The Norsk Pranksters, looking to improve their record to 4 and 1, found the road to victory so deep in their magical hat that it was virtually impossible to retrieve. Dave Hook and Laurel Grindle gave it their all, scoring 113 points for the Pranksters. But once again Dave Herfel, along with his partner Tom Meyer, came through for the Red Mouse Shufflers, depositing 111 points in the Shufflers’ account. Taking an early 7-point lead after one, the Shufflers increased that lead to 28 points by the end of the fourth frame. The Pranksters slowly came back to dwindle that lead to 12 points by the end of the match.

Once again the Kleeman Hay Shakers found themselves in a tough battle, this one with the Norsk Cowboys. Thankfully, no one ended up in the hospital, and the only result was that the loser dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten. Jerry Judd and Al Zimmerman took the match seriously, stacking 110 bails for the Hay Shakers. However, as I understand it, the rest of the Hay Shakers ran low on bailing twine and were able to kick no more than 100 bails into the wagon. Whereas several Cowboys found the strength to round up 100 plus steers for the trail boss, Don Field. In the end, the Cowboys corralled five steers more than the Hay Shakers could provide feed for.

We all knew that one day the Cheese Eaters would eat through enough Swiss cheese to seize a victory. The head cheese (eater), Kendal Wegner, with partner Jeff Buesser, ate through the block of cheese first. Losing only their fourth and fifth games, they tunneled 113 holes in the cheese for the Ott Haus Cheese Eaters. This forced the wind out of the Red Mouse Uff-Da and gave the Cheese Eaters 20 bricks of cheese more than team Uff-Da.

The Morgan Pipe Benders also found a way to plumb a path out of the winless column. Pipe Benders Tom Arneson and Ross Nesheim had a perfect pitch to their work after the sixth frame, but found the plumbing around Trolls Keith Vobraska and Erica Funseth a little bit of a challenge. In the seventh frame Keith and Erica found a way to cut through Ross and Tom’s pipe at the twelve-foot mark to keep Tom and Ross three feet short of a perfect night. Tom and Ross ended the night with 117 feet of well laid pipe. Pipe Benders Mark Losenegger and Danny Dahlk, also perfect after six, lost their last two games to end with 111-feet of pipe laid. It was master plumbers Jerome Krantz and Tracy Buetel who laid the most pipe. After having the lowest score last week, Tracy, with the help of Jerome, got high score honors this week. Jerome and Tracy were beaten, 14 to 15, twice by Jeff Grassman and Bruce Frisch to finish with 118-feet of pipe laid. With this type of craft expertise, the Pipe Benders flushed the Trolls from under the bridge with 91 more lbs of water than the Trolls could handle. Trolls Pat Baier and Dave Meylor were completely washed away with a score of 75, this week’s low score.

The Ope Haus Express sprung a leak in their boilers before they could reach the station. This gave the J&M Bar River Rats the perfect opportunity to invade the caboose. Two of the Rats, Ernie Sarbacker and Mark Raders, found a huge hole in the floorboards and scored 116 points, propelling the River Rats to their first win of the half by just 5 points.

Schedule for February 9, 2023: Hay Shakers @ River Rats (8:00); Pranksters @ Cowboys (7:30); Pipe Benders @ Cheese Eaters (8:00); Express @ Shufflers (7:00); Uff-Da @ Trolls (7:00).

Standings: Cowboys, 5-0; Shufflers, 5-0; Hay Shakers, 4-1; Express, 3-2; Pranksters, 3-2; Cheese Eaters, 1-4; Pipe Benders, 1-4; River Rats, 1-4; Trolls, 1-4; Uff-Da, 1-4.