On the Road Again with Merle

[Markeologist]

Since Merle is a Minnesotan figured I would get this posted before Merle heads home. The Twins rising star is from San Anselmo (my home) …A friend sent us this photo a few months back, our daughter and Joe in kindergarten.

 

[Jack Black]

Since Merle is a Minnesotan figured I would get this posted before Merle heads home. The Twins rising star is from San Anselmo (my home) …View attachment 2096845View attachment 2096856A friend sent us this photo a few months back, our daughter and Joe in kindergarten.

Aww, what a sweet pic

 

[Markeologist]

Walked into Rancho Nicasio and Scott Young of Red Meat was sitting at the bar by himself having a beer…so I introduced him to Merle.

 

[Horsewright]

I too have enjoyed your pics. Part of California I don’t know well

 

[Markeologist]

I too have enjoyed your pics. Part of California I don’t know well

Horsewright, I’ve worked all over your neck of the woods…Valley bottom (Bakersfield) is either too cold or two hot for me but the surrounding Mountains are absolutely lovely…some of best wildflowers I’ve ever seen up in Jawbone Canyon.

 

[Horsewright]

Yep use to always say there was two nice weeks in Bakes. One in the spring and one in the fall. Rest of the time its either too hot or too cold. We had a super bloom a few years ago at he ranch. May again if some of this weather keeps up. We had 32 inches of wintery mix Friday. Ya tell Merle to rest up. He's coming cowboying with me come April!

 

[Markeologist]

Red meat with Red Meat.

 

[Markeologist]

Heading out from this late afternoon/early evening show. The bar at Rancho Nicasio is where my daughters came to see Santa, no mall for us, just honest to goodness taxidermy!

 

[Markeologist]

Night is young, so stopped in Fairfax, CA for a little wind down…High West Rye with a splash of water...that’s Johnny, Willie, Waylon, and Kris looking up from bottom of glass.

 

[Markeologist]

Merle is such a bad influence…time for him to go home!

 

[btb01]

The patina on the blade has come along real nice.

Yep, after a year and a half of traveling nonstop, I think it’s safe to say that Merle’s looking a bit… haggard. (In a good way, of course.)

My wife is donating blood…Merle and I are hang’n out and waiting.View attachment 2094590

Just a couple of Henhouse (Petaluma Brewery) Hazy IPAs but we were getting some alpine glow conditions (refracted sunlight off cloud cover often amplified when bounces back off calm surface of Bay) which might have been having an effect on their appearance…they were tasty…went nicely with this Dungeness Crab ( we moved inside as it started showering on us).View attachment 2096513

Mark, you and Merle have certainly been eating (and drinking) well!

Since Merle is a Minnesotan figured I would get this posted before Merle heads home. The Twins rising star is from San Anselmo (my home) …View attachment 2096845View attachment 2096856A friend sent us this photo a few months back, our daughter and Joe in kindergarten.

That’s really cool, Mark! (Although Merle is a Cardinals fan…)

Ya tell Merle to rest up. He's coming cowboying with me come April!

Looking forward to that, Dave!

 

[Jack Black]

Cool pics Markeologist

 

[Markeologist]

Getting Merle boxed up and on his way home…though he will be having another California adventure soon!

 

[Markeologist]

Looks like Merle is safe back home in Minnesota. Some out takes from our hike in the Lagunitas Creek watershed…yes, the original home of the beer!

 

[btb01]

Yep, Merle arrived back in Minnesota yesterday.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and thank you to those of you who included a memento of Merle’s travels. (That certainly was not a requirement, but it’s cool to see a few things Merle picked up along the way.)

I hope that everyone who participated remembered to take a Porchenberg button. I don’t remember exactly how many Merle left with — I just filled up the tin — but he came back with more than I expected. If you didn’t get one and you want one, just let me know. I have a lot of them!

meako my daughter particularly liked the Megapodes of Australia stamps, because they featured the Australian brush-turkey (or is it bush turkey?), which is mentioned in a few episodes of Bluey.

It even makes an appearance in one of the episodes.

I had a little wrap-up/recap planned for Merle’s return, but his adventures aren’t quite over just yet. Dave Horsewright reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked if he could host Merle in April, which should be a lot of fun, so we’ll save any wrapping up until after Merle’s had a go at being a cowboy.

In the meantime, Merle will hang out with me for a few weeks. I won’t do a full tour or anything, since I already did that at the beginning, but I may post a few things here and there if Merle and I get up to anything. He will get to come with me to the Badger Knife Show in Wisconsin in a few weeks and visit with a few other forum members.

 

[btb01]

Not a whole lot of Merle in this post (metal detectors and all), but I brought him with me on a little adventure this weekend.

A friend of mine from school reached out a couple days ago and asked if I wanted to go to Des Moines, Iowa and watch the Arkansas Razorbacks play Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

We got into Des Moines a couple hours before the game, checked into the hotel and had a beer before heading out.

We left to grab a bite to eat, and I left Merle in the hotel room, because I wasn’t sure if we’d be coming back before the game. I had a tasty Kölsch at Court Avenue Brewing Co. in downtown Des Moines, and a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon and Swiss, and some crispy red potatoes.

The game was exciting. The Hogs struggled at times, and were down by 8 at half time, but they pulled it together and managed a 72 - 71 win, eliminating the defending national champs.

Our tickets were good for both the Arkansas-Kansas game and the Texas-Penn State game that followed it, so we stayed and watched the first half of that game, as well. Then we headed back to the hotel, did a little celebrating, and ordered some takeout for dinner. About to call it a night now. Merle and I are heading back to Minnesota first thing in the morning.

 

[SVTFreak]

Glad I could be a part of his travels!

 

[btb01]

This weekend Merle joined me (as well as a few other Porch regulars) at the Badger Knife Club show in Janesville, WI. As I was preparing this post, I realized I didn’t do nearly as good a job taking photos as I could have, but hey… I was busy looking at knives and chatting with folks who like knives as much as I do (and who don’t give me the blank stare my wife does when I talk to her about knives), so pictures took a back seat a bit.

Friday morning started off pretty early; I picked H herder up at 5:00 AM, and we got to Janesville around 9:30. We met up with Old Engineer (Harry) Amir Fleschwund (Jeff) sunknife (Greg) and Signalprick (Jason) for breakfast before the show started. We sat and ate and talked knives and had a nice time. I got to check out one of Jason’s knives for the first time in person, as well as one of Mike Moran’s knives that Neal had brought with him. Both really nice knives! I think I’m going to have to get my hands on one of each.

After breakfast we headed over to the Badger show, where we also met up with Jakeywax31 (Paul) and bigfish64 (Todd). I had known that most of these guys were heading to Janesville for the show, but I didn’t know that Todd would be there, so it was a pleasant surprise getting to meet him.

This was my second year going to the Badger show, and it really is a lot of fun. Tons of old knives to CE and CF, as well as some custom makers and other cool things to check out.

With Day 1 in the books, those of use who were staying overnight — Paul, Todd, Neal and myself — headed for dinner in downtown Janesville at a nice little Irish pub called O’Riley & Conway’s.

At Paul and Todd’s recommendation, I tried New Glarus Brewing’s Spotted Cow, which I really enjoyed. We had some some excellent fried cheese curds, and three of the four of us had fish and chips, which was great.

(I only realized after the fact that Merle was completely out of focus in that photo.)

This morning we woke to a few inches of snow. Thankfully we were all staying at the hotel where the show was, so we didn’t have to drive anywhere to get right back to looking at knives as soon as the show opened back up.

Although I had scanned every table at least four times on the first day and handled lots of knives, I still managed to find some things on the second day that I hadn’t seen before, and bought a few (I think) gems, as well. Here’s Merle with the knives that I picked up at the show.

I had a really fantastic time. Getting to see so many cool old knives in person really is great, but maybe even better is getting to meet and spend some time with some of the guys I’ve known from the forum here for years. Neal, Harry and Jeff, it was great seeing you guys again! Paul, Todd, Greg and Jason, it was awesome getting to meet y’all for the first time and hang out and chat. I hope we can all do it again next year!

 

[Jack Black]

This weekend Merle joined me (as well as a few other Porch regulars) at the Badger Knife Club show in Janesville, WI. As I was preparing this post, I realized I didn’t do nearly as good a job taking photos as I could have, but hey… I was busy looking at knives and chatting with folks who like knives as much as I do (and who don’t give me the blank stare my wife does when I talk to her about knives), so pictures took a back seat a bit.

Friday morning started off pretty early; I picked H herder up at 5:00 AM, and we got to Janesville around 9:30. We met up with Old Engineer (Harry) Amir Fleschwund (Jeff) sunknife (Greg) and Signalprick (Jason) for breakfast before the show started. We sat and ate and talked knives and had a nice time. I got to check out one of Jason’s knives for the first time in person, as well as one of Mike Moran’s knives that Neal had brought with him. Both really nice knives! I think I’m going to have to get my hands on one of each.

After breakfast we headed over to the Badger show, where we also met up with Jakeywax31 (Paul) and bigfish64 (Todd). I had known that most of these guys were heading to Janesville for the show, but I didn’t know that Todd would be there, so it was a pleasant surprise getting to meet him.

This was my second year going to the Badger show, and it really is a lot of fun. Tons of old knives to CE and CF, as well as some custom makers and other cool things to check out.

With Day 1 in the books, those of use who were staying overnight — Paul, Todd, Neal and myself — headed for dinner in downtown Janesville at a nice little Irish pub called O’Riley & Conway’s.

At Paul and Todd’s recommendation, I tried New Glarus Brewing’s Spotted Cow, which was I really enjoyed. We had some some excellent fried cheese curds, and three of the four of us had fish and chips, which was great.

(I only realized after the fact that Merle was completely out of focus in that photo.)

This morning we woke to a few inches of snow. Thankfully we were all staying at the hotel where the show was, so we didn’t have to drive anywhere to get right back to looking at knives as soon as the show opened back up.

Although I had scanned every table at least four times on the first day and handled lots of knives, I still managed to find some things on the second day that I hadn’t seen before, and bought a few (I think) gems, as well. Here’s Merle with the knives that I picked up at the show.

I had a really fantastic time. Getting to see so many cool old knives in person really is great, but maybe even better is getting to meet and spend some time with some of the guys I’ve known from the forum here for years. Neal, Harry and Jeff, it was great seeing you guys again! Paul, Todd, Greg and Jason, it was awesome getting to meet y’all for the first time and hang out and chat. I hope we can all do it again next year!

Great report Barrett, you couldn't ask for better company than that my friend I can imagine you were feeling a little out of focus yourself after a few hours in that Irish pub!

 

[5K Qs]

Barrett, thanks for the report on the Badger Knife Club show.
Sounds like all the folks from The Porch had a great time meeting up there!
Looks like Merle helped you pick up some commendable cutlery. Who's the maker of that Barlow with the barrel on the bolster?

- GT