25th Annual Christmas in the Country Sunday

The 25th Annual Christmas in the Country will take place on Sunday, December 2 from noon to 5 p.m. in Ellendale. Local stores will have drawings, refreshments, and bargains. Also included will be pictures with Santa throughout the day, kids bingo with Santa, a craft show and bazaar, and a Christmas and Holiday Music Concert. Also from 2–4 p.m. will be an old-fashioned Christmas Open House at Whispering Oak with Christmas treats.

Pancake feed for Chris Besser set for Sunday

On Sunday, December 2, the New Richland Lions Club will be holding a pancake feed benefit for Chris Besser.

The event will take place at New Richland City Hall from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Chris was diagnosed with lung cancer on July 6, 2012, and is currently taking chemo and radiation treatments, and hasn’t been able to work since that time.

I am often asked where thoughts come from for writing my column. It’s just that: Whatever Comes To Mind.

I was planning to cook "deviled" eggs. I went to the refrigerator wondering how long some of the eggs had been in there, and the subject for this week's "Whatever comes to mind" hit me: eggs and politicians have many similarities. 

How do you determine if an egg is good?  How do you determine if a politician is good? Can even good eggs be in the refrigerator (office) too long? Should I simply throw them out?

Eggs are easy to check. If you're old enough, you will recall the process of "candling eggs."

Each egg was hand held and inspected by holding it up to the light to see if had become rotten, or had blood spots. They were scrutinized to see what quality they were. 

Similarly, we should regularly hold laws and politicians up to the light to check their quality. The merchant that was buying eggs wouldn't put up with inferior eggs, and we shouldn't put up with inferior politicians, either. 

Our reputations depend on quality; it is too much to risk on a bad egg. We need to constantly monitor both eggs and politicians.

We may not be able to candle eggs at home, but I did come up with a way to see if they are fresh.  Fill a container up with warm water. 

The reason for using warm water is that eggs are porous. If you put an egg in cold water, it will contract and draw any bacteria that is on the outside of the shell in through the pores. 

This is not good. So, if you use warm water, the egg will expand, and you will notice that little air bubbles form on the shell. 

Put your eggs into the warm water, and look at them. A very fresh egg will sink to the bottom and lay on its side. 

Week-old eggs will rest on the bottom but the fat end of the egg will rise up slightly. Three week old eggs will be balanced on the pointy end with the fat end sticking up.

Old eggs will be floating, bobbing along the surface of the water. These floaters should be tossed as they are no longer any good to eat.

Similarly, politicians are like eggs. They start out good but pick up "bacteria" (not so good habits) picked up from others in Washington. When subjected to careful heat (from their constituents) they remain good and clean, but when subjected to too much heat they may become hard boiled — able to last a long time, but aren't so wholesome anymore. 

Eggs are found in a lot of places and in a lot of conditions. Eggs are sometimes found in hidden places; imported from who knows where. 

Some eggs have blown out shells. They look O.K., but there is nothing there but an empty shell. 

Politicians are like eggs, not always what they're cracked up to be. Some crack under the slightest pressure.

Put all your eggs in one basket? I don't think so. 

Better to look at each individual egg, the quality, the color, and the potential of whether the benefits will be high protein energy or just a stinking rotten egg.

Like politicians, eggs come as brown eggs or white eggs, but without the shell, both are pretty much the same. Some situations call for beating the egg whites or yolks separately to use their best qualities. 

If blended, they may lose their creative goodness, but if handled separately and then put back together (like my deviled eggs that I started this story with), they become something special.

Enjoy your eggs, and our government, but hold both up to the light to examine them regularly or you may end up with a "scramble" (or worse yet, poached!) As for me, I like my eggs (and my politicians) sunny side up!

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.

If you have news, 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, November 29th: Connie Smith, Dean Peterson, Emily Butler, La Vonna Ruhl, Christy & Tim Berry, Pastor Carrie & Dan McElfres.

• Friday, November 30th: Dan Mrotz, Lindsey Hagen, Lindsey Schlaak, Sophia Jepson, Eric Knudson, Norell Wood, Kellen Utpadel, David & Lizell Swearingen, Arnold & Dorothy Lund, Andy & Emily Butler.

• Saturday, December 1st: Ethan Elliot Marzoff, Kyle Anthony Neidermeier, Jim Cornelius, Brian Waage, Laurie Ellis, Teri Horan Finke, Barbara Wangsness.

• Sunday, December 2nd: Maryalice Hanson, Leah Wayne, Allura Danon Johnson, Paige Sorenson, Lyle Paulson, Jean Richards Worrell, Helen Sawyer, Heidi Wangsness, Heather Peterson, Dale Schewe.

• Monday, December 3rd: Eric Degan, Ethan Fletcher Cornelius, Brian Van Ravenhorst.

• Tuesday, December 4th: Sue Mattson, Jessica Shultz, Sandy Larson Russo, Sue Brown Asplund, Shawn Vangen Steffen, Jeff Kasper, Skylar Larson, Holly Pichner, Max Jensen, Casey & Jon Homuth.

• Wednesday, December 5th: Bodie Laxon Newgard, his third; Phyllis Hanson, Rick Aaseth, Rosalyn Johnson, Kathy Lee, Christian Conroy, Shannon Jensen, Kelsey Loverink, Ron Farner, Larry & Mary Richards.

May you find joy and pleasure all around you on your special day.

After weeks of Minnesota Vikings’ games, I thought I would taper off gradually with just a short note about the Vikes. They had a bye this past week after a very welcome win over the Detroit Lions. 

Christian Ponder played well, the defense did likewise and Adrian Peterson was his usual self. If you were to pick an offensive player from the Central Division, I don’t know whom you would go with other than Peterson or Percy Harvin. Or maybe Green Bay’s quarterback Aaron Rogers, only because of the position he plays.

Over the years, the Vikings had standout running backs such as Chuck Foreman and Robert Smith. They were fun to watch, especially the shifty Foreman. 

But Peterson, unless he’s injured, will rank up there with Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Gayle Sayers, O.J. Simpson and Alan "The Horse" Ameche. Ameche is usually not mentioned with the great running backs, but when I was a young guy, I used to enjoy watching would-be tacklers bounce off Ameche, kind of a slower, stronger Franco Harris.

The Vikings continue to surprise and may have saved coach Leslie Frazier’s job. They are still in the hunt and really, what more can you expect this rebuilding year?

George Allen, the successful Washington Redskins coach, used to trade his draft choices for established veterans. His teams did well and while Allen’s coaching philosophy was unusual, his teams were winners until the Redskins woke up one year with a poor, aging over-the-hill gang.

You’ll notice that in football and baseball, teams that may exceed expectations tend to be young. Perhaps now it is the Twins’ turn. 

However, for this to work, the young teams have to be good. The Twins have positioned themselves well for offseason acquisitions. 

They finished last in the American League Central Division enabling them to draft high in the forthcoming draft. They didn’t re-sign Scott Baker after his surgery, saving themselves $5 million, not too bad a move even though they badly need pitching. 

Given Baker’s history, he appeared to be long ways from a sure bet. I think Terry Ryan was of the same opinion.

The Twins shed Tsuyushi Nishioka at his behest, saving $3 million. At first, I thought it was a sportsmanlike gesture on Nishioka’s part. However, it turned out he was going back to Japan for more money.

Therefore, things are in place for Ryan to have a good offseason. But, a good winter does not mean a good summer even if Ryan does well in his player acquisitions.

Our Minnesota Timberwolves were down to nine players and still had a winning record. Somebody should have coined a good nickname for the Timberwolves with their shortage of players. 

It could have been on the order of the Chicago White Sox’s "Hitless Wonders" decades ago or the young Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids." The "Whiz Kids" became the "Phiz Kids" after losing the World Series in four straight to the New York Yankees. Perhaps the Timberwolves could have been the "Nasty Nine" or something like that.

Our Minnesota Gopher football team, after qualifying for a post season bowl game, gave up a lot of that good feeling. They got stomped by Nebraska and showed they had a long ways to go to be ranked with the Big Ten elite.

Then they had an interteam squabble on the Internet between the coach and one of his players. On the Internet no less. 

Simon and Garfunkel used to sing, "The times they are a changing." They were right. The Internet squabble proves it.

This is the time of year I usually consider the “down time” for fishing. There is ice on the lakes, but it is too thin to walk on so fishing is usually in limbo. 

This year – not a problem! The lakes and streams that still have any water in them are open.

I spoke with one local sportsman the other day. He told me that the crappies were still biting on Fountain Lake. 

He also informed me that fishing was the best in the evening. Or, late afternoon, now that we’ve switched from daylight savings time. 

This fisherman is “old school” because the old hook-line-and sinker is all that he needs. I guess sometimes simpler is just better. 

Tip that hook with a crappie minnow and get ready to fill the bucket. Now that I mention it; a meal of crappies fresh out of the lake would be mighty tasty. 

Some area bass fishermen have also been hitting the lake.

The amount of moisture that we are lacking in our area’s lakes, ponds and streams is a little concerning to a lot of local sportsmen. You could probably play a baseball game in upper Twin Lake these days. A lot of folks, me included, feel that a freeze-out is eminent if we have any kind of a winter at all.

Public TV has been showing a documentary on the dust bowl that happened in the 30’s in Texas and Oklahoma. That’s a scary thought.

You see, no matter what modern day technology comes up with, nature still has the last say in our day-to-day lives. I am sure that there are scientists out there that are getting paid the “big bucks” to find a way to control that too.

I spoke with a person the other day that had gone pheasant hunting in South Dakota. He has hunted the same area for the last 10 years and now it is changing. 

The farmer that owned much of the CRP land that they hunted is gone and the new owners are plowing it all up and even taking out the wind rows, all for the mighty dollar. I know the farmer is in it to make a living, but most of the ones that I know are also aware of the effect that preserving habitat has on the environment. 

We need to have CRP and Wildlife Management land to sustain our areas wildlife.

There is not a lot of noise being made about local pheasant hunting this season, but I do know that the DNR did predict low numbers this season. My grandson Trevor is still in hunting mode.

However, with him, it is mostly waterfowl. He has had some pretty good luck this season. 

He hunts a lot, and I guess the same thing I always say about fishing holds true to hunting: you need to put in the time to have success.

Speaking of fishing I still have my old 14-ft. fishing boat anchored in the back yard. I will have to start looking for a bigger motor for it. 

The old 10 hp Evinrude sort of pushes it through the water like a barge. Maybe a 15 or 25 horse will do the trick. 

Quite a few years ago, when the boys were younger, (me too) the whole family fished out of that boat. And, when we went from one end of Spider Lake to the other, we almost felt like a sack lunch would have been mighty handy.

I have many memories from those days that we fished and camped without a lot of frills. Those were times that you didn’t need a camera for; just have someone bring up an instance that happened and you’d be taking a trip down memory lane. 

From time to time, one of the boys will start a story with, “do you remember when?” Those were some good times that you can’t relive but you can surely revisit.

Until next time, take a little time to enjoy the outdoors experience and take advantage of the open water.

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

"An alligator bit off my nephew’s finger."

"Which one?"

"How should I know? All alligators look alike to me."

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: if at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

I’ve learned

1. The Big Ten Conference has 14 teams. It’s no wonder some of their athletes have problems with math.

2. Hearsay is something that a child hears and repeats.

3. The last two Angel players to receive Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year award are Mike Trout and Tim Salmon. There’s something fishy about that.

The news from Hartland

Tank Heaven for Little Grills is your propane filling station.

Fish and Cheeps Pet Shop admits installing pet doors in aquariums was a mistake.

Bigfoot spotted stomping grapes.

No one is average

I serve on a board with a man who winters in Auburn, Alabama and summers in Haines, Alaska. That means, on average, he lives in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

Thanksgiving rewind

Thanksgiving reinforces long-held values such as overeating and obsessing over football. I had a lovely Thanksgiving. The turkey wasn’t the only thing stuffed. My piehole was stuffed, too. Thanksgiving is when we’re thankful for things we should be thankful for all year. I’m thankful I missed those buy or die sales on Black Friday. Christmas sales trample thankfulness. Long before Thanksgiving, I heard Christmas songs playing in stores and airports. Sadly, there is a dearth of Thanksgiving tunes. I think of "Simple Gifts" as my Thanksgiving song. "'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free. 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be. And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'Twill be in the valley of love and delight."

I asked a friend what his favorite Thanksgiving song was. He said it was by Adam Sandler and goes like this, “Turkey for me. Turkey for you. Let's eat the turkey in my big brown shoe. Love to eat the turkey at the table. I once saw a movie with Betty Grable. Eat that turkey all night long. Fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong. Turkey lurkey doo and turkey lurkey dap. I eat that turkey, then I take a nap."

Mike Twohy did a cartoon for The New Yorker of a man telling his family, "The takeaway tonight is 'Thanks.'"

Adam Sandler sang only one song about Thanksgiving. That’s something to thank about.

Winter woes

Cheryl McRoberts is Director of Operations for the American Bald Eagle Foundation located in Haines, Alaska. Last winter, 30 feet of snow fell at the Foundation’s headquarters — 11 feet in November. One morning, Cheryl came to work to find the doors completely covered by snow. She couldn’t get into her office. Her husband Bill said, "Well, let’s get busy. Where are the shovels?"

The shovels were safe and sound inside the building.

Gunned down by a grapefruit

I was in Weslaco, Texas. It didn’t take long to drive there. There is an unwritten law in Texas that says you must pass the car ahead of you. I was hunting the perfect grapefruit — sweet and juicy. I found one. I attacked it with a spoon. The grapefruit squirted me in the eye. The hunter had become the hunted.

Astronaut

I met Edgar Mitchell recently. He was an astronaut and the sixth man to walk on the moon. My parents thought I’d become an astronaut because my teachers told them that I was just taking up space in class. A day lasts approximately 708 hours on the moon. I should move my office there. I might be able to catch up on my work. Edgar Mitchell walked on the moon. That saves him a lot of money. Once you’ve done that, there’s no point in going on an amusement park ride.

Mink earlaps

Terry Jacobson of Haines, Alaska made a coonskin cap. The raccoon wasn’t large enough to allow for earlaps. A mink helped itself to some of Terry’s Rhode Island Red hens. Terry shot the mink in the chickens’ memory. Now Terry has a coonskin cap with mink earlaps.

Nature notes

The downy woodpecker is found in all states but Hawaii.

It’s believed that apples originated in Asia and were first cultivated in the Tien Shan Mountains of eastern Kazakhstan. The Seed Savers Exchange near Decorah, Iowa grows about 700 varieties of apple trees.

Meeting adjourned

 Be kind and thank the people who have made a difference in your life.

Dusting off the Ruby hair from the keyboard, the scurs have readied themselves for another week of weather prognostications. Will we go back in the deep freeze or get another reprieve? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs of 35 – 40 and lows near 25. Mostly sunny on Thursday with highs of 40 – 45 and lows of 25 – 30. Partly cloudy on Friday. Highs of 40 – 45 and lows above freezing at 35. Mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of rain and/or snow. Highs 50 – 55 and lows around 30. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs near 50 and lows around 35. Partly cloudy and continued above normal on Monday. Highs 50 – 55 and lows around 35. Partly cloudy for Tuesday with highs again near 50 and lows falling back to 25. The normal high for December 1 is 32 and the normal low is 16. The scurs are hoping the warm weather holds long enough to get in one more dip in the ceement pond once the ice on it melts.

Mother Nature played a wicked trick on us Thanksgiving Day. It was amazing to be swatting flies and watching boxelder bugs parade around while we grilled on the patio that afternoon. The front ended up taking temperatures from the mid-50s for highs in the afternoon and dropping it down into the teens Friday morning, then down to 8 above the following morning. As we’ve said before, 8 is not a temperature, it’s a shoe size. We should probably get used to it but after being spoiled, it becomes more difficult to accept that it is/was late November and it gets cold.

The holiday itself was uneventful as we hosted my Mom, brother, his wife and mother-in-law. Oh, and Fudgie, my Mom’s Border Collie, of course. A whole turkey on the grill has become nearly routine over the years and luckily this year the bottom didn’t fall out of the blender containing the basting sauce. Much smoother to deal without that sticky mess again. The leg of lamb was an easier addition than I would’ve guessed although with a new grill and rotisserie, it made me nervous operating two grills at once. With brother Roger stepping up to the plate to be a hero though, we were in like porch climbers. The meal was a combined effort with Mrs. Cheviot carrying the bulk of the load inside with generous additions, from all who were in attendance. All in all a bountiful harvest.

After dinner it was time again for the annual running of the pumpkins, where we roll the pumpkins down the hill and laugh as the sheep chase after them. On Thanksgiving Day his year however the pumpkins looked and rolled similarly to deflated basketballs. Low temperatures in the teens will do that to a pumpkin once it warms up again. It still didn’t dampen the ewe’s enthusiasm for gnawing a hole in them to get at the seeds. Luckily we had an abundance of pumpkins, thanks to the generosity of my Mom, Shannon Shoenrock’s uncle and the Dubya’s who enjoy watching the sheep devour them. There were plentiful enough so we could stagger their distribution. They didn’t seem to mind the fact they were hard the following day, the ewes’ sharp incisors making short work of the frozen orange pumpkin flesh.

Bringing the ewes back Saturday from the kindly neighbors’ was among the most uneventful of any year since we’ve pastured sheep there. They were in their pasture a long time this season, since May 15th checking back in the records, making it a shade over 6 months. While I was taking Mom back home, Mrs. Cheviot had gone over to the pasture and slipped some feed in their mangers, shutting the barn door behind them. Ruby got aced out of a job but as windy and cold as it was, it was nice to have them ready to go. Ruby gets plenty of exercise as it is doing chores and playing ball so no worries there. The sheep had done well on the pasture once again, fat and sassy as they filed out of the trailer on their home turf. Fortunately there were still pumpkins left so they wouldn’t feel left out.

Bird activity has been about what one would expect for the colder temperatures sans snow. Plenty of woodpeckers and huge blue jays at the suet as well as nuthatches and chickadees. The goldfinches have continued to live up to their nomadic reputation, coming and going depending on the day. Probably the greatest sighting was Friday morning as the sunlight and light breeze were rattling the hoar frost loose from the trees. 3 rooster pheasants disrupted the ewes’ pumpkin eating frenzy as they attempted to make their way from the CRP across the bottom of the pasture. The early morning sun shone on the roosters’ bronze breasts making them stand out from the dead brown grass in the fenceline. An even prettier sight had to be the 3 hens bringing up the rear, letting us know there are still birds out here and some left for seed.

See you next week…real good then.

My classroom has a new book shelf on the wall this year. My alma mater, Cathedral High School in New Ulm, was replacing the bleachers in the gym, and I managed to get one of the old ones. 

After all, I spent enough time sitting there when I was on the basketball team. I figured I might as well have one!

My varsity career in basketball and baseball involved much more time on the bench than in the actual games. And you know what? I’m O.K. with that. 

I love both sports and enjoyed being part of a team. Would I have liked to play more? Absolutely, but I’m O.K. with my 13 career varsity basketball points.

I’m more than a little bothered when I hear about kids not playing a sport anymore because they won’t get as much playing time. 

As our girls’ basketball team begins another hopefully successful season, one would think that girls would want to stay out and be part of a team with a chance to go to state. However, a few have told me they’re not playing because they won’t get as much time.

Do you have any idea what I would have given to sit on the bench at Target Center? For one thing, I’m sure those chairs are much more comfortable than the average high school bench. And not playing much? Based on the number of blowouts last year, playing time is plentiful when you’re up by 30.

Here are theories on why numbers are down in varsity sports, not just here but many other schools. First, kids feel obligated to work more hours. Let’s face it, if you want to put gas in your car, it is a lot more exponentially than it was when we were growing up.

Second, some kids are getting burned out of various sports. Basketball and volleyball are year-round activities now, and I think there comes a point where kids get sick of seeing the same ball for 12 months. If you want to be competitive, you have to play all year, and coaches and players feel that pressure to succeed.

The last reason is this sense of entitlement that seems to pervade our society today. If I practice every day and come to camp in the summer, I should get to play as much as the next person. 

However, especially at a varsity level, that’s not how it works. Let’s be honest. If a varsity coach played everyone equally and ended up with a losing record because of it, many people in the community would be in an uproar. People pay money to watch these games and want to see a winner if possible.

Let’s be honest some more. Some people won’t show up to a varsity event if the team is losing. Football, volleyball, basketball, and wrestling are cash sports because the money brought in from tickets at least partially offsets the costs of running those programs.

Nobody seems happy to just be part of the team anymore. Nobody revels in being that player that everyone goes crazy for when they actually get in and, gasp, score a basket! 

And that’s too bad, because having those players can help a team just as much as having a couple of all-star players. Those players are motivators from the bench and can bust their tails at practice to push the starters and make them better.

In the end, the splinters are well worth the valuable skills in teamwork and the camaraderie gained from being part of a varsity team.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is upbraid, which means to criticize or scold severely, as in, “The coach had to upbraid the starter when he wasn’t trying as hard as the player who normally sat on the bench.” 

Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

Elaine Lucille Soeldner, age 94 of Waseca died on Monday, November 19, 2012 at Lake Shore Inn in Waseca.

Born on June 20, 1918 in Springfield, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Joseph and Emilie (Schmidt) Schumacher. When her mother married Vinton Bird, they moved to New Richland where Elaine grew up and attended school.  The family spent summers at a cabin on St. Olaf Lake, where Elaine loved to swim and play tennis. She graduated from New Richland High School in 1936 and Minneapolis Business College in 1938.

James “Jim” A. Bauman, age 79 of New Richland died on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at his home.

Born on May 18, 1933 in Waseca, Minnesota he was the son of George A. and Fayette E. (Wobschall) Bauman.  He attended rural Waseca County School District #46 and later earned his GED.  Jim served in the US Army from 1953 until his honorable discharge in 1955. He married Joanne Schroeder on April 28, 1957 at the First Congregational Church in Waseca.  Over the years he was employed at the EF Johnson Co. in Waseca, Herter’s in New Richland, and retired from Mustang (OMC) in Owatonna in 1998.

Zinna M. Finlayson, age 87, of Maple Grove, MN, died Friday, November 23.  She was 87. Zinna was born and raised in New Richland. 

She is survived by son, Gary (Colleen) Finlayson of Aitkin, MN; daughter, Diane Finlayson (Marty Calon) of Baltimore, MD; grandsons, Dustin (Megan) of Duluth and Matthew (Amanda Vogtlin) of Aitkin; great grandson, Teagan; brothers, William (Gladys) Miskoff of Hutchinson, MN and Victor (Marcella) Miskoff of Omaha, NE. 

She is preceded in death by husband, Sidney; companion of many years, Dale Landon; sisters, Lola Hagen and Pola Jeddeloh.

She was a retired Postage Due Clerk at the Elmwood Branch Post Office, member of the Eagles and VFW Ladies Auxiliary and was active in the old-time dance community at the Medina Ballroom. A celebration of life will follow.