Wait, Chris Pratt was born in Virginia, Minnesota and was discovered waiting tables at the Maui Bubba Gump?
They finally made it big
Guard the Cyber Citadel
Hope you find it in everything, everything that you see…
- Hide and Seek
High school flashback night with Howard Jones in Saint Paul
This isn’t the Ordway
Best hockey TV day of the year
I vote for the fish burger
Looking for a pair of entry-level nerds to join the stadium team in 2020
1:49 AM
Technically haven’t left home
I hate being sick
The glasses beat the Real ID
This was amazing
Solid
Meet Minneapolis 2020
Everybody counts or nobody counts…
- Bosch
Hitting all the old family spots
Say “cheese!”
The OG Luncheon
The Greatest Day
Denial bubble has burst
It’s like a treasure hunt
Another family tradition
Love bug
This seems like an impossible project, but it has to happen #Lombard
THE most powerful tool
That Linwood Style
We played a dangerous game
That Five Drinks Thing
I usually don’t like to do the social media question thing *on* social media, but I’m intrigued by the “5 Drinks to get to know me” one:
- Mountain Dew
- Cherry Coke
- Any cider > any beer
- Old Fashioned
- Octo’s Madagascar
Honorable mentions to the Epiphany at Prohibition and just about anything from Marvel Bar…
I buried my Mama and I buried my Pa. They sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall. I bring them flowers about every day. But I just gotta cry when I think what they’d say…
- Our Town
Lots of menu changes
FU, Goat
She’s 22 (and ️❤️ squirrels)
Office visitors
A classic ❤️
Valentine pasta
This can only mean one thing
The losing streak is over
Steak and potatoes, Adam-style
Future Farmer?
RIP Michael Kingsbury, 1946-2020
It seems like I’ve written way too many “RIP” posts recently and unfortunately that now includes my father Mike, who died on Monday at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in downtown Saint Paul. With Colleen’s mom Jean passing at the end of 2019, we are now officially out of parents/grandparents, which is a really, really tough thing to process.
Dad’s medical journey started back in October when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He had surgery at Saint John’s Hospital in Maplewood to have his thyroid glands removed. That procedure went fine and the first few times I visited him out there, he was sitting in the chair next to his bed with his iPad playing video poker and could walk around the room. The surgery was close to his vocal cords, though, so he talked in a whisper-voice. Things seemed to be progressing nicely and he was transferred to Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul, which is now an intermediate care facility in the Fairview system.
After only a few days at Bethesda, I got the first of many calls that said they needed to transfer him to the ICU at Saint Joe’s to deal with more serious complications that they couldn’t handle at Bethesda. These included a chyle leak, heart and breathing issues and the eventual installation of a tracheostomy tube, connection to a ventilator and installation of a pacemaker. Unfortunately, his condition continued to weaken even after these steps were taken, leaving him bedridden and unable to talk. My brother and sister traveled back to Saint Paul last weekend upon the recommendation of the palliative care team at St. Joe’s and we all got to say our goodbyes before he passed away peacefully just before 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
Like my mom, my dad loved being a grandparent to our daughters. As I’ve gone back looking for the photos posted below, I remember that he really liked combining his interests with Sasha and Marisa, whether it was a Twins game, a visit to a Disney park or the annual trip to Grand Marais and the North Shore. He loved playing video poker on his iPad (with fake money) and at many of the Minnesota tribal casinos with me and other family members (for real money). He visited me during my time at Fortune Bay, we made many round trip drives from Grand Marais to Grand Portage, used our free spin coupons at Treasure Island, stopped in at Grand Casino Hinckley on the way to Duluth to play the nickel poker machines and occasionally I would even get him to step out at the ritzy Mystic Lake.
The Twins were a huge deal for my dad. I’m super proud of him for going on the team trip to Seattle last year solo. He had partial season tickets for many years and we all liked to attend games with him (or stop by and visit if we had our own tickets). He’d participate in Twins Fest every year, would go to spring training games in Florida with Brian and Patti and had a great time at the bigger events like the All Star Game and last year’s playoff game (stupid Yankees). His man cave is full of Twins bobbleheads and signed baseballs and it will be bittersweet if they have a great season this year – although he did get to experience both 1987 and 1991. I still have the foul ball I got on 9-5-79 at Met Stadium sitting on my desk that he went and had signed after the game by the Twins hitter (Jesus Vega: Twins 8, Royals 3). If I remember right, the KC pitcher was the Mad Hungarian himself, Al Hrabosky.
Thank you to everyone at Mueller-Bies Funeral Home, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and Acacia Park Cemetery for your help in arranging the events scheduled for next week (please see the obituary below for details). Thanks also to everyone who has expressed their condolences and reached out to our family in this time of grief.
Love you, dad. ❤️
Obituary from Mueller-Bies and photo gallery after the jump.
Well, I can’t seem to find anything wrong with you, Mr. Babar
Still so thankful for this place
Fun little diversion
Hey @TheAthleticMIN, how about a feature on the app that reads @RussoHockey tweets in my headphones during the game?
Thanks, Dad ️❤️ 9/7/46 – 2/10/20
Lida’s Lovely Flip
New brunch menu alert
Saint Paul classic
Slowly, desparatly slowly, the remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. With trembling hands I made a tiny breach in the upper left-hand corner. And then, widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. The hot air escaping from the chamber caused the flame to flicker, but presently details of the room within emerged from the mist…
- Howard Carter (via Kryptos)
FINALLY
Fun night listening to Juliana Hatfield sing Police and ONJ songs at the Turf Club
Tumultuous Tea Party
Ah, the memories
Logo as old as me
Kept It Hot
Buffalo Tap Creek
False advertising
Vikings briefing is delicious
Grumpy’s, NO MOR
