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Morning

first?

2nd?

Happy St. Urho's Day! Is everyone wearing purple??

Does anyone have a link where I can find out about St. Urho?

For St. Urho try:
{http://www.helsinki.fi/~pkaartin/sturho.html,http

LZ,
I tried that link and it would not let me access it. But I did look around and found this site. Thanks for trying.
http://www.sainturho.com/index.htm

No where's my purple shirt?

Happy St. Urho's Day to all! I'm proudly wearing my purple. Are you?

Hey, thanks for reminding me, folks! St Urho: representative of public pride and humor!

Here is the correct one
http://www.helsinki.fi/~pkaartin/sturho.html
hope this helps, I found the right one.

sg/Milford: all traces got erased, thank goodness! So I didn't know if you had seen my msg. Don't know that person, or want their msgs!

By Charles in Adrian, MI on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 09:24 am:

When I went to the computer this morning, I noticed a story
on Yahoo about the moose on Isle Royale. It seems their
numbers are going down again. A researcher at Mich. Tech has
been monitoring their numbers, and he says the decline is pretty
noticeable. One reason is the warmer weather we have been
enjoying in recent years. Ticks, it seems, have really been
enjoying that weather, and they have been multiplying like
crazy. The researcher said the poor moose can have them by
the thousands, and they drive the moose to distraction. One
consequence may be less focus in the nice months on eating.
They are too busy scratching and rubbing! Result: a little
weaker going into the winter, and that leaves some of them
easier marks for the wolves. Interesting story. Imagine having
1,000 ticks to contend with. Yuck!

According to the legend, St. Urho was hailed into existence at a St. Patrick's party on the 17th of March in 1956. St. Patrick, is an Irish legend, who's been claimed to have expelled the snakes from Ireland. Richard Mattson, a departmental manager at the Ketola department store in Virginia really knocked this story down. He told immense stories of a Finnish saint, St Urho, who's spell drove the poisonous frogs out of Finland.

This was copied from the above web page...

By Sheryl, MI on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 09:34 am:

The legend says St. Urho chased the grasshoppers out of ancient Finland, thus saving the grape crop and the jobs of Finnish vineyard workers. He did this by uttering the phrase: "Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen" (roughly translated: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go to Heck!"). His feast is celebrated by wearing the colors Royal Purple and Nile Green. St. Urho is nearly always represented with grapes and grasshoppers as part of the picture.
This also came from the website.

In the interest of privacy and security, perhaps some users here might try web-based email addresses to use on this site. If you recieve unwanted mail you can simply block the sender or close the account. That way, the personal POP3 mail you are paying for with your ISP, remains private for friends and family only. I use an address from www.myownemail.com They have hundreds of addresses available. Many quite funny!

Yes Yooper in Westland, I've got my purple sweater on!!

Sorry, my attempt at getting you to St. Urho information did not work. I should know better then to task my computer skills. :)

Is it possible that St. Urho or St. Patrick could be called upon to drive some of the ticks from Isle Royale?

Good morning everyone :) The story about the ticks has me scratching now. Those poor moose. Oh my gosh, even my fingers are itching now.

ODE TO ST.URHO
Ooksie, kooksie kollome vee
Santia Urho is a poy fur me.
He sase out to hopper as pig as birds
Neffer beefor haf I hurd dose words!
He really told dose pugs of kreen
Braffest Finn I effer seen.
Some celebrate for St.Pat unt his snakes
Putt Santia Urho poyka got wat it takes.
He got tall unt strong on feelia sour.
Unt ate Kalla moyakka effery hour.
Tat's why dat guy could sase dose peetles
What crew as tik as chack bine neetles.
So let's give a cheer in hower pest vay,
On the Sixteenth of March,
St Urho's day!

Heinasirkka, Heinasirkka, mene taalta hiiteen.

To add to Dave at Laurium's comment: Richard Mattson used to give the Irish women at Ketola's in Virginia,MN a hard time. At first he suggested celebrating May 24, St. Urho's "Name Day," as a time to give recognition to the Finnish people in the area, who far outnumbered the Irish. Mrs. Gene McCavic set up a St. Urho's Day coffee session and wrote a rhyme about the Saint. The managing editor of the Mesabi Daily News published the story and poem on the front page of the paper. They spread and were picked up by a Finnish prof. at Bemidji State U. who changed the poem (from chasing frogs to chasing grasshoppers) to protect the grape (!) crops in Finland. Eventually the date was changed to March 16 to irk the Irish even more. Green and royal purple were the adopted colors and the day is observed with parades, kind and queen contests, dancing and moyakka. The "legend" is often accepted as a "real thing" and Mattson apparently enjoyed adding to it. Years ago, while I was the librarian at Suomi (now Helsinki U.) College the Michigan State Library called me to respond to a reference question from a patron. I had to burst the balloon. See my next message for the poem.

Here's the original version of the poem which talks of frogs and not grasshoppers:
Yksi, kaksi, kolome vee (viisi)
St. Urho is the poy for me!
He sase out ta rogs so pig unt kreen
Praffest Finn I effer seen!
Some celeprate for Saint Pat unt hiss nakes
Putt Urho pyka got what it takes.
He got tall unt trong from feelia sour
Unt ate culla moyaka effery hour.
That's why tat guy could soot tose rogs
What crew as pig as chack bine logns.
So let's giff a cheer in hower pest way
On Mayt dwenhny fort, Saint Urho's tay.

Have to add that Dixie Lee Ray, then Governor of the State of Washington proclaimed March 16, 1979 and
"March 16 of all years to come" as ST. Urho's Day
And in 3-16-97 the Denver (CO) Post "Adam" cartoon by Brian Basset pictured a child yelling, "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka meme taalta hiiteen!" She pinches her dad because he is not wearing purple, but he develops a purple spot where she inflicted him. The Finnish translation is stronger than "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away." "Get the H----
out of here" is more like it, according to my now deceased friend, Olaf Rankinen.

I feel sorry for the poor moose and the tick problems.

Forgot to wear my purple today.....

Hip hip hooray to JAD for puttin' the 'ridgional verison out to reet.

24th?

Check out the Calumet cam: http://www.mainstreetcalumet.com/

The streets are completely clean of snow. But from the looks of those clouds, it looks like the streets won't remain bare for long.

Recipe for Finnish Mojakka, a soup served on St. Uhro's Day.

Great, now I am itching because I am still thinking about those Moose ticks and hungry because I am thinking of how delish this soups sounds.
http://soup.allrecipes.com/AZ/FinnishStyleMojakka.asp


So I am headed into the kitchen to have some of those eclairs I made...and then rearrange the surviving eclairs on a smaller platter. That way, when hubby comes home, he won't know the difference and I will tell him I only made half a dozen instead of a dozen of those eclairs.

Is the Main Street Cam. located in the belfry of the church?

This is Suomipojan tämän päivän linkki.;

http://www.multi.fi/~peterg/

I remembered my purple as well! Too bad no one around the office has any clue what St. Urho's Day is...

New Cam shot needs a bit of focus. Dave in Laurium maybe you could provide some assistance being that your pictures are so very good.

Jeffkal,

Regarding your question on Cam Notes about the tides on Lake Superior.

There is debate about whether the great lakes experience 'tides'... as tides are assoicated with the oceans, because they occur on a daily basis (high tide/low tide).

But, the great lakes are great bodies of water, too. So....?

Living on Lake Michigan I believe that the great lakes do experience low and high tides, due to the moon, (and not due to wind; rain; snow runoff). It is not uncommon for us on Lake Michigan to have calm days, and the tide to be in about 30-40 feet from the beach line area. If the sky is clear on days such as these, if you look up in the sky, you can see the moon in the middle of the day. Hmmmm....

But generally speaking, if you walk along the shore on any given day, you can tell by the wet sand where the water had been earlier, and that it had recended a few feet. Whether this may just be due to wave action, I don't know.

Perhaps this is a question for John Dee?

I thought you were re-arranging your eclairs!!!

HiDee Ho, neighbor. Am back from forraging for wildlife at the Wichita Mtns. in Oklahoma--not exactly mountains. Had snow here in Ama. Glad to be back home. Just in time to celebrate St. Urho and St. Pat's. I'm Native American, German, French Canadian and Welsch. Like I need saints'

I never heard the legend of St Urho but looking down I see I wore purple today! Does that qualify me as an honorary Finn?

sur5er,
I remember having fish mojakka and chicken mojakka, but not beef. It does sound good though.
But then I always thought pasty was a Finnish meal, until I was in my twenties.
Does anyone know if there are any backeries in the UP that make flat bread? Not hardtack. I remember my grandmother making it when I was a kid

Let's hear it from the great north! Do you folks think the governor should be able to override the law and the judge in Terry Shiavo's case? If we all made laws to suit our fancy, why have a judge, court, and a judicial system?

Please say a prayer for the little girl up in Homosassa.....maybe they got the guy.

Pastry Kitchen in Ironwood makes a great reiska flatbread. Owner Kenny Ruotsala makes all sorts of good Finnish bakery, as well as a right tasty pasty. My favorite thing to pick up is a package of Sinkers or two. They freeze well and I can ration them out when I'm so far away. And the good Swede-Finn that I am, I did where my purple and green today and did a little grasshopper dance - much to the consternation of my co-workers. Not too many Finns or Swedes in Milwaukee.

Iditarod Dog Sled Race,
In case anyone is interested, Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. His time was 9 days 18 hours and 39 minutes.
The 3 UP mushers, all from McMillan, are still competing.
Gregg Hickman 35th
Ed Stielstra 47th
Andrew Letzring 57th
The blind musher, Rachael Scdoris, is in 66th.
If you want more info, check out:
http://www.iditarod.com

law abiding citizen-my opinion is that why keep a person going on life support when there is no
hope of ever being healthy or normal again. Just let her succumb peacefully and remember her the way she was before her illness set in. It's too hard to for the family & friends to see them like that.

The governor of Florida wants to override the direct order of the judge. He did it before and now he's trying to get a new law passed to stop the judge. I think let the person go too. I wouldn't want to live that way....I don't call that living anyway.

sur5er; Thank you for the website for the Finnish
Style Mojakka. Now if I can find a recipe for the
flatbread that you serve with it I'll be all set.

Downstate Don
Post your e-mail address and I will send you a recepie that I have from a friends grandmother's cookbook

rkj stpaul mn Many Thanks...Kitos...looking forward to the recipe. Going to make some Mojakka
and reiasska.

When we make pastys and have more filling than crust I'll put it in a pot, add water, little canned brown gravy, & simmer till done. Makes a pretty good Mojakka. Sometimes add other spices to see what happens. Try it you might like it.

Jim, Texas; That must be called Pasty Mojakka.

A few days ago, there was an exchange here about freaky E-Mails after I mentioned a Mail that was supposedly from another poster (it wasn't). got a chuckle just now when 'I checked my Spam-file before deleting it - and found a message from "myself". :)

Danbury,

ROFL...I thought I was the only one that did that. I was sending email links to Maija today...and from about the fourth email on, I noticed that I was sending the emails to myself and not to Maija.

Frank: Got those eclairs all arraigned...and all I can say is that I am thankful that my pajama bottoms have an elastic waist. :)

RKJ: Could you please send me a copy of your recipe for flat bread? Thank you :)

I thought that Mojakka was made with Fish!

Mojakka with fish I believe would be Kala Mojakka.

Beverly,

Mojakka can be made with fish, beef, or even chicken. As Jim from Texas said, almost like a pasty stew ;)

Thanks Jim and Ser5er. I didn't know for sure. Either way, I don't like fish stew. No way!!!!!

Beverly,

Same here...fish stew for dinner would not have flown...except perhaps out da window.

sur5er & beverly, San Jose:
And if you thing kala mojakka unappealing, you should try Lutefisk and viili!

My mom used to prepare lutefisk every Christmas for my paternal Grandfather, and my stomach still turns at the very vision of a nice bowl of viili -- a "cultured" (sour) and ever so stretchy (retchy?) dairy product <gag, retch>.

I guess they'll have to come and take my official "Finn card" away!

FRNash,

ROFL. And here I thought I was one of the few that had such an adversion to fish.

Hubby's ex wife told me the following fish story that I still laugh about to this day.

Hubby's first wife got a call from hubby's sister inviting them to Thanksgiving dinner, years ago. She thought it was so nice of her sister in law to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner, since they had two little ones and another on the way, she could definately use a rest from this Thanksgiving day's dinner preparations.

So hubby, first wife with baby on the way, and two little ones in tow head to hubby's sister house, anticipating a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixings.

They arrive and are sitting at the dinner table, and hubby's sister places on the dinner table not a turkey...but a fish...a whole entire fish, complete with it's head still intact.

The vision and smell of the fish did not agree with hubby's first wife's condition...especially the part about dinner staring up at her with glazed over cooked eyes...and she had to promptly excuse herself from the table. The youngest child became terrified of the fish and began screaming...and hubby, first wife, and kiddies ended up having Thanksgiving dinner at Denny's.

Moral of the story/words of wisdom from hubby's first wife: "First, always ask what his sister is serving from a meal...never assume. Secondly, if fish is on the menu and you cannot properly univite yourself, be sure to stop at McDonald's enroute and fill up on hamburgers."

FRNash: a fish with gelatinous consistency dipped in a lye solution - how gross!!!! But that mucous looking stuff called viilia or viili - gag, barf, retch. Reminds me of buttermilk. When put in a clear glass and the residue that remains after someone drank it---double Yuk!!!!! Now I think I will be sick for the rest of the evening.

Beverly,

Me too....as if I needed a reason to hate fish, to begin with. Ughhhhhhhhh!