Mr. and Mrs. Kraus Blog

January in Minnesota is way too cold. Most mornings we wake up and the thought of leaving the flannel sheets is hard to muster. However, there are a few seasonal activities that keep our minds occupied long enough to make it through this wicked month.

One of these pass times is ice fishing. Maybe you saw my article on Florida Fishing, or had a good laugh reading about my encounters with the snakes at the lake. Ice fishing is a whole new ball of wax.

First thing you do is dress REALLY warm. There is nothing else in your life that you would want to dress warmer for than this, because everything gets colder when you party on a gigantic slab of ice. I got all bundled up before we headed to the lake. On the way there we stopped at The Bobber Shop for a Minnesota fishing license, some hooks, bobbers and wax worms. Upon arrival to the lake there is a decision to be made. The driver must ask himself, “Do I have the courage to drive my car onto that giant slab of ice, the one that just over a month ago had ducks swimming in it?” If you answer is yes, he should be sure to roll his car windows down for the trip to the middle. If the ice starts to crack, the driver better be able to hear it. But if the answer is no, get that sled out of the back and load it up with your gear– you’ve got a decent walk ahead of you to the middle of the frozen lake.

Now you might be a little tired when you arrive to the middle of the lake if you walked there. But toughen up fellas! It’s time to drill some holes! The ice appeared to be just over 2 feet thick when we went the other day. Take that times 3 holes, and you have 6 feet of ice to manually drive through with the auger. That’s taller than many men, so be proud of your accomplishment when you are done.

Next, I’ll take a moment to mention the men on the trip. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my buddy Chris and his dad Loren (aka Mr. E). Loren is full of all kinds of local knowledge about the nearby lakes, so it was fun to talk about Minnesota with him. Chris is full of other things, so it’s always great spending time with him…

Back to the ice fishing. After we got our holes drilled, we then turned our attention to our “jiggle sticks”. That’s right, I said “jiggle sticks”, and what I am referring to are the fishing poles. They are very tiny in comparison to the typical fishing apparatus, especially compared to a fly rod. So it didn’t take long to get them setup. Mr. E tied on a little hook, threaded a couple wax wurms on there, added a sinker and then dropped the line into a hole. As soon as it hit bottom, he raised it back up a few inches and attached a foam bobber to keep the bait floating just above the bottom. Let’s face it. It’s a frozen lake. It’s freeeezing, and the fish will stay as close to the bottom to keep warm as possible!

Once we were all setup with jiggle sticks in hand, it was time for the fish to make their appearances. Luckily, fish are not required for a happy ice fishing trip. It’s about the companionship, the stories and the exercise. At least for me anyway.

And in the midst of all the stories and talking, suddenly, there it was. A little extra jiggle on the end of Chris’s pole. He hooked it straight away, and quickly pulled it up. This lovely crappie was on the other end. I’m pretty sure it was so cold out that it froze to death as soon as it hit the January air. Quick and painless. We made some hot chocolate on my camping stove after that to celebrate the catch. After a couple hours we decided to call it quits. We packed up and drove home.

So that was my ice fishing experience last weekend. Good times! I’m definitely going back soon, and maybe next time I’ll get a fish of my own. I guess if I don’t, then I’ll just have to go for a big bass in the spring on the fly rod. One positive to that option is, a guy doesn’t come home feeling like this frosty fellow:

Amanda's first snowman

Comments from old site:

Written by Chad Kraus
Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 9:32 PM

I had only been ice fishing one other time that I can remember. I was really young. I went with my dad and brother, and some guy named Gene-O from Jainesville!

Written by Sarah
Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 9:17 PM

I’m so glad you guys made it through this brutally cold month! You know, I’ve lived in the Midwest all my life and have never ice fished. I’ll leave that one up to you, Chris, and Mr. E. Oh, btw…you hit the nail on the head. Mr. E can tell you anything MN related, and Chris is definitely full of something!

Chad Kraus Chris, fishing, Minnesota

Christmas is coming! It’s December 1, and we just got our biggest snowfall so far this year in Minnesota. Plus, last night we put up a Christmas tree at our place (you can see the snow out the window behind the tree in this picture). And to top it off, my wife and I have watched A Christmas Story twice already. Oh, yes people, Christmas is coming! Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, around which the entire kid year revolved. Well, maybe we’ve seen it three times now…

Now I’ll take a step back and talk about this last Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time because we got to have lots of turkey dinners (THREE!) and my brother came to Minnesota for four days! It was really great seeing him. His wife took the cold weather really well too, so I have to say to her, props for that.

First, we went to our Grandma J’s house for lunch. It was nice to see Minnesota relatives that we hadn’t seen since my cousin Jacob’s wedding 2+ years ago. Then we went to supper at my mom’s house for turkey dinner number two. Grandparents came to visit there too. I really love talking to my Grandpa Ted at holidays. He’s a very wonderful man. When my dad says from time to time that I remind him of Grandpa Ted, I take that as a compliment.

We did a little shopping then on Black Friday. The wife got some shoes and a purse. But the greatest part was when my bro and I decided to get each other Christmas gifts while we were together! Our wives determined that this was a terrible, horrible idea. But we both got that gleam in our eyes when we realized we were doing it. I got him Super Mario Galaxy for Nintendo Wii, which we played a lot the rest of the weekend. I have to say, it is a great game, and tons of fun. Both of our wives even loved playing that one. He got me an expansion for Guild Wars called Eye of the North. It’s a PC game, which I wrote about in my previous article on Halloween. Also a sweet game. Thanks bro!

Then on Saturday, we went down to see some family in Iowa. Turkey dinner number 3, pump it up! Now, most of these relatives we had not seen for something like 5+ years. I had little cousins that I had never met! And some of my cousins had children too that I had never met. It was really cool to meet them all. One great thing about family members is even if you don’t see them for a few years, when you finally do, it’s like you just saw them yesterday.

We headed back to Minnesota that evening around 5pm, and when we got there we headed straight to the Twin Cities to crash at Aaron’s place for the night. My bro and his wife had to be at the airport Sunday morning by 5:30am and we knew it would be terrible to get up any earlier, so we wanted to be closer to the airport.

Thanks for coming up guys, and have a great Christmas in Florida! And good luck helping Mario save Princess Peach… and the galaxy.

Chad Kraus bro, computer games, holidays, Iowa, Minnesota, Wii

The wife and I have been in Minnesota now for over 2 weeks. Things are going great here! First, it’s just really good to be back in the Midwest. Immediately after my arrival, I fell in love again with the state of Minnesota and life among it’s inhabitants. I love the attitudes of the people, the things they talk about, and the hard Midwest work ethic ingrained in them.

I love my new job! The first two weeks went great. Everyone there is really nice and gets along with one another. Another great thing is that everyone really likes the boss. Those two things are such a blessing. I’ve heard stories of when fellow employees don’t like each other in the workplace, and it doesn’t sound like a good environment to work in. Furthermore, when the employees get along, but have a common dislike for the boss, I would think that could get really old too. I’ve been lucky and had good bosses and fellow employees, so I’m not speaking from experience. My point is, this place does not suffer from either of those two problems, and I really love that.

Then there is what I do all day at work, my job responsibilities. I love what I do! It’s exactly what I have always wanted in a job. I enjoy it so much in fact, then after I begin work in the morning, before I know it, the clock is saying noon and it’s lunch time already. Same thing after lunch. Before I know it, it’s time to go home for the day. There is plenty of work to be done there at all times, and it fun, fulfilling work. I’m doing pretty much all programming so far, but am really enjoying it. I’m excited to do the sales part of my job description when they are ready for me to do that too. When I was on my own, I really enjoyed that part of the business too, so I am certain this new job is only going to get better as I take on more responsibilities.

The wife is doing well too. She applied for the college in town and is awaiting an acceptance letter. They told her it would be 3-4 weeks before she hears back. I am so proud of her for getting on that right away. I know she’s going to do great!

We are really enjoying our family and friends in town. One of my best friends and his wife live just a minute away from our apartment and we love spending time with them. We also enjoy going over to my mom’s place and chatting with them. I am developing a great relationship with my sister too. She is really growing up to be a great young woman! Sometimes we even get together with her on Friday nights. Other family we have gotten to see in town since we got here have been my Grandma J and my aunt and uncle that live next door to her. We went over there last Monday evening for rice and beans, and homemade apple pie. Grandma, you are such a wonderful cook! We ate the leftovers for 3 straight days! Please come over to our apartment sometime and let us cook for you in return. I also got to see my other best friend/cousin this weekend. It was great hanging out with both of the buds! Oh, and I can’t forget those family members that helped us unload the moving truck! It was great seeing all of you and thanks for the help!

I’ve been keeping in touch with my brother in Florida too. It sounds like he is doing really good there. He got moved to a different store and is really liking it. He doesn’t have as far a drive, and he really enjoys the customers at that particular location. I was proud to hear too that my sister-in-law was awarded “Teacher of the Week” recently as well! How long have you been there? About a month? Good job! Well, we miss seeing the Florida family, and hope they are all doing well.

Lastly, the wife and I are extremely excited about the church we are joining here! We love it! Today was our third service. We are going to get involved there too. Today after the service they had a little fair in the community hall were everyone could sign up to help depending on their talents. I am hoping to get involved in the music ministry, whether it’s playing guitar or doing sound board, and helping out with the direction of the church website. The wife wants to get involved in youth group and sports ministry, and might sing in the worship band. We both signed our names on a bunch of lists, and we’ll see what the needs of the church turn out to be.

We joined a Sunday night Bible study. There are 5 couples total, including us. Our good friends from down the street are in it too. Everyone is so nice, and I think we will develop friendships with all of them. Currently, we are doing the 40 Days of Community. It’s something we did at our old church in Florida, and it is highly recommended.

That’s it for now. Any family or friends in the area that want to get together, don’t hesitate to call or stop by!

Chad Kraus church, Minnesota, Mrs. Kraus

Mrs. Kraus and I are moving to Minnesota. Back to my hometown where I grew up. We are very excited about this!

I am starting a great job on Monday Oct. 8 as a full-time web developer/sales person and I am SO exited to start! I put my 2 week notice in this past Monday, so next week will be my last week at my current job. Mrs. Kraus has one more week at her job too.

We are getting all of our furniture and both cars moved to Minnesota by a semi-truck, so we get to fly home! It will be so nice not to have to make such a long drive. However, we have to get a plane ticket for our cat! This will be an interesting experience. When we take the cat in the car it does not stop meowing… so I’ll have to get a little kitty sleepy pill to zonk it out for a few hours. That will be necessary to spare the nerves of the other folks on the plane. I can just hear Jinx’s chorus of “Meee-ow! Meee-ow! Meee-ow!” and the thought of that is horrifying… so bring on the kitty Xanax.

Our furniture will arrive one or two days after we get to town and we already have an apartment picked out! We are giving away/selling some of our furniture so if any family or friends are interested, please feel free to get a hold of us. Basically, we have to get a 4 bedroom house with 3 car garage down to a 2 bedroom apartment!

What is Mrs. Kraus going to do when we get there? She’s going back to college to finish her degree! This is very exciting for her and she can’t wait to get back to school in January. There is a fine college right in town.

Mrs. Kraus and I will miss our dear family and friends here very much. D-K-J-A… B-L-L… we are so sad to leave you guys. You have been wonderful to us through everything. We love you guys very much.

Family and friends in MN, we are excited to see you all. Please stop by and see us when we get settled into our new place.

Comments from old site:

Written by Mr. Kraus
Posted: Saturday, September 22, 2007 at 6:37 PM

Thanks Lisa! Adam would definitely be a good addition to my super cool “Truck Unloading Club”… the truck will arrive either Friday the 5th or Saturday the 6th. Thanks for adding us to the Bible study roster. We’ll be there!

Written by Lisa P
Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 at 9:11 PM

YAHOO!!! We are VERY excited for you!! I already signed you up for our small group - you can start when you get here (Sundays, around 6pm). Let us know if we can be of ANY assistance as you relocate! Adam’s good at carrying stuff, and if nothing else, we could stock you up with meals for a few days while you get everything unpacked. I have a killer Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice recipe I could make for you.

Chad Kraus Jinxy Cat, Minnesota