• "Meet the mushers and their dogs before the start of the annual Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon. Seventeen teams of mushers and dogs will compete for the $7,000 top prize and are expected to finish sometime Wednesday. The weather looks good: highs near 10 above zero and lows just below zero."
• "Pasty sale at the Holy Family Church. Only $3.25 with or without rutabagas."
• "Exceptional! Same owner for 50 years! This meticulous three bedroom home has got to be one of the cleanest on the market. $139,000."
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar's hotdish recipe for Taconite* Tater Tots (recipe included below).
• "Mitch Blaylock (stage name Mitch Grant) has his biggest break yet in Hollywood, playing Officer Harris with Betty White in Hallmark Hall of Fame's The Lost Valentine ."
• "Yeti Tour for the March of Dimes Snowmobile ride and poker tournament  (Are you up for this, Bob F.?) departs at 9:00 am from the Sunset Bar. Poker tournament, 6:00 pm with $50 buy in. Ride back to the Sunset for pizza on Sunday."
• "Facing a shortage of priests, the Duluth Diocese is launching a strategic planning process to determine how best to use its resources."
• "Brian A. of Duluth uses snow shovel to scoop the accumulation of snow three feet deep on his roof."
• "Martin Sexton  will appear 8 p.m. Saturday, at Mitchell Auditorium (College of St. Scholastica), Tickets $24 advance; $27 at the door."
• Today's picture from Grandma's Brag Book: "Noah, 10, shot his first deer during a special youth hunt." Sorry, Nikki. 

*Taconite is a variety of iron formation, a sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate.

Today's Lake shot





Taconite Tater Tots

• a pound or so of ground beef
• a can of cream of mushroom soup
• a can of cream of chicken soup
• a small onion
• garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 8-12 oz. shredded jack cheese
• a package of Tater Tots

Brown ground beef, drain off fat. Saute onions, add garlic. Mix together beef, onions, both cans of soup, salt and pepper. Spread evenly into the bottom of a 9x12 baking dish. Cover with shredded cheese. Place Tater Tots in one layer over the entire pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, or until Tater Tots are crisp. Cover with remaining cheese and bake until cheese melts.