Multiple trivia wins

Monday our team had a great night at trivia night. We won multiple events.

I hadn't heard from Rod so I called to see if he was going to attend. His wife Barb answered and said he planned on attending. I asked if she was also going to attend and she said she had her sports ornament tree to take down and put away now that football season is over. Maybe she would come later. I told her she was needed as she helped our team the last time she was there. "Please come Barb."

"We'll see."

A few minutes later she called back to say Rod had to pick up Alan as Ed's car didn't start due to the cold temperatures. Barb told me she would pick me up on her way to the bar as she decided to come.

We all arrived just after the first trivia game started. Everyone from our team was there. Rod, Alan, Barb, Gene, Bonnie, Austin, and me. For some reason Bonnie thought there would be eight of us and named our team "8 Below". Huh? 8? Oh well, the name stuck.

The game was at the 4th question when we arrived with only one question answered by our team. Us late arrivals had some catching up to do for the previous questions to help with answers. Then it was the first "quarter-in-the-bucket" question.

"What is the most popular Asian breakfast snack?"

Lots and lots of wrong answers and therefore quarters in the bucket. A clue: it is not sweet. Lots and lots of more wrong answers. Another clue: it is salty. Pretzels, potato chips, cheetos, twinkies... Really, do you really think they are eaten as breakfast snacks? It was too early to blame these answers on "too much to drink". Finally someone came up with the correct answer: pork rinds. ...okay.

The first game was tough. We had a number of questions where we debated several answers we had thought of. "The first 90 minute western show on TV?" Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train (our guess), The Virginian. Correct answer: The Virginian

"What heavyset actor appeared in the 1933 movie 'Alice in Wonderland'?" Answers we thought of: Oliver Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle and my suggestion of W.C. Fields. The consensus was Oliver Hardy. Correct answer: W.C. Fields

For the second "quarter-in-the-bucket" question Rod was the second person to guess and got it correct. Question: "By what river was Pocahontas buried?" Answer: The Thames in London

Rod chose as his prize a set of football helmet bookends identical to what Bonnie chose last week and gave to Austin. What?! I thought since Barb is such a sports nut he chose the helmets for Barb. He gave them to Barb immediately. It turns out the other prize choices were food and Rod said since he is watching his weight he didn't want any food. Rod... how about the rest of your team? Rod missed seeing the gloves and hat that were a prize. Oh well. We all had a laugh as these helmets were identical to what Austin got last week. We kidded them by saying Austin had slipped the helmets back to Ed (who ran the trivia contests) to give away again.

We didn't win the first game. Outside of the two teams who always do poorly and never seem to get more than a few correct, the rest of the teams were bunched between 10 and 13. Our team had 11 correct. Naturally the lawyer/legal team won with 13 correct. Boo!

For a number of questions we got wrong, the right answer was one we had thought of, but rejected or were talked out of by another person. Barb said our problem is that we needed to chose the correct answer to win the game.

The second game was tough and we had a number of blank answers once all 20 questions were asked. Time to come up with the correct answers. Lots of debate. Everyone had a question or two they convinced others of an answer. For "What city is called the Eternal City?" I suggested Jerusalem or Vatican City in Rome. Rod and others felt just Rome was the answer. Lots of debate and I and Austin gave way to Rome. Correct answer: Rome.

"Where is it bad luck to mention the word Macbeth?" Half jokingly I tossed out the answer "the theater". Later I tried to take it back by suggesting "the cemetery" or "throne room". Everyone else liked my "theater" answer and went with it. As Rod handed in the answer sheet Barb mentioned "on horseback" which I thought was an excellent answer and tried to call Rod back. Too late. We were stuck with "theater". Surprise! We were the only team to get it correct.

I felt this was our worst game ever and we would be lucky to get 10 or more right. We won with 15 right and beat the lawyers who only got 13 right. We were very excited and maybe celebrated a bit too loud. This is North Dakota where one is suppose to to be gracious and humble when winning. Half our team had been downing a few drinks so they had an excuse. I hadn't anything to drink so I had no excuse for my dumb answers and excitement at winning.

Then it was the final "quarters" question. "Who was the first president to have an asteroid named after him?" I knew George W. Bush had an asteroid named after him and guessed that. Wrong. Lots and lots of Presidents were being named all the way from George Washington, Polk, Coolidge, McKinley, LBJ, to Carter and Reagan. Barb guessed Herbert Hoover and was correct. She won the bucket of quarters which turned out to be $24.25. Not bad. And here she wasn't planning on coming until I talked her into doing so.

We did good. We won a $20 drink certificate for next week, Barb won $24.25, and got a set of football helmet bookends. And we beat the lawyers/legal team.

Before tonight's trivia I studied phobias as Ed had asked a phobia question each trivia night. Tonight... no phobia questions. No matter. I found I could barely pronounce any phobia names much less remember them. I went through a list of phobias then took a quiz at the end where I tried to match 10 phobias with their names. I only got 5 out of 10 correct. If you want to try, click here. From this site you can also learn the top 10 phobias and all the phobia names. Did you know Venustraphobia is a fear of beautiful women? I think most guys have that fear.

The bar was full with more people than usual. More teams to beat but more people that smoked. My body and clothes reeked of smoke and my eyes burned slightly. When all indoor places go smoke free I will be so happy.

With everyone high from winning a number of us hung around longer than usual. Ed stopped by and chatted about the trivia questions, people common to him Rod and Alan, wine, and people he knew from North Dakota now living in the Flathead. Ed also knew of the Mission Mountain Band from the Flathead/Mission Mountain area. This band was a bluegrass folk band big in the 1970s into the 80s. They reunite now every few years in western Montana to play at benefit concerts. Apparently their first paying gig was at the Old Dutch Mill in Minot and played in Minot regularly.

Ed also showed off his long hair fur coat. He looked like an old fur trapper in his coat. He says it keeps him plenty warm. Rod told of meeting Rosie the woman who is walking around the world and is currently walking through North Dakota on her way back to England. I'll try to write more about that later.

Rod and Ed came up with having another food and wine party. Rod has pheasant and grouse and knows someone with walleyes. Rod naturally has plenty of wine. If we can get this arranged sooner than later I may delay my return to Montana by a little bit.

It was snowing when we left the bar. Probably an inch had fallen. Snow and cold in North Dakota. Rod's pickup windows were starting to defog when he dropped me off at my mom's house. "Blind Faith" was my answer to Alan's trivia question as we drove (Which band was Eric Clapton a member of in 1970?), and the answer as to how we were driving with the fogged up windows.