For those who signed up....The dinner tomorrow after bowling has been moved. Boca Chica has changed their policy and could not accommodate us. The new location is Joseph's Grill. The address is 140 Wabasha Street, just down from Boca Chica. If you are signed up, we'll see you at 5pm!
Author: Phill Goldman
Reserve a Chair for Dinner after Bowling
Planning to bowl with the Nokomis on the 9th? I'm sure you'd like dinner too. We're headed to Boca Chica after bowling and they'd like reservations for a large party like us.
There's a signup sheet online. Please sign up by September 5th so we can tell the restaurant how many of us to expect.
Bowling? Reserve Your Place at Dinner TODAY
Planning to bowl with the Nokomis on the 9th? I'm sure you'd like dinner too. We're headed to Boca Chica after bowling and they'd like reservations for a large party like us.
There's a sign up to reserve your place. Since we don't have another meeting before the event the ONLY way to reserve a seat with the Nokomis folks is to sign up online.
We'll close out the reservations four days before the dinner, so SIGN UP TODAY.
You must be logged in to a valid account to view and sign up for event opportunities.
ZooBoo’s Finale Time is Here!
Celebrate Halloween without the Fright
All proceeds support the plants and animals of the Como Zoo and Conservatory. The Nokomis has been helping out with this event since 1994 (this is our 23rd year). We really want to help keep one of America's last free-admission zoos free.
Como Zoo will be transformed for Zoo Boo October 21st, 22nd and October 28th, 29th. Gates Open: 4:30-7:30 p.m. We're just four nights this year, so let's make them count.
Volunteering
Como Friends are starting to gear up for our annual Como Friends ZooBoo at Como Zoo event and hope that you can join us again! Even returning volunteers need to fill out the Zoo's signup online - it just takes a minute. You can find it here. Sign up to let the Nokomis know you're coming - all of the dates are on one online signup sheet.
Prep
The week before the event we have a workday set to break down product and kick off the event. Consider taking on a station leader's role and join us October 14th.
On the morning of the first event night, Saturday October 21st, we'll be in full-on work to complete setups before the event. We start at 9AM and hopefully we'll be done before the gates open.
Event
Our folks will be heading up the new Halloween station, just inside the front gate. We need to get there early (3PM), but we get done first. Be sure to sign in up on the second floor of the Big Zoo Building - there are goodies for you there, and perhaps a surprise coupon.
Dinner
Be sure to check with our folks at the first station, we'll get details there about the night's repast! Hope to see you all there, all the time!
Sad news. Blair Keith has died. Memorial on July 21st.
Thursday, July 13th we lost our dear friend Blair Keith to the ravages of cancer. He's been working through diagnoses and treatment options since mid April. Throughout the whole affair he's kept his optimistic view that he'd be one of the lucky ones who might be found the remedy. It was not to be.
The true miracle in Blair's life has been all of you, his friends and family. All of us carry memories, stories, jokes and good wishes with us. He was one in a million, our Blair.
Join us on Friday for a memorial service and good stories. It will be held at the Dan Patch American Legion at 12375 Princeton Avenue in Savage, MN. The program will begin at 3pm with a formal memorial. We will then have an open time for sharing, so if you have a memory to share about Blair you'll have a chance to speak. After the program we'll have a light meal and time for fellowship. At 4:30 we'll have a toast to Blair in our own special way.
Many have asked if they should wear a costume. Although we are not designating this as a costume event, if you'd like to honor Blair in that way, please feel free.
If you have additional questions, let Mary know.
June Meeting and Anniversary Picnic 2017
This year’s anniversary picnic (and camp out) will be held at Loren and Carol Evers’ property. We own approximately 11 acres about 10 miles north of Stillwater (about 10 miles northeast of the old Madline farm). So there is plenty of room for all the fun-filled activities people would like to participate in.
The anniversary picnic will again be a potluck. So please bring something to grill and something to share. It will also be a BYOB event. We don’t have an extra refrigerator, but we’ll have cooler(s) available with plenty of ice. If anyone has a large cooler they can loan to the cause, please bring that along as well. We’ll be providing plates, napkins, cups, and utensils (of the paper and plastic variety).
Also, feel free to bring along your toys as long as you don’t mind them getting lost in the weeds or the lake.
For those of you who want to know where you will be headed, our address is: 11357 142nd St. N, Stillwater, MN 55082. We are exactly 8.5 miles north off 36 off of Manning Ave/Trail.
Loren and Carol Evers
A Little Discovery to Savor
We'll very likely wind up scrambling to set up a group event as the date get solidified. Here's a random collection of what we know.
From CBS Website, the Official show site, we have these tidbits
- The show will premiere on CBS Television and then continue on CBS All Access for U.S. viewers.
- The first season is 15 episodes; each episode including the TV premiere has a companion after-show on CBS All Access.
- The first trailer and photos are on the site.
- The show takes place about 10 years before the start of Captain Kirk’s five year mission. If geekdom serves me right, this barely predates Captain Pike.
- The website says ‘Premieres This Fall on CBS All Access’
- Discovery will also have a companion comic series and a novel, all of which will be part of the Star Trek universe. This is a departure from the past when only the show and movies were canon.
From other more random but ‘official’ sites
- Since it’s on streaming, the episode length will vary depending on the story. There will be a long overarching storyline into which each episode fits. (Bryan Fuller interview)
- The budget for each episode is about $6-7 million US. (CBS quarterly financial statement)
- Despite CBS All access being a subscription service there will still be commercials (Ad Age magazine)
- As of May 2016 the principle filming for the first season is about 1/3 complete.
- They are up to 11 major characters, one of which is likely to be a robot. There are at least a dozen semi-recurring roles (Variety)
Feed My Starving Children on July 17th
Our next packing event is on July 17, a Monday, at the Eagan location at 990 Lone Oak Road in Eagan, Minnesota. It starts at 6 pm and goes until 7:30 pm, and then we'll find a nice place for dinner. Join us - it's fun! Sign up online at www.fmsc.org under our group: USS Nokomis. There are lots of spots left, so please sign up now!
The Journey was Sweet – and Hoppy – and Wonderful
Journey to Babble 3 - The Search for Snacks was our latest trip through the Twin Towns looking for good food and fun. In the past the trip has been from brewery to brewery, but this time I planned a more varied trip. We started after the May 13th meeting in Mounds View and made three stops.
First was Town Hall Brewpub in Minneapolis right near Seven Corners. This place has both outdoor and indoor seating; the staff went all out to get us our table for 20 inside and take good care of us. The beers were house-made and tasty, and the food menu will certainly send us back there. Both our server and the chef were great people, welcoming and friendly, and I dropped a note of thanks to the managers. I got back a personal note from one of the co-founders who was grateful for the positive feedback, and confirmed the menu is here to stay, at least for the season.
Second was Tattersall Distillery, our very first non-brewery stop on our Journeys. They distill their own liquors and aperitifs, all tasty and all very old-school classic. The place was hoppin' busy on a nice day like we had. I don't know about you but I could have stayed for another round.
Finally was Can Can Wonderland - a mix of drinks, ice cream, artist-designed mini golf, and a lot of classic treasures like 30-40 year old pinball machines and everything from Gramma's living room. Hard to describe, but a nice long evening of food and fun.
The folks I've talked to afterwards liked the variety and the locations. The Nokomis will certainly do this again on the next year's calendar. I'm not the only one who can plan these things either - if you have ideas for a 3-4 stop tour of food, drink, and fun then please get it on the calendar! We can even do more than one each year.
- Phill
You might notice we have SOME photos of Nokomis folks, and some of these are stock shots from the various locations' web sites. Send any photos you'd like to share to Phill and we'll get them into the photo gallery. Click the photos to enlarge or start the slide show.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="9" gal_title="Journey to Babble 3 - The Search for Snack"]
ZooBoo’s Finale is Coming Soon!
Celebrate Halloween without the Fright for the 30th and Final Time
All proceeds support the plants and animals of the Como Zoo and Conservatory. The Nokomis has been helping out with this event since 1994 (this is our 24th time). We really want to help keep one of America's last free-admission zoos free.
Como Zoo will be transformed for ZooBoo October 21st – 22nd; and October 28th – 29th. Gates Open: 4:30-7:30 p.m.
This is the 30th and final time ZooBoo happens in its current form. After this year the midsection of Como will be under construction for the new Piniped Plaza, home of Sparky and his cousins (piniped is fancy for seals and sea lions). The construction extends from the edge of Gorilla Forest and the hoof stock yard all the way through Seal Island to the Aquatics building. That makes a safe path in 2018 much harder to do. The team will take 2018 off to plan for a new and different event starting in 2019.
Want to know more about the event, click here.
