You can always blame it on the weather. Sometimes it makes us do weird things.  When I came down to my Mom and Dad’s recently, my mother had a table full of picture albums. She commented that she should do something with them, maybe put them in a scrapbook. She went on to say that it takes so much time - and then said, that is silly because it is time that is going to go by anyway, whether I do something or not.

My mother has always felt flowers are for the living, but she thinks visitations should be too, and would have liked seeing all their old friends and reminiscing about good times and bad while they were still living. So, I guess, for loss of a better explanation, that is what she was doing.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think she expects her demise, just going over things of the past. Pictures and a snowy day can do that to you for want of something better to do.

Do you want to share my slide show - side show - whatever you want to call it?  The first picture I came across was of my dad with his carpenter apron on and hammer in hand, looking down from wherever. That is how I always think of Dad in his younger years - building, making repairs. I realize we haven't taken a picture of him playing dice.  Age, health and handicaps haven't taken away his hammer and nails completely, but he does a better job of shaking dice nowadays.

There was a picture of an ice fishing contest on the lake. There was a lot of snow around those holes. Unfortunately, though the event was identified, the year wasn't. So typical of February. The bright colors of warm clothing, a contrast to the white snow, but everybody was having fun trying to catch the elusive fish to win a prize. Besides, it was a bright, sunny, colorful day.

One year Tom, who lives at St. Olaf Lake, planned a breakfast on the lake for his 50th wedding anniversary. So many people, so many pontoons, so many pancakes. The invitation said, "Just stand on your dock and wave and we’ll pick you up as we go by." Happy days.

Then I saw a clipping, a burned out refrigerator in an empty chasm of ashes and snow, the second time their home burned. It mercifully snowed the next morning, covering the destruction. Not so happy days.

Then there were years when there weren't any pictures for awhile. I don't know why. My parents lived with my sister for some time while they regrouped, ironically in the same house they live in now. Mom said there are lots of pictures missing of the snowmobile rides to the lake in the winter, the saddle club, the family, cousins, aunts, sisters, and uncles, friends sharing the beach.

There are pictures of water that rose in the wet lands behind their home at the lake and reached the bottom floor of their home. Water from the wet lands was the reason they bought the land for ducks, geese and wildlife, a project that their grandson, Cameron, still works at.

A time or two the lake grew high enough to trickle over the beaver dam, but the lake bottom is so solid that they most often had to water the lawn in the summer because, though they lived close to the lake, it didn't get enough moisture to keep the grass green.

At any rate, it was an entertaining and informative afternoon.

Pictures are sort of like money in the bank. Just as money is only paper until you use it, the same is true of pictures. There's "interest" there in the form of memories of things we did, but they are just paper if we don't get them out to enjoy them and share with others.

What's the saying? A picture is worth a thousand words.

There is a story, supposedly true, of one of those photographers who came to stores and took children’s pictures. Somehow the information as to who belonged to each picture was lost. Those involved were told they could have their picture if they could identify the pictures were theirs. Supposedly a large number of parents were unable to distinguish their child from another. The psychological fact was very stressful, especially to the fathers. End of story!

Always identify and date your snapshots. You'll be glad you did.

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented that they like to read about the local happenings and family events such as family and school reunions, birthday & anniversary celebrations, and birth and wedding announcements. In order to read about these important things, we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us, so we can then pass along the news to you. If you have news to share, please contact me.

Also, if our NRHEG Star Eagle readers would like to share birthdays and anniversaries of your family and friends, or you know of some that should be deleted, or names have changed, please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.

Birthdays and anniversaries this week:

• Thursday, March 17th: St. Patrick’s Day, Ashley Marie Hagen, Shannon Weckwerth Pacholl, Mike Cady, Dakota Ray Janning, Nicole Hanna, Patrick Wobschall, Harvey Zicafoose, Mandy Galbraith, Joel Hill, Jenifer Jensen Pietari, Carol Scott, Kevin & Marsha Jensen

• Friday, March 18th: Ashley Marie Hagen, Lynn Sommer Eaton, Chad Cornelius, Randy Brandt, Michelle Bartness, Dan Enzenauer, Matthew Larson, Wanda Stanley, Kent Toft, Matt & Jennifer Van Hal, Dean & Sue Westrum

• Saturday, March 19th: Samuel Bartness, his 1st; LaVern Klocek, Jill Rye, Jill Neitzell, Tyler Crabtree, Bethany Butler, Tori Lynn Sage, Wyatt Marcus Westergrin

• Sunday, March 20th: Tricia Renae Hanson, Nicole Christensen, Neva Lembke, Gary Reichl, Jim Butler, Tammy Harpel Nielsen, Winfred Bergdale, Shelly Hoeve, Billy Jo Johnson Schwierjohann, Dennis Olson

• Monday, March 21st: Doris Krause, Trent Steven Pence, Kelly Marie Dobberstein, Phillip Ingvaldson, Pam Farr, Kent Paulson, Diane Marlin, Kelly Nelson, Glea Hyland, Doris Krause, Brody Grunwald, Darrell & Cindy Farr

• Tuesday, March 22nd: National Goof Off Day! Gordy Carroll, Brenna Lynn Hagen, Shannon Johnson, Karin Lieberg, Bob Sommers, Leah Elaine Bergerson, Jerry Peterson, Nancy & Jerry Walterman

• Wednesday, March 23rd: Chris Newgard, Penny Obermoller, Alan Edwardson, Troy Johnson, Troy Wagner, Jason Dwight, Alexi Jo Kitzer, Alex Dobberstein, Delaney Sue Vander Syde, Alexander James Thompson, Peter Bergerson, Chris Rutheford, Phyllis Anderson, Glea & DeLores Hyland, Rick & Liz Wangsness

• Thursday, March 24th: Gail Ottesen, Seth Chad Staloch, Dave Meixner, Kurt Hanson, Laurie Phagan, Lucetta Kermes, Wes & Ruth Neidermeier, Angie & Cory Klemmensen, Tony & Sandra Tonsing, Lonna & Dean Broitzman

• Friday, March 25th: Brad Hagen, Michelle Ritz, Pam Anderson, Faith Jensen, Tom Marlin, Trevor Loverink, Bernice Farr Mattson

Surprise somebody. Call someone. Send a card and make their day. Little things mean a lot.

What are good friends for?

Feeling sympathetic no doubt for our winter of snowfall, a friend from Alaska sent a recipe she thought would be a good one to use for next year’s Geneva Wild Game Feed event. I wrote back and said she would have to send us the whale meat as I doubt Geneva, Beaver or St. Olaf Lake would have enough of the meat to go around. The recipe seems simple enough and should take care of a lot of good eaters.

Captain Mel Anderson's Alaskan Whale Stew

• 1 (105-ton) blue or sulfur bottom whale

• 1,896 lbs. onion

• 7,326 lbs. potatoes

• 1,908 gallons tomato sauce

• 2,276 lbs. carrots

• 927 lbs. celery

• 104 lbs. salt

• 76 lbs. black pepper

• 52 gallons hot Tabasco sauce

Place whale in large pot with tomato sauce and cook at 300 degrees for four hours. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for at least 36 hours. It serves 347,161 people.

If you care for hare in your stew, you can add a two-pound rabbit.

And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, you can try this recipe for Alaskan Tossed Snowballs.

You will need one dozen ripe Alaskan snowballs; one quart of caribou juice, drained and strained; two cups essence of seal gizzard and one teaspoon mashed moose bellow.

Toss snowballs into a bucket and when you have enough, peel and slice into quarters, or if preferred, into nickels or dimes. Now toss into stew pot. Squeeze a couple of caribou until you have a quart of juice, which you add to the snowballs in the stewpot. Set on fire and heat to boiling. After 30 minutes, test the snowballs for doneness with a hacksaw. If tender, add ywo cups essence of seal gizzard. Stir well and add mashed moose bellow. Cook until the moose bellow is quiet, but do not over cook because of danger to teeth while tossing the snowballs into mouth.

Makes one serving if you happen to like Alaskan Tossed Snowballs. Otherwise, it will serve up to 100.

The author really lives in Texas after being exiled from the Liar’s Club for lack of evidence.

Actually, the cookbook had some very good sounding recipes, including some for rhubarb cake, jam and marmalade. Right now that sounds like spring, but I think it will be a day or three before our rhubarb makes its appearance. I was told Alaskan rhubarb is spectacular.

When there is so much stuff that tastes good and is good for us, why do we eat and do things that aren't good for our health? I guess we may be descendents from Adam and Eve.

Interesting how a color symbol can touch your mind. Pink for breast cancer, red for heart health and white....is it diabetes? Think red, white and pink.

The way the weather has been playing tic-tac-toe with the "snowbirds," they will be spreading their wings and heading north instead of south.

My sister, Kaye, recently called to let us know there was rain and snow in Phoenix. Yes, in Arizona. Not just up on the Mongolian Strip, but in downtown Phoenix. She said they needed the moisture, but it will bring on a rush of green growth of grass and weeds. What's so bad about that? When it turns hot and the weeds dry up, it has to be removed for danger from fire. Many Arizona fires are started by cracks of lightning, destroying acres of land.

If you don't think little things make a difference, consider Celestial Seasonings Tea. The company has found that if they leave off the string and tag, they save more than 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills every year. I guess that gives us some "food for thought" too.

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented that they like to read about the local happenings and family events such as family and school reunions, birthday and anniversary celebrations, and birth and wedding announcements.

In order to read about these important things we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us, so we can then pass along the news to you.  If you have news to share, please contact me.

Also, if our NRHEG Star Eagle readers would like to share birthdays and anniversaries of your family and friends, or you know of some that should be deleted, or names have changed, please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.

Birthday and Anniversary greetings this week to:

• Thursday, March 10th:  Julie Stieglbauer Dahl, Sue Misgen, Aaron Callahan, Travis Johnson, Michelle Olson Bedney, Tom Vavra, Heidi Mattson LaFave, Chuck Hanson, Gayle Dummer, Douglas Schmidt, Linda Anderson, DeLynn Johnson Rohrbacher, Hannah Emily Brunsen

• Friday, March 11th:  Marian Mast, Carolyn Flesche, Leroy Folie, Kari Thostenson, Jon Carlson, Michelle Meyer, Larry Richards, Tim Simon, Joan Ahlstrom Diderrich, Tanya Swearingen, Tom Arbogast, David Callahan, Dean Lembke, Spener Sebastian Sommers, his 8th; Doug Blouin, Wendell Kuehni, Paul & Shirley Nelson

• Saturday, March 12th:  David Paulson, Jason Bowman, Terri Engel, Robert Hall, Harla Stanley Malz, Spiering Brody Sundbland, Willard Johnson, Gary & Barb Paulson, Jack & Virginia Jensen

• Sunday, March 13th:  Joanna Ver Hey, David Mangskau, Lynda Kruckeberg, Darla Waltz, Jessica Liverseed, Craig Lunning, Tony Tonsing

• Monday, March 14th:  National Potato Chip Day! Laura Katherine Worrell, Connor Duane Klemmsensen, his 2nd; Sierra Christine Krause, her 2nd; Brian Cerney, Brent Huber, Marcia Hutchins, Lee Loverink, Mary Finch, Kathy Molenaar, Trevor Titus

• Tuesday, March 15th:  Angie Haberman Lyman, Marvel Beiser, Andy Ditlevson, Robin Jepson, Judy Lunning, Tim Phagan, Steve Clausen, Tony Motl, Julie Peterson, Don & Cindy Gould

• Wednesday, March 16th:  Ava Pospesel, Blair Pospesel, Al Batt, Cortnee Langlie, Judy Waage, Tyler Lewis Hagenbrock, Jackson Taylor William Churchill, Howard Boverhuis, Harold & Pat Wayne, Hugh & Karen O'Byrne

• Thursday, March 17th: St. Patrick’s Day, Ashley Marie Hagen, Shannon Weckwerth Pacholl, Mike Cady, Dakota Ray Janning, Nicole Hanna, Patrick Wobschall, Harvey Zicafoose, Mandy Galbraith, Joel Hill, Jenifer Jensen Pietari, Carol Scott, Kevin & Marsha Jensen

• Friday, March 18th:  Ashley Marie Hagen, Lynn Sommer Eaton, Chad Cornelius, Randy Brandt, Michelle Bartness, Dan Enzenauer, Matthew Larson, Wanda Stanley, Kent Toft, Matt & Jennifer Van Hal, Dean & Sue Westrum

Wishing you sunny smiles to warm your heart on your special day!