Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

"Do you have a baseball bat I could borrow?"

"Sure. What do you want it for?"

"I want to use it on the next person who asks if it’s hot enough for 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: whenever I come across a product that I particularly like, I’d better buy a few of them because whoever makes it will stop making it.

I’ve learned

1. Walking into a spider web is more effective than caffeine in increasing alertness.

2. When putting together ready-to-assemble furniture, allow ample time for frustration and disbelief.

3. Buy the biggest recliner you can find. You’ll grow into it.

The news from Hartland

Dogcatcher loses his job after catching the dog.

Residents notified of smoker moving into the neighborhood.

Local man lies about making $5,000 a month working from home and so can you.

Customer comments

John Beal of Faribault writes that his uncle, Clarence Beal of Milan, MN, had a skunk enter the basement through a window left open. A friend advised him to place a plank from the floor to the window so that the skunk would find its way out. After checking later to see if the plan had worked, he found there were two skunks in his basement.

Kenton Larson of Alden told of going to Bruzek Hardware in New Richland. He found the hammer handle he needed, but noticed that there were two price tags on the handle — one 10 cents higher than the other. Kenton inquired as to why the two prices. He learned that one was the price of the handle and the other was the price of the handle installed. Kenton had it installed.

Greg Spurr of New Richland has been battling an illness. Greg is tough and is winning the fight. It’s frightening to receive a harsh reminder of mortality. Kind-hearted Greg said he didn’t know where he was headed if he lost the battle, but he didn’t pack a winter coat.

Take me to your ladder

The wind had blown a few shingles from the roof of my house. Al Dirnberger said that he could fix that for me. He stopped by one day, ready to do the repairs. He didn’t have a ladder and a family member had borrowed mine. I lifted Al high enough that he could climb onto the roof. I told him he would have to stay up there until I found a ladder.

Andy Griffith 

I knew Andy Griffith. He was a friend of mine. I never met him, but he and the residents of Mayberry were regular guests in my home. Andy was always welcome. Don’t that beat all.

Parade

I sat in the comforting shade of a tree and watched the world go by in the form of a parade. Some parade units moved by so quickly and so close to another that I feared it might have become a demolition derby parade. Others moved at a pace that permitted sizable gaps between units. The Gap should sponsor those. Horses are typically near the end of a parade for obvious reasons. My father claimed he liked politicians better than horses because politicians didn’t poop during parades. That’s usually the case. Many units threw candy. Some candy, tossed by someone not possessing a strong throwing arm, landed on a horse apple. That placement challenged the fervor of a child’s hankering for candy.

I’ve been reading

Stephen Hawking started A Brief History of Time with an anecdote. A well-known scientist gave a lecture on astronomy. He described the earth’s orbit around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the lecture’s end, a lady said, "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant turtle."

The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the turtle standing on?"

"You're very clever, young man," said the lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."

Nature notes

“Do birds taste their food?” Birds have taste buds, but in comparison with other animals, they have few. Therefore, their sense of taste is probably not as sharp as other animals. A chicken has 24 taste buds, a starling 200, a mallard 375, a human 9,000, and a pig 15,000.

“Does a duck’s quack echo?” It does. Not all ducks quack.

Chautauqua

Thanks to all the nice folks who took the time to say "hello" while I spoke and led a nature walk at Maplewood Park in Waseca.

Meeting adjourned

Kindness is just the tip of the niceberg.

It was one great birthday celebration from Friday, June 27 through Sunday, July 8. There was a watercraft parade, swimming, fireworks, picnics, fun in the park and other birthday related things at Beaver Lake. 

There were four angel food birthday cakes with 59 red, white and blue candles atop each one. Fifty-nine times four is the number of birthdays celebrated. The birthday celebration concluded with the singing of “Proud To Be an American.”

Ole (“Fer it”) and Swen (“Agin’ it”) are circulating a petition to be on the November ballot. They need 279 signatures to be on the ballot. (10% of eligible voters) The vote will be whether or not you want the current speed bumps at the entryway on South Beaver Lake Road.

The Church Ladies of Central Freeborn Lutheran Church sponsored a bus trip June 24 to “A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement” at the Plymouth Playhouse Theater in Plymouth. It was a musical comedy presented as a celebration of a Lutheran church basement kitchen and the women who work there.

The cast consisted of three adult ladies, a young lady about to be confirmed and their Lutheran pastor.

Do you have to be Lutheran to enjoy the play? No way, but it sure helps to have roots in Minnesota.

Dianne Elmer, Nancy Anderson, Orville Johnson and Gloria Jensen were bus prize winners (a packet of That Good Old Lutheran Dessert – red Jell-O®).

On the way back to Albert Lea, the bus stopped at KFC in Owatonna for an all-you-can-eat buffet with beverage. Judy and David Kerr, with their excellent employees, treated the bus people like the VIP’s that we are!

Many thanks to Laura in taking care of our mix-up as she refunded two tickets. Laura is a great example of Minnesota Nice.

F.R.O.G. of Central Freeborn Lutheran Church and Grace Lutheran Church in Albert Lea are jointly sponsoring a bus trip Monday, July 30 and Tuesday, July 31 to Lutheran Night at the Twins. Each bus leaves at 4 p.m. from behind Slumberland in Albert Lea. The cost is $45 per person with Home Plate view seats and bus parking one and a half blocks from the ballpark. Call 373-8655 for reserved seats.

Message to illegal ATV drivers: “What part of the ‘No ATV’ sign don’t you understand?”

You should know that crow hunting in Minnesota is legal as of July 12, 2012 (a black bird is not always a crow).

Some Minnesota Inland Waters Fishing Regulations you should know:

Crappie maximum possession limit is 10; sunfish/bluegill maximum possession limit is 20; one walleye over 20” is maximum possession limit (possession is in your care, custody or control).

Thanks to a poor fisherman at cabin 81 for showing me an Austin newspaper clipping of how East Side Lake in Austin came to be named.

It was a log dam, man-made lake, being first created in 1858 and named “Beaver Lake.” With Works Project Administration workers removing soil in 1935, and Highway 16 using soil from the lake bed for fill in 1938, it was renamed East Side Lake. Do you suppose the Austin City Fathers didn’t want any confusion with the Beaver Lake we know?

Like father, like daughter. Father Paul had knee surgery. Daughter Kathy tangled with a lake dock and lost. Both are using a crutch. Both have the same ornery disposition. Luckily for Mamma Paula, they both will recover. Brady and Logan, sons of Kathy, will be most happy.

How hot has it been on those hot days at Beaver Lake? It has been so hot that you couldn’t stand to walk barefoot on the beach sand.

— — —

Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent. 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. This is the Hanson’s 37th summer at Beaver Lake. They leave the lake in mid-October to go south — to Albert Lea — and return in April. Bob says if you enjoy his article, 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. 

Lucky for the scurs, they haven’t been calling the amount of rainfall in their forecasts. It rained in the general area both days they predicted, just not enough to measure. Will we see something measurable this week? Starting Wednesday through Thursday, mostly clear with highs of 85 – 90 and lows around 65.  Partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy with a slight chance of daytime showers and a moderate chance of an overnight thunderstorm on Friday. Highs again of 85 – 90 and lows of 70. Partly cloudy Saturday and Sunday with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm on Saturday and a slight chance on Sunday. Highs around 90 and lows near 70. Mostly sunny and hot on Monday with a slight chance of a thunderstorm.  Highs near 90 and lows around 70. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs near 90 and lows around 70. The normal high for July 15th is 83 and the normal low is 62. We will experience 15 hours and 8 minutes of daylight on the 15th, roughly the same as we saw on May 26th.

Crops by and large took the heat fairly well last week. Corn was tasseling and silking right along by the 4th and by Monday, some of the earliest planted corn was pollinated some of the 30” row soybeans are working on closing the rows. Some herbicide applications still need to be made so it will need to be done soon. Soybean aphids are still scarce to nonexistent, yet. While the heat wave likely slowed their reproduction, chances are they will make their presence known before it’s all said and done. Livestock producers were not so lucky with the heat. Last Thursday was tough with no breeze and heat indexes well over 100 degrees. This made it tough on cattle, turkeys, hogs and sheep. We lost a lamb that evening that had been born a couple days prior. There was just no way it could get enough fluid by drinking milk off the ewe to stay hydrated.  Otherwise we were lucky, maintaining as much air movement as we could on confinement animals and keeping water sources full and clean. 

We continue to see evidence of more new bird arrivals in and around the ranch. It had to be close to jump day at the pond for the wood ducks as the hen was sitting atop the nesting box on Sunday morning. The mosquitoes, deer flies and wood ticks have been so vicious however that I didn’t venture down to the area to witness the event. A female orchard oriole was dipping jelly out of the feeder then flying to a branch where she was feeding it to her young. And while I’m not sure if it was a young one or not, there was a hummingbird at the feeder again on Sunday morning. It was back again in the afternoon. More barn swallows are appearing all the time and that’s good news for keeping the flying insect population in check. The bluebirds continue to raise their brood in the nesting box attached to the old plow at the ranch. The female usually appears anytime you get near the plow. The bluebirds at the kindly neighbors have started a nest for a second brood. What happened to the kestrels? They have scattered to the 4 winds although the other day I saw 5 apparently young kestrels playing around on the wires not far from where Ingeborg used to live. Could it have been the 5 that hatched in the wetland this spring? There’s no way of knowing for sure.

In and around greater Bugtussle we are starting to hear the cicadas call already. TH from Waseca heard some a few days before we did on July 3rd at the ranch. Oddly enough, a week or so prior the cicada killer wasps were setting up shop at the City Hall garden. In the native prairie pasture, the yellow Indiangrass and big bluestem are also ahead of schedule having headed out over a week ago. The burn in the CRP really brought the bluestem out as in places it has become almost a solid stand. Can almost envision the Ingalls family wading through the tall grass prairie with the mountains of Walnut Grove in the background. (that’s a joke) 

The garden needed some extra attention this past week. Seems the cucumber beetles are extremely aggressive this year and won’t leave the vine crops alone. That and of course the heat and dry weather prompted me to add some water into the equation, something I generally don’t do very often. Some of the garden is doing fine without it particularly the tomatoes. They showed no sign of stress although they did stop setting fruit during the hot spell. The bunnies pretty well destroyed the beet and snap pea crop. It will give me a chance to attempt a late summer planting of peas however about the same time the winter radishes are seeded. This time there will be a fence to contend with. 

It was sad to hear about the passing of Andy Griffith on July 3rd. I still remember watching the show when it was first on and we had the old black and white Columbia TV. The older episodes are still in black and white even though I now watch it on a color TV. No one was more unflappable than Andy while he kept Barney reined in and protected Mayberry from the riff raff that drifted through from time to time. The show was so wholesome and down to earth that whether you were young or old, you could appreciate the message and the humor. Some of the old vehicles are interesting to look at too. The characters could’ve come from just about any Smalltown USA although not everyone had an Andy as sheriff. Seems like the Barney Fife-type was equally as common. It’s still easy to catch the old reruns on TV Land and they honored Andy Griffith last Saturday and Sunday with an Andy Griffith marathon. I must admit, I caught a couple episodes including the classic where Aunt Bee makes pickles that taste like kerosene. Watching that show is still a guilty pleasure after all these years. Thanks Andy for making it possible.

See you next week…real good then.

Anne E. Walsh, age 48 of Mankato, died July 9, 2012 at her home.

Memorial service will be 3 p.m. Saturday, July 14, 2012 at Centenary United Methodist Church in Mankato. Visitation will be held on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Mankato Mortuary and continue one hour prior to service at the church. Burial will be in Fort Snelling National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance, 4604 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55407, www.mnovarian.org, 612-822-0500. Casual Attire is preferred at the visitation and service.

Following is the obituary that Anne wrote herself:

Susan M. McDonough, 66, passed away on July 6th, along with her granddaughter, Zoe McDonough, after a tragic accident while vacationing with family in Tennessee.

Sue was a lifelong resident of New Richland, where everyone knew her as a kind, thoughtful, loving and generous friend.

Zoe Madeline McDonough, 10, of East Brainerd died July 6, 2012 along with her grandmother, Susan McDonough, in a tragic accident.

Zoe was a lifelong resident of Chattanooga and was soon to be a fifth-grader at Westview Elementary School. She loved basketball, soccer, volleyball and art and was inspired to become an Art Teacher. She was a member of Girl Scout Troop #40507 for the past five years and also a member of Christ United Methodist Church. Zoe was most proud of her relationship with her savior and having renewed her baptism just five days before her death.

McDonough, Baynes families mourn losses 

Tragedy twice struck New Richland last week.

Sue McDonough, vacationing out of state with her husband Mike, died Friday after a pontoon boat she was aboard overturned in high winds Thursday evening. Her 10-year-old granddaughter, Zoe, also perished in the accident.

New Richland native Michael Baynes, son of Joanie Baynes, was killed in a car accident in Minneapolis Friday afternoon.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, McDonough and her granddaughter were among 12 people on board a double-deck pontoon, which was heading for shore when it struck a wave and high winds and was flipped over front-to-back.

The funeral service for Elois Aleanna Lageson Loken Anderson was held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 7, 2012 at First Lutheran Church in Ellendale, MN. Friends visited with family one hour before service at the church. Interment  was in the First Lutheran Cemetery, Ellendale, MN.

Elois died Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at Three Links Care Center, Northfield, MN. She was 94 years old.

Elois was born in Ellendale, Minnesota on November 24, 1917, the daughter of Enock John and Agnes Elnora (Miller) Lageson.  She attended Ellendale Schools. She was confirmed May 5, 1931 in Ellendale, MN.  Elois had lived in Ellendale, New Richland, Shakopee and Chanhassen, Minnesota and returned to Ellendale.  She was a member of First Lutheran Church in Ellendale and was a member of the ladies aid women’s group. She was married to Clarence Loken who preceded her in death February 22, 1967 and later married Kenneth Anderson who preceded her in death December 26, 1986.

The funeral service for Michael John Baynes of Minneapolis will be held on Friday, July 13, 2012 at 2 p.m., at All Saints Catholic Church in New Richland, MN. Father Swamii will officiate. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Church prior to the service. Interment will be in the Calvary Cemetery in New Richland. A celebration of his life will be held at City Hall following the interment. Friedrich-Bonnerup Funeral Service is in charge of arrangements.

Michael Baynes passed away on July 6, 2012, in Minneapolis. He was 55 years old.

Ione O. Roeker, age 87 of rural Waldorf, died on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at the Janesville Nursing Home.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, July 9th at 11 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Waldorf with Rev. Michael Mathews, officiating. Interment will be in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be held on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Arnoldt-McRaith Funeral Home & Crematory in Janesville, and will continue on Monday morning for one hour prior to services, at church.