hurdle of "Seth Godin" and Martin Luther King, Jr. being put on the same list of pre-eminent (sp?) speakers...
• p.s. I will say that you have inspired me, albeit outside of your blog, to find and read an autobiography on me...what an amazing, amazing life...- HH
• Snoozer...
• So what do you suggest be done about this variance in the distribution of wealth? Communism tried the redistribution thing and failed pretty badly (turned into the dictator thing). Tons of money has been sent to help these desparate people and has been mainly siphoned off by corrupt governments officials. You insinuate that these people have been 'given' a smaller piece of the pie, but who is it that's doing the distribution? A different way of looking at this is how do you help these people get the tools to go grab their piece of the 'pie'. If you can figure that out then I argure that the pie gets even bigger. The trick is figuring out how to eliminate corrupt governments and dictators, end tribal warfare and religious extremeism. If you can manage that, then the resources of the wealthest can help educate, build infrastructure and limit population growth. I think many of the weathiest would be more than happy to do so if they thought it would be successful. People must be given the tools to be productive then have to opportunity and energy to work hard. The big trick is figuring out how to get the roadblocks out of the way….Bob
• I obviously have to step up my game...- HH
• @#$% Off – George

It's a beautiful day

Via: VideoSift

"It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away "

I wonder if the U2 song "Beautiful Day" was inspired by my 2nd favorite childhood television show, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood?

Probably not but after watching this video, I believe Bono and Fred may have hit it off famously.

"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?..."

Saint Urho

I recently spent time in Finland, Minnesota. Finland is one of those places where there isn’t much to do except drink, hunt, fish and try not to be killed or eaten by the various beasts that abound.

Finland, MN is an interesting place with long winters and short summers. The people of Finland have carried on some of the traditions of their homeland, traditions such as mosquito slapping, vodka drinking and naked sauna competitions.

But the folks of Northern Minnesota have taken all this tradition one step further by creating their very own holiday; and their own saint too. Saint Urho (Pronounced "oorho").

The legend of St. Urho began in Northern Minnesota in the 1950s. However, there are differing opinions as to whether it began with the fables created by Sulo Havumaki of Bemidji, or the tongue-in-cheek tales told by Richard Mattson of Virginia. Either way, the legend has grown among Finnish-Americans to the point where St. Urho is known across the United States and Canada, and even in Finland. Today, Saint Urho’s day it's taken seriously enough that it (the day before St. Patrick's Day) is officially recognized in all 50 states.

During this important day, participating Finns and Finn-wanna-be’s celebrate Saint Urho by dressing in royal purple and nile green. He is reputed to have used his "splendid and loud voice" to chase the grasshoppers out of pre-Ice Age Finland (when the climate was much milder) and save the grape harvest. The Finns love him.

I believe the Finns love him because, as the legend goes, these farmers injected vodka into the individual grapes to ensure a high alcohol content.

At sunrise, women and children go to the lakeshore and chant "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, meine täättä hiiteen" (roughly translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Hell!") as St. Urho did thousands of years ago. The men of the local villages dress in nile green costumes and gather at the hillsides that overlook the local lakes. They begin walking down the hillside, chanting, and kicking the grasshoppers out as they go. Somewhere during the process of kicking out the grasshoppers and chanting, they are to change their costumes from green to purple.

St. Urho's Day is celebrated on March 16th, the day prior to the better known feast of some minor saint from Ireland, who was alleged to have driven the snakes from that island.

The Others

Recently, while driving through northern Minnesota, my friend Bob and I noticed a number of giant beings. The Others.

It began innocently enough with a giant statute of Paul Bunyan. Above is a picture of Paul with his cohort, Babe the Blue Ox. When I was growing up, Paul and Babe even had their very own amusement park in Bemiji, Minnesota. The legend of Paul Bunyan makes for a good read.

Driving further, toward the mythical “out-of-cell-phone” territory, we saw giant moose, dinosaurs, chickens and various other large beings. Minnesota contains an awesome collection of giants. They’re all big, tough giants like the competing Voyageurs in Cloquet and Barnum , Big Ole in Alexandria and the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

Other states are not so lucky to have such formidable giants. Take Mississippi for instance, all that poor state could render was a giant statute of “Mammy”.

New Jersey fares even worse with the “tire twins”, Tire Girl and Tire Man.

Oregon gets partially there with a Neanderthal looking Caveman. Paul and Babe would kick old cavey’s ass every day of the week from the looks of it.

Illinois weighs in on the obesity scale with Burger Man and Superdawg.

And Mentone, California doesn't even know what they have when they do find a giant in their midst. Big Man With Stick, caught by paparazzi and on holiday in California, is actually Paul Bunyan. (Babe is at a cattle ranch in Kansas sowing his oats.)

Pumped

I don’t know if this picture is real or a Photoshop creation. But either way it is disturbing. (I’ll bet a dime to a dollar that faithful reader Howard Hughes believes the pic is a fake.)

I began to wonder about the tactics and idealism behind the "sport" of extreme bodybuilding. It doesn’t take many google minutes (small g) to find much more than anecdotal evidence that the mindset and ego required to obtain such huge muscle mass may be a bit compulsive. Just one of the many “black market” drugs these guys take is profiled below.

“Serostim - I was in a health food store in Venice Beach California just a few weeks ago and a young man who visibly had some weight training experience asked the rag-top clad bodybuilder behind the counter if he could buy some Serostim. Has it gone so far that those in search of muscle now believe they can walk into a store and buy drugs as simply as they'd buy protein powder? I had to find out. I asked the drug wanting customer if he had ever used Serostim. He told me he hadn't, but his buddy in New York just won a bodybuilding show and said he packed on 20 pounds of muscle using Serostim. Did he even know what this compound was? I had to ask. His response was, "well, it's legal because of the laws for AIDS patients and it's more powerful than steroids." That illustrated for me the plight of half educated consumers combing the borders of the black market to buy drugs they don't really understand.

Serostim is synthetic GH. Growth Hormone. Growth Hormone is produced by the pituitary gland and is actively involved in the endocrine chain in order to facilitate the natural process of tissue growth. At first, for therapeutic purposes, specifically to help repair the flawed endocrine systems in those who were diagnosed with dwarfism, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) was extracted from the pituitary glands of cadavers. With time, the drug companies Eli Lilly, Genetech, and Serono pharmaceuticals, developed synthetic GH compounds that act as the therapeutic equivalent of HGH. All drugs are developed with therapeutic intents, but when abuse, overuse, and risk rival the potential benefits of the drug being distributed, stringent controls are necessary. Clinics began to emerge where GH testing of adults was used as the justification for very expensive dispensing of pharmaceutical GH products under the premise of hormonal replacement, but it was only when Serostim was approved for AIDs patients that the black market went GH crazy.”

Smoker

I never smoked until I was 30 years old. I blame my late start on my move to Tokyo, and the years of very late night partying that accompanied the experience. My subsequent move to Hong Kong and then to London with its pubs didn’t help the situation.

But recently I quit smoking. This event corresponded with my recent re-uptake of hockey. To get in shape for hockey, I began to run some sprints. I learned the hard way that sprinting and smoking don’t mix very well. I felt the immediate benefits of my anti-smoking crusade but did not realize the short-term effects of not smoking.

Here is a timeline about the immediate effects of quitting smoking and how it affects your body.

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
• In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
• In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
• In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
• In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
• In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
• In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
• In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
• In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
• In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

y'olehoho

As I get older and less cool, I practice and work on my street cred. I not only try to avoid using words such as "conjecture" and "pontificate" in every-day sentences, but to actually use street slang. One of my favorite reference sites, the Urban Dictionary, is quite useful for this endeavor. Sometimes, I even practice this hobby at work, passing morning urban slang greetings to my co-workers at the coffee machine.

Greetings such as " 'sup y'olehoho".

So you too can practice your urban slang, I've included a useful lesson for you faithful readers that don’t know jack about urban slang:

y'allbitches

Translation: you all are bitches

Proper Usage Example: Man , y'allbitches

y'all-zis

Translation: That which belongs to a group.

Proper Usage Example: Y'all-zis boat is nice.

y'olehoho

Translation: You old ho. Basically it is another way of calling someone a skank, ho, slut, tramp, whatever. But...it can be used for a guy or a chick, which gives it a unique quality.

Proper Usage Example: You had sex with 2 girls last nite? Y'olehoho!

y'aite?

Translation: It means, hey, how are you?,are you alright? hence it sounding like, you alright?

Proper Usage Example: ' Y'aite? ' Yeah, i'm good you?'

Y geezy

Translation: A Bitch, or someone who follows you around and wants to do what you do.

Proper Usage Example: i'll get my Y geezy to take care of my light work

y'azz

Translation: contraction of the words "your" and "ass".

Proper Usage Example: ima kick y'azz.

Annus Horribilis

Lightning exits woman’s bottom

A woman has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body.

Natasha Timarovic, 27, was cleaning her teeth at home when lightning struck the building.

She said: "I had just put my mouth under the tap to rinse away the toothpaste when the lightning must have struck the building.

I don't remember much after that, but I was later told that the lightning had traveled down the water pipe and struck me on the mouth, passing through my body.

It was incredibly painful, I felt it pass through my torso and then I don't remember much at all." Doctors at the city hospital where she was treated for burns to the mouth and rear said: "The accident is bizarre but not impossible.

She was wearing rubber bathroom shoes at the time and so instead of earthing through her feet it appears the electricity shot out of her backside," a medic told a local television news channel.

"It appears to have earthed through the damp shower curtain that she was touching as she bent over to put her mouth under the tap. If she had not been wearing the shoes she would probably have been killed by the blast."

Hockey

I grew up playing hockey on a lake. It was always a tough slog as the reeds frozen in the ice and the persistent covering of snow would make for difficult skating. And for strong legs.

During this time, periodically the lake would freeze before the snow would fall. During these rare instances, my friends and I would put a “boom box” in the middle of the lake and play a lake-wide game of tag. The sound would carry across the whole lake. Under cover of darkness, with no place to hide, we would chase each other for miles to the sound of the music. I remember being able to hear the ice crack. The crack starting somewhere in the dark distance and carrying toward you like a frozen earthquake.

Hockey was an integral part of my life. From age four until age 29, hockey was defining. Recently, after a 25-year run and a 14-year absence, I started to play hockey again. As I sat in the locker-room that first night back, I stared in awe at the Kevlar-shin pads and the heat-formed skates. Where were the time-honored garter-belts?

I think the guys in the locker room thought I was staring at other things.

But my how times have changed. A little hockey equipment history:

Skates

The first skates probably came from Scandinavia, over 2,000 years ago. But it was 18-year-old James Whelpley, of New Brunswick, who invented the Long Reach Skate in 1857. The blades had to be fastened to a skater's boot with leather straps and buckles. In 1865, John Forbes of the Starr Manufacturing Company came up with the first self-fastening skate. This blade clamped into place quickly. It wasn't until the invention of the tube skate, in 1900, that blades began to be attached to the bottom of a skating boot with rivets.

I recently purchased skates that were baked onto my feet. When I was young, we used to soak our skates in water and then put them in the oven in order to form fit them. Today, you go to a skate shop where they measure and fit a plastic-based skate, they put the skate in a custom oven, you fit the skate on your foot and sit for 15 minutes. The skate forms around your foot.

Helmets

Before 1928, some players wore headgear for looks -- and it wasn't always helmets that the players put on. Quebec's Herb Scott wore a pink hankerchief around his head in a game against Ottawa in 1892. Expecting rough play in a Stanley Cup game in 1905, referee Mike Grant wore a construction worker's hard hat. Defenceman Johnny Crawford hid a bald head under a leather helmet in the 1940s.

Going without a helmet was a dangerous thing to do. Countless injuries could have been avoided and more than a few hockey careers wouldn't have ended so early, if all players had worn helmets. It wasn't until the 1970s that the NHL created a rule that any players signing on for the NHL after June 1, 1979, had to wear a helmet. Those already playing were allowed to make their own choice about whether or not to wear a helmet. Craig MacTavish, of the St. Louis Blues, was the last bareheaded NHL player, skating his final season in 1995-1996.

Pucks

Hockey pucks weren't always made of black rubber like they are today. The early pucks were probably balls, but other objects were also used, such as stones, lumps of coal, or frozen cow or horse poop. Wooden pucks were used for many years. Mothers sometimes put hot baked potatoes into their children's skates so that the skates would be cozy and warm when the children reached the rink or pond. The potatoes were not thrown away. They eventually froze and were used as pucks.

Nets

The first hockey goal didn't have a net at all. The goal was just two rocks placed on the ice at each end of the rink. Eventually the rocks were replaced by two posts. As early as 1896, Niagara players from the Southern Ontario Hockey Association used a fishing net, fastened to the goal posts, to avoid arguments over goals.

Sticks

The first hockey sticks were carved by Mi'kmaq natives of Nova Scotia. They used a wood called hornbeam, also known as ironwood because it is so strong. The best trees for making sticks had roots that grew out in the correct angle for a stick blade. When the hornbeam was used up, the carvers turned to yellow birch, another hard wood. The early sticks looked more like today's field-hockey sticks, with a blade that curved up. They were also shorter and heavier.

Lord Stanley’s Cup

The English Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston, was so impressed that in 1892 he bought a silver bowl with an interior gold finish and decreed that it be given each year to the best amateur team in Canada. That trophy, of course, has come to be known as the Stanley Cup and is awarded today to the franchise that wins the National Hockey League playoffs.

Two-seater

I’ve never met anyone who actually built a multi-seat shitter. I’ve seen multiple multi-seaters so I know it’s not one lonely builder, looking for companionship. I also don’t believe there is a proper training course where they teach you proper design and construction of shitters.

So from where does this phenomena derive? It’s obviously handed down from the past, when most people had outdoor shitters. Was the multi-seat shitter the pre-cursor to the multi-bathroom McMansion? A family in the 19^th century, gives birth to multiple daughters and they’re all competing for a little bathroom time together?

It’s all very confusing and illogical to me. But last weekend, I again found myself sitting, alone, in the woods in a little box in the woods. And it had two holes. Sitting there, I considered inviting my friend Bob, brother Super Dave or one of my other woodsy relatives to join me. But after hearing Super Dave regale me with tales of “I gave birth in there”, I decided that sitting next to him during his time of great delivery may actually inhibit my process.

So the mystery remains. Has anyone every shat in harmony together in a wooden box?

The Trestle

I spent most of the last week in Lake Superior National Forest. It’s one of my favorite places. But to get there is a journey. After a 3 hour flight to Minneapolis, it is approximately a six hour drive to get to “God’s Country”.

Located in the northeastern corner of Minnesota between Lake Superior and the Canadian border, the 3.9 million acres of Superior National Forest includes over 2,000 lakes. The woodland harbors bald eagles, lynx, fisher, owls, ospreys, moose, otters, and white tailed deer, timber wolves (approximately 300-400) and black bear, beaver and red fox. And an abundance of partridge, a lot of partridge. It is the largest federal forest in the contiguous 48 states.

Over 445,000 acres or 695 square miles of the forest is surface water. In addition, more than 1,300 miles of cold water streams and 950 miles of warm water streams flow within the boundaries of the Superior. Fish species such as walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass, lake trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout can be found in abundance in these waters.

The rest is blanketed by dense, mossy floored forests of pine, spruce, aspen, birch, cedar and tamarack, or saturated by vast bogs and impenetrable swamps. The National Forest includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and 254 "dispersed" campsites outside the BWCAW. The area that is now the BWCAW was established as the Superior Roadless Area in 1938. It became the BWCA in 1964, and at some point in the 1980's became the BWCAW. Outside of the BWCAW, the Forest has over 2,700 miles of roads. The very roads that rental car companies fear for the treacherous road conditions.

And amongst this wonderful wilderness is a bar, my all-time, favorite bar, The Trestle. The Trestle Inn, was founded in 1947 on a plot of land on the Crooked Lake in the Superior National Forest.

In the early spring of 1980, while on a snowmobiling adventure, the Trestles’ proprietors came across an abandoned railroad trestle last used in the 1920's. With permission from the Forest Service, they disassembled the bridge. One at a time, with Lee's 1948 Willy’s Jeep, they hauled the 8 x 16 x 33 ft. long Douglas Fir timbers weighing 1950 pounds each five mile back to the resort. There they were piled for future use. The timbers were estimated to be more than 300 years old. The Trestle Inn, my favorite saloon, was completed and opened in the fall of 1985.