A treasure of a photo

We are thrilled to have received this wonderful historical submission, back from the era in which family photos included chickens. Here's Uncle Joe's caption: "This photo was taken about 1939 on the north-facing side of the Spricks' L-shaped farmhouse. The characters are Grandpa Henry Augustine, seated center; from left to right, Uncle Henry and Aunt Emma Augustine, Uncle Henry and Aunt Emma Stegemeyer, Uncle Otto and Aunt Annie Leonhardt, Claus and Maria Sprick, and front left, two curious leghorn chickens. The economy was still bad, but we were starting to recover from the Great Depression, as you will note from the fine wearing apparel." Click on the photo to make it bigger and easier to check out Grandpa Claus' stern expression and Grandma Maria's sensible shoes.

Dreaming of spring

We love winter, but enough, already, most cousins are thinking as we enter what seems to be its 13th month. Ah, but before spring can come, the ice on Lake Pepin has to honeycomb, wilt and and vanish. The first step in that process is the passage of an ice cutter, and that won't happen for a while. To whet your appetite, here, courtesy of Uncle Joe, is a photo from a past year of the cutter going through. This was taken on March 27, Easter Sunday, 2005. The ice was still 2 feet thick and tough going, Joe recalls. Meanwhile, here are two stories that ran on the Associated Press wire this week about our favorite body of water: How thick is it? LAKE CITY, MINN. -- In an annual sign that spring is coming, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it's about to start measuring the thickness of the ice on Lake Pepin. The corps will begin the work Feb. 18. It measures the ice in different spots on the lake each year to predict when the navigation season on the Upper Mississippi will start. Lake Pepin is usually the last part of the river to break up because the current there is slower than on the rest of the upper parts of the river. The average opening date of the navigation season in St. Paul over the past 10 years has been March 20. Not very, apparently OLD FRONTENAC, MINN. -- Two men pulling an icehouse off Lake Pepin fell through the ice while riding an ATV Tuesday [Feb. 10, 2009]. Robert Hoeft, of Frontenac, Minn., and Scott Balster, of Red Wing, Minn., were pulling the icehouse off Lake Pepin around 4 p.m. Tuesday when they fell through near Florence Beach. A passerby called Goodhue County deputies to the scene. Hoeft and Balster were able to pull themselves and the ATV out of the water by the time deputies arrived.Signs were posted in January on Lake Pepin warning ice fishermen of dangers.

Miller on ice

It's the old "march, march, push, push" for Little Izzbee Miller, age 5, who is learning to ice skate from her dad, cousin Chris, who used to skate for fun with members of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. Olympic hockey team. We love her pink ensemble, but note that the incongruous orange hat looks suspiciously like a Lake City Tigers leftover (next-day update: Chris says it's a Centennial Cougars hat). Chris sent these photos right from the ice via his groovy new Blackberry.

Hat trick

Uncle Joe said of this one: "Styles have changed since we got married 60 years ago," but he's just quipping, as he's liable to do in that great dry way of his. It's one of those cool time-period photos, taken a few years ago. But it makes us wonder, as do many vintage photos -- why don't people wear hats anymore? Hats are so, way, cool.

The wrestler

Forget Mickey O'Rourke, the resurgent star of the hit movie "The Wrestler" -- we have our own rough-hewn wrestler, cousin Marty B., shown here during a recent match his team from Hopkins High School had in Rosemount. Here the referee holds his hand high after he pinned the blurry fella at left. Hey, you'd be blurry too if you had to wrestle Marty, who's just in 10th grade but is wrestling at varsity level. Says his biggest fan, his dad, cousin Dan: "It makes Marty's dad a little nervous to see him step into the ring, and especially nervous when he is facing an opponent that outweighs him by 25 pounds. [Marty weighs 188 but wrestled in the 215-pound-and above heavyweight category.] This varsity stuff is a whole lot more competitive than JV was last year, and the guys he typically faces look really strong."

Zack's very fine day

Saturday, Jan. 31, was a great day for young cousin Zachary B. ...

For one thing, after weeks and weeks of freezing cold weather, it warmed up! The sun shone brightly and the temperature soared into the 40s, and Minnesotans everywhere were blissful; everyone was outside soaking it up. Zack, for his part, built a snowman wearing a T shirt.

Earlier in the day, our young scholar studied a show on the Food Network and decided to make his own signature salsa. He chopped up jalapenos, hot red peppers, sweet red peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic. Man, does that sound good. Zack, send us the whole recipe so we can post it!