The Royce Files

I t is the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house not a person was hungry- not even a mouse. All watched the clock on the oven click down- for they knew at zero a roast turkey would be found. And with would come mash potatoes and beans and culinary delights fit for the Queen. Some stuffing, cranberries and a sweet potato or two- these foods would be eaten and consumed by the next day at 2. And to top it off a pumpkin pie would be sliced then dolloped with whipped dream to top off Thanksgiving night. But now we all wait for the turkey to arrive And now watch and listen to what some people have contrived To commemorate this ole holiday of thanks. Years ago I wrote a Thanksgiving program for the college radio station in Morris, MN. A Kumm Thankgiving Pageant Then watch Charlie brown putter his way through Thanksgiving I must admit this Charlie Brown special is kinda of corny in the set-up. It not the best but it certainly is not the least. And it is one of th...

With this week starting out with Veterans' Day I think this would be an appropriate video to re-post from the Tube. It is an informative film concerning an air attack on a military train. 2 P-51s bomb the railroad and the train crew responds albeit without eliminating the enemy aircraft. You may think it is odd that that US planes would bomb a US military plane but I doubt anyone was ready with cameras to film an actual attack. The aid response was particularly quick- but what can you show in 4 minutes. Once the trucks arrived they went right at it to restore the railbed.

Sunset in Voyaguer's National Park In August the Man of 3 Name and I took a canoe trip into Voyaguer's National Park in Northern Minnesota. To our surprise we were the only canoe we saw in the park (notwithstanding the canoe party from Illinois that was leaving as we were entering the park.). Voyaguer's is a big water kind of canoe area. Most of the smaller lakes are interior to the Kabetogama Penisula. We traversed the eastern bays of Lake Kabetogma to the big waters of  Namakan Lake and base camped in Junction Bay. The weather was pleasant but did drop in the 30s one night. We also had a spectacular show in the evening skies- meteor showers. I digress as this post is about the sauna we found in the wilderness. On our way to Junction Bay we passed through a narrow gap between 2 islands. As we got closer I thought I saw some type of building on one of the islands. However, we paddled on without investigating. The Sauna On our way out we came through the area a...

It has been a full to the brim fall with lots of work to do. And now with Halloween over we are heading downhill into the new year and Christmas. Well this year I did not make it to the Great Minnesota Get Together.   Painting of Sky Ride at MN State Fair by my MFS Instead my mostly Finnish spouse and I (and the Boe) went to a reunion- the West Central Minnesota Steam Thresher's reunion in Rollag, MN. Though neither of us were steam threshers, we were allowed to go if we paid the admission price (I think it was $12 but it might have been $10). Anyways this event is incredible in that it helps us revisit an older age- the age when hard work and the brawn of steam engines ruled the land. Steam shovel at Rollag We saw lots of steam powered agricultural equipment in operation. But that is not all. There were 2 steam powered sawmills, a parade of tractors, lots of small motors, and an authentic steam locomotive that circled the entire grounds of this event....

Finally! I can catch some rest and some fish. Some great catches Labor Day cometh and I can rest from my corporate labors. It has been an extremely busy time for me at the multi-national company for which I work. Fortunately I was able to add 3 more support staff this summer to help when the going gets tough. It has been nearly 2 and a half months since the last post so and I guess it looked like an unexpected hiatus. Well, it was expected  but definitely unintentional. Let me count all the adventures I've had since we wrapped up the Fargo Marathon. I planted a vegetable garden and volunteered at the Growing Together Community Garden. A separate post is forthcoming about gardening. I returned to the Back to 50s Car Show in St. Paul after missing last year due to the wedding bumper crop. June just flew by at lightning speed. In July I had a considerable amount of stuff. On Independence Day I visited Bonanzaville with my MFS and the Boe, a new character in the Royce Fil...

Lionel log dump car with the Switch Tower in background I wanted to have some action on my railway besides just going in circles. Lionel makes quite a few operational cars. I featured the milk reefer a few weeks. I doubt I will ever get that one to work. It is a long range plan. So I found this Northern Pacific log dump car from 1984 on e-bay in practically new condition. Even came with the box for less than $30. I was planning on getting a version of this car at one of the local antique shops for less than $20. However, that one was broken. The log dump car basically holds a few logs and at the desired point- notably the place where the collection tray sits and the automated track piece sits- dumps the logs. Lionel has made these types of cars since the post-war period . Earlier versions were all metal. Its close relatives are the coal dump car and the helium tank dump car. These cars can be operated manually with the manual uncoupler thingie and ...

It seems a bit late to wrap up my Fargo Marathon coverage. The race is long over and sort of forgotten for the year, but today I wear my "Team Fargo Rocks" shirt from a 2011 to make concluding remarks about the region's premier and largest running event. So we know the winners but what about those who ran with style and vigour and panache? Let's meet a few memorable runners. Neon on the rise The trending style this year appears to be day glo neon. I saw plenty of runners apparelled in the brightest colors on the spectrum. More neon I tend to wear the neon vests more than the actual shirts. It ensures that I am seen and not run over. For what appeared to be a mostly overcast day the runners in those loud colors stood out. In typical years in my marathon coverage I provide a snippet of particular traits of runners- like costumes or mustaches or tattoos. Well, this year I was distracted and did not come up with any consistent trend to cover. But I did re-...