Announcement!!!!!!!
If you like Bocce Ball.
Well in Chisholm they play it indoor during the winter months.

The Hooper(Tommy) Memorial
March 21st 2009
Moose Lounge
Chisholm Minnesota
four person teams
double elimination
12 p.m.
The tournament draws 15-20 teams annually.

I have participated in this event on several occassions and it is a great weekend.
The day starts at Tom and Jerry's coffee and good conversation and Bloody Mary's for those who choose that option.
Bocce all day.
Good Food
Card Games
Family
Friends.
Last year we had a wail of a time and closed down the place with Karaoke.
I do recall Gary Vitali, Lucy and myself had a great time.

It is off the peak season so rooms at the Chisholm Inn are reasonable

Ricky, Roberta and the Moose are wonderful Hosts.

This week also marked the passing of Bob Gardner.
Bob founded Gardner Sales Associates and passed it along to his son Kevin.
As a professional angler Kevin's group housed three of my first paying contracts.
Kevin has been kind and a thoughtful person during my tenure with Gardner Sales and I will always be much appreciated.
Bob was a pioneer in his days along with many of the other reps of his era and put Minnesota on the map . Minnesota houses some of the biggest and most successful Rep agencies in the country.
Bob was 88 years old and the last of his era.
Thanks Bob for allowing us the opportunity to work in the industry you cherished and helped develop.
The Spaghetti Man

Wild Night in Minnesota

Attended the Wild Hockey game this week and it was well worth taking time from a cold January evening to attend and watch a thumping take place.

I need to thank my friend Vicki fro being under the weather and Merle for calling me to be his date.

I sure hope Vicki is feeling better because I am.

Thanks again for the great night.

CSI Dealer Show

357 dealers from the upper mid west registered for the recent Fall dealer show in Minneapolis.

CSI is a distributor of hunting and fishing product and is part of the Big Rock Group.

This is a chance for us to meet with dealers we call on and those that we only see at these shows from outside the territory.

Dealers are pre-buying product for the fall season and looking at new products for their customers.

We had two factories Represented;

A-Way Outdoor Products

Hott Shot is a deer scent paste that can be applied to leaves ,bark or the ground.Hott Shot provides concentrated scent that will give you hours of coverage. It will reconstitute itself when moisture is applied.

Hott Shot uses the same chemical binding agent that agricultural fertilizers provide to bind to crops.

The product is effective in temperatures 17 degrees and above.

Dual Grunter 4 way deer call ( bad picture)Can be used as a hands free call or manual call.four distinct calls.

Goose Skinz is a new Goose decoy cover( real feathers) which is used to adorn your decoy in real feathers.Don't worry you will not have to buy one for each decoy.Use these in conjunction with your lead decoys in the kill zone.

Turkey Skinz were last seasons need to have item.these skinz also are made from real feathers and fit any decoy with exception to full strut models.Will fake any of your grand slam friends.

A-Way also carries a variety of DVD's on Turkey and Bear hunting along with Turkey calls and hunting accessories.

GWS/Pro Hunter:

Top Photo:

NGA Tri Star Sight is the New offering from GWS.

(3) .019 pins with 10" of Fiber optic for each pin.

GWS is archery accessories.

Everything to trick your bow out with.

Whether it is tubing.

Peep sights

Kissers Buttons

Broad head wrench

Sights

There are not many shops that do not carry this product line in one way shape or form.

Busy week,wanted to put several posts up.
CSI Fall Hunting Sports Dealer Show in Minneapolis
Funeral of Bob Gardner, Founder of our agency.
Minnesota Wild Game
Dealer visits.
Will have some new post for the weekend,including a new recipe.

Winter is not all that bad.

While most of the nation was celebrating the new administration, I was busy visiting archery dealers in Western Wisconsin. During the week the drive is picturesque! and traffic is not a factor.
Mill Town, Frederic, Luck, Siren, Hertel, Spooner, Clam Lake, Comstock, Cumberland, Turtle Lake, Amery,Star Prairie, Hudson...........
Taking my good ole time I noticed quite a few things that I have missed.
There are 3 vineyards that I never saw before.
I found a ski hill that I never heard of or defy to find on a map.
There are 2 good shops which Italians looking for hard to find food items for their kitchens can purchase, good dago sausage, cheese and noodles.
My goal is to slow it down and enjoy some of my road trips more and take advantage of what is out there.Too many times I get way to focused and just drive to the next stop without noticing what is in between.
The weekend is fast approaching and tomorrow I will mentor at both the Middle School and Trio Wolf Creek. Friday is paper work and I believe I will try to get out fishing on Saturday or purchase a set of poles for my cross country skis.

Boats

Floats

Show season is Here!!

Well, Well, Well!

It is that time of year when ones fancy turns to what is new and exiting.

You know well enough that it is good time to plan for your birthday, Fathers Day, Bosses Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day.

The all important Fishing opener and all of the hunting openers.

In my case it could be as many as 5 non-resident fishing license expenditures alone.

The show season has begun.

This is the time to go see what was new or if you are going to make that special purchase,it is time to get it done.

Show are the one venue where everyone is under one roof and most dealers are passing along the biggest savings and best prices of the season.

With a few shows under the belt already there is plenty more to come.Here is what has happened so far.

The All Canada Show

ATA: Archery show in Indianapolis.

SHOT: Shooting and Hunting Show in Orlando

St. Paul Sport and Boat Show.

The ATA and SHOT are industry shows where all the new items ,gadgets and gizmo's are shown to the media,buyers,manufactures representatives and international customers.

Business gets done and most of the purchasing for the season happens during these annual gatherings.

It is also a place to rub elbows with the industry and television titans the drive business to the dealers and keeps guys like me busy,or so we hope.

The St. Paul Show is a consumer show in which anyone may attend for a nominal fee plus parking food and beer.

This week look for the Minneapolis Boat show. Great show to go and see it all as it regards to boats.Minnesota sports the title as having the most registered boaters per capita in the Nation.

The show is important as many areas of the country look to this show as a gauge of how the business is performing.

From what I have seen,there should be some good deals to be had.

In the coming weeks we will be at a variety of shows from Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Duluth and Minneapolis to name a few.

Previews and updates will be posted along with pictures of some of my friends that I have met over the years.

Hope you will enjoy.

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad.

My 80 something parents.

It was quiet birthdays for both.

The winter has been particularly hard on Mom who likes to walk down town to run errands.

Dad on the other hand has a pretty regular routine going.

Koschak's for coffee with Rom's and Jerry.

Three times a week is usually more excitement than dad can handle some weeks with these guys.

He is pretty proud of his new snow blower which he got before Christmas.

The old one finally died after 30 some years.

Mom takes the bus to Hibbing when the weather is not bad.

Jaci and Black took them out to eat a Sunday Brunch.

My family is very fortunate to have both parents still doing well, I think they truly give us a sense of family,and that is hard to say in these days so different than what we remember them being.

Well Show season officially kicked off a few weeks ago so my next entry will discuss those shows and what you can expect to see this season.

This picture was on the old site but remains one of my favorites.
My brother Bill (Fredo) was at the camp that weekend also.
All of dads recipes call for a gallon of wine.
Go figure!!
So your first tip from the Spaghetti Man is.
Carlo Rossi, Vine Rose'
Carlo Rossi Paisano
Each a very good wine on there own and great for cooking and the cook too.
Drink one half gallon of each (work with me on this.)

Sometimes much easier said than done.

Pour the Paisano in the Vine Rose' and PRESTO!!

A House blend that you will not forget.

I believe we went through 8 gallons in one Goat hunting season.

Carlo and Rossi is proudly served at your finer hunting Camps including;

Werner's 40

Poacher Shack

Potato Shack

Buck Nuts

Mila Cabina

It is said that brother Black

Picks Both Carlo and Rossi up from the Hibbing International Airport on the second weekend of camp, every season

and brings them to the Wooden Table for dinner.

Good Eats and tip a glass of wine this week.

Greetings

Well it is finally time to say I did it!!
For those of you that have waited for me to do something with my web site, this is it.
I have been following blogs from members of my family and decided this was the way to go to allow complete flexibility and freedom.
If anyone has tried to maintain a web site you will know where I am coming from.
In the spirit of fishing with Jeff Vitali .com I will attempt to brave this new forum and will look forward to the challenge of keeping the material fresh.
My goals are simple,provide information to viewers about my outdoors exploits. These will include but will not be limited to the following.
Fishing logs
Trip summaries.
Recipe's
Product Reviews
Pictures
Articles
Commentary:
Fishing
Hunting
Music
Books
Magazines
For family members,friends and guests I hope you enjoy and maybe get a chance to know me a little better.
It is a cold evening and I am not quite happy with some features on the blog but it will have to wait.
I will have to ask my brother "Fredo" how to get Music in this baby.


My first posts will be catching up and reflecting on 2008 and previewing 2009.