The Royce Files

Entries have bee sparse of late. 2 weeks ago I lead a expedition to the BWCA up the Nina Moose and into Lac La Croix. Then the weekend following I ended up painting an entire house and attending a picnic in the Grand Cities. Of course you could point the finger at me- as a blogger you should be writing about those things. And eventually I will. Just not all right now. In fact I've got to get the bike adventure finished before I begin the canoe voyage saga. But in this entry you will hear enough about those days to be satisfied. While out in the wilderness we came across some pictographs which you see above. This are the pictographs you can find on Rocky Lake, which is accessible via the Little Sioux Indian or Moose River North entry points. They are nothing like the ones just a few miles away on Lac La Croix. No discernible figures here except for perhaps a representation of a deity (the crosses). The set at Rocky Lake don't get much attention. I found very little even sugges...

The end of summer may be the last time you will put away a case of Gluek's for hunting season. The regional label will no longer be produced by the Cold Spring Brewing Company down there in Cold Spring, MN (which is near Ricori, right?) The demand for craft beers was cited as reason for extinguishing Gluek's. Gluek's had been around for quite a while. Its namesake, Gottlieb Gluek, starting brewing in Minneapolis around the time of Minnesota statehood according to this history page . The Minneapolis brewery ended up being bought and then demolished by the Heileman beer giant. Gluek's brand was eventually acquired by Cold Spring Brewing in 1997. I have not experience with this beer. I have seen it in cans around town but didn't really give it much attention altough it was a regional brew. The only thing I have drank that Gluek's/Cold Spring Brewing had a hand in was Dorothy Molter Root Beer . I drink a lot of the stuff when I visit Ely, MN. Hey, Lileks has a tr...

I finally am getting to writing about my bike trip a month after it happened. As usual it will come in installments. Hopefully you'll enjoy my adventure I took with the Man of 3 Names. Early in June, or May,  I got an e-mail from the Man of 3 Names. He wished to join me on my annual bike jaunt if it was OK. It was. I left most of the the route planning to him since he had much more time than I and excelled at planning. In fact he could have won a gold medal in planning if he hadn't gone into landscape architecture. 3 Names set out a tour through Northeastern North Dakota that would pass through Pembina Gorge, the Turtle Mountains, stop by the International Peace Garden, and then go the geographical center of North America in Rugby. We discussed a train option that would reduce some time on bikes but Amtrak didn't support us. No baggage stops or something in Rugby. On the evening of July 2nd we set out from Grand Forks. We got a rather late start by most standards mo...

I t is not everyday you get to do a story about underwear and especially one with a guest blogger. I heard about this a week ago but have sat on the story until I knew the who thing settled. Here's the gist of the story; a pastor sees men's underwear at Wal-Mart and complains the packaging on said undergarment is obscene. Wal-Mart removes brand from shelves. Is this how morality works or is it a shame the men cannot wear underwear on packaging anymore? I'd like to know what exactly was on the package, because most packaged underwear is tame. Maybe the new package will have a stick man with underwear drawn on. Laughable or reasonable objection? Here is the story: http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/x1037665242/Underwear-packaging-reportedly-recalled-from-Walmart-after-Cullman-pastor-s-complaint Ok. End of story, right? I forward this one onto our pop culture correspondent and karoke superstar and she goes ballistic. Here below is her response which also includes a diatr...

In the first installment of this series we met up with a Hamm's Beer sign. There is still more Hamm's stuff to encounter. That is what we have here today, the lovable Hamm's Beer bear. The bear has appeared in numerous advertisements for the beer since 1952 when Patrick DesJarlait created the bruin for a commercial. The bear's name is Sascha which was the name of a wife of one of generations of Hamm's which ran the brewery on the east side of St. Paul. As Hamm's ownership changed hands over the past 2 decades the bear faded from its association with the beer. Still, Sascha is quite popular. Popular enough to have a monument in downtown St. Paul. The St. Paul Pioneer Press also named the bear as one of the 150 most influential Minnesotans of the past 150 years in 2008. The Twins's mascot, T.C. Bear , could be a relative of Sascha.  I suspect this article may have been part of a liquor store display rather than a monument that another blog ...

It's been a while. I've had a short vacation and pretty much neglected the blog for over a week. I didn't even use the Internets over the vacation at all. Too busy golfing or watching Dragnet . Time to take a look at some more ugly online adverts that have been popping up on your screens- or spewing forth like a dreaded slimy goo. Our first today is trying to get people to go back to school. This time it does not invoke the Presidential influence. In fact I am not sure whether this could be a mixed up ad for Classmates.com. The image they use is rather dated. I'd say its late-70s to mid-80s based on the hair and the possiblity that she is wearing a corduory jumpsuit. Actually the image is a little ambiguious since I am not sure those are straps on the shoulder or suspenders. Indeed if it is suspenders then we've got a great mullet going here. Does this make you want to go back to school? It certainly reminds me of school. So it must be targeting my peer group. T...

With the FIFA World Cup over we can all now go back to work. And I can bemoan fairly poor finale that pitted Spain against Netherlands. Although superb at times during the tournament, the Dutch decided to hack it out with Spain which culminated with 12 yellow cards, a sending off, and a Spanish victory. It appeared that Mr. Glasses may have scored for the Spanish. I never knew he played, but he cropped up and scored the winning goal. Not one to play favorites, he also played for the Dutch as well that evening. The evidence is below. Thank you Mister Glasses. I never knew what you could do. You may ask, just who is this Mister Glasses fellow? Good question. First he is an architect. But I'll let his video explain it. The 3rd place match between Germany and Uruguay was highly entertaining. In retrospect neither of these teams had the pressure and so played a freer game with plenty of goals. Though Germany were the victors, Uruguay's Diego Forlan nearly brought his team back...