Salty's Note-o-the Day

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

Well I just got back from a fun fishing trip with Seago, Tyler, and Seago's brother Matt at the Yellow River State Forest in Northeast Iowa. We stayed at the Little Paint campground at site #135. We all drove up on Friday. I could only stay the weekend, but everyone else will stay up there a few more days to fish and turkey hunt.

After we arrived Friday afternoon we put up the tent and organized the campsite. Then we drove to Harper's Ferry to get our fishing licenses. Seago and Tyler continued on to Prarie Du Chien, Wisconsin to buy groceries and supplies. Matt and I went back to the campsite and started fishing at the hole right by our campsite. Matt ended up catching 3 trout (but one of them he threw back because it was small), and I caught 2 trout. I believe that one of his was a brook trout while the others were all rainbow trout. Seago and Tyler did not fish once they got back, and we really didn't fish for long on Friday because of the weather. A DNR officer came over to warn us of possible thunderstorms and even hail that were approaching. We didn't get any hail, but it did rain really hard that night. I'm not sure how much it rained, but I'm guessing at least an inch. That's not nearly the worst weather I've had up there, but that's another story all together. It did suck though that we really couldn't sit around a nice fire that night... we basically ended up huddling under a small canopy to stay dry.

Saturday was much better weather on our trip. We slept in and played a little bocce ball after we made breakfast (bacon and hard boiled eggs). Then we drove over to another fishing site at Wexford (close to a Church and cemetary). We probably spent 2 and a half hours fishing. Tyler caught 2 fish, and Seago, myself, and Matt each caught 1 fish. They were all rainbow trout except for one brook trout. We were using either kernels of corn or small pieces of night crawlers. After fishing we came back to the Little Paint campsite to cook up our yummy trout. By then there were a bunch of boy scouts that had set up close to us... and they were really annoying. Tons of kids everywhere, and they were being loud fishing right by our camp at our favorite fishing hole. Oh well. We cut up some lemons and stuffed each trout with lemon, butter, and lemon pepper seasoning. We wrapped these in tin foil and cooked them over the camp fire. Delicious! It's hard to beat fresh trout. After a while all of the kids stopped fishing by us, and after an hour I tried to fish there some more. I caught 1 rainbow trout (for a total of 4 fish that I caught on the trip). Also on Saturday Jeremy Seago and their dad came up to meet us. We helped them set up camp and then made a nice campfire and had a few beverages as we sat around the fire.

I awoke Sunday morning to even more rain... and that took up most of possible fishing time with rain. Rain, rain, rain. It did let up for a little while, and we tried our hand at some fishing right by our campsite for 30 minues. No luck.

In all I had a fun weekend fishing and camping, but it is very nice to be inside and warm and sheltered from rain. Good luck to the guys as they are still up there. Hopefully they will catch a lot more trout and maybe even bag a turkey.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

So yesterday Elizabeth and I had a fun afternoon... one part of it was that we put an offer on a house, and after a little negotiating today, OUR OFFER WAS ACCEPTED!! Actually, we accepted on of many counter-offers, but either way WE ARE GOING TO BE HOME-OWNERS!! Our future address will be: 5312 Norris Street, Ames, IA 50014.
Here are a couple of pics:

Front view of the house from the cul de sac.

Our future kitchen!

Of course this is all still in the making and dependent on a few things (inspection, etc), but it's fun to know that we will have our own home in Ames!!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Tomorrow will be the start of the 2012 NBA playoffs, and my Chicago Bulls have earned the overall #1 seed with the best record in the NBA. Here are my playoff predictions:

Round 1 Matchups:

Bulls over 76ers in 5 games
Heat over Knicks in 6 games
Indiana over Orlando in 4 games
Celtics over Hawks in 5 games
Spurs over Jazz in 5 games
Thunder over Mavericks in 6 games
Lakers over Denver in 7 games
Clippers over Memphis in 6 games

Round 2 Matchups:

Bulls over Celtics in 6 games
Heat over Pacers in 6 games
Spurs over Clippers in 5 games
Thunder over Lakers in 6 games

Conference Finals:

Bulls over Heat in 7 games (I hope)
Spurs over Thunder in 6 games

NBA Finals:

Bulls over Spurs in 6 games

That would be awesome!!! Let's see how close my predictions are...

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Right now I am at work and I actually have an hour break in the middle of the day (which almost never happens). So this would be a great time for a blog update...

This past weekend Amy came over to visit us and enjoy VEISHEA!! Of course the weather did not cooperate, but we still were able to enjoy ourselves. We went out Friday night to Welch Ave Station and enjoyed a few (too many?) drinks and then attempted to have midnight pancakes on central campus. Upon arrival at central campus we soon decided against the pancake idea since the line spread the majority of the distance between Curtiss and Beardshear Halls. I don't want to know how long that would have taken to stand in line.

Saturday morning we got up at a decent hour and made our way over to the VEISHEA parade. There we ran into my aunts Marcia & Susan. It was fun to spend a little time with them. Marcia had brought along a couple of hula-hoops which entertained us for a while. The only bad part was that it was misty, cold, and occasionally actual rain Saturday morning. After grabbing some carnival food (smoked turkey legs, walking tacos, etc), we went back to our apartment to let the girls nap. Then later that night we met up with a few friends (Abbey Podliska, Kaitlin & John, Kovarna) for another night out and about.

Sunday we went out to Applebee's with Amy & Kovarna before bidding them happy drives home. Another fun thing on Sunday was that I finally upgraded phones to an iPhone. That's right, I'm finally living in the 21st century!! So far I have been quite entertained with the "Draw Something" application.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Yet another hectic and fun weekend to report on. Elizabeth and I participated in the 6th annual Cy's House of Trivia along with Tim Nevins, Brian & Sarah Gleason, Alisha Natvig, and a few other firends. We had two tables of 8 people all together, and it was all SO MUCH FUN!! It did cost $65 a person, but it was totally worth it. After we registered, we were treated to a buffet including chicken, sweedish meatballs, tortilla chips with guacamole, deli meats & cheeses, spinach artichoke dip, and other appetizers. Then there was the free wine and beer (Bud Light or Sam Adams). I may have had a lot to drink :) There were 88 tables all together spread out across the floor of Hilton Coliseum, and quite a few Iowa State celebrities would rotate between tabels with each round of trivia. Since there were so many tables you wouldn't have a celebrity sit with you each round, but we were pretty lucky with who came to sit with us. The best was when head football coach Paul Rhoads sat with our table in the fourth round and helped us answer some sports questions! Other celebrities that sat with us were Latoja Schaben (a women's basketball assistant coach), David Zabriskie (former ISU wrestler and the 2010 NCAA heavyweight champion), and Nick Uhlenhopp (assistant recruiting coordinator for the football team). Part of the fun of the night was the opportunity to meet other ISU coaches and former players that did not come to our table. We also shook hands with/spoke to quite a few others including Royce White, Scott Christopherson, Fred Hoiberg, Kevin Jackson, Bill Fennelly, and more.

The trivia was fun, and overall we finished around the middle of the pack. Our team name was "Take the Hoi-Rhoad". There were raffle prizes (we didn't win), and afterwards they gave us all nice water bottles. Lots of good memories. When I met Royce White I asked him what his favorite dunk of the year was. His answer was against Kansas State, when he was trailing the play. I'm not sure if that was at home or on the road, and he did dunk a few times in each, so I'm really not sure which one that is.

Myself, Sarah, Coach Rhoads, Brian, and Elizabeth

Coach Rhoads at our table!

Here coach Rhoads is signing Elizabeth's shirt. She also had Fred Hoiberg sign the back of her shirt.

Sarah, myself, Elizabeth, Royce White, and Brian.

Elizabeth with Scott Christopherson!!

Anne, Elizabeth, Fred Hoiberg, Sarah, and Brian. I was off somewhere else and never did meet coach Hoiberg :(

Brian with David Zabriskie

Elizabeth and I with Cy the mascot!!

Wow. That was awesome meeting all of these ISU sports celebrities!! Prior to all of this we had a full Saturday checking out Reiman Gardens and then stopping by the ISU spring football game where we picked up some new football posters. There were also some fun lego sculptures that were placed throughout Reiman Gardens which were pretty cool...

A butterfly from the exhibit inside Reiman Gardens

Brian, Sullivan, and Evan checking out a Lego hummingbird and flower.

Sullivan and Evan in front of the Lego buffalo and calf at Reiman Gardens.

Tulips at Reiman Gardens. Lavonne would be so proud.

Lego butterfly

Some of the action at the spring game.

Panoramic view of the spring game.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

So this past weekend was Easter, and Elizabeth and I traveled up to Mason City to spend it with her mom, Becky. It was fun to spend a little time back home for Elizabeth, and we were able to stop at a couple local favorites. On Saturday we had supper at Northwestern Steakhouse, famous for it's delicious buttery steaks. This was the second time I have been lucky enough to dine here, and it was delicious! Elizabeth and Becky both ordered the filet while I tried the prime rib. We all had the spaghetti for a side dish. Everything was so good... and it was all drenched in a butter sauce. Then after supper we managed to find room for Birdsall's ice cream. I believe that Elizabeth had some cotton candy flavored ice cream while I had a black raspberry shake. You could say that I was stuffed that night :)

On Sunday Elizabeth's uncle Kenny came over, and we all went to church. After that, we had a nice Easter dinner with the neighbors that live across the street from Becky.

One more thing to note: Yesterday was our 9 month wedding anniversary. I can't believe that it's been 3/4 of a year already!

Showing off our steaks at Northwestern Steakhouse.

Prime Rib with a side of spaghetti... and lots of butter!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

The word of the weekend is: SEATTLE!

Yes, Elizabeth and I spent a great, fun-filled weekend up in the Pacific Northwest visiting Christian and friends. We took today off for a "recovery day" which was a smart idea. On to the pictures...

Christian greets us at his place on Thursday, March 29th.

At the Seattle Locks... where the salt water and fresh water meet.

Boats traveling between salt water & fresh water must be raised/lowered to different water levels. Here is a boat before it is raised up.

...after it is raised.

Christian & Brian outside of Red Mill Burger.

I enjoyed the Verde Burger, Elizabeth had the Blue Cheese & Bacon Burger, and Christian had the Double Bacon Deluxe Cheese Burger.

The Onion Rings were voted "Best in America". Yummy!!

Fremont Troll

The view of Seattle from Gas Works Park on Friday, March 30th.

This was the tug boat that Christian used to work on.

Our breakfast at the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at Thursday night to Friday morning. They served us a delicious spread of stuffed french toast, sausage, fruit, coffee & orange juice. The french toast was awesome! I believe they were Marionberries on it.