An udderly amazing event

Rain poured down on Lake City's Waterski Days festivities Saturday, but let up just enough to allow the most exciting event on the calendar, the cow-milking contest! Heretofore, some snapshots in which the high drama unfolds, starring our own Joe, Elmer, E.W., farmer, fisherman, naturalist, essayist, punster and dad/grandpa/great-grandpa/uncle extraordinaire: Throughout, the two Jersey cows that provided the milk for the four-team event appeared udderly nonplussed. The excitement in the crowd was palpable as milking time approached. Note Joe's No. 1 fan, Mavis, front and center. Granddaughter C., next to Mavis in the purple scarf, came all the way from Stanford University in California for this event! Granddaughter K., standing in the back row, came all the way from Wisconsin! Their dad, cousin Davy, was also present, somewhere back there. We regret that we did not get a photo of his handsome self, including his truly stunning, possibly prize-winning case of poison ivy. But we digress ... Also in the crowd were fabulous dad-mom/grandpa-grandma/uncle-aunt combo Charles "John" and Katie Kirkwood. You can tell by the looks on their faces that they took this very seriously! Also present was a shy Jersey calf, charming the little humans and possibly inspiring the contest cows to produce more milk simply by its presence. The contest drew nigh. With Zen-like, oops, we mean Lutheran-like calm, Joe approached the spiffy brown cow assigned to his team, assessed the situation, said a few secret words, something like, How now, brown cow, it depends on thou ... ... prepared to milk ... ... and, go! Joe was BY FAR the best milker. We were all so proud! However, ... ... Joe's team came in second because as a team it wasn't as consistently good, overall, as the first-place team. Too bad they didn't have individual honors! Though, on the other hand, when we see what the winning team won -- the cow figurine above -- we're not so sure winning was everything. We cousins are used to more tasteful trophies, like the Coveted Burnt Wienie Award, which, has the scrapblog editor mentioned lately?, she won. But we digress ... ... congrats, Uncle Joe, for remembering so well the skills you learned long ago at the L-shaped farmhouse!

Batter up! The Broberg boys at bat

We'd hate to be on the other team, the one that's playing against A-Bro ... ... or Z-Bro.

A precious find in the urban woods

Your scrapblog editor and her botany buddy Heather M. took a walk today in their favorite place, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis' Theodore Wirth Park. All the mosquito bites were worth it, because among other lovely flowers they saw many showy pink ladyslippers in the garden's bog area. (Remember how sad Mom/Aunt Alverna was when someone made off with her pink ladyslipper plants?) The cousins are intimately familiar with this-here plant, especially cousin Janie, who won the Coveted Burnt Wienie as a teenager for using some as toilet paper in the woods, and cousin Sandy, who took a nap once in a bed of it whilst wearing shorts. Why, even this week, cousin Davy is scar-legged after bushwhacking in the woods on his new place in Eau Claire, Wis., not realizing they were full of the evil weed.

Star Tribune journalists again take to the streets

The scrapblog editor and about 200 of her closest friends, all journalists who are members of the Strib Newspaper Guild unit, took to the streets outside the Strib building Wednesday to protest journalism cuts and call for fair contract talks. Here's a video on a web news site, the Minnesota Independent. Some snapshots I took follow. (You can see cousin Chris in the bottom one.)

An event not to be missed!

Cousins! This coming Saturday, we have a priceless opportunity to show family pride, not to mention a great photo op, when our own Uncle Elmer "Joe" Sprick participates in a cow-milking contest at Waterski Days in Lake City! The scrapblog editor will be there, of course, although she's not quite sure what one shouts encouragingly at a cow-milking contest. We don't doubt that E.W., shown at right in his vintage cow-milking days, will make us proud. The contest is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 28, in the Lake City Federal Bank parking lot. For more information on Lake City Waterski Days (June 27-29), go here. For more information on how to milk a cow, go here.

Fabulous nieces, fabulous weekend

The scrapblog editor spent this past weekend in lovely Lake City, Minn., with nieces Mo and H.B. An excellent time was had by all. Here are some of the things we did:

Went for walks to see the sights in Lake City and put our heads together to solve the world's problems ... ... hung out down by the pier, just like the middle-aged cousins once did ... ... admired the pretty sailboats at the marina ... ... visited the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn., and learned all about bald eagles and their habitat ... ... examined the innards of large fish native to Lake Pepin ... ... played putt-putt at the Lark Toy Factory in Kellogg, Minn., where Mo got a hole-in-one at Hole 6. Oh -- my -- GOSH! But it should be noted that Auntie Pam WON THE GAME! ... ... explored great literature at the Treats & Treasures store in Lake City ... ... spurred the local economy by purchasing dubious items such as spray candy ... ... and gummy rattlesnakes ... ... applied mud masques ... ... visited Mavis and Joe, who took this photo, which makes the nieces look like winged angels ... ... and hung out at Pam's pad and watched movies and ate delicious food. They also took a moment to stop at Mile 64 on Hwy. 61, where Grannie passed away on April 24, 2006, to plant an "A" Scrabble letter in the tall grass. We think Alverna would have liked that idea.

Queen of the Stump-in

Seems like these Stump-in nametags were rather large. Mavis, the gracious hostess, presided over this lovely gathering sometime in the 1970s.

Large, delicious Blizzards for 29 cousins, please!

Say! Look who's got a summer job at the Dairy Queen! Let's go, cousins!

More photos from Teddyfest

Thanks to excellent photographer Mary Miller for these fresh scenes of Teddy Hagberg's high school graduation party last Saturday. Teddy, 18, graduated from Woodbury (Minn.) High School, and is bound for Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minn., in the fall. Teddy, who is rather tall (something no one ever mentions to him), posed with his diminutive (second) cousin, E. Bee Miller, daughter of Chris and Mary. A lovely family: Sandy Kirkwood Turner and her wonderful kids, Paul and Kelly Turner. They came all the way from Nacogdoches, Texas, to help Teddy celebrate. Sisters Jane Kirkwood Hagberg and Sandy Kirkwood Turner. Jane worked hard to keep the party running smoothly and happily, and it did. Ted Hagberg, father of the grad, with his sister Tamara. Ted with his sisters Traci and Tamara. Is he about to give each a bottle of wine? Can we be his sister too? What! We all ate that cake!

Congrats to Teddy! And scenes from his party

Cousins Jane and Ted Hagberg threw a lovely party Saturday for son Teddy, who just graduated from Woodbury High School and is headed for Bethel University in the fall. We can't wait to get cousin Mary Miller's photos from the party, but in the meantime, here are some from the scrapblog editor's memory card: Teddy and a pal. Teddy honored the scrapblog editor with a hug. He's a handsome, smart, kind young man. Cousins clustered at poolside with Millers and Buds. Testing the pool water were H.B., Izz B., Z-Bro, N., A-Bro and M. What a lot of initials! But you-all know who you are, and who they-all are. The Miller girls and a pal posed with their water noodles. Izz can swim!

Portrait of the young man as a grocer

Noah is following in the footsteps of young Pipe Grandpa by working as a grocer this summer. He's a cashier at Rainbow Foods on West Broadway in north Minneapolis. Noah is all registered for classes at the University of Minnesota in the fall, and has found an apartment in Dinkytown with friends that he'll move into soon. He's very happy about all that.

Tennis, anyone?

Cousin N. Broberg plays tennis for his Hopkins school.

A rockin' birthday

The fellow below is Angus Clark, lead guitarist for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, cousin Z-Bro's favorite band. We'll declare Angus an honorary cousin for sending Z. an autographed photo for his birthday. Z. turned 9 on June 8. Happy belated birthday, kiddo!