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Attendees: Eags, Mom. Dad, Emmy and Hannah, Inks and Terry Valentine. Several of the other regulars were not feeling well or were out of town. We decided to have a potluck barbecue this month at the Valentine's.

For this gathering, we celebrated Mom's 30th birthday. Earlier in the day, 4-year-old Emily, who is smart as a whip, helped Terry bake, frost, and decorate a cake for her Mom's special day. Doing dishes was part of the deal and she was a great dish rinser!

Later, Mom, Dad, and Hannah arrived, and Eags arrived shortly afterwards. We grilled and shared a fabulous feast. This Crew definately knows how to eat well!

After dinner, we visited, sang "Happy Birthday," ate cake, and watched Mom open the gift we had picked out for her. It was a nest-shaped, hanging bird feeder with Woodstock (Snoopy's bird buddy) nestled inside.

The Woodstock theme was the result of Mom and Dad having recently purchased a wooded lot from Bob e in Sturgeon Lake. The lot is on a road called Woodstock.

After cake and ice cream, Mom took the two girls to Grandma's for the rest of the evening. We visited, thought about playing Trivial Pursuit, visited some more, laughed, and about midnight decided to call it a night.

We're hoping that the crew is healthier by May!

For more information about future STB-L gatherings, we're available for chitchat most every night at the Pioneer Planet's message board, "Shoot the breeze with the Water Cooler crew." If you have more formal questions about the Cooler Crew, contact the one and only Green or Terry Valentine.

• Summary of January 1999 Gathering
• Summary of February 1999 Gathering at Conway
• Summary of February 1999 Gathering at Tuscany's
• Summary of March 1999 Gathering
• Summary of April Gathering
• Summary of May Gathering
• Photos from Past Gatherings

Cards, Conversation, and Camaraderie

The annual bock hunt at the Fitger's Hotel and Brewery complex in Duluth was a smashing good time for several of our Coolerheads. With a year's hunting experience already under their belts, they were able to find five of the seven bocks hidden. Considering only six of the seven were found at all, the Crew came as near a sweep as they could get. It may not be as well known as the granddaddy medallion hunt, but the Fitger's hunt serves as a nice confidence booster and an excuse for family fun on the shore of Lake Superior. For details, check the Bock Club.

The list of credits for online and offline dedication to the Cooler Crew continues to grow. Many people have helped get this thing off the ground, which means if you see that a name needs to be added to the list, contact the webmaster. Credit will be given to both those who have inspired and those who continue to aspire to great things for the Cooler Crew Online Community. Those who perspire heavily and for no good reason will likely be left off the list (unless a medical certificate is included with an explanation for all that sweat).

Attendees: Dave Young, Eags, Allison, MJ and TT, Emmy and Hannah's Mom and Dad, Green, Radar, Inks and Terry Valentine. We had our favorite waitress there, too. Her name is Katie. She's a very mature 16-year-old, and she's a real sweetheart.

We wandered in as usual, in a span of about an hour. Most of us were there by 5:30 p.m., with Eags and Dave Young coming a bit later. Allison brought some games to share.

We had dinner - and it was wonderful! We ended up playing Scattergories most of the night. There were lots of laughs, lots of fun, and lots of great company! Eags brought some pictures from the prehunt bash, the rehash bash and our meeting with Bob e, and the torte-eating contest that Dave Young entered at the Fitger's Bock Fest! It's fun passing pictures around. Now that the snow is about gone, it seems like quite awhile ago that we were hunting. Time does fly!

Then as the evening ended...we all went home, got on our 'puters, and talked with each other online.

Those attending the 1999 Fitger's Bock Hunt and Festival in Duluth, MN: Dave Young, Eags, Ian and his wife Micki and sons Kris and Kollin, Allison and his friend Kirsten, Inks and Terry Valentine.

The Cooler Crew was extremely successful this year! Of the seven bocks hidden, and the six found, the crew found five of them! Kris found the King; Micki found the Queen; Inks, Kirsten and Ian found three of the months.

The prize associated with the King was a night's stay at Fitger's hotel. The Queen was good for dinner at Bennett's (the restaurant at Fitger's). Inks won a $25.00 gift certificate to the Wine Cellar and Ian won a sweatshirt. Kirsten won a $25.00 gift certificate for the Lake Superior Brewery store.

That hunt is just so much fun! It's four hours in length: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. All the bocks are hidden in stores throughout the Fitger's complex. It's great being able to hunt indoors after a full week of digging around in the wet snow of St. Paul for the Winter Carnival medallion.

A fellow Crew member, "Bob e" joined us at about 12:30 p.m., and we ended up visiting more with him than hunting after that. Although we did continue to hunt and peck around the complex, we had already found most of the bocks and had nothing further to prove.

After a meal in the Fitger's complex and a nice drive up the North Shore, we planted ourselves in a Duluth coffee shop called Browser's. They serve coffee, tea, and Internet access, so we had some beverages and posted to the Pioneer Planet Water Cooler from there. Eventually, we all went back to the hotel, where "Emmy & Hannah's Mom" had brought her computer with her! She was connected in the hotel room, so we slogged a bit and some of us posted a few messages.

While "Emmy & Hannah's Dad" took a nap, we decided to head back to Fitger's. Dave entered the torte-eating contest. Dave, you see, has a full, Santa-esque beard. He didn't win the contest but was declared the best character. You should have seen that beard - what a mess!

We then stayed to watch the team beer-drinking contest. The "Bubba" team won that event (the name says it all). That festival is full of good times and great fun!

Later that evening at Canal Park, we heard the bridge. It was up all the way! There was a long, 1,000-foot ship leaving port! It was an unexpected surprise, as it's a bit early for shipping. But, somehow, it added the perfect touch to our perfect weekend.

Attendees: E&H's Mom and Dad, Allison Wonderland, medallionstallion, Radar, Green, Eags, Mr. Mags, Dave Young (with his friends Bob, Scott, and Stanley), Lady Lou and Big B (Buzz) - from Wisconsin, Inks and Terry Valentine, Q (all the way from Texas) and her Mom, Grandma Red.

Our first official STB-L! at Tuscany Grill was a great success. Katie, our waitress is the greatest. She helped us feel right at home. The place is so comfy. The meals are very reasonably priced and you get generous amounts. I'm sure we'll go back there again.

As usual, we arrived in a staggered fashion and left much the same way. Most of us were there by 6 p.m., though Q and her Mom, Grandma Red, didn't get there until about 9 p.m. Q's birthday had been earlier in February and Green's birthday was the next day (Sunday). We celebrated with cake and gifts, sang a very good rendition of Happy Birthday, and the birthday girls blew out their candles. (To avoid number confusion, each birthday celebrant had a "?" candle!)<

We visited, laughed, tried some Trival Pursuit - Baby Boomer Edition questions, and visited some more.

Allison brought a road rally from Rand McNally - "The Valentine Massacre." Stallion volunteered to copy and fax the instruction book (about 50 pages) to those that wanted to participate. The entry is due March 1 so we don't have a whole bunch of time. It should be fun to try it out though.

Q and the rest of her family will be back up in Minnesota this summer. We're hoping to do a picnic while they are here.

Lady Lou and Buzz made the trip again from Wisconsin. We've been invited to their lake home sometime in summer.

We had a great time. Allison and Stallion are good additions to the Crew. We hope they will become regulars at our gatherings.

Allison has also been working on a hunt at Como Park. The powers that be at Como like the idea, but can't do it this year. They've already allocated their resources for other projects this year but would like to do it in 2000. It will be a riddle, word puzzle kind of hunt that will require finding answers that will be written on an entry form. No physical digging required. Stay tuned for more about this. Allison is noodling if we could do it somewhere else this year.

Our Medallion Page continues to grow, now with the added shimmer of a front-page St. Paul Pioneer Press article which mentioned our place as one to come to for more medallion information. Okay, so it's not really fair to take glory when "Mom Press" sponsors our community-building efforts, but, hey, it's primarily been an online affair until this year. The e-mails are starting to pour in, some with great new ideas, offers of additional help, and fresh material to add to the site. As with any architectural effort of this magnitude, construction will always include a little help from our fine, union friends. Please continue to send whatever medallion stories and images you have on file; and if you don't have 'em on file, write 'em down. Together we will make this site a treasure trove of medallion lore.

Bock a long, long time ago... In northern climes a group of folks met on the Internet to hunt a prized blue disk in a wonderful magical medallion hunt sponsored by a wonderful, loving Mom (i.e., Pioneer Press).

Many of these folks hunted at nite and the Chief Hunter - the one fullest of wisdom and hunt knowledge (Greg Sax) - suggested that all Cooler Hunters (hence forth called, as they are known today, Cooler Crew Members) wear something white on their upper body when hunting so that a) when one Cooler Crew Member came upon another in the heat (what HEAT?) of the hunt they would recognize each other and b) the white would stand out in the dark.

Many an item was worn - a diaper (New Daddy) around the arm, a sock, and even a baseball cap. And so white became the official color of The PioneerPlanet Cooler Crew, a.k.a. Coolerheads!

Time went on in this beautiful locale in the environs of St. Paul, MN... and spring came...

Some of The Cooler Crew got together for a bock hunt - hunting wooden goat heads - at a northern brewery to keep honed their hunting skills for the next Medallion Hunt. At that hunt, one Crew Member (Cheryl) gave all gathered Cooler Crew Members a white plastic pith helmet - white, as it is the Official Colour of The Crew... and a pith helmet as the original Cooler Crew Members first met at that very special, magical *hunt* - The St. Paul Pioneer Press Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt - and first and foremost are hunters!

Attendees (Names often given as Water Cooler Message Board handles): Snohuntress, hubby and SnoHunterJr, Ian (Micki and Kollin made a cameo appearance), Hollywood, Pablo, medallion stallion aka Stallion, SueBee, SueBees' huney, E&H's Mom and Dad with Emmy and Hannah, New Daddy with spouse and 13-month-old son (congrats on the soon to be 2nd child!) Green, Inks and Terry, Allison Wonderland, Wright Winger stopped in but couldn't stay, Wish You Were Here also made a cameo appearance, MJ with hubby TT and daughter LuLu, Eags, Dave Young, and a special appearance by Aaron Neidorf who led a parade of medallion seekers out to see where the prize had been found. Several people sent regrets that they couldn't make it because of previous engagements. We hope they can make it to one of our other events this year and the Third Annual Rehash Bash next year!

[Note from Webmaster: We will be promoting the third bash like no other. Two years in a row we've had the medallion finder(s) with little to no advance advertising. The past two years have been grand, next year will be stellar.]

This was a pot-luck affair. Ian brought his special sloppy joe medallions and a fabulous pie, MJ brought chili, Eags brought her special artichoke/crab dip and noodles, Mom and Dad brought barbecued pork for sandwiches, Terry and Inks brought a sour grape and nut noodle salad and Valentine cookies, Snohuntress and family had cookies, nuts and something else (beans?), New Daddy brought pizza, Green brought deviled eggs and corn on the cob - no potato salad...but someone else did, Dave Young brought the best citrus fruit - Clementines, Allison brought sweet-and-sour chicken, and there were other Valentine cookies, peanut M&M's, chips and a cheesecake. I know I'm probably missing something here...but the list should indicate that we were not hungry after sampling all that food. And everything was delicious! We have some wonderful cooks in this crew!

We had a sign-up sheet for a later clean-up at the park. It sure looked desolate. Nothing but ice and dirt wherever you looked. I suspect that little actual damage was done that a bit of spring weather and a good ballfield tender won't be able to fix in a short time.

The staff at the park were great! They brought us tables and chairs to use and made us feel welcome. Of course, they were invited to eat, too. Bet that was the best meal they had had for a long time. They were very accomodating.

It was fun to see some hunters from last year and to meet new ones from this year. There was the usual re-noodling the clues and a periodic groan from one of us that it is really over for another year.

But things are looking up! We have the bock hunts at Schell's and Fitger's to get us through 'til Spring...and it's only about 50 weeks to the next hunt!