I’m not a big soccer fan. I don’t understand the game much and can only think of one match I ever watched start to finish, when the US women won the 1999 World Cup on a kick by Brandi Chastain.

Yet, as World Cup fever has built over the past week, I have found myself rooting on the red, white, and blue of the USA soccer team. I still don’t sit down and watch these games, but I fervently hope the USA puts on a good show and continues to advance. As I write this, they have advanced to the knockout round, so hopefully as you read this, they will be taking another step.

Why do I care as someone who professes to not enjoying soccer? National pride, plain and simple. The same thing applies during the Olympics; I don’t watch gymnastics any other time except during the summer games. As the Fourth of July bears down on us, it’s a good time to reflect on patriotism and what it means to be an American.

While I have never served in the military, I’m proud that my Grandpa Domeier, Uncle Larry, and father-in-law Mike Granowski all served. I’ve known many others who have been in the military and been involved in conflicts overseas, and I salute every one of these men and women. To be free is such a privilege and honor, and we must constantly remember what it has taken to get us to this point in America.

I’ve mentioned before how much I admire people who sing our National Anthem at sporting events. If someone is singing, I will refrain, but when it is a recording or the band is playing, I will belt it out with pride, no matter how much I might mangle the song. I’ve always been a little disappointed that we are only required to say the Pledge of Allegiance once a week in public schools; I recall with fondness that daily moment when I was in school.

I enjoy when Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the Fourth of July roll around and I’m picking out music for church. It gives me a reason to have at least one patriotic song, whether it’s “America the Beautiful”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, or “God Bless America.” These are always times that I hear the congregation singing loudly, and it makes me proud to be an American.

Do we take our freedom for granted? I’m sure we do at times. One should sit and think about what it would be like if the British had won or Hitler had taken over. Look around the world and read about countries that not only don’t have as much material goods, but also don’t have the right to complain about that fact for fear of retribution from the military and/or government.

I’m always amused when I scroll through Facebook and see people railing against President Obama. How many countries in our world would allow you to do that so publically? I always wonder how many of those people complaining voted for him once or twice. (Not voting at all gives you absolutely no right to complain. If you couldn’t be bothered to show up to the polls, a right you are given in our country, keep your mouth shut.) I often think that these same people might find cause to complain no matter who occupies the Commander-in-Chief’s role, and they probably also had problems with George W. Bush when he was in office.

When these patriotic days roll around, don’t just think about what you’re going to throw on the grill or how you get a day off work. Please think about why you have the means to buy that steak or those brats and why you might even get paid for not showing up to work. Remember the people who have suffered to make our country free and those who continue to work to keep that freedom.

Please show respect for our flag at parades and really, anytime you see it, and remove your hat. It’s the first thing I taught my son when he started wearing a baseball cap, and he dutifully removes his hat and places it over his heart when he sees Old Glory. Show respect to our veterans and those still serving. Say a prayer of thanks to God for the blessings we have, freedom being at or near the top of that list. Enjoy the holiday and stay safe!

Word of the Week: This week’s word is pungle, which means to make a payment, as in, “American soldiers have pungled out many lives to secure our freedom.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

The scurs were thinking they’d found the wire crossed between the windshield washer and the Weather Eye on the ’74 Gremlin X. They must’ve inadvertently crossed them again as some got a good dousing again Saturday night. Will they be more careful this week? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the lower 50’s. Temps rebound a tad on Thursday under mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny during the day on Independence Day becoming mostly cloudy by evening with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Partly sunny and again mostly cloudy by evening with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Warmer and mostly sunny for Monday with a chance for developing showers and thunderstorms overnight. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Clearing for Tuesday with highs again in the low 80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. The normal high for the 4th of July is 83 and the normal low is 62. Hopefully the scurs will evade the Fireworks Police and not be writing from the Crowbar Hotel next week.

More progress was made in the fields this past week towards getting spraying done, although numerous operators were stuck making an attempt due to saturated soils. Corn is getting to the point where height restrictions are coming into play as it will be more than knee high by the 4th. Soybean weed control has also been underway as well it should be. The earliest planted soybeans were beginning to bloom as of last week so the meter is also running on that crop. Some of those plants were up to a foot tall in places. Replanting soybeans in the drown out spots is occurring as well and will likely continue until about July 10th. After that date the likelihood of harvesting mature soybeans diminishes greatly. It does however provide cover for weed control and helps prevent fallow syndrome in next year’s corn crop. First cutting hay has been largely completed and again, some tractors and balers were stuck in the process. The fun never stops.

Rainfall in the month of June at the SROC in Waseca broke not only the record for June itself but the all-time record for monthly precipitation. The previous record was set in September of 2010 at 12.66”. The new record set in June stands at 12.94”. At the ranch we aren’t exactly shooing the camels off the yard with 11.28” recorded and in town at the Mall for Men rainfall totaled 10.95”. I do have to laugh at how some are convinced those figures can’t possibly be right and that we must’ve had more than that. After reading three gauges daily, one would think I’d start to catch on. Also, something tells me after comparing recorded data from location to location, rainfall really does vary considerably, sometimes within less than a half mile. Nice and dry on one end of the field with a 4-wheeler and lucky to get out with your life on the other due to mud provides a clue.

It has also been a bearcat to keep up with lawn mowing with all this rain. We won’t even go there about the mosquito population. Saturday was particularly annoying as several little showers cropped up while I was making an attempt to mow the windbreak. It was desperately in need as it had become long and out of control. After getting soaked I vowed to finish come hell or high water. By the time I finished I was starting to dry off again although the sky was beginning to look more ominous. I suspected it was probably time to punt on mowing the last part of the lawn south of the house. The radar on the cell phone confirmed my suspicions so Fudgie, Ruby and I shifted gears to plant the last of the begonias Mrs. Cheviot had left us. Doing so allowed a clear view of the approaching storm while we weeded the bed after finishing planting. Weeding was completed about the time the first large drops splatted off my melon so we dashed to the house as the skies opened up. Timing is everything when you’re gardening.

The ranch continues to serve as a nursery for many species of birds. Many of the evergreens have hosted robin and grackle nests as well as chipping sparrows. The bottoms of their tiny nests here are frequently lined with dog fur and wool. Gee, wonder where that came from? A recent addition came in the form of a nesting pair of bluebirds. I’d seen them from the oval office and wondered which of the nesting boxes they might be using. They’d used the box attached to the lever on the plow in the past. That box had contained a partially built nest when checked earlier. Checking again recently the nest had not progressed, making me wonder if we would have any bluebirds at the ranch this year. They seemed to frequently be showing up closer to the house, making me wonder if one of the birdhouses in the dooryard had been chosen instead. Sure enough, when I looked behind the granary, a blue egg was already in place in the nest of neatly woven grass.

As I wrote last week, I was lucky to have gone to the doctor when I did to avoid the shingles making my life miserable. It’s nice to be able to stick with a somewhat normal routine and not have your life totally disrupted. Several have asked how I’m doing and I really do appreciate that. After all, seeing some of the pictures and hearing the horror stories, I feared I might become Bugtussle’s very own Bubble Boy. Moops!

See you next week...real good then.

How many kinds of cars are there? The kids used to identify them on road trips but many can't anymore. Cars used to have an individual look for each car company. It was easy to tell a Ford from a Chevy, from a Dodge. Kids used to be able to tell make of a car without looking at the logo — now, they pretty much all look alike; like little jellybeans in so many different colors.

For old times sake, I tried writing down the names of all the cars that passed us on the road one day. I had a page full in no time at all.

Identifying cars was always a fun activity while one was riding someplace. Another was seeing how many people were traveling from other places and reading and identifying where people were from.

It is fun to see where cars come from. On an interstate highway you usually find a great variety of out-of-state license plates. Wouldn't it be fun to know where they are all going? Cold weather traffic heading south is usually a no brainer. A car towing a boat with fish gear is almost a sure bet they are heading for relaxation, likely up north. College kids come from all directions, as do families on vacation. Holidays bring out miscellaneous licensing as folks go home.

Signs along the way was another game we played while we were traveling. Starting with the letter "A" we would see who could find a sign that would contain the next letter we were looking for until we reached the letter "Z." Words from signs were also put together to make silly sayings!

Time went by fast and no one ever asked, "Are we there yet?" The kids learned to be observant, how to spell and create stories.

Sometimes it was look and find — like find a yellow car or a sign that contained the letters in one’s name, or different shapes like rectangles, circles, octagons etc.

They also played guessing games, such as what kind or color of car will pass us?

Of course the dialog that went with it was too personal favorites: things known about the car, why a favorite color was picked, places they liked to go, vocal noise to emphasize going up or down a hill or around a corner, or even a long stretch.

Waiting in a parking lot is interesting too. The parade of people and vehicles never ends.

During the winter months it is interesting to note how few people actually cover their heads, or hands, despite the cold weather. Many don't zip or button up their coats either. It is surprising how adults will dress small children and babies for the various seasons and temperatures.

Just the type of clothing worn is amazing; also not always in keeping with the weather conditions. Shorts in winter, flip-flops right along with some covered to the hilt. I have yet to figure out if the flannel-colored pants, which I thought were pajamas, are actually comfy to wear. They are colorful, to say the least.

T-shirts: what is there about a name or lingo or advertising on a shirt or cap? You can learn a lot from a T-shirt or cap. They can be funny and informative, or dirty and uncalled for. Some support causes like cancer, heart disease, veterans and the like. They announce events, advertise products and places and attract attention. Isn't it funny that we will pay to promote a product or an athletic team like the Twins or Vikings? Well, no — we also pay to watch advertisements with TV entrainment, computer information and the daily newspaper. 

Advertising is positive to selling a product, but one wonders if the added cost of the advertising were removed, what would the product really cost the consumer? Admittedly, some ads are better than the TV programming. There are also the repeat ads that are enough to drive one crazy. Budweiser ads are always in good taste and a joy to look forward to; this is one company that consistently promotes the quality of its products by paying attention to the emotions of the viewers. They are consistently recognized as the best advertisements during the Super Bowl. The advertisement is remembered because it is so good; how many other Super Bowl ads can you name?

You don't really need to go around the world to experience new things. There is so much to see and do right here in plain sight — you just need to take advantage of it.

They say, "Variety is the spice of life." There are lots of spices out there. You just have to look for them and use your imagination. Stories, fact or fiction, aren't always just in books. They are there in everyday living. Observing what is contained in shopping carts can tell you something about a person as well. The amount of soft drinks is phenomenal along with the boxes or bags of chips and other crunchy treats. It makes one wonder how much good money is spent on non-nutritional foods. It is surprising how many have large packages of toilet paper.

Size and shapes of people are varied too, from round and robust to twiggy skinny with jeans that look like they were put on with a shoehorn. Jeans are jeans, no matter what the price or style. They all look the same to me, but the more fashion-savvy folks know what is in and what is out.

Surprising how many men shop with their children. With today's working mothers, dads have taken on some responsibilities once considered "women's work.” Why was it? It is good to see children more involved with both parents, as well as see the closeness of family living.

On a side note, remember to wave the flag this Fourth of July. It gives you a mood boost! Old Glory not only stokes your patriotic pride, it makes you feel full of joy; it reminds us that we are part of something special.

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented they like to read about events such as family and school reunions, birthdays and anniversaries, 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. Also if you have an idea for a story that you think would be of interest to our readers, please contact me. 

If you have birthdays and anniversaries you would like include, or news to share 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:

• Thursday, June 26th: Michelle Marie & Marissa Ann Leeman, Brock Nelson, Tony Muri, Richard Holmes, Michelle Davidson, Tiffany Olson, Ray Jepson, Pennie Ladlie, Tristan & Michael Ingvaldson, Chuck & Ann Southworth and Tom & Wilma Arbogast

• Friday, June 27th:  Eugene & Phyllis Hagen, Carlyle and Judy Hagen, Jamie & Kim (Weckwerth) Farr, Stormi Hagen, Mary Groth, Karrie (Newgard) Moen, Marge Trandem, Michelle Vangen, Milton Nelson and Sandi Serdahl

• Saturday, June 28th: Warren & Bonnie Nelson, Jenny (Broskoff) & Chris Dutton, Danielle (Wagner) & LuVerne Zacharis, Amanda (Reese) Beavens, Shane Reese, Margaret Dobberstein, Zack Kromminga, Sara Hoyt, Sara Jensen and Noah Peterson

• Sunday, June 29th: Nate VerHey, Courtney Haugen, Jacob Peterson, Brenda (Janka) Tschann, Jane (Jensen) Bratten, Berniece Whelan, Barb & Dale Mrotz, Brent & Valerie Christensen, Brent & Michelle Meiners, Wally & Marge Wobschall

• Monday, June 30th: Tammy & Jeff Busho, Susan (Schmidt) & Jon Anderson, Ann & Brent Wiersma, Nate & Kristine VerHey, Julie Vanden Heuvel Horiban,  (spelling) Robin Eder, Nathan Robertson, Donna Reichl, Steve Jensen, Barb Wright, Lorrie Kelly, Roger Shaunce and Makenzie Lynn Vreeman

• Tuesday, July 1st: Keralyn (Paulsen) Powers, Eugene Hagen, Mary Edwardson, Linda O'Neil, Joanna Ruth Vermedahl, Jill Hanson, Chris Ihrke, Jason Churchill, Marjorie Otterson, Deb Schimek, Rachel (Eaker) Lee, Gary Carlson, Tristan Bangert, Robert Christensen, Roger & Joyce Wayne, Heather (Krause) & Dion Quiram and Frank & Marilyn Cuden

With each passing year, grow stronger, grow wiser, and grow richer in spirit. May the year be filled with new discoveries, and God bless America!

Rain, rain, go away and come again in a more timely fashion. Although we did get some much needed moisture, I don’t think it was quite what folks had in mind when wishing for rain. There was way too much wind and too much rain in too short a period of time. Whatever happened to those days when there would be a gentle all-day rain that soaked into the ground slowly and gave everything a nice even soaking? I believe this is what is referred to as “feast or famine” and nothing in moderation.

Looking back to my youth I can remember a few times when we would have a real downpour that would dump a few inches at a time. To a kid, a rainstorm was a time to run about outside trying to get a few raindrops to land on the tip of your tongue or sliding barefooted on the wet grass getting mud and blades of grass between your toes. These were just some things that kids (at least this one) liked to do in the rain. Some of the neighbors, like my Aunt Ruby, would yell at us if they caught us playing in their wet yards.

Once the rain had stopped and the ditches were full, it was time to build a makeshift raft or boat and launch it in the ditch. The rafts or boats weren’t life sized by any stretch of the imagination, but more like models. Once the ships were launched it was off to the races! I would run alongside the road following the boat and coaxing it as it wound its way through the culverts and down the ditch towards “the crick” and out into the slough. Now navigating through tall weeds and grass sticking out of the water was always a challenge. There were a few instances when the water was too high and your vessel would get hung up on a branch or clump of grass and would be just out of reach, so you would have to wait it out until the water subsided. Once the water crested and started going down you may be able to reach the boat, but it was a bittersweet feeling. There would only be a small window of opportunity when the water would be running at maximum depth and the current would be at its strongest. This is when you wanted the boat to make the full trip and reach the “crick” where it would be carried off into the slough on an adventure known only to the imagination of a young boy.

I’d have to say that in hind sight this was probably dangerous for kids because the current was strong and fast. On more than one occasion I would roll up my pant legs and ford the running water to the other side of the ditch. This wasn’t always an easy task and falling down could result in wet pants and an occasional “red” bottom upon returning home with wet pants. The last words my mother would usually say before I went outside after a hard rain was, “stay out of the ditch.” This was usually taken as a challenge and rolling up your pant legs to above the knee seemed to borderline on genius except when the water was as high as the cuff you had just created.

This was innocent, simple fun that we kids created and that would occupy us for most of a day. I guess I never really thought about being bored because even when there wasn’t anyone around to play with I would use my imagination to entertain myself. Sometimes I would throw a football through the tire swing in the back yard or just see how high I could throw it and play catch with myself. I would never have thought of going to Mom or Dad and telling them I was bored. They had all they could do to put clothes on our backs and food on the table, so being bored never was part of their world.

My mother was the one that introduced me to fishing at a young age. She talked about how she would spend a lot of time at “Coney Island” which is what they called the place where Bancroft Bay Park is today. She and her cousins would swim and she said she would also go fishing there. I actually learned a lot about fishing in that place she called “Coney Island.” Using the proverbial “hook, line and sinker” technique, I’d fashion a throw line and on occasion I’d add a cork which my mother had rescued from an old broken thermos. We always called them corks back then and I don’t know when the name switched to bobbers. I still have an old bobber that is shaped like a Pure Oil can. I believe that I also have one that looks like a can of Grain Belt beer – my, how we have evolved. I can still see those big old yellow bellied bullheads and huge bluegills that we caught. That was simple fishing, and maybe even a little primitive by today’s standards, but it sure was fun.

We must always be careful when we are around high water and fast currents because streams can be deeper and more dangerous than they seem. We should be especially mindful to keeping little children away from fast running streams and rivers.

Until next time; enjoy the great outdoors and take some time to introduce a kid to fishing. Always play safe and if you’re in a boat or by a stream be sure to wear your life jacket.

Please take a little time to remember those who served and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

Echoes from the Loafers' Club Meeting

How was your vacation?

It was OK, but I spent half my time getting to the resort.

That so?

And the other half of my time wishing I were home.

Driving by the Bruces

I have two wonderful neighbors — both named Bruce — who live across the road from each other. Whenever I pass their driveways, thoughts occur to me, such as: good advice sounds like bad advice.

Cafe chronicles

I sat in a coffee shop, using my cellphone to reply to emails that had accumulated like the national debt. I drank a cup of tea in the midst of loud cellphone conversations. It was difficult to keep from being swept up into the story lines of others. I couldn’t help but try to fill in the missing half of each conversation.

Seeking a quieter atmosphere, I moved down the road to a cafe.

A stop at a small-town cafe is good on a day that might have come from IKEA because it needed to be assembled from confusing instructions.

A woman told me that she’d been behind bars. And she had been. She’d worked behind the dessert table in the church basement at a potluck supper.

She’s a good small-town person. She knows her place. Sometimes it’s behind bars.

Someone has to be late

I left my bed early in the morning. I’d risen like dust after an all-night rain. I started off slowly and then tapered off.

Not much later, I was stalled in traffic. Someone had decided to drive zero miles per hour. I wanted to be elsewhere.

The guy in the car next to me looked as if he were a man on his way to the proctologist. Or maybe he was eating a Vaseline sandwich.

I wished I had my razor with me so I could have used my time to shave. I have one of those razors that have countless blades. One of the blades is a mulcher.

It had rained too much. Several roads were closed due to heavy rains. It added time to my trip to a meeting.

I hoped that I could make it there quick enough to get to the lifeboat.

I did.

A fellow attendee told me, "I had to get lost to get here."

My neighbor

His wife told him that in some cultures, the husband does things. He did something. He watched TV. He loved "Newhart." He loved it so much that he named his twins Darryl and Darrell. They were identical, but he could tell them apart by the way they spelled their names.

I thought about them recently when I hung around with some English guys. None of them were named Darryl or Darrell. They were great fellows with wonderful accents. They could say something incredibly stupid and still sound brilliant.

Did you know?

Dr. Indra Neil Guha, a liver specialist at Nottingham University Hospital in England, read Ian Fleming's James Bond books and tabulated how many drinks the suave spy drank. On average, Bond consumed about 45 drinks per week.

Nature notes

Alice Kluver of Albert Lea wrote, "The question has arisen among bird-watching friends, do the birds that migrate south for the winter raise young while there? If they don’t, why not? And, do the young raised here this summer, choose mates this summer or wait until their stay in the south?  Hoping to learn more about it. Another more obvious question, why do they even bother to come north where it’s lousy weather for 9 months?" Birds that breed in North America and spend the winter south of the U.S. border are known as "neotropical migrants." Neotropical means the tropics of the "New World." The reason why migration persists is because it increases breeding success. Birds are able to raise more young on average by migrating than they would if they remained in the tropics. The abundant, protein-rich food provided by insects, longer daylight hours, greater area over which the birds can spread, and possibly fewer predators offers the potential to raise more young. As the days shorten in the north in fall and food supplies become scarce, birds migrate south to their nonbreeding territories. Nesting and migrating are arduous undertakings and rest is needed. They take a break from raising families while they are south. Some birds mate for life, most others find mates in the spring.  

Meeting adjourned

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." — Leo Buscaglia

The first part of May, Genie asked if I was going fishing with the guys for a week at Leech Lake. I responded with a loud, definite, “Yes.”

She then asked I would be writing about the trip in this column. I responded with a loud, definite, “Yes.”

Genie then reminded me our marriage was an equal partnership for life. To keep things equal, she was going to the mountains in Arkansas for a week in June with the gals at a mountain retreat. I responded with a quiet, sheepish, “Okay.”

She then informed me that, to keep things equal, she would be writing about the trip in this column. I responded with a quiet, sheepish “Okay.”

The following is Genie’s week of Equality, beginning on a Wednesday and back on a Tuesday.

I went on my road trip by myself. I drove to Arkansas in two days.

First day was beautiful. I played the radio loud and sang along. Enjoyed Public Radio, too.

First day ended in Bethany, Mo. Tired of driving, I went shopping, of course!

Second day it rained a lot, but I could still hear meadowlarks when the radio was off. I saw a doe come out of the woods with her fawn between showers. A grey fox slunk across the road in front of me. I enjoy going off the Interstate to see what I can see.

Twenty-one women gathered at a lovely retreat center in the Ozarks’ tree mountains, so lush and green outside Jasper.

We gathered to dance, Zumba®, tell stories, laugh, do crafts, EAT, play, go for walks, cook some, snack, sleep a little, and some cleanup. No fishing!

Saturday night we had a campfire and sang around the fire and shared stories.

Twenty of the gals were from Harrison and Jasper, Arkansas area. I came the farthest!

Sunday, 21 gals had breakfast at the Cliff House. This restaurant overlooks the awesome Ozark Grand Canyon! Hummingbirds wage battle to get to feeders all across the front deck of the restaurant. The food was good and we all left smiling.

Monday I drove in rain all the way to Marshall, Mo. Had a two-hour break in rain so, of course, I went shopping!

Tuesday I drove in rain until Indianola, Iowa, arriving that evening back in Albert Lea. I really enjoyed my drive.

That’s my story of a week of my kind of “No Fishing” and I’m sticking to it.

Still smiling, 

Genie

———

Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.

(I hope you had a chance to read the earlier piece that described the underlying ideas of the district’s strategic plan. If you did not and you find you have questions, you can go to the school web site and see some of the information there. You do not need to have read the previous article to understand what will be said here.)

Yes, it is perfectly obvious that student learning is a priority for any school district. But read on, because you will quickly see that there are many elements of this topic which are not obvious at all.

Over time, I have heard teachers express their frustrations about student learning in a variety of humorous ways: “If only it would work to strap books to their heads!” “I hope the experts develop telepathy soon, then I could just transfer understanding directly into their brains.” “If time travel is ever perfected, I’m going to find this kid’s future self and send him back to talk to himself!”

But all joking aside, there are no shortcuts when it comes to student learning. Oversimplified, the art rests in knowing both the material and the learner, and finding a way to make the one accessible to the other. I make no claims of perfection, but I have every confidence our district’s teachers are highly knowledgeable in the subject matter they teach. As for the learners…well, they’re an ever-changing tide. 

Research shows that a student’s success in school , a student’s enthusiasm for the types of learning offered in classrooms, rests on a wide array of factors. Some of these are under the teachers’ control: overall elements of the environment, including whether the student feels safe and is comfortable; the tools used to present and clarify the material; follow-up work which expands student competency. A great many more are not: whether the student is hungry or distracted, how well the learner has understood necessary foundational information, questions of confidence and self-esteem, the priority the student places on academic learning, the learner’s preferred learning style…the list goes on and on. And especially in a less stable household, many of these factors change from day to day.

So what’s a school district to do? Everything possible, of course. Some of the students who like school least are the ones who need it most, so excuses are not an option.

Elements of the strategic plan extend into the three elements of learning—the subject matter, the learner, and the way the material is presented.

The easiest one to explain is the first: how we will improve our teachers’ knowledge of their subject matter. Research shows that the higher the combined education level of a school’s staff, the more successful its students are. The strategic plan includes steps which will encourage our teachers to continue their educations and become more knowledgeable in their subject areas.

A sub category is how well the teachers know their students. This topic becomes more complex, since there are several directions from which the question can be approached. Standardized tests, for example, are a way the state evaluates student learning. If you are acquainted with any child who attends our schools, you have doubtless heard about the batteries of tests required by the state. If I hear from people that it is desirable, I will make more information about these test scores available in a later piece of writing, but the big picture when it comes to state tests is that our students as a group have shown a performance level below the state average. Since, just as in Garrison Keillor’s fictional hometown of Lake Woebegon, we believe all our children are above average, we want to find ways to improve the scores our classes are earning.

Raising these scores will demand considerable effort. We must find and repair the short circuits which have kept our groups from performing at target levels. This will require our teachers to look closely at the expectations for the tests, the overall school curriculum, and other factors. To engage in this diagnostic process, teachers must get together, examine data, determine relevant factors, then consider and choose possible responses.

To facilitate this process, the district has already taken two important steps. One is that we have expanded our staff to include someone whose job it is to focus on the overall flow of our teaching process; Terri Engel has stepped away from the fifth-grade classroom where she has been so successful for decades, and is now the district’s Curriculum Director. She will work with teachers and with data to see how our teachers can make their teaching more strategic. The second way is that we have arranged nine late starts for this upcoming school year. These are being carefully planned to maximize their value; one of their main purposes is to allow teachers to collaborate about how to improve the ways subject matter is delivered to students.

The next element, the learner, will also be a topic on which our teachers will collaborate.  Staff will share information about groups of students, including what techniques have been successful in the past, what their areas of strength and weakness are, and how they can best be supported as they advance from level to level. In short, teachers will look for ways to get to know the students better for the sake of individualizing their instruction methods.

Another way the strategic plan focuses on individual learning is with new initiatives for students who prefer hands-on learning. This summer, students will earn credit by completing construction projects under the supervision of one of our teachers. A program which focuses on delivering health care, and which allows students to work directly in the medical field, will also offer an opportunity to earn high school credit. Other endeavors are under development, and you are likely to hear more about them in the near future.

Because these hands-on learners are most often the students who drop out of high school before graduating, this particular focus is likely to help with another stated goal, increasing our graduation rate from its current 85% to a figure much closer to 100%.

There we have it, a quick summary of the “student learning” element of the district’s strategic plan. I hope you can see the many ways it ties in with our mission statement: Providing students with knowledge, skills and attitudes which enable them to succeed in a globally competitive society.  Empower, Learn, Succeed. 

As before, if you are looking for more detail, please visit the school web site, http://www.nrheg.k12.mn.us, where a quick glance around will show you the path to more information in a link labeled “strategic plan.” Watch, too, for future writings which will provide summaries about some of our other priorities. Thanks for taking the time to read all this…having done so shows you are just the type of person we hope to send out into the world: a lifelong learner.

I was visiting with Matt Groskreutz after Round Whatever of Delugapalooza this past week, and we tried to figure out a good place to move that doesn’t have severe weather. Matt suggested a beach in Mexico, but then we remembered hurricanes. Eh, you can’t avoid those when they arrive. I thought about Arizona, but they have dust storms that make some of our snowstorms look tame.

Scientists will go on and on about climate change, and I’ve always been a bit hesitant to swallow that completely, but it sure seems like our weather patterns are shifting. I knew this must be so after talking to my grandma this week, and she was having a hard time thinking of a stretch of years like the past five or so. As a retired farm wife, she knows her stuff when it comes to weather!

I used to be fascinated by severe weather as a child; I even wanted to be a meteorologist for a while! (They and Joe Mauer get away with a low batting average these days.) My sisters and I always thought it was rather neat to be stuffed in the root cellar with the family photo albums anytime a tornado warning was issued. If our house had ever been hit, we’d still have those pictures along with potatoes and all of Mom’s canned fruits and vegetables.

We did have straight line winds go through one year. I didn’t understand why Mom was so freaked out; after all, a couple years before that, I had stood outside our basement and watched a tornado touch down briefly about a mile away. This time though, Dad was down in the barn. Luckily, he was in the basement part of the barn; our chicken shed was destroyed. Dad and I went over to the neighbors’ to help after their barn was shifted off its foundation and their machine shed had been wrecked.

Blizzards were no big deal – it usually meant a day off of school! The snow would stop, and we’d have a chance to play to our heart’s content in the new drifts.

How things change. Blizzards are an annoyance when you have to shovel and make up snow days. Plus, we don’t have an awesome sledding hill in our backyard like my parents did at their place in the country!

Tornadoes aren’t cool either. Witnessing the devastation a few years back was incredibly numbing. I still shake my head every time I drive to New Richland and see all the trees missing by Thompsons and Bartnesses. When you have to help people pick through their belongings that have been flung away in a muddy field, it makes you appreciate Mother Nature even more.

It’s scary, too, that I could drive my kids by Legion Lake Field this past week and point out how it wasn’t even as high as it had been in 2010. At least area people feel better prepared for this eventuality after that initial debacle. After this week of storms, the Land of 10,000 Lakes has probably doubled in the number of watery locations.

And we didn’t even have it as bad as those west of us. I found out my parents and my grandma both had much flooding of their basements and were just trying to keep up with it after a ton of rain fell on the already-saturated ground this week. Plus, the rash of tornadoes to the south and west were stark reminders of the power in those clouds.

I often refer to the weather terrorists when they start predicting the latest Storm of the Century, no matter which season we’re in. However, they seemed to nail it this past week. Just when you hoped they would be wrong, they hit it over the fence in a game we’d rather they not win.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is picaroon, which means a rogue, thief, or pirate, as in, “The citizens stopped the picaroon from thieving from unfortunate people affected by the natural disaster.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

The scurs’ predictions for showers and thunderstorms last week are making them believe the Weather Eye from the ’74 Gremlin X they’re using for forecasting must be connected to the windshield washer. Will they find the wire that’s crossed this week? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the low 60’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a good chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly cloudy Friday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs near 80 and lows in the upper 60’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with an increasing chance for showers and thunderstorms into the evening. Highs in the low 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Partly sunny Sunday with a moderate chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in low 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Partly cloudy Tuesday and muggy with a high in the upper 80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. The normal high for June 30th is 82 and the normal low is 61. By June 30th we will already have lost 3 minutes of daylight from the summer solstice. The scurs advise enjoying it while you can. January isn’t that far off.

Massive rainfall issues plagued much of the Greater Bugtussle area. Unofficial claims of over 10 inches in areas were reported while others had to settle for lesser amounts. At the ranch, we tallied 7.33” from June 14th – 20th and at the Mall for Men, closer to 7.6”. For the month at the ranch we’re looking at 9.8” so far and about that in town as well. Crops have reacted to the excess rainfall negatively as nitrogen losses appear to be common in the corn in addition to the drowned out spots readily apparent from the windshield. Soybeans have taken the rains slightly better on their appearance although closer inspection is revealing some root diseases already showing up, namely phytophthora. Spring wheat has headed out and appears to be in good shape considering the later than desired planting date. Second cutting alfalfa has benefitted from the rains and should help make up for lost time to alleviate the local hay shortages.

The storm on the 16th brought down a large chunk of the silver maple in our yard. Mr. Cheviot managed to get it sawed up while throwing the leafy branches over the fence to the sheep. The sheep remove all the leaves and make the brush lots easier to pile up once they’re done with it. The loss of a main part of the trunk has changed the personality of the backyard however. Now when I toil at the confuser during daylight hours anyway, the sun shines directly in the window where before it was shaded. If it starts shining in the window at night I may start to believe global warming is real.

Someone asked me after the recent storm how my shingles were. I told him they weren’t damaged by the storm at all. He gave me a funny look as though I was pulling his leg and then it dawned on me, I had told him previously I’d been diagnosed with shingles! I then explained that luckily I went in early to get it checked out and sure enough that’s what the nasty rash starting on my stomach was. It had begun to spread and the prescribed anti-viral horse pills pretty much stopped it in its tracks. It still itches and causes some minor pain, but it has been nothing like it could’ve been had I let it go.

My little fat buddy the mechanic and I decide to revive the Studebaker project while the fields were saturated for a few days last week. We got the thing to the point where we could put gas in it and see what it would do. What did it do? Unfortunately not much. Turns out five of the six exhaust valves in the flathead six were stuck in varying degrees of open so compression was not its strong suit. What’s next? You guessed it: Pull the engine and go through it, replacing seals, valves, rings, etc. While we’re at it we may as well do the clutch and throw out bearing. Nothing comes easy, although pretty soon we’ll have gone through and repaired most of the major systems. Now if we could find someone to do that with the weather.

The recent warmer weather has brought about the stable flies. Theses nasty little biting muscids make life miserable for those who desire to wear shorts. Repellents are of marginal effectiveness it seems and only smacking them seems to make one feel better. And of course, if you thought the mosquitoes were getting worse, you haven’t seen anything yet. All the standing water resulting from these June storms can only mean one thing: Hordes of mosquitoes. One more reason I’m happy to allow as many barn swallows as I can in the out buildings. 

Fudgie and Ruby continue to enjoy the moderate temperatures when it isn’t raining. They romp and fertilize the yard, keeping the lawnmower busy. Fudgie has also discovered the striped gophers are fun to pursue and as most dogs do, likes to dig the holes open enough so she can stick her beak in it and snort. Ruby stays trim with all her tearing around the yard and monitoring Stormy’s progress in the barn. The lamb shares an 8’ x 16’ pen with her mother so she has room to run, exciting Ruby to run back and forth in front of the pen. When Ruby gets back in the house, she plays with her ball. Her ball supply is shrinking however. She lost another one in the living room and after tearing the room chairs and all apart, we still can’t find it. This has happened several times now. No one ever said raising Border Collies would be boring.   

See you next week…real good then.