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| January 3, 2009 | NEW! We have now moved our blog to this subdomain: www.blog.patchins.net. We can also be found at www.patchins.blogspot.com. This change will also enable all of you to leave us comments. Happy blogging! |
| November 11, 2007 | Justin got another deer this year - a forkhorn buck (his dad also shot a forkhorn buck). This gave us the opportunity to butcher a deer for the first time ever (Joey and neighbor Tom helped out). We researched it a bit online and got a video from the library and went to it. It actually turned out pretty good. We got backstraps and a lot of ground venison. Yummy. |
| October 27, 2007 | Another fantastic Halloween party at Pumpkin Patch Place. Here are the pictures! |
| October 20, 2007 | Opening of pheasant hunting in Wisconsin. Justin's dad came down for the weekend and they had good success. |
| September 7-8, 2007 | Justin went to Chillicothe, Ohio, to lead a cyberbullying workshop with his good friend Sameer. On Friday they visited two middle schools and spoke on cyberbullying to almost 900 youth. On Saturday they conducted a workshop for teachers, school counselors, and other youth serving adults. It was sponsored by the Ophelia Project. Justin and Sameer stayed in a very nice bed and breakfast with excellent hosts. Jackie and Mary Jane Clipner were the local directors for the Ophelia Project in Southeastern Ohio and really took care of Justin and Sameer! |
| August 23-25, 2007 | We went to Michigan to visit with our friends from graduate school and support our good friend Amanda who was defending her dissertation. Here are the pictures! |
| August 3, 2007 | Our good friend Ryan Olson got married to Julie West. It was a fun wedding! |
| Summer 2007 | The big project for this summer was finishing our basement. We built two bedrooms and a large family room. We did most of the work ourselves - with the help of neighbors and Jill's briother Joey. Here are the pictures. |
| July 5-7, 2007 | We took a trip to Hoyt Lakes and the North Shore of Lake Superior with our neighbors. It was a great summer trip. Here are the pictures. |
| June 21, 2007 | Grandmas Marathon! Justin's dad and Ryan ran in the full marathon while his sister Theresa ran the half marathon. It was a hot day so they didn't do as well as they were hoping, but everyone finished! |
| May 25, 2007 | Annual fishing trip at Mille Lacs Lake. Big fish were caught and we limited out on Saturday but only brought a few back from the lake. To find out why you will have to ask Justin or his dad! Here is Phil with a nice smallmouth and him and his dad with a couple nice walleyes. |
| May 19, 2007 | Theresa's graduation from UW-Superior! |
| March 16, 2007 | Justin was in Seattle for an academic conference. He had a great time hanging out with friends from grad school and seeing some of the sites. He even ate at a restaurant and sat in the same seat where Tom Hanks sat in "Sleepless in Seatle" |
| December 27, 2006 | In the waning days of the season, Justin and Vada harvested another pheasant on public land in WI. |
| December 24, 2006 | Kirby (the Walton's latest dog) excited about Justin taking a picture. |
| December 23, 2006 | Vada posing in the frosted cattails. |
| December 18, 2006 | We had our annual holiday party with our neighbors. They are fun to hang out with! |
| December 9, 2006 | Justin and his dad went pheasant hunting in southwestern MN. They pushed through 6-foot tall cattails for two days and saw a few birds but didn't get anything. Vada had fun though! |
| November 26, 2006 | We put lights up on the house for the holidays this year. Here are some pictures: Justin | house |
| November 11, 2006 | Once again, Justin went deer hunting with his dad and the usual crew at the shack in Northern MN. It was another successful year for Justin! He shot both of these deer and there is a particularly funny story about the deer that his dad is holding in the picture. Ask! |
| November, 2006 | Justin's first book was just published! It is based on his dissertation work at Michigan State. Buy it at Amazon.com : ) |
| November 1-5, 2006 | Justin had another criminal justice conference which was in Los Angeles, so he was able to hang out with his sister for a couple of days. He even tried sushi! |
| October 28, 2006 | The Patchin Halloween Party is back! Great turnout this year. Here are the pictures. |
| October 27, 2006 | Another trip to the MN game farm, this time with the Paavola's. It was a good hunt for young Vada and Zoe (who was about 3 years old). birds | backing | Vada |
| October 22, 2006 | Justin and Vada went pheasant hunting at a game farm in MN with his dad and the Oswalds. Here is Phil with some of the day's harvest. |
| October 14-15, 2006 | Opening weekend of pheasant hunting in WI. The limit in WI for opening weekend is one rooster per hunter per day. Vada and Justin got their pheasant on Saturday within 15 minutes of being out. Believe it or not, they got it even quicker on on Sunday. And this was on public land. Here is Saturday's bird. |
| October 9, 2007 | Justin got rear-ended by a woman (who lived in the same neighborhood) while stopped at a stoplight. The woman was probably going 40-50 mph and didn't even touch her breaks. Since it was a neighbor whom he knew (and who knew him) who hit him, we didn't think it would be a problem getting it taken care of. We were wrong. She refused to cooperate and would not take responsibility for the accident - even hanging up on Justin at one point. To make matters worse, the insurance company wanted to put a used replacement bumper on the truck (our truck, though a 2005 model, was only 9 months old). Thankfully after several weeks it got taken care of. The damage to the truck was about $3000. Ask for the complete story! |
| September 27, 2006 | Justin and Vada got their first grouse of the season (and Vada's first grouse ever)! |
| September 4, 2006 | We went to the annual Labor Day Doggie Swim Day at Fairfax park (see Sept 4, 2005). Here are some pictures from this year! pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 |
| August 25-27, 2006 | Justin's parents got a new German shorthaired pointer puppy. We went up to H.L. to see the new pup and do some training with Vada. Here are the pictures. |
| July 22, 2006 | Jill had her 10 year class reunion in Merrill. She was able to reconnect with many friends that she hasn't seen in a while. pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3 | pic 4 |
| July 1-8, 2006 | We went to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to visit Mike Nelson and his wife Chris. Ryan and his girlfriend Julie also came along. What a great trip. Here are the pictures. |
| June 23, 2006 | We went fishing in the canoe in Dells Pond. We caught a mess of bluegill and some bass. We decided to keep a few of the bigger bluegill and had a nice fish fry. |
| June 3, 2006 | Vada had her NAVHDA Natural Ability test today. She did very well despite the conditions. Read the story here. View the pictures here. |
| May - August, 2006 | The home improvement project for this summer was to install an in-ground sprinkler system. Many people in our neighborhood have them, but to get one professionally installed would have cost about $5,000. Justin and a few of our neighbors (Tom, Jeff, and Joe) researched the process and figured that we could do the job ourselves for around $600-$700. So all four of us decided to do it. We started by digging the trenches with a power-edger on Memorial Day (it was 95 degrees that day). We helped each other and learned a lot throughout the process. While the bulk of the work was completed within a couple weeks, we spent the entire summer "tweaking" the system (adding sprinkler heads, etc). Two months, one thousand feet of pipe, eight zones, and over 30 sprinkler heads later, it was done. Even though it ended up costing a little more than we initially estimated, we easily saved about $4,000 by doing it ourselves. And all of us are extremely happy with how it turned out. Here are the pictures. |
| May 26-28, 2006 | Justin went on his annual fishing trip to Mille Lacs lake with Ryan, his dad, and some of his uncles. Justin caught this nice smallmouth bass. Here are the guys in the other boat (Jim, Larry, and Ryan). And as always, there were some good sunsets... |
| May 1, 2006 | Justin had two students doing research with him at UW-Eau Claire. They presented some preliminary findings at the annual UWEC Student Resarch Day. Here is Stan Howard and here is Adam Hinz. |
| April, 2006 | Jill adorned the house with various flowers this spring. We also planted several shrubs. Take a look at the pics. |
| April 4, 2006 | We took vada to the field for a little spring training. pic 1 | pic 2 |
| April 1, 2006 | Ty's first birthday! We attended the birthday party of the son of our neighbors to the south (no joke). |
| March 1-4, 2006 | Justin went to Baltimore for the annual Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences meeting. He failed to take many good pictures, but here is one of the city from his hotel room. Here Justin is at the awards luncheon where good friend (and former rowing partner) Beth (center) received an award for the best article in an ACJS publication. Here the whole gang went out to dinner at Bertha's. Good times. |
| January 13, 2006 | Justin went ice fishing with his friends and family. This year, they went to Lake Winnibigoshish in central MN. They were primarily fishing for perch. They were only fishing in about 10 feet of water so they could see the fish (pic 1 | pic 2) below the ice. They also went snowmobiling (Sameer and Ryan) on the lake with Larry's snowmobile. |
| January 1, 2006 | We had a small New Year's Eve get together at our place. One of our neighbors was gone on vacation, but was scheduled to return at about 3 in the morning. A couple of us decided to leave a present for them in their garage. |
| December 29, 2005 | New truck! We (we being Justin!) got a really good deal on a brand new 2005 F150. |
| December, 2005 | Christmas picture of the family. |
| November 12, 2005 | It was an incredible deer hunting season. Justin harvested three deer: a small doe on opening day, and an 8 pointer and a 13 pointer within 3 hours of each other in the morning of the second Saturday of the season. Here is my tale of the hunt. |
| October 16, 2005 | Vada's first pheasant! This is a wild Wisconsin pheasant that Justin shot on public hunting land. |
| September 4, 2005 | We took Vada to a doggie swim day. This is an annual event where the city pool is drained and filled with non-chlorinated water for the dogs. She loved it! She loved jumping! | more jumping | swimming | retreiving |
| June-July, 2005 | Summer project. Ryan and Justin agreed to remodel dad's boat. After this experience, they are thinking about starting their own TV show called: "Pimp My Float". |
| June 16, 2005 | Grandmas Marathon. Even though Justin's knees wouldn't let him run, he was able to help coach Ryan and his dad. Vada even joined in the festivities. |
| June 14, 2005 | Vada's first water retrieve! She loves the water...we think she is part otter. Good dog. |
| May 29, 2005 | Vada's first walk in the woods. Is that a point? |
| May 19, 2005 | We picked up a new puppy today! Vada vom Briemoor came from a breeder in Rice Lake, WI. Here she is just 7 weeks old. Already the hunter. Give me that camera! |
| April 16, 2005 | Justin went up the deer shack this weekend to clean up, scout areas, and play cards. |
| April 15, 2005 | After many years of only having one vehicle, we finally broke down and I picked up this 2001 Ranger. |
| March 15, 2005 | We went to Chicago for another one of my Justin's conferences - but also for St. Patrick's Day (green river) and Nathan's birthday! |
| February 24, 2005 | Justin went fishing on Lake of the Woods with Ryan and Sameer. Sameer is up to his craziness, as usual. |
| February 3, 2005 | Justin spent the afternoon snowmobiling with Ryan all over northeastern MN. He was sore for a week! |
| January 29, 2005 | For our birthdays we went to Turtle Lake to play Texas Hold'em at the casino. We were playing on the cheapest table ($1 and $2 blinds). The casino had a promotion where if 4 of a kind beats a full house with Aces, it is called a "bad beat" and the table splits a progressive jackpot. Well, Jill got four aces and beat someone who had a full house! Jill earned 25% of the jackpot, the loser earned 50%, and the rest of the players at the table, including Justin, split the other 25%. In short, Jill won about $800 and Justin won about $200. Ask us the full story on this sometime - it was amazing! |
| January 15, 2005 | It was like 20 below zero and a group of deer were on the move in the field behind our house. |
| December 18, 2004 | Hanging out with Ryan at the Leinie Lodge! |
| December, 2004 | Christmas picture of the family. Here is our tree. |
| November 19, 2004 | Justin went to Nashville for another criminal justice conference. Got to hang out with old friends. He wishes he would have taken more pictures! |
| October 16, 2004 | We went to the pumpkin patch in Merrill with Nathan (Jill's cousin). |
| September 4, 2004 | We went to the Minnesota State Fair with Ryan, Adam, Nicki, and Angelina. Good times. |
| August 28, 2004 | We had a housewarming party with the extended Wiesneski family. It was great to see everyone again. |
| August, 2004 | Shortly after we moved into our new house, we completed two necessary improvement projects (both primarily for Ali). We built a bench seat in our front window (before | after) and a new fence (before | during | after). |
| July 13, 2004 | We made the move from East Lansing, MI to Eau Claire WI today. Overall, the trip was relatively uneventful. Even though we rented the biggest truck available, we still ended up leaving may things behind. |
| July 1, 2004 | There is a rock along a main thoroughfare on the MSU campus that Sororities and Fraternaties regularly paint to advertise activities. Forensic science friends Luaren and Andrea painted a farewell message to Sameer and Justin. |
| June 30, 2004 | Tim and Michelle took Sameer, Jill, and Justin to a Detroit Tigers game (vs. the Cleveland Indians). Tim and Michelle have season tickets - right up close. It was a great game. |
| June 19, 2004 | Pride married Christina earlier this spring and we all celebrated it with them today. |
| June 19, 2004 | Grandmas Marathon! A bunch of us (Dad, Theresa, Mike, Ryan, and Justin) ran in the half marathon this year. Justin reports that it was one of the most enjoyable races he has ever run. The atmosphere was just amazing. Not having any pain his knees helped, too! |
| May 7, 2004 | Graduation! Finally, after nearly 9 years of school, Justin graduated from college for the last time. Here are some more pictures of the festivities (on TeamBynum.com). |
| March 27-28, 2004 | We traveled to Eau Claire to look for a house. We were extremely fortunate to have found a great place in a newer neighborhood only 3 miles from campus. |
| March 15, 2004 | Justin just accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire! We are really excited about the opportunity to move closer to family and friends. He will be an assistant professor teaching classes in criminal justice in the Department of Political Science. It is a great opportunity that we are really looking forward to! |
| March 9-13, 2004 | We went to Las Vegas for a mini-vacation. Well, there was the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Science also going on, but we spent more time seeing the sights of the city. Here are some pictures. |
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February 26 to |
Justin went fishing on Lake of the Woods with his dad, Ryan (Olson), Sameer, and Lee (Sameer's friend from Florida). It was great to get up there with Sameer and Lee, who have never been ice fishing before (and Ryan who acts as if he has never ice fished before!). Here is Sameer's write-up of our trip--complete with hyperlinked pictures. |
| January 18, 2004 | We (and a bunch of friends) went to the Cactus Juice Saloon to ride the mechanical bull. Here Justin is getting instructions. Riding the bull. Holding on for dear life. Perfect '10' on the dismount. More pics at Teambynum.com. |
| December 20, 2003 | Thankfully, we were able to hang out with some of our friends and family over Christmas break this year. Here are some pics. |
| December 3, 2003 | Amanda, Cedrick, Justin, and Sameer getting ready for another Spartan basketball game. GO STATE! |
| November 2, 2003 | Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came to the Breslin Center for an exhibition game against the Spartans. Johnson | Bird | Both | ESPN interviewing Johnson |
| October 31, 2003 | 5th Annual Halloween Party! Great time again this year. Guest of honor: Dr. Beth M. Huebner from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Here are the pictures on Teambynum.com. |
| October 26, 2003 | Our annual visit to Unlce John's Cider Mill in St. Johns, MI. Pictures. |
| October 1, 2003 | After a little over two years, Justin earned his Black Belt in Taekwondo. What a great experience! Here are the pictures. |
| September 27, 2003 | 80's party at Karen and Mike Ream's place. We won first place for our Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man costumes. Check out the pictures on Teambynum.com. |
| August 29, 2003 | Jill, Sameer, Lauren, and Justin went to see Phil Vassar and Keith Urban in Clio, MI. Since we all are members of Phils Phriends (fan club), we got to meet him before the show! We also had front row seats. What a great concert! More pictures here. |
| August 1, 2003 | Pictures from Justin's Taekwondo testing. He successfully graduated to black belt recommended. Here he is setting up to break a board (plastic, re-breakable board equivalent to 2 1/2 inches thick). His approach (a run jump side kick). Master Flotka reminding him that if all goes well he will test for black belt in October! Push-up club at the end of testing. Justin started doing pushups after every class, now other students join him. |
| July 18-20, 2003 | Lincoln County Fair pictures: Jill playing bingo | demo derby | spectators |
| July 14, 2003 |
Jill, Lauren, Ryan, and Justin went to see Phil
Vassar and Martina
McBride at the Fowlerville Fair. More pics: crowd | us | Phil
1 | Phil
2 | Phil
3 | |
| July 12, 2003 | Beth and Justin competed in the Grand Regatta, attemping to win our mixed-doubles title for the third consequtive year. Unfortunately, they came up a little short this year. |
| June 6, 2003 | Pictures from Justin's midterm testing for red belt. pic 1 | pic 2 |
| May 22-27, 2003 | Annual Memorial Day fishing trip to Mille Lacs Lake. This year Justin took his officemate Sameer Hinduja. As is his custom, Sameer journaled the events that unfolded. They had a great time. Here are the pictures. |
| April 28, 2003 | We went for a walk on campus following the completion of Justin's third comprehensive exam. Here are some pics. |
| April 20, 2003 | Beth, Jason, Jackson, and Brandon came over for Easter. We had a nice dinner, then played bocci ball. Ali played with a stick. The competition got fierce. |
| April, 2003 | These solicitors left after we refused to answer the door. |
| April 7, 2003 | MSU Professor and intramural basketball regular Chris Smith performed stand up comedy at Connxtions Comedy Club in Lansing. This performance was his final exam for a stand up comedy class he took. He is also an accomplished auther. |
| April 2, 2003 | Justin tested for his red belt in Taekwondo today. Sameer took a bunch of pictures: check them out here. |
| March 15, 2003 | Jill, Sameer, Lauren, and Justin went to Warsaw, Indiana to see Phil Vassar in concert. It was a great experience. Read all about it from Sameer's perspective here. |
| March 5-9, 2003 | Justin had to go to Boston for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual meetings. As usual, Sameer and Justin "did it up." Here is his report. |
| January 26, 2003 | Tim and Michelle Bynum hosted a superbowl party that turned into a birthday party for Justin. Here are the pics. |
| January 17, 2003 | Sameer (Pap), Ryan (Brevin), Lauren, Andrea and Justin went to the Detroit International Auto Show. Here are the pics. |
| December 26, 2002 | As tradition mandates, the two Christmas puzzles were assembled. Puzzle 1 | Puzzle 2 |
| December, 2002 | Christmas gatherings: friends and family pictures. |
| December, 2002 | Christmas Tree in Lansing, MI. |
| December 9, 2002 | Jill's expression when she saw her (our) Christmas present - a digital camera! |
| November 12-14, 2004 | Sameer and Justin went to Chicago for the American Society of Criminology annual meetings. Here is Sameer's writeup. |
| November, 2002 | Here are a couple of pictures taken at MSU basketball games. Brandon and Justin with Sparty. Bryan, Amanda, Cedrick, Beth, and Justin chillin' in the front row! |
| October 26, 2002 | Halloween party at our house again. Officemate (and co-traveller) Sameer made this album. |
| August 3, 2002 | Another Taekwondo tournament in Lansing, MI. Justni placed 1st in sparring and 2nd in purple belt form. Pics: Trophies with Doug | Kicking opponent | Kicking each other |
| July 13, 2002 | Beth and Justin successfully defended their title at the Grand Regatta again this year. Pics: Row 1 | Row 2 |
| May 10-12, 2002 | We took a minivacation to Traverse City, MI, a popular tourist desination in northern-lower Michigan. Pics: TC 1 | TC 2 | TC 3 | TC 4 | TC 5 | TC 6 |
| April 6, 2002 | Taekwondo tournament in South Bend, IN. Justin placed 1st in sparring and 1st in camo belt form. More Pics: ATA 1 | ATA 2 |
| March 5-9, 2002 | Annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences brought Sameer and Justin to Los Angeles. Justin was also able to visit his sister Jenn. Great trip - read the details here. |
| February 23, 2002 | Jill and Justin and friends went to Outdoorama to meet Ted Nugent. He signed an autograph for Justin. More pics: Ted 1 | Ted 2 |
| February 16, 2002 | We went to a rodeo on campus. |
| Spring, 2002 | Had a "Name that Tune" get-together at our place. Crowd 1 | Crowd 2 |
| December, 2001 | Christmas Tree in Lansing, MI. |
| November 8-11, 2001 | The American Society of Criminology meetings were in Atlanta this year. Jill decided to come with Justin. Here is Sameer's version of the events. |
| November 3, 2001 | Justin recently began training in Songham Taekwondo. American Taekwondo Association websites: Local | National. At my first regional tournament, Justin placed 2nd in white belt form. |
| October 27, 2001 | Halloween party at our place. Check out these pics: Stephen, Kristy and Mike | Christina and Max | Patch and Pap | Beth and Jason | Crowd. |
| September 8, 2001 | Princess Leia, Daisy Duke, Wonder Woman, and Luke Skywalker at a great 80's party! |
| August 10-12, 2001 | Sameer and Justin went to Chicago to help our friend (Mike Alper) move. He got a job with the federal probation department there. Here is Sameer's writeup. |
| July 7, 2001 | Justin started rowing late last fall with Beth Huebner. This summer we competed in the Grand Regatta in Grand Rapids, MI. Beth and Justin won the mixed doubles race (3:46.3 - 1000M), and Justin won the novice singles race (8:30.0 - 1500M). |
| June 20, 2001 | Justin spent four days in Quantico, VA at Officer Candidate School with the U.S. Marine Corps for an educators workshop. Saw Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base when we were leaving. |
| April 3-7, 2001 | Sameer and Justin drove to to Washington DC for the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Here is Sameer's rendition of the trip. |
| December, 2000 | Christmas Tree in Lansing, MI. |
| November 13-18, 2000 | Sameer and Justin went to San Francisco for the American Society of Criminology meetings. He wrote this about the trip. |
| May, 2000 | Jill graduating from UW-Superior. |
| April 23, 2000 | Theft from a motor vehicle, great way to wake up on Easter morning. |
| December, 1998 | Christmas Tree in Superior, WI. |
| December 29, 1995 | Faith Hill staring directly at Justin standing in the second row. Watch out Tim! |