Live From Mankato......It's SnL: My Bachelor Party...

Hey everyone-

Hope those who are fathers had a great weekend and I hope those who have fathers made sure they told them they appreciated them.

I, myself, had a great weekend. It started Friday afternoon when i left work at noon for an eye-doctor before coming home to do some yard work. After weeding the new grass I planted a few weeks ago, I mowed, planted some new grass around a tree, watered and then started the coals for some steaks. (we got a 1/4 of a steer from Curt and grilled our first pack of Ribeyes...it was the best).

After sipping on a couple of summer shandy's over the coals and our meal, Lisa and I decided we should go to New Ulm to return some stuff to K-Mart, after K-Mart wouldn't accept our return, we took the long way home and stopped at Curt and Julie's for a bit. I greatly enjoyed the ride, it was a beautiful night and I could "scout the crops" on our way after the rains that happened last week...Some pretty big wet spots, but hopefully today's winds and a favorable forecast this week will help dry out the fields so the fellas can go in and spray.

Saturday was my bachelor party and it was a blast... The day started with the Ringsted portion of the crew meeting at our house around 10 am and going to Canterbury. After watching the guys bet on some cards (i only played cards for about 10 minutes, I wanted to play money on the ponies) we went upstairs for lunch and then settled in for the races.

I played a horse here or there and was suddenly down to my last ten bucks before my buddy and horse guru, Denny Wheller pointed me towards a horse, LemonLime... After the big win (which paid me 38 bucks, bringing me back to even for the day), I ended up losing twenty bucks and finished the day down 20, which in my mind, for the entertainment value was a pretty good deal.

We got back to Mankato around six and went to the Moondogs game and sat on the Dogpound. It's basically all you can eat food, on top of two free beers and dollar beers after that, and it was a good time. At one point, when there was about a good 15-20 of us behind the third-base dugout, none of us where watching the game and had formed a big circle and started talking and telling stories.

After the game, which the Moond ogs won, we went down to Blue Bricks where we continued the festivities. I called it a night around one, and my brother Bryon and I were the first to leave,

but it was a great time.

After getting up today - and questioning why I drank so much the night before - Lisa and I got ready and went to Gaylord to celebrate fathers day with Lisa's family. I being the guy who loves to grill, stood over the grill and got burgers and 'dogs ready while we broke down the night before. After a great lunch, I had a nice nap during the end of the Twins game before waking up talking with the family. We got in the car around 6:30 and came back to Mankato, which segues into my topic of discussion...

We literally got back to 'Kato in the nick of time. I popped myself down in my chair and turned on KARE 11 to hopefully catch the last few holes of the US Open...Little did I know, that Tiger

Woods, who was playing in the final pairing, was on the 18th hole, with about a 12-15 put for birdie to force an 18-hole playoff tomorrow. Then, we turned on the basketball game and watched Paul Pierce go off for 21 in the first half, including a three-pointer in the final seconds of the first half to cut the LA lead to 55-52 at the break.

Now, as I type this, Pierce has gotten in a little foul trouble, and the Lakers are up six in the waning moments of the first half, but he's had a helluva series and has to be the MVP, should Boston hold on to win. Without a doubt, Tiger Woods is the tougher of the two athletes, however Paul Pierce has really made me appreciate his game this week.

On the wedding front, OMG (that's Oh My God) for those of you don't know, we're down to 40 days before the big day... Getting pretty exciting, on our way back from Gaylord today, we mad

e a list of what we wanted to accomplish this week.