I know if you are anything like me when it comes to winter, you may be starting to feel some of the symptoms of the dreaded “spring fever” as January draws to a close and we head into February. In all reality however, we still have a lot of winter left and for the “hard water” fishermen maybe not enough considering the slow start to the season.

I have been hearing some fishing reports from area fishermen regarding Fountain and Albert Lea Lakes. Although it has been spotty, there have been some walleyes caught in the channel by Frank Hall Park. On Fountain the beach has been the place for sunnies using wax worms and a small jig. I have also heard reports of walleye and crappie being caught in Edgewater Bay. I haven’t heard of any big numbers, but there are fish to be had by spending a little time.

Something to do while sitting indoors waiting for the snow to melt is to plan a visit to one or more of our many state parks this summer. A onetime sticker will get your vehicle into any state park for the whole year. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy nature and the outdoors than visiting one of the 75 state parks we have available for us to enjoy. There are many special events planned for our state parks this year in lieu of their 125th anniversary.

State officials have invited Minnesotans to take part in a 125-mile challenge, a state park “Total Takeover,” picnics, summer “samplers” and other special events throughout the coming year as part of the 125th anniversary of Minnesota state parks and trails.

On hand at Fort Snelling State Park to kick off the year-long celebration were Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr, DNR Parks and Trails Division Director Erika Rivers and 30 fourth-grade students from Northrop Urban Environmental Learning Center, representing the next generation of park and trail visitors.

“Minnesota is blessed with a remarkable system of state parks and trails, which have allowed generations of Minnesotans to enjoy our state’s many natural wonders over the past 125 years,” said Smith. “As we celebrate this anniversary, I encourage all Minnesotans to get out and enjoy their state parks and trails this year.”

In the 125 years since Itasca State Park was established in 1891, the system has grown to include 75 state parks and recreation areas, 49 state forest campgrounds, 34 state water trails, more than 360 fishing piers, more than 1,500 public water accesses, more than 600 miles of paved state trails, and many additional miles of off-highway vehicle, snowmobile, equestrian and cross-country ski trails.

“There’s a state park, trail or water trail within 30 minutes of just about every Minnesotan,” Landwehr said. “We hope the anniversary events that we have planned in 2016 will encourage new people to discover these special places.”

The anniversary celebration will include:

• A State Park “Total Takeover”—An effort to fill up all of the campsites at Minnesota state parks and recreation areas by encouraging experienced campers to invite a family of beginners to go camping with them on Saturday, June 11, which is National Get Outdoors Day.

• 125 Miles by Bike, Boot or Boat—A challenge to visitors of all ages to track the miles they bike, hike and paddle at Minnesota state parks and trails throughout 2016, with a goal of reaching a total of 125 for bragging rights, an exclusive “Finisher” sticker and an opportunity to have their photo included in a Finishers Gallery on the website.

• Summer Samplers—For anyone wondering what there is to do at Minnesota state parks and recreation areas, these events will provide opportunities to try paddling, archery, nature photography, fishing and other activities all in one fun-packed day.

• Picnic in the Park—An invitation to return to the days before soccer, hockey and dance took over on the weekends, and to carve out time for a family picnic, followed by games and activities for all ages.

• A contest—to design an official Minnesota state parks and trails license plate.

• A commemorative quilt—which will pay tribute to Minnesota’s natural and cultural resources.

• Merchandise—Limited edition 125th anniversary mugs, apparel, pins and other items will be available for purchase at Minnesota state parks and recreation areas.

Visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/125 for more information about the celebration. Check back for updates throughout the year or contact the DNR Information Center at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 888-646-6367 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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.

We can't complain on winter — yet. It was super cold, but the snow in our area hasn't been a big problem like I remember it from yesteryear.

It occurred to me one day that we no longer see many snowmen sitting on the front lawns of most homes anymore. My dad was a super snowman maker. For one thing, he was tall and a big man and as a result had the advantage of making his snowmen tall and large. I remember one year we had a group of snowmen on my Grandmother Hanson’s south lawn, all shapes and sizes. 

Another thought that comes to mind is snowball fights. The boys in my day were tricky and made snow forts to duck behind, but I don't remember anybody getting really crushed by snowballs. Those forts must have done the trick and helped protect them.

Another event we always looked forward to each winter was playing fox and geese. I guess I am not remembering why it was called fox and geese, but everybody played from little and on up.

I also remember seeing pictures, or family who talked about the huge snowdrifts. My mother can remember there was a place they actually had to use dynamite to break open the snow drifts as they were so thick and hard. Back then they didn't have any machines that could do the job.

It was not unusual to get the big plows out to get through the snow on the hilly area between Dr. Ertel's and my grandparents’ farm, which was just south and west of the county line road near Ellendale. 

Machines couldn’t do it all. Surprise! Individual men had to get their shovels out and clear snow for the bulldozer to go through.

There were always detours across fields and fences, so the farmers could get the cream to town or get groceries. My grandmother’s mail  carrier, Zielger, invented the first little "snowmobile" of sorts back then so the mail could be delivered. It had track wheels and was kind of egg shaped and could climb over the snow banks.

They say we get as much snow now as back then. We just have better equipment and roads, but memory still says we had more blizzards and snow years ago.

I have a picture of my dad and his dad straddling the telephone lines along one of my Grandpa Schember’s snow plowing routes in the New Richland area back then. 

Back in my younger days we developed our own skating pond across the street from where I now live, before the Community Lutheran parsonage was built. It wasn't real big, just the right size to keep in shape for skating. I think we all thought we would grow up to be Sonja Heine.

My Grandmother Hanson used to talk about ice boats they used to sail across Geneva Lake. One year, the ice froze and rose to extraordinary heights right across the lake. We had a picture of my dad, who was 6-foot-2, standing on his snowmobile and reaching his arm as high as he could, and still didn’t reach the top of that blade of ice that extended halfway across the middle of Geneva Lake.

I wonder does something like that happen often on lakes or oceans? I know I am not too smart about those things, but that was a natural sculpture worth remembering.

Winter doesn't seem so bad when you are a kid, I guess. Of course many will remember the snow bank in Geneva that had a tunnel running through it. The area I am talking about was two blocks west of Geneva Bar & Grill. We have had snow that required plowing in April. The year my middle daughter Kimberly was born (1973) we had to get Wilfred Nelson out with the snow plow so I could get to the hospital. And the year when my cousin, Pixie, as we called her, was born, her mother had to walk a quarter of a mile to gain transportation from where Orlando Thompson was living at the time. (Pixie was born in March of 1951.) And my mother still wonders what she would have done if grandson, Cam, hadn't been born January 8th, just hours before the blizzard blast that lasted for days back in 1975.

And we won't talk about the Armistice Storm. That was something else I guess, but before my time. It came in a flash and a fury.

Watching the storms that have bombarded the east coast this winter, I wonder how they compared. Of course, Midwest farmers are tougher than city folks and also were semi prepared with experience and equipment. Cold as it may be with its little surprises, I still like Minnesota best.

Bernice and Adrian Thompson, would ride horseback, pulling the other one on snow skis for a ride and a half up and down the snow banks back in the pre-snowmobile days. It wasn't all that easy hanging onto the hay rope and staying on an even keel with the horses.

Toody, Athan, Barb and Jerry (Langlie) saved the day for my Grandma Hanson, who had prepared Thanksgiving dinner for almost 50 people before getting snowed under. They came on horseback with snow up to the horses’ chests and almost buried Barbara’s little pony. Grandma didn't cry often, but she did, with happiness.

I am quite sure you have a number of great winter memories too. Think about them. Times change, but memories linger on.

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Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented that 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 to 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.

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Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, February 4th: Aaron Duane Bauers, Tyler Cerney, Tyler Sorenson (1994), Waylen Busho Jr., Billy Glynn, David Newgard, Roy Jensen, John Lent

• Friday, February 5th: Crystal Simonson, Blanche Kasper, Darrell Howell, Randy Reese, Ericka Johnson, Kylee Jace Wilson, Wesley Schoenrock

• Saturday, February 6th: Jean Klocek, Carolyn Hanson, Dean Jensen, David Kelly, Martin Bartness, Colleen Borchert, Troy Haddy, Jean Clausen, Sonja Thompson, Megan Stephoni, Todd Nelson, Brooke Burns, Kay Swenson

• Sunday, February 7th: Cheryl Cornelius, Ted Pelzl, Kelly Simon, Emma Lorraine Klemmensen, Karissa Dolan, Joel Radjenovich, Steve & Holly Glynn

• Monday, February 8th: Lainee Ann Krohn, Erin Thompson, Terry Wacek

• Tuesday, February 9th: Emily Eder, John Warnke, Donnavon Eaker, Laura (Edwards) Baudoin, Brad Lerum, Kelly Lageson, Heidi Nelson, Karen Knudson, Tami Sorenson Hansen, Jay Wangsness

• Wednesday, February 10th: Brooklyn Jo Baudoin, Brett Mitchell Kubiatowicz, Greg Hagen, Abbey Jensen, Tom Wayne, Dean Reiter, Michael Glienke, Wayne Osmundson, Rachel Strand, Judy Thostenson, Peggy Talamantes, Greg Nelson, Madison Johnson, Dick & Mary Ann Ewing

• Thursday, February 11th: Megan Pence, Jet Wayne, Neil Douglas Schmidt, Donna Wilker, David Dunn, Julie Christensen, Rhonda Thompson Christensen, Steve Gallentine, Earl Cleven, Teresa Knudson Pratt

• Friday, February, 12th: Gail Skroch, Joe Moon, Michael Hanson, April Van Riper, Rick Borchert, Eugene Kruckeberg, Travis Wayne, Jessie Olson, Greg Oswald, Taff & Jean Worrell, David & Carolyn Hanson

May all the good wishes that you receive on your special day bloom in your heart and bring you joy!

Echoes From the Loafers' Club Meeting

My brother-in-law is as dumb as a ghost.

Don’t you mean to say that he’s as dumb as a post?

Oh, you know him?

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: Get your hopes up. What better use is there for them? I’d hoped for a nap. My wife wanted to go to a movie. We reached a compromise. I slept through the movie. I knew it was a "chick flick" because she was crying when I woke up.

The cafe chronicles

Winter is a good conversation piece.

There are two sides to every approaching blizzard.

"They keep talking about a foot of snow, but it doesn't look like it to me," said a Loafer in a place where you could get breakfast at anytime as long as you have a beef commercial for breakfast.

Those seated at the table of infinite knowledge were good guys. Some were boastful and some overstated their imperfections. Others were quiet listeners. Thanks to these differences, the talk averaged out to be somewhere near the truth.

"I eat here and a week later, I’m hungry again," said another Loafer who’d claimed he’d eaten a bag of mixed jelly beans without once looking to see what color jelly bean he was eating. He might have thought he was living on the edge, but we knew he was lying.

From the mailbag

Roger Batt of Algona sent this, which I’ve edited slightly: On the sixth day, God turned to the Archangel Gabriel and said, "Today, I am going to create a land called Minnesota. It will be a land of outstanding natural beauty; a land of 10,000 beautiful lakes, each full of fish. It shall have tall majestic pines, peacefully flowing rivers, a landscape full of buffalo, tall grass, and eagles, beautiful blue skies, forests full of bear, elk and moose, and the richest of farmland. I shall make the land so rich in resources, the inhabitants will prosper and they shall be the friendliest of people, practicing being Minnesota Nice every day."

"But Lord," asked Gabriel, "don't You think You are being too generous to these Minnesotans?"

"Not really," replied God, "Just wait and see the winters I am going to give them."

Those thrilling days of yesteryear

A skunk got into one of the holes of our outhouse when I was a boy. I was instructed to place a plank into the hole so that the skunk could use it to climb out. I did as told. Checking later, I found that a second skunk had used the plank to climb down into the hole.

The skunks left eventually. I was given a reward for my fine skunk-removal work, one of those all-day suckers. A neighbor boy stopped by. My mother insisted that I split the candy evenly with him. That didn’t seem fair, but if I’d complained, my mother would have said that life wasn’t fair. How do you divide a sucker in half? Alternate licks seemed unsanitary even in a time when few things did. I came up with the idea to hit the sucker with a hammer. I hit it and the sucker shattered into countless pieces. That was the day I learned that you could never give a sucker an even break.

As the sweet sucker shrapnel, having ricocheted off every wall in the house, settled into place, I used a word befitting the occurrence. It’s not even considered a swear word today, but I didn’t say it today. My aunt, who was visiting, made a face. I hadn't seen her there or I would have watched my French. "Did you hear what I said?" I asked.

"I'm afraid I did," my aunt replied.

"Well, I hope you know that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear."

Nature notes

Blue jays carry food in their throat and upper esophagus — in an area called a “gular pouch.” A blue jay can carry two or three acorns in that pouch, another one in its mouth, and one more in the tip of its bill. In this way, it can carry five acorns at once to store for eating later. Jays fitted with radio transmitters were found to cache 3,000-5,000 acorns each in the fall. They have a fondness for acorns and a great skill in selecting healthy ones.

Meeting adjourned

A Chinese proverb says, "Water and words — easy to pour, impossible to recover." Make your words kind ones.

This past week was the 30th anniversary of the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger. When events like that come up, we always think about what the world was like that many years ago. The world of 1986 was dramatically different than the one we currently occupy.

Things change rapidly in our world today. I saw an ad for a T-shirt the other day that said, “When I was your age, the Internet sounded like skaweeerewerrt.” Does anybody even have dial-up service anymore to get online? I can’t imagine, but it really wasn’t that long ago that most of us were listening to that sound emerge from our modems.

Just think: the Internet actually had its beginnings in the early 1960s, so it’s older than this columnist! However, it began being used more by non-government people in the early 1990s. For anyone 25 or younger, the Internet as we think of it has been around their entire lives. And with it have come a variety of words that we use as part of everyday language and feel like they’ve been part of our vocabulary for much longer than they really have. Here we go!

• Selfie – This ability to take a picture of oneself with a phone or other electronic device has only been a word since 2013. An entire industry has grown out of it with the proliferation of selfie sticks. Luckily, my phone isn’t advanced enough to be able to take a selfie, but I always find it amusing watching teenagers do this. The faces they make resemble people taking a tour of a rendering plant.

• Hashtag – For us older folks, this is the pound sign on our telephones. However, I have no doubt that someday I’ll hear an automated voice on a phone call tell me to hit the hashtag sign after I’ve entered my account number! This is used to link and search things easier on Twitter. Again, while I technically have a Twitter account, I don’t think I’ve tweeted more than a dozen things in five years.

• Unfriend – This was the word of the year in 2009 and refers to people eliminating you from their list of friends on Facebook. I’m sure it’s also used on other social media platforms and probably by people in real life. After all, kids don’t break up with each other face-to-face anymore, or even by note, but rather by text or tweet. I suppose that’s a form of unfriending too!

• Google – Believe it or not, this has been around since 1998, but has really increased in usage in the past decade, becoming an “official” word in 2006. We use it to talk about looking up information online, even though there are plenty of you who don’t use Google as your official search engine.

• Bromance – This is a special, non-romantic relationship between two men. In doing research on it, I found that it started after a season of the reality show Big Brother, and, as Emily Stamm put it so eloquently online, a bromance is, “that flutter that filled their heart(s) when they talked about sports and stuff.”

• Muggle – While most people think this term started with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series in referring to non-magical people, it actually dates back to the 1920s in New Orleans, where people used it to refer to marijuana. Magical, indeed! The definition has increased since Harry Potter to include any group of people who don’t have the same particular skill set or knowledge as a specific group.

• Staycation – This word has been around since 2003, but found popularity when gas prices were so high. Folks couldn’t afford to drive all over the country for vacation and sure couldn’t afford airline tickets, so they started looking for ways to relax close to home. Maybe with gas prices dropping, the use of this word will decrease.

• Hater – This word allegedly started in the late 1990s in rap music, alluding to those who were jealous of someone or something else. I see this in student writing often, especially in more informal writing like our blogs. Which leads to…

• Blog – These online discussions and writings began in the late 1990s as well, but were originally called weblogs. As with so much Internet-related these days, it was inevitable that a long word like weblog would have to be shortened, right?

Surprised by any of these? Probably not if you’re my age or older. But it makes me wonder how many new words will come about in 2016 that we’ll accept as a regular part of our language within a couple years.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is dox, another relatively new word, which means to gather and publish someone’s personal information with malicious intent, as in, “The hacker doxed the unsuspecting person online and quickly shared all that info with other ruffians.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

The scurs were pleased to see the Weather Eye at peak performance once again. Are we home free and looking at spring or will we get a taste of February reality? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper teens and lows in the mid-single digits above zero. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the low double digits. Mostly cloudy Friday with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Saturday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Partly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Monday, mostly cloudy and slightly cooler with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-single digits. Mostly cloudy skies and much cooler for Tuesday with highs in the mid-teens and lows near zero. The normal high for February 9th is 26 and the normal low is 7. On the 5th we go over 10 hours of daylight again, something we haven’t had since November 5th. In spite of Tuesday’s inclement weather, the scurs are sensing that tanning on the lawn furniture is just around the corner.

January turned out to be less of an ogre than it sometimes is. Sure we had our below-zero temps, but in general it wasn’t bad. Snowfall too at the ranch was well below what we typically see for the month, tallying a paltry 4.3”, a little less than half of what is normal at the SROC in Waseca. The snow tended to be very dry as well, with the liquid equivalent measurement being about a third of that at the SROC. The interesting thing was that Old Man Winter seemed to get a lot of mileage out of the January snow we did have. Road ditches were nearly filled and it seemed every time you turned around, there was a nuisance drift in the way or snow to shovel out of the way. There was a lot of cloudy weather which probably helped keep our temperatures on the warmer side. The NOAA February outlook calls for better than even odds of above normal temperatures while we they call for even odds of above or below-normal precipitation. This would make everyone happy if it comes to fruition. Normal snowfall is about 9” and the liquid equivalent is about 1”. Unfortunately, we might get it all in one snowfall event.

Last weekend was about as nice as one can expect for this time of year. Temperatures on Saturday reached the mid-40’s at the ranch and on some bank thermometers, causing the snow to disappear in rapid fashion. Sunday brought a slightly cooler encore performance, but one that was still comfortable enough to grill on the patio. Even the ladybugs were waking up and annoying us in the house. With another bonus day on Monday though, one could almost expect the other shoe was about to drop. The humidity was high as evidenced by all the fog Monday morning and it has been a while since we’ve had a real storm. In other words, we’ve been long overdue for a real live blizzard. Some of the drama queens on the TV weather were already talking about 1-35 being closed as early as Sunday morning. When it happens, they look like geniuses. When it doesn’t, you never hear about it.

Fortunately, we are a few weeks away yet from lambing at the ranch. Still, it was a good idea to button things up so the animals could get in out of the weather if needed and stay dry while they were at it. The water tank was filled and the door was closed up again after letting the barn air out over the past week’s nice weather. Another round bale was procured from the Dubya’s ahead of the storm. The tractor and skidloader were pointed out the door, ready to counter-punch whatever happened to be thrown at us. Keeping the feedlot area cleaned out is a must. It’s great for gestating ewes to be able to get out and traipse around. Getting some exercise keeps their metabolism going and makes the lambing process go a lot smoother as a result.

Of course, being one who lives in the country yet has an office in town, I had to journey out just to see how bad it was. I can always make the excuse that I’m a weather spotter so as long as I’m not endangering my life or others, then it’s OK. When I left the ranch it was starting to snow. After about an hour of tepid conversation at the Mall for Men with the little fat buddies, I decided it may perhaps be time to think about moving towards home. Had to stop at the post office to wish them a Merry Christmas first then on to the grocery store to procure the raw material to make French toast.

The roads on the way home had deteriorated slightly in an hour to the point where there was generally 2” – 3” on the roadway. It was a little tough to see in places too, especially where there was a building site or sheltered area on the north side of an east-west road. Still, I was glad to pull into the driveway and glance over to see the snow-covered ewes still outside grinding away on their round bale. It really wasn’t that cold out and with their 4” wool blankets still intact, they probably had no clue it was even snowing. Nobody ever said they were smart. Unloaded everything from the truck and went in the house. Nice and warm, electricity still on with the dogs to entertain me inside and birds and squirrels to entertain me outside, until choretime anyway. Just relax and enjoy the ride.

See you next week…real good then.

ROCHESTER — Spencer Tollefson, New Richland was among students from Rochester Community and Technical College who made the Dean's List for Fall Semester ending this past December.

To qualify for the Dean's List, a student must successfully complete 12 or more letter-graded credits, in the same semester, and achieve a grade point average between 3.0 and 4.0. The Rochester Community and Technical College Dean's List can be viewed by going to: www.rctc.edu.

MANKATO — The Academic High Honor and Honor lists (Dean's lists) for the past fall semester at Minnesota State University, Mankato have been announced by Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Marilyn Wells.

Area students honored:

• Keith Burggraff, Ellendale, senior, Honor List

Rachael Rhoades, Ellendale, freshman, Honor List

• Adam Stanek Anderson, Ellendale, junior, Honor List

• Kiley Beenken, Geneva, senior, High Honor List

• Breanna Bethke, New Richland, junior, High Honor List

Identify Frosty and win some cash!

Prize money totaling $1,750 is waiting to be won. Frosty is a Waseca County resident chosen to be an ambassador for the Waseca Sleigh & Cutter Festival. Follow the clues and guess Frosty’s name.

Grand prize is $350. If you are at the official unmasking at 9:30 p.m., on Friday, February 12, 2016, you will win an additional $50. Unmasking is at the annual Sleigh & Cutter dinner and dance at the VFW Club, 113 West Elm Avenue, Waseca, MN. First correct guess from Janesville, New Richland and Waseca win $150; and if you are at the unmasking you will win an additional $50. Four names will be drawn for $100 – must be present. Four names win $50 – attendance is not necessary.

The Waseca Sleigh and Cutter medallion is hidden outdoors, on public property within the Waseca city limits.

A $1,750 prize of Chamber Dollars and store certificates will be awarded to the person who finds the medallion.

Bring the medallion to Charlie’s Hardware. Clues will be published in the Star Eagle. Clues will also be broadcast on KRUE and KOWZ Radio and will be available at Waseca Area Chamber of Commerce at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..