It’s winter and along with that comes weather and occasionally, a blizzard will be in the forecast. This past week, the northeastern part of the country received a lot of snow and much of that part of the country was experiencing blizzard conditions. 

Now this in itself is not new to most Minnesotans because that is the weather that we deal with when choosing to live in this great state. Somewhere along the line someone decided to start giving this winter storm a name. It was christened “Winter Storm Nemo,” which makes no sense to me. 

We have had a couple of memorable storms during my lifetime which were tagged with a name of sorts. I can remember my folks talking about the “great Armistice Day Blizzard,” and who can forget the ice storm we had on Halloween in ‘91? 

Looking back on it, us Minnesotans could have been naming our storms like the media did out east. We could be reminiscing about winter storm Sven or that blizzard named Lars. And for the sake of gender equity, who could forget that dreaded ice storm Lena?

In Minnesota, the weather is always a good conversation starter and last weekend had just a little bit of everything; ice, wind, rain, sleet and snow. It almost sounds like the post office’s motto. I am sure glad that the weather wasn’t extreme enough to earn a name.

With all the different things going on weather-wise, it still didn’t deter my grandson Trevor from doing his share of fishing. With the rest of the family out of town, he had the whole weekend to do some serious fishing and he definitely made the most out of it. 

On Saturday, he invited me to come to Fountain Lake and spend a little time fishing. To our surprise, his grandma decided to go along and it turned out to be a lot of fun; although we didn’t exactly slay them we did catch fish. 

Earlier, Trevor had caught a couple of bass that he released. He also had a couple of dandy crappie and a mess of nice bluegills in the bucket. He told us that he had a nice northern up to the hole a couple of times before it finally broke his line.

Fishing and hunting is what Trevor loves to do and sharing that time with him in his portable fish house was a memorable time for both his grandma and me. He’s come a long way from the days when I would take him, his brothers and cousin to the channel for an adventure in line tangling. 

At the time, I suspected that they were deliberately trying to see how many different ways they could get snagged or catch a tree branch. It seems like they would wait patiently until I wasn’t looking to make a cast and then they’d ask for help. Somewhere along the way, all of them (grandsons) have gotten very good at fishing. But, Trevor has taken it a step farther. He can read a flasher and tell you which is your jig and which is a fish and also tell you to raise or lower the jig to entice the fish to bite.

Trevor and I may take a few days in March and head north to the cabin for some late season ice fishing. We have talked about doing this for quite some time and this may just be the time we do it. 

I am looking forward to spending a little time at the cabin in the winter and who knows, maybe we’ll be partaking in a couple of meals of fresh fish in the north woods. Somehow, I just don’t feel that it could get any better than that.

From the reports that I gotten, the fishing on Pickerel Lake has also been quite good. There have been some dandy perch and crappies caught and also some northern in the 22-26 inch range. 

Hopefully, the low water will not have a negative effect on the oxygen levels of our lakes this winter. With some much needed moisture in the spring, maybe our lakes will get back to somewhat normal levels.

Speaking of lakes and things, I see that the never-ending attempt to divert money from the Wildlife and Habitat Restoration part of the Lessard-Sams is continuing. The Heritage Council did not recommend the projects proposed by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Chippewa nor another one by the Met Council for Willdlife Habitat Restoration and Enhancement in the Metropolitan Regional Parks System. 

Representative Phyllis Kahn, DFL, Minneapolis seems determined to do whatever she can to change the way the Heritage Council operates in order to get more money for the Metro Parks system. There is a piece of the pie that is already designated for parks and trails, but evidently some folks want to keep their piece and take part of someone else’s.

I spoke with Garry Leaf of Sportsman for Change a couple of years back and he felt that as long as this bill is in effect, there will always be someone trying to change it to their benefit. I feel that we have competent people on the 12 member Heritage Council to screen the applications and recommend the ones that they feel are worthy.

Until next time, get outside and take in a little fishing, skating or just take a winter walk in the good old Minnesota outdoors.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers because they are the reason we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

"I won a vacation package on a raffle. Five nights in Idaho."

"Five nights. No days?"

"Nope, just nights."

"What will you do during the day?"

"Anything I want, as long as I don’t do it in Idaho."

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: it’s a blizzard if the only vehicles I see go by are a snowplow and a tow truck.

I’ve learned

New car shows are a preview of used car lots.

The price of a hat isn’t a measure of the brain.

It’s O.K. to be in a rut if you enjoy being there.

The schadenfreude season

I returned the call to his landline.

He answered. Then there was racket. A din. A tumult.

The odd sounds ended when he came back on the line and said, "I dropped the phone."

He wouldn’t have had to tell me.

He described the winter storm at his New Hampshire home. He had Minnesota in his backyard.

I thought about the old song by the Turtles that contained the line, "So happy together. How is the weather?"

We always get more winter than we figured on, even during mild years. Winter is gum on the bottom of a shoe. Every year, people ask, "Can you believe this weather?"

We answer, "Yes!"

We get so much ice, that a polar bear rented the old Peterson house. Storm predictions induce panic buying of toilet paper and bread. Some folks flee south until it blows over.

Because of all the winter we get, we might not feel as sympathetic as we should when winter storms hit elsewhere. There is a German word "schadenfreude" (shädn-froid) that means a pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

Funeral potatoes

A friend told me that he had a high school reunion coming up. There is a shadow on the day. He graduated from a school that no longer exists. We miss the old schools with the study halls that were experiments in sleep-learning.

In "Big Yellow Taxi," Joni Mitchell sang, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got, till it's gone, they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot."

I think of that song when attending funerals. I should have visited the deceased more. Been nicer.

The meal after the funeral helps. When I was a boy, I hoped it would be "funeral potatoes" — scalloped potatoes and ham. It’s oddly comforting to listen to a friend say, while ingesting a fourth helping of funeral potatoes, "I like funerals. There is one less person to judge me."

Mule Lake memories

I grew up on the shores of Mule Lake. You might be from Mule Lake if you can pickle that. You’ve been used as a soccer ball by a cow. You’ve experienced enough blizzards to hold you. You know it will always rain because no one in your family has ever died of thirst. You know that it’s possible to drive without talking on a cellphone. You have had a farmer sunburn.

Did you know?

Each dashed line on the highway measures 10 feet and the empty spaces between the lines measure 30 feet. Every time a car passes a line, the car has traveled 40 feet. At 55 mph, a car is traveling 80.66 feet per second, which means that two white strips slip by every second.

Speeding tickets in Finland are calculated according to the driver’s income.

Customer comments

Danny Trolen of Clarks Grove joked that he was having a good day because he’d just finished washing last month's dirty dishes. Things have a tendency to pile up on us. An aunt claimed a ghost left dirty dishes in her sink because she couldn’t have produced that many. On a recent chilly morning, I stepped out onto the deck and it moaned as if it were haunted. Houses make many sounds due to wind and plumbing. That leads me to believe that all houses are males.

Nature notes

"Why are all the birds I see perched on utility wires facing the same direction?” Birds fly and land into the wind. This provides them with maximum lift and control in flight. Birds find it easier taking off and landing when facing the wind. Facing another direction would ruffle their feathers. A streamlined profile stabilizes them. Facing the same direction makes it easier to communicate. If the wind dies, the birds might face different directions.

Meeting adjourned

Kindness is like soap. It does no good unless it’s used.

I received an e-mail message from my friend Tony Blake, who is now back in England. He thanked me and all the other Americans who were most gracious to them on their English goodwill tour of the U.S.A.

Tony wondered why there were so many water closets on the ice at Beaver Lake. He thought the pink water closet on the west side was most appropriate in regards to fighting cancer.

I sent an e-mail back to Tony, trying to explain those water closets were not outdoor toilets on ice, but really fish houses. I complimented him on being so observant in noticing the pink fish house owned by Mark Sorenson.

Now that I know what a water closet is, I hope Tony knows what a fish house is.

Because I’m no longer a local resident – even part time – I have to relinquish my title of President of the local Beaver Lake Liars’ Club. It seems there has been some under-cover-of-darkness skulduggery going on, in two of the Beaver Lake water closets on ice, to replace me. One water closet has the name “C. Crabtree, President-Elect” on the outside door. The other has “J. Worrell, President-Elect” on the door.

Both water closet wannabe’s were actively campaigning at the Beaver Lake Ice Fishing Contest. I don’t know which candidate will win, but I do know they are both well qualified for the presidency.

Genie took me to The Old Mill restaurant in Austin for my birthday in January. The food was excellent. Our server, Shawn, knew the history of the mill. She knew about the fish by the dam, what they were catching in the fish houses, what time of day the otters fished and the Wise Old Owl who stood guard over the dam.

Shawn knew how to “make my day” when she brought me a huge chocolate sundae with a candle on top that I couldn’t blow out. She knew that Genie was buying, so the sundae had two spoons. Shawn, you are great.

Fully Rely On God (F.R.O.G.) held a Valentine’s Party Saturday evening, February 9 at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church with 45 people attending.

Eight of the attendees were first-time Norwegian Bingo players. Stan had to have special tutoring as to how to count to six.

Pizza, pop and jerky were followed by 12 games of Norwegian Bingo. Seventeen people bingoed, with Karen Erickson, Marge Lonning and Eunice Bakken bingoing the most – twice each.

A Valentine’s card was signed by those present, plus those attending church the next day, and mailed to each of the 14 church members who don’t get around much this winter.

Ken Bertelson and Pastor Matt Griggs were the door prize winners of a Valentine Teddy bear each.

A special thanks to Pat, Jacob, and Jamie at Dairy Queen, also Laurel at Arby’s and Guyla at Kentucky Fried Chicken for the food coupons. (Guyla personalized a B.O.G.O. chicken dinner coupon on a Valentine dollie.)

The evening concluded with a no-holds-barred, all-the-calories-you-can-eat ice cream buffet. 

For your information, F.R.O.G. will bet taking a bus to Lutheran Night at the Twins, Monday, Aug. 12. Details later. To put your life in perspective, you must accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue!

———

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.

The scurs had more on their minds than measuring snow this past week and luckily there wasn’t much to measure. Will our fortunes be changing anytime soon? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs near 15 and lows around 10. Thursday, cloudy with snow likely. Highs of 20 and lows of 15. Cloudy again but warmer for Friday with a good chance of snow in the daylight hours. Highs of 25 and lows near 10. Mostly cloudy for Saturday with a slight chance of snow. Highs of 20 – 25 and lows close to 5. Cloudy Sunday and slightly warmer with an increasing chance of snow. Highs of 25 – 30 and lows of 5 – 10. Monday, cloudy with a good chance once again for snow. Highs of 30 - 35 and lows around 20. Cloudy for Tuesday with a chance of snow and ice mix. Highs of 30 and lows of 25. The normal high for February 22nd is 30 and the normal low is 12. On the 24th, the sun will rise at 7 a.m. and on the 25th, we’ll see 11 hours of daylight for the first time since mid-October. The scurs cannot tell a lie: they are glad the days are getting longer so they can resume lounging by a non-frozen ceement pond.

February 25th marks the arrival of the Full Moon for the month. It is traditionally known as the Full Snow Moon as snowfall during this lunar period was typically the highest for the tribes in the Northeastern U.S. It was also known as the Full Hunger Moon as the deep snow tended to hamper hunting activity. Closer to home the Ojibwe knew this as the Sucker Moon as the suckers would be running in the clear cold streams. On the prairies the Sioux called it the Raccoon Moon as warmer temperatures would awaken the raccoons as they would begin to forage for food. At the ranch, we call this the Barn is Too Small Moon or We Need Fewer Sheep Moon due to the large number of lambs hitting the ground.

We continue to see some colder weather well into February and the way things are going, perhaps a more typical March. Doesn’t this mean snow? Not necessarily. If the pattern of the last decade or so holds, we are more likely to see precipitation fall in the form of rain. This may be a good thing as long as the soils are thawed  because it definitely will hold a lot of it. How much will it hold? We have probably built our stored soil moisture since last measurement by 1” – 2” in the top 18” due to snow melting and rains in small amount that did not run off, particularly on fields where primary tillage was performed last fall. The precip tends to collect in the valleys of the ridges and stay there. Since we were looking at 4” – 5” last fall and probably have 6” – 7” now, we can probably hold in the neighborhood of 5” – 6”. Some of the rain that fell back on the 11th however was enough to run off in places as the ground was frozen. The January excavation in our wetland has some water in it now. Hopefully spring rains will refill to capacity once again.

It is still a winter wonderland at the ranch and as such the birds are still flocking to the feeders daily. The cardinals continue to stay faithful and make me hope to hear the males singing come spring. Few bird songs are more beautiful to the ear. By the dozens, redpolls are continuing to descend on the feeders each morning about chore time, greeting us before sunrise. The chickadees scold although I have yet to hear their fee-bee spring call. In the fields surrounding us the flocks of snow buntings this past week have been enormous. It’s the most I can recall seeing since our days as kids listening intently to the turquoise AM kitchen radio for KFIL to announce that Spring Valley schools were closed for the day. That’s a long time ago folks.

Last weekend was shearing weekend and as is frequently the case, we had people come and watch as my friend and neighbor made short work of shearing the flock. It’s tough to shear very fast at our establishment as it really was never designed for sheep but he blew through 48 head in a matter of a few hours including setting up twice. There aren’t many sheep left out here on the landscape anymore and even fewer sheepshearers. It still goes about the same as when I was a lad only the equipment is more modern and we no longer have to tie each fleece into a small bale in the wool box. The fleeces are all compressed into a large burlap wool bag with a hydraulic press. While wool buyers don’t want natural colored wool, frequently the hand spinners will so they must be kept separate. To accomplish this, a man of the cloth was suddenly present so we pressed him into action. We’ll just call him Preacher to protect the innocent. He assisted us in packing some of the black fleeces into individual bags. Well, the Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways.

Ruby and Fudgie continue to enjoy chores more than anything. It’s their opportunity to let off steam after being cooped up for a part of the day. They just launch themselves out the door and not unlike their human counterparts, take spills on the ice especially when they’re wrestling. One major difference however: they have built-in cleats and it’s humorous to see the scarifications they’ve left behind on the ice. Not so humorous if you fall on your rump and examine them more closely.

Girl Scout cookies to the rescue! Seems I’ve made a few trips back and forth to Rochester the past several weeks and as a result, haven’t made the time to force myself to eat. On several occasions, the Dairy Queen I like to frequent was closed, making it impossible to relay the malt price there to the rest of my little fat buddies. What to do? Suddenly it dawned on me: there are several boxes of Girl Scout cookies in my stash in the pickup thanks to Betsy’s crafty salesmanship, er, salesgirlship. Pulling off at an exit, I was able to get the box and cellophane wrapper open to indulge in one of life’s guilty pleasures, a box of Tagalongs. By the time I reached home there was a dead soldier on the seat beside me. Another one bites the dust.

See you next week…real good then.

The Pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, shocked the world this past week by announcing his impending resignation. Not even his closest friends and advisors seemed to know this was coming. Claiming he would not be able to physically or mentally do the enormous job he had been tasked with anymore, he did what no other pope had done for 600 years – step aside when his time had come.

People all over the world admired Pope John Paul II, the previous pope, but it was painful to watch as he developed Parkinson’s disease and withered away. Maybe Pope Benedict was awakened by that memory and wanted to give the Church a chance to ease from one leader to another.

What will this new pope need to do during his reign? I would think many in America would say he should try to find a way to increase attendance and recover the faith that seems to be lacking.

I attend St. Aidan’s in Ellendale, a parish that is dying a slow death. Our attendance at a typical mass hovers between 30-40 people, and many of them are older members of the community. People are aware enough to recognize what is happening, but have no solution to halt this decline.

I’ve given a lot of thought to this and wondered and discussed what is happening with many people of varying levels of faith. I think I’ve finally figured out the problem: people aren’t afraid of God anymore.

Growing up, I remember a literal fear of God put into us by my parents. God was this amazing entity that had full power over us and determined whether we’d go to Heaven, where all our dreams would come true, or head to Hell, where we’d burn in eternal damnation.

To a youngster growing up in any era pre-1990s, that was a pretty amazing image. We never missed church growing up. If we were snowed in or too sick to go, we watched a televised service.

Think about the last 20 years. What do kids have to fear? If you think about it, God is a bit like a super hero to a young child. He has power, kids picture Him as living in the clouds, and He’s got these cool angels at his side.

Now you can watch TV or go to the movies or play video games with characters that encompass all that – and it looks so real! Kids have never seen this God fellow, but they’ve watched the Avengers kick Loki’s butt.

I love movies and TV shows that allow me to escape from reality, but I really think kids today have a hard time discerning reality from fantasy, and so God doesn’t seem so special anymore.

There are certainly other reasons for lower church attendance, but this might be one that has gone without much mention.

So what’s to be done? I know hard-line fundamentalists will disagree with me, but the Church needs to enter the 21st century.

Church is not exciting to kids. In our ADHD world, attention spans are waning, yet churches plod along with rote memorization and 15-minute sermons. If I have kids memorize things in my class, they will get nothing out of it. If I lecture for 15 minutes, I’ve lost them before I hit the five-minute mark.

I don’t know if you can bring that fear of God back to our youth, but it might be possible to return the respect they should have for Him. It would take a lot of change to a tradition-rich liturgy, but without change, it’s easy to see the Church continuing to shrink.

It’s hard to change. But the Church has done it before. The Old Testament God is an angry and vengeful God, but by the New Testament, He’s kind and benevolent, bestowing mercy on His followers. Maybe it’s time to change again and recognize what it will take to keep the Church vibrant in a world with ever-increasing pulls at attention. A new, liberal pope would go a long way to achieving that and making the Church more relevant again. I pray that can happen, one way or another.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is mercurial, which means unpredictably changeable, as in, “The new leader was mercurial, and the other members of the group never knew when he might change his mind.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

As expected, NRHEG girls draw No. 1 seed

It may seem early, but tournament time is here again for the NRHEG girls’ basketball team, here shown fighting for a rebound in a win over WEM last week. The Panthers are rated No. 2 in the state in Class AA and are the No. 1 seed in the south sub-section of Section 2AA. They’ll host a home game Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. against eighth-seeded Maple River (4-22). Pictured are NRHEG players, from left, Katie Cole, Paige Overgaard, Hannah Lundberg, Jade Schultz and, in the background, Carlie Wagner. The section tournament continues Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m. at Mankato East High School. The sub-section finals are Tuesday, March 5 at 6 p.m. at Minnesota State-Mankato. The section championship game is Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. at Minnesota State. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

The Waseca County Sleigh and Cutter medallion has still not yet been found. Therefore, an additional set of clues is being published. We are reminding readers that the medallion is hidden within the city limits of Waseca on public property. Good luck to all of the loyal medallion searchers!!!

The (hopefully) final clues:

The limerick clues have returned

As no winner has been confirmed

So pool all your guesses

Then we’ll see successes

Surely a quest hard earned