It looks like an early spring is in store if you believe that chubby little rodent named Phil. I am however, a bit skeptical about the whole thing, especially after last year when one of his weather predicting brothers in fur proceeded to bite an unsuspecting mayor on the ear during his town’s copy-cat ceremony. I am surprised that PETA hasn’t stepped in and claimed it was animal abuse for making the little rodents hang out with folks that have nothing better to do on that day.

Locally, our big storm with up to 12 inches of snow predicted didn’t quite come off as advertised, but we did get enough snow and wind to warrant plowing, shoveling and various closings. If I sound somewhat disappointed, I am not, although the kid in me always feels a little nostalgic whenever I see a fresh snowfall, the old guy part of me finds that shoveling snow has gotten to be a little more like work as each year passes.

I have always gotten that somewhat cozy feeling when sitting in the old chair with the sound of the wind whipping the fresh snow into a frenzy. In those instances I tend to envision myself sitting in an overstuffed chair, reading a book while a warm fire crackles in the fireplace. As I awake from my fantasy I find that I have been dozing off in my recliner, the remote in my hand while the heat register is blowing warm air on me. Ah, reality, no overstuffed chair, no book of classics and no fireplace, but what I do have isn’t really all that bad. One of these winters I’d like to drive to the cabin and spend a few days in the woods feeding the fire and just enjoying being a little closer to nature. Our road doesn’t get plowed out in the winter so that might not be realistic, but what the heh, it is fun to dream.

As you can probably tell, I am a pretty basic guy with simple needs so my dreams aren’t all that large. As a kid I always had a vivid imagination and that part of me has never really changed much. My dream of becoming a star football player went away in about 10th grade, but my love for the game is still there. It can be pretty tough being a Minnesota sports fan, but if you don’t set the bar too high it’s not such a letdown when the team loses. I have an app on my phone that gives me periodic updates of Wild, Wolves, Gopher and Viking games, but lately I’ve been trying to ignore the first two. It could be worse, I could be a Cubs fan; my wife has cousins who live in Illinois and are diehard Cubs fans. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be.

This winter the best walleye fishing seems to be in the northern part of the state on lakes like Winnie and Lake of the Woods, but there are still fish to be had right here close to home. We have lakes right here at home that have many more fish than folks might imagine. Even when a lake freezes out, it never, in most cases, really ever totally dies off unless it is a man-induced kill.

Locally, there have been folks fishing by the access on the channel by Frank Hall Park. I’ve heard of some walleye and a few jumbo perch being caught. I’ve also heard the beach area was giving up a few jumbos, some sunnies and an occasional bass or walleye. If I were to do any hard water fishing I might try Fountain Lake by one of the bridges or in Edgewater Bay just to get away from the crowd. I’ve fished Fountain since I was a kid and, in my opinion, it has always been underrated when talking fishing lakes.

Although I have never been a hardcore ice fisherman, I usually manage to go once or twice a year and that is only on area lakes. My grandson Trevor has taken me a couple of times in the last year and I went with my friend Mark a couple of years ago.

Looking back to my childhood, my folks would take me to St. Olaf Lake every year for their annual ice fishing contest. Once we got there my mother would take me out to the spot, find a hole and line up the bait before disappearing inside the store/bar to relax with my dad and their friends. I would stay out on that cold ice staring religiously at that hole, hoping for the slightest sign of a bite. Mom would come out and check on me from time to time, but I didn’t really seem to mind that it was cold and the fish weren’t doing much biting because I was doing what I liked to do, and that was fishing. I can’t really remember catching much more than an occasional small perch, but even that was considered a victory in my world. I don’t really remember ever fishing Beaver Lake in the winter and actually one fishing contest a year was probably enough to pacify me until spring when the creeks, streams and lakes opened up.

Until next time, enjoy the outdoor rinks, sledding and fishing our area lakes but always be careful when you do decide to venture out because no ice is ever 100 percent safe.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers, n not only during the holiday season but for the rest of the year. They are the reason that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

Echoes From the Loafers' Club Meeting

You look great.

Thanks.

What's your secret?

I showered.

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: A junk drawer is a time capsule. Don’t complain until you find someone who is willing to listen to your complaints. Never talk to anyone while they are writing a check to you.

Winter woes

I have a great affection for the seasons, but a blizzard can strain that relationship. A speaking engagement in Guthrie Center and a ballgame in Willmar were both postponed. The cat ate breakfast, declared the day to be a snow day and took a nap.

On a nicer day of weather for humans, I traveled to Iowa to speak. I drove in a semi-conscious state. I was aware of large trucks.

Iowa has great crops because the caucus provides enough farmland fertilizer to last until the next caucus.

Boxing and basketball referees

The young son of Mr. Wayne stumbled a bit on the bleachers and fell against my knee. It’s true. Into each life, a little Wayne must fall.

He wasn’t injured, so I didn't need to abide by the Minnesota Good Samaritan Law. That law states that if you encounter an injured person, a Minnesotan is required to say, "Have a nice day."

"I Never Played The Game" was a book written by Howard Cosell. Cosell became famous while doing cocksure commentary on "Monday Night Football" while accompanied by ex-football players Frank Gifford and Dandy Don Meredith. He said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. There's no question that I'm all of those things." The New York Times had this to say, "He entered sports broadcasting in the mid-1950s, when the predominant style was unabashed adulation, offered a brassy counterpoint that was first ridiculed, then copied until it became the dominant note of sports broadcasting."

A friend told me that he’d tried to like Cosell, but Cosell made it impossible. The subject of Cosell’s book was centered on the fact that Cosell had never played football.

I sat on a slice of the uncomfortable bleachers. I had never played the game. Oh, I’d played innumerable basketball games, but this was a girls' basketball game. I watched as a granddaughter amazed me with a panoply of dipsy-doodles and sleight-of-hand. It gave my world a shine. A friend and former teammate was one of the referees. My wife waved at him before the game. He didn’t see her. That was no surprise. If he had good eyesight, he wouldn’t have been a basketball referee.

I was in a St. Paul eatery once when a fellow told me that he’d been a boxer in his youth. His friend chided him that the man's pugilistic skills had been such that he’d taken too many punches.

The ex-boxer admitted the same by saying, "I never let one get by me."

Basketball referees try to do that with their officiating. They do a good job.

February birthdays

My wife's birthday is February 4, my granddaughter Everly’s is February 5 and my mother’s was February 6. Three ladies who had corralled my love. When I think of the happiness they have brought me, I want to snort milk through my nose.

In Jewish culture, it's a tradition to leave a small stone atop a gravestone, as a way to honor the deceased and mark a visit. I find it an act worth emulating and placed a stone on the graves of my parents. It was a loving "thank you" gift even if it wasn’t giftwrapped.

Neighborhood Block Party

The Neighborhood Block Party took place at the end of January at the Jared Knutson farm. It was a potluck of epic proportions. I appreciate Jared and his family for all their work. They aren't slovenly folks, but it takes time to clean a big shed enough to hold a teeming throng. Even though I had nothing to do with organizing the fine affair, my neighbors fondly refer to me as the neighborhood blockhead. I couldn’t be more proud.

A gambling tip

I lost a dollar in a slot machine once. It has been my lone venture into casino gambling. I played the penny machine. It took a long time to lose a dollar. I'd win a little and lose a little until the buck was finally gone. I’m still smarting from the loss, but I learned something about casinos that I hope you might find helpful. The person seated next to you will always have better luck than you will. So try to get there early and get that seat before he or she does.

Nature notes

A reader from Mankato asks, "Why doesn’t a duck’s quack echo?" It does echo. I’ve heard it. This is a myth perpetuated by online lists.

Meeting adjourned

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."– Mohandas Gandhi. Be kind.

Closing School Due to Inclement Weather

Difficult decisions were made last week regarding closing school due to the poor weather and travel conditions. Deciding not to have school is a significant decision as it impacts our students, staff, and those throughout our communities.  When considering closure, delay, or an early dismissal due to inclement weather, our first priority is the safety of all involved and impacted.  While forecasting the weather is not an exact science and the meteorologist is not always right, we make our decisions based on the best information we have available at the time.  Last week, the second day of no school on Wednesday, February 3, was a challenging decision. I prefer not to cancel school once we have already notified families and staff that school will be delayed.  However, road conditions had not improved in the morning as we had hoped, and we did not feel confident that travel conditions were safe for all.  Thank you to our families and to the staff for taking the necessary precautions in order to stay safe.

Make-up Days Scheduled

Due to the cancellation of school on February 2 & 3, school will be in session for students on Tuesday, February 16, and Thursday, March 24. Both dates have been identified on the 2015-16 School Year Calendar as make-up days in the event school is cancelled due to inclement weather.

Student Activities

Students and staff are busier than ever in our classrooms as well with many activities. I hope you are able to take full advantage of attending the many school events and activities taking place. You will find more information about our activity schedule on our school district website.

Community Survey

Thank you to those who completed the survey.  The information will be very helpful to the strategic planning process. There will be a presentation on the survey results at the February 16 School Board Meeting.  We will also be sharing information on our school district website in the future as well as through various newsletters and other communications to students, parents, staff, and members of our communities.

Strategic Planning

As I have previously shared with you, the School Board is leading the school community in the development of a revised strategic plan that will provide us with a roadmap designed to guide us in our journey in reaching our “destination” or vision as a school district. Along with this vision, the plan will clearly identify and confirm our purpose or mission, and affirm what core beliefs and values we believe in, live by, and expect from all of us.  The plan will identify specific goals and priorities believed to be most important to our school community, along with specific action steps to take in order to meet our established goals.

Opportunities for you to participate in the process started with completion of the community survey.  You also have another opportunity on Thursday, February 18, when community listening sessions will be held in the evening starting at 6:30 p.m. Two meetings will be held, one in the Media Center at the Secondary School in New Richland, and the other meeting will be held in the Media Center at the Elementary School in Ellendale. Our consultants from the Minnesota School Board Association and the South Central Services Cooperative will lead the listening sessions.

The School Board is also in the process of inviting members of our school community to be part of an advisory committee that will assist the School Board in analyzing the input from the survey and listening sessions in order to develop our strategic plan.  This will be another way that community members, students, parents, and staff members are involved in the planning process. 

The School Board conducts its regular monthly meeting on the third Monday of each month.  The location of the meeting is rotated monthly between the NRHEG Secondary School Media Center in New Richland and the NRHEG Elementary School Media Center in Ellendale.  The February 16, 2016, School Board meeting will be in New Richland.  The School Board is meeting on a Tuesday in February due to the School District’s observance of President’s Day on February 15.

I look forward to seeing you at the February 18 community listening sessions. Thank you for your continued support and for the difference you make in the lives of our students!

My long-time readers are aware that Valentine’s Day is my least favorite of all holidays. It’s merely a Hallmark holiday and a cash grab that makes people in a committed relationship feel obligated to spend money on dying flowers and helps people not in a relationship feel depressed.

 Still, I couldn’t help but sit up and take notice when I saw a story in the Star Tribune last week about an elementary school in St. Paul eliminating the celebration of holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. The principal there said that they only want to celebrate holidays that are “inclusive of our student population.” To be fair, that particular school is largely made up of minority students, with only 4% white students.

Does that mean people of other races don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day? I find that hard to believe. I may not like the holiday, but it was always something to look forward to in elementary school. Who really cared about the cheap cards? We wanted the candy that went with them! Is that a good reason for keeping these celebrations in schools? No, of course not. The better reason is to occasionally have the kids lift their heads from their studies and find ways to have fun.

I do understand some religious concerns with holidays like Halloween. Even Christmas, in a school that is largely dominated by an Asian population (52%) as that one is, might not be a holiday that is celebrated by a majority. It’s difficult if your family opposes recognition of those events and your child sits out of activities that all the other children participate in.

Teaching and living in a school district that is largely white and mostly Christian is a different ball of wax. I still call it Christmas break every year. I attend Christmas concerts where we often get to hear variations on Christian Christmas songs. It warms my heart that we continue this; I still remember Mark Rud leading the choir in “The Hallelujah Chorus” every year.

Have we become too politically correct in this country? The easy answer is yes; so many people are constantly worried about offending others that they edit everything they say. (Clearly, this columnist does not fall in that category!) I saw a meme a month or so ago that proclaimed the past year of 2015 as the year everyone was offended by something. Too true.

Upon deeper reading into the original article, I found out the St. Paul school district discourages “lavish programs and festivities, and shall strive to eliminate them,” except for mandated holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Veterans Day, and the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln. Those are important days to recognize and celebrate, but what happens when politically correct mavens remove the fun celebrations?

Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan schools have even eliminated birthday celebrations. Their reason? Some kids can’t afford to bring in treats for everyone and thus feel left out. Remember the good old days when Mom would make some homemade goodies for you to bring in to school on your special day? With a birthday early in the school year, I always felt like I set the bar high with the sweet stuff my mom would make, always excellent. Now I have to buy Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies because we can’t trust folks not to poison all our students. Food allergies are always given as another reason, but I suspect one reason we have more of those than ever is the amount of processed food we shove down our gullets instead of making more from scratch.

I can see no problem with changing Halloween to some kind of harvest/fall celebration. But I think it’s important to retain a recognition of Thanksgiving as a holiday. That’s not just because it’s my favorite, but because it’s part of our country’s history. If we’re going to stop celebrating Christmas in schools, we might as well remove the “In God We Trust” slogan from our currency. The United States has freedom of religion, sure, but it is a country founded on Christian principles, and we should continue to note that in school.

And Valentine’s Day? Well, my kids will be out of elementary school after this year, so I don’t really care. But I do know it’s a fun day for kids, and sometimes education needs more chances to have fun, even for an hour on the most over-rated holiday of them all.

Speaking of kids, a happy golden birthday to Anton this week! He’s waiting for his letter from Hogwarts since he plans on attending this fall, now that he’s finally old enough!

Word of the Week: This week’s word is unco, which has many meanings, including news, as in, “The parents were astounded at the unco that holiday celebrations would no longer occur.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

Reports of the scurs being able to suntan soon turned out to be greatly exaggerated. The Weather Eye is faltering once again. Can a 42-year-old Gremlin part stuck on a 1977 “ice-age” prediction be converted back to global warming or will it remain stuck on January?  Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the single digits and lows in the mid-single digits below zero. Thursday, partly sunny with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low teens and lows in the mid-single digits. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the low teens and lows near –10. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-single digits and lows a few days below zero. Mostly cloudy and warmer (finally!) on Sunday with a modest chance of  snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Monday, partly sunny and warmer. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy skies and continued warmer for Tuesday with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. The normal high for February 14th is 27 and the normal low is 9. On the 15th, we’re back to 10 hours and 30 minutes of daylight again, about the same as October 26th. The scurs are planning on cashing in on the Valentine’s Day candy. It’s been a long drought since Christmas in that department.

Not a bad week until we ran into the Sunday night and Monday winter storm. Luckily there wasn’t a lot of snow and the snow that had fallen the previous Tuesday had melted some over the weekend. This put a crust on the snow to keep it from breaking loose and drifting. If that hadn’t happened, the situation could’ve been a real mess. As it was, school was cancelled Monday after being called two hours late initially. Visibility was poor, down to less than a quarter mile in spots. Small cars would suddenly appear out of the ground drifting ahead of my pickup. Snow began sticking on the pavement in the afternoon, causing additional driving woes for the commute home. Why is it we live here again?

Overall winter really hasn’t been too bad. Sure, we’ve had our share of colder conditions the latter part of January and now in the first part of February, but this is Minnesota. Heating bills have been moderate, thanks in part to cheap LP and natural gas prices. Our below-zero days have been a fraction of what we can expect and the days are becoming appreciably longer. One can be outside at 5 p.m. and still have enough light to make it until almost 6. Morning also is beginning to be lighter and by month’s end the sun will be rising before 7 again. Something to look forward to.

The birds in the yard have had it pretty cushy too. There has been plenty of corn to keep the pheasants happy. Even though they’re not daily guests, they are numerous when they are. There are frequently more than a dozen. With the recent bad weather they’ve been glad to see the ear corn feeder on the edge of the yard. The usual visitors include juncos, nuthatches, chickadees, downies, hairies and blue jays. Not much for goldfinches and can’t say why. Too many house sparrows of course, although they have really been scarce in the barn since the cat took up residence there. It’s now possible to sit on the tractor or skidloader without first wiping the bird droppings off of them.

The ewe flock is getting girthier as shearing day approaches. They too have benefitted from relatively mild winter conditions. Unless it’s been windy, most nights they sleep outside, leaving their outline in the frost behind them as Ruby rousts them from their slumber with her barking and growling. Glad I don’t have an alarm clock like that. That would be enough to make anyone grumpy. Due dates for lambing start about the 18th so it will be good to get the shearing out of the way first.

The dogs continue to take winter in stride. Many dogs aren’t so lucky and we tell them that. Ruby did notice the Doritos dog ad during the Super Bowl, putting up a fuss when they were in the checkout line. The Westminster Dog Show is coming up soon so she will have an overload when that happens. Fudgie continues to plod along, glad to have opportunities like Saturday and Sunday when snow removal makes up for not being able to follow the lawnmower around. Both dogs come in ready to sleep well after those occasions, as does their master.

The snow removal policy in the People’s Republic of Steele Co. continues to mystify me. During last week’s snowstorm, the snowplow started going by late morning when it was snowing like mad and went by a couple more times in the afternoon. Then, the next morning they were Johnny on the spot again. Sunday as I left for church, they had been by already and taken some of the finger drifts out of the way, leaving me in total disbelief as to what county I had suddenly been transported to. The roads were in great shape without a lot of salt and sand. I was in total disbelief.

My faith in them was restored however after the next snowfall event. Again, the plow was back on the “better late than never” schedule. After plowing the end of the driveway out was wondering what happened and when they’d get there to redeposit what I had just shoved out of there. Plus I’d need to clean out around the mailbox, which would be futile until they made that pass and plopped a wad in front of that. Rumors have been circulating that perhaps they’re getting hung up in the roundabouts by Owatonna and can’t figure out how to get off. Oh well, as my favorite barber likes to tell me, in another hundred years I probably won’t care.

See you next week…real good then.

Waseca County staff and the LeSueur River Watershed Network will host a community meeting Tuesday, Feb. 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at New Richland City Hall.

Folks are invited to come and listen and share experiences with flooding in New Richland and surrounding areas. Waseca County Commissioner Jim Peterson and Network steering committee members will describe some of the water quality concerns occurring locally and across the LeSueur River Watershed. The meeting is open to the public.

The Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca announces “All Things Spring,” an all-day seminar set for Saturday, March 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

With many very well known speakers and topics, this will be a well attended event. Be aware pre-registration is required and due by Friday, Feb. 26.

To register, contact Deanne Nelson at (507) 835-3620 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Visit the Web site at www.sroc.cfans.umn.edu.

The New Richland Area Sportsmen's Club will hold its annual ice fishing contest Sunday, Feb. 14 from 2-3:30 p.m. on St. Olaf Lake. Prizes will be awarded, including a $500 grand prize, prizes for the three largest fish, wildlife prints, and merchandise drawings throughout the afternoon. Holes and bait provided, food available, on and off-lake parking. Raffle tickets available at NR Liquor Co. or from any sportsmen's club member. If contest is cancelled because of bad ice/weather, it will be held Feb. 21 (will be announced on KOWZ 100.9 FM).

Beaver Lake will not host an ice fishing contest this year.

NRHEG High School one-act play performances are set for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym in New Richland.

In the first play, “How to Kiss a Girl,” Ken is getting ready for his very first date and he decides to download dating advice from across the centuries. The date quickly spirals out of control as he tries to follow dating advice from a communist-fearing nationalist, a swashbuckling pirate, a sweet southern belle, and a puritanical Pilgrim.

In, “That's Not How I Remember It,” Mom and Dad  tell the story of how they met in 1986. The trouble is, they remember their courtship completely differently. Mom's version makes their meeting sound like a sappy romantic comedy while Dad makes himself the star of a karate battle.

The Waseca Sleigh & Cutter medallion has been found by Ivagene and Roger Kobylinski of Waseca. They located it in a tree at Tink Larson field, winning $1,250 in Chamber Bucks and gift certificates of $250 each from Charlie’s Hardware and Hy-Vee.