Watching the open market displays on various food shows, in particular the foreign shows, with all the fruits and vegetables, breads, and even meats and fish that are out in the open air where everyone can handle the food and compare it, I wonder — are there no bacteria or sanitation problems in those countries?

Here in our little corner of the world we take into consideration the moving belt at the check out counter and the handles on the shopping carts. The food items themselves may be even tainted. 

We also think about how many hands may have handled the food. Even if there is an outside hide or covering on the food items, like what we find on citrus fruits, that too needs to be washed. 

Even after we wash them, we wonder if we are doing a good enough job. I like to use white vinegar and water as it kills bacteria. Put together a mixture of one part vinegar to 10 parts water and use it to wash your fruits and vegetables. Then rinse them with clear water, and wipe the items with paper towel or allow them to air dry.

Is the air, the dust, the fingers and food cleaner in other countries? Rarely. I don't know, but I will keep on washing and cleaning. I hope that I am doing a good enough job.  

I know people who won't eat "finger foods" at a fair or exhibition, or allow their children to accept samples given out in the grocery stores. Is this sensible or nonsense? You be the judge.

Have germs taken over our lives? Can we get "germ-a-phobia” - knowing there are germs and bacteria everywhere? Have we become too concerned?

My grandfather often remodeled cow barns. He would have lunch and munch on his sandwich or cookies without a thought of what his hands had touched, and he was healthy as a horse. Perhaps there is an immunity built up over the years.

Some people travel to foreign lands, and immediately become sick. My cousin Jim Hanson, though, has traveled to 78 countries throughout the world, and has never become ill from food. 

He says that he doesn’t shy away from local food, but does take some ordinary precautions. He eats food that must be peeled, like bananas. He does not eat raw vegetables, like salads and tomatoes. He drinks soda or beer if it is bottled and the carbonation in the bottle indicates that the bottle hasn’t been opened. 

He never orders drinks with ice in them (the ice may be made with tainted water). That being said, he will eat street food from vendors, but watches to see if professional people order it first. These precautions are not just for foreign countries, but also apply to street foods from carts in American large cities and at sporting events.

Do you look at the railings that are located on stairways and think about how many germs are lurking there? Wiping the shopping cart handle is a good move, but have you ever thought about the belt that moves your groceries to the check out person and how many germs may be deposited there?

Do you bump the door handles with your hip instead of your hand? What do you do when you go to push open the doors; do you do it with your hands?

Is there anything dirtier than money? We hear about money laundering, but that laundering is not the kind you do with soap and water. Think of all of the hands and pockets that money has passed through.

My mother knew a gal who would even wash her hamburger. Meats and foods that can be properly cooked should not be washed. 

The heat that is used to cook the items will take care of germs, but great care should be taken in cleaning the areas where meat products could come in contact with other foods, such as counter tops and especially cutting boards. Also, don't forget to always wash your hands.

Even the paper receipts and plastic bags we get when we buy our groceries and things have germs and bacteria on them. What about paper products, especially those that have been recycled? What is the story there? Using disposable towels, even in your bathroom, makes sense unless you have a stack of fingertip towels that can be used for single use.

Another food for thought: do you know what you are eating? Sugar isn't just sweet for us. Germs love it too! Sugar in your body sends out chemical signals that drive bacteria to it like a moth to a flame.

Some foreign honey isn't honey at all. It is a substance that can be made from sweeteners and water. Believe it or not, some foreign processed food actually contains excess products that should be disposed of as garbage, but they choose to dispose of them in the product instead. In other words, they get rid of it, saving cost.  

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. 

• Thursday, June 28th: Warren & Bonnie Nelson, Jenny (Broskoff) & Chris Dutton, Danielle (Wagner) & LuVerne Zacharis, Amanda (Reese) Beavens, Shane Reese, Margaret Dobberstein, Zack Kromminga, Sara Hoyt, Sara Jensen and Noah Peterson.

• Friday, June 29th: Donald Hope, Nate VerHey, Courtney Haugen, Jacob Peterson, Brenda (Janka) Tschann, Jane (Jensen) Bratten, Berniece Whelan, Barb & Dale Mrotz, Brent & Valerie Christensen, Brent & Michelle Meiners, Wally & Marge Wobschall.

• Saturday, June 30th: Tammy & Jeff Busho, Susan (Schmidt) & Jon Anderson, Ann & Brent Wiersma, Nate & Kristine VerHey, Julie Vanden Heuvel, Robin Eder, Nathan Robertson, Donna Reichl, Steve Jensen, Barb Wright, Lorrie Kelly and Roger Shaunce.

• Sunday, July 1st: Keralyn (Paulsen) Powers, Eugene Hagen, Mary Edwardson, Linda O'Neil, Joanna Ruth Vermedahl, Maureen Wayne, Jill Hanson, Chris Ihrke, Jason Churchill, Marjorie Otterson, Deb Schimek, Rachel (Eaker) Lee, Gary Carlson, Tristan Bangert, Robert Christensen, Roger & Joyce Wayne, Heather (Krause) & Dion Quiram and Frank & Marilyn Cuden.

• Monday, July 2nd: John & Wendy Schultz, Delbert & Judy Karsjens, Leslie (Gatton) & David Hecker, David & Sidney Skroch, Christopher Matthew Wacek, Mary Ann Ewing, Stacy Shaunce, David Beck, Chad Ritz, Wilma Arbogast, Melissa Quaintance and Tony H. Seykora.

• Tuesday, July 3rd: Danika Marie Jensen, Lorry Pelzl, Amy Storlie, Amy Walterman, Cynthia Nelson, Sara & Chris Ihrke, Rachel & Michael Schmidt, Phillip & Karen Briggs.

• Wednesday, July 4th: Happy 4th of July!  Bethany Miller, Carlie Sevcik, Pam Nelson, Trina Churchill, Ellie Rose Meiners, Brent Meiners, Brian Meiners, Denise & Scott McGowan.

Hope you have a day filled with things that make you smile!

With each passing year, grow stronger, wiser and richer in spirit. May the year be filled with new discoveries and God Bless America!

Have the Twins reached the point of no return? Is it time to throw in the towel and prepare for the Great July Selloff? 

At one point, my friend and I concluded that it is time to pull the plug. We felt the mini-comeback had run its course and the Twins were just a bad team.

Late at night, I gave serious thought to concentrating not on the present, but on the future as the organization tries to build for the coming years. A guy tries to be objective, but it is easy to throw up your hands in disgust and say get rid of the whole bunch. Then the thought came that the Twins really don’t have a bad team in spite of their record.

The outfield of Willingham, Span and Revere is a major league outfield and probably better than most, if Revere continues his high average hitting. One fair and two very good defenders. The infield and catcher seem to be righting themselves, particularly if Plouff continues his slugging. The middle infield has a heady veteran and a promising rookie. More about Justin Morneau at first later. And Joe Mauer, while not what we want him to be, is still one of the top two catchers in the American League. The Twins could, with a break or two, have a better-than-average infield. The position players are not that bad. In fact, as presently constituted, they look very respectable.

The problem with the Twins, as we all know, is starting pitching. It’s hard to be very optimistic about the pitching, although it has improved since the early part of the year. Scott Diamond has shown that he may be a good middle-of-the-rotation starter, which is more than the Twins had during the early part of the season.

Francisco Liriano has pitched well since coming back from his exile to the bullpen with an ERA under 3. I realize that with Frankie you have to hold your breath and hope for the best every time he goes out there. But, his recent performance is encouraging.

As mentioned, I was all set to write the Twins off this year and concentrate on the prospects, but now I’m not so sure, for it seems to me the team is only a couple of pitchers away from being a good ballclub.

Easy said, but how to make that happen? This is not new with me, but try this on for size: trade Span for a good starting pitcher, and I mean good. I know that Span is an elite player both on the field and in the clubhouse. However, you have to give value to get value. Then move Revere to center field and Chris Parmalee to right. I think Parmalee is ready to start hitting and he has a stronger arm than Revere.

Trading Matt Capps should yield the Twins a starting pitcher of some sort. That would help the Twins’ rotation. It’s surprising what another starting pitcher will do for a team.

I know there has been a lot of talk about trading Justin Morneau, but I would let the season play out for Justin. First of all, he wouldn’t net much at this juncture. And, Justin Morneau is of great value to the team whether he hits 30 home runs or 10. Lets see how it goes.

One may feel the need to do something dramatic to help the Twins, but sometimes less is more. And should the season not work out, there is always the opportunity to do more.

Taking the time to “stop and smell the roses” can be an eye opener for a lot of us that are too busy with the hectic pace of daily life. 

I have never considered myself a bird watcher, but in the past few years I have enjoyed watching different birds coming to the feeders up at the cabin. When there is a bird I don’t recognize (which is most) I try to find out what kind it is. 

Occasionally, the feeders at the cabin are invaded by a raccoon or a pesky red squirrel. But, for the most part, they attract a large assortment of birds that are just fun to watch.

With all this fun being had at the cabin, I had decided to try it at home. I bought my first feeder for the house, filled it up and anticipated the onslaught of various birds. 

I had to run some errands and was gone for a short while, but when I returned, the feeder was on the ground and pretty much destroyed. That’s when I spotted two gray squirrels scurrying away from the scene of the crime. All this was not going to deter me from my bird feeding venture, so I purchased two more feeders and hung them out of squirrels reach. Problem solved; or so I thought.

Life was good because now the birds were starting to come, finches, chickadees and two different kinds of woodpeckers and the squirrels could no longer reach the feeders. This lasted until the battalion of neighborhood blackbirds discovered the feeders. I soon found out that it takes about one full day for blackbirds to empty a feeder and eat an entire suet block. 

Looking out into my backyard, I had flashes of that old Hitchcock movie “The Birds” dancing in my head. I eventually decided to abandon that idea, but I did leave one feeder that those miniature vultures didn’t seem to bother.

I guess I will have to stick to fishing; I seem to have better luck with that. Speaking of luck, there have been some nice walleye caught around the area so far this year, not only in Albert Lea Lake but also on Fountain and in the Shell Rock River, which shouldn’t come as a surprise with the number of walleye in Albert Lea Lake. 

It wasn’t too many years ago that a past neighbor of mine called and told me about the walleyes he had caught in the Shell Rock on Thanksgiving Day. I have also heard of a few area lakes that are producing some very nice crappies this fishing season.

The channel below the Bridge Avenue dam has produced some nice walleye on crankbaits, especially in the early morning and late evening hours. The northern fishing has been pretty good on Fountain Lake and the bluegill fishing on Fountain has been going great guns since ice-out. 

Fishing bluegills can be a real blast when you are using light tackle. And, pound for pound I don’t think that there is a better fighter than the bluegill. On Fountain Lake the best spots seem to be the two bridges, Hatch and Blackmore. 

Edgewater Bay has a nice fishing pier that is a good spot to try, but almost all of that shoreline can also produce fish. A nice mess of bluegills can make for a mighty tasty meal.

I discovered years ago that evening fishing along the shore in Edgewater Park could yield some dandy bluegills along with some nice crappie. When I was a kid I had a friend, Dennis who was from Austin. His grandpa worked for the City and took care of Edgewater Park. 

When Dennis would come and stay we rode with his Grandpa to Edgewater Park and fish all day until his grandpa had finished work. We walked the whole shoreline of the park. I believe we fished almost every inch of it. His grandma packed us a lunch and when his grandpa took dinner break, he’d come and get us so we could have lunch with him. I don’t think I’ve had many lunches that tasted much better than that.

Spending a whole day fishing Fountain Lake was pretty common for me growing up. You didn’t need much money (luckily) because if your bike tires had air and you could dig up a few worms, you’d be set. I would usually start my day of fishing at Katherine Island and then move to the dam. 

Climbing the walls under the bridge at the dam was always an adventure. It was pretty exciting when you’d see a school of crappie or a northern swim through. 

As a kid, I could spend most of the day under that bridge and never grow tired of it. After the fishing was done, I’d stop at the Northside Creamery (Dairy Bar) and spend some of my mowing money on a sundae or an ice cream cone. Yeah, I’d have to say that there just wasn’t a much better way to spend a summer day. 

Until next time, take a little time to relax and enjoy a little fishing and watch a bobber as it bounces lazily in the breeze; it’s a great way to experience the 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

"How do you want your eggs?"

"What difference does it make?"

"None 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: is a male black widow spider a black widower?

The cafe chronicles

The Burp N Belch Cafe sells a cheeseburger for $17,800. Get a free Ford Focus with each cheeseburger purchased.

I’ve learned

1. It takes me a while to realize that a parade has ended.

2. That lutefisk would be better if it were deep-fried.

3. That men know what clothing fits. What they don’t know is which clothes are dirty, wrinkled, or wrong.

Hot weather

Today, most people counter the attack of hot weather with air conditioning. Back in the day, folks had to fight the heat in other ways.

My mother sang Christmas songs on scorching days. She said the songs fooled the mind.

My father worked harder. He said that took his mind off the oppressive temperatures.

I tried both. I can’t say that either one worked, but singing was certainly the easiest.

The news from Hartland

Library opens tanning parlor so that the well-read could be well-red.

Sword swallower claims his stabbing was an inside job.

The Colonel Store (formerly the General Store) offers hi-deaf TV for people with hearing loss.

Changing times

I was at meeting. There were seven men sitting at my table. We were as rural as anyone is allowed to be. It was a meeting that caused people to check the time frequently. I’m not saying that it wasn’t an interesting meeting. It was just one that caused folks to think about the time. I noticed an odd thing on a hot day that brought shirt-sleeved men to the table — not one of the seven was wearing a wristwatch. These once dedicated wristwatch watchers checked the cellphones they had holstered like a cowboy’s six-shooters whenever the meeting encouraged looking.

For no apparent reason, this reminded me of another meeting.

“Excuse me,” said the stranger. “Do you have a cigarette?”

I don’t smoke, so I replied in the negative. I didn’t add a “sorry” because I thought that I might be doing him a favor by helping him to cut back on his smoking.

“Oh, then here’s one for you,” he said as he offered me a pack of a generic brand of cigarettes. He laughed.

I remember being in a class when a physician came to talk to us about the dangers of smoking. He painted a scary picture of blackened lungs and agonizing deaths. He quoted someone who said, “Fire on one end, fool on the other.”

I think his talk would have been more effective had we not seen him light a cigarette before getting into his car.

Those thrilling days of yesteryear

Junior high shop class was situated in a large room filled with demonic devices. A young man passed the class if he didn’t lose a finger while operating one of those satanic machines. No, that’s not right. A boy passed the class if he didn’t lose all his fingers.

Curse of the cursive

I didn’t get good marks in penmanship in school. The problem was that I did my homework while on a long bus trip to school. The only reason I put off doing my homework to the last moment was that I couldn’t put it off any longer than that. The bus spent most of its time traveling washboard gravel roads featuring potholes. It is difficult writing legibly while your desk is bumping down a road. That is why my penmanship was never up to the standards set by my teachers.

Nature notes

“Do you own a bug zapper?” No. Countless studies have proven that they aren’t effective in attracting mosquitoes, let alone killing them. They kill many beneficial insects. I wave the mosquitoes away with my hand. I believe in sensible shoos.

“Why do woodpeckers peck on my house?” Woodpeckers hammer on houses for three reasons. To proclaim territory, to excavate a nest or roost hole, or to feed on insects living in the siding. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology tested six common deterrents. The methods tested were life-sized plastic owls, reflective streamers, plastic eyes on fishing line, roost boxes, suet feeders, and a sound system that broadcasted woodpecker distress calls and hawk calls. Only the streamers worked with any consistency.

Happy anniversary

Congratulations to Farmers State Bank, the best bank in Hartland, on its 100 years in existence. It doesn’t look a day over 99.

Meeting adjourned

In Hebrews, it says, “Don't forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it.”

It is June, and most of the Beaver Lake cabins with out-of-state owners have been used by the owner. Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia and Ohio owners either have been or are here now. As of this writing, California and Maine owners have not been here. Every cabin has been used by someone since May 1st. Do you need to know all this? No, but now you know anyway.

For you Fisher People: Crappies and sunfish are too easy to catch currently at Beaver Lake. Bass are biting, with the largest being 11 ½ inches (7 lb.) so far. Lutefisk are not biting – they are an “R”-month fish.

On the 17th of May, I wrote about the South Beaver Lake Road cabin owners charging a user fee to help pay for the cost of blacktopping their private road. Boy, did I get flack back!

The lady rural route mail carrier sent me 25¢ via her mail relay person, Patrick from cabin #3. She informed me that the U.S. Government is very short of funds, and with the government discount, 25¢ should cover her using the toll road to deliver parcels.

Don (cabin #10) sent me an email wanting to know if the newly hatched wood ducks will be charged a lake access fee.

I received a typed, unsigned letter in the mail (postmark was Mankato). It declared that the privacy law means nothing, because you can find out anything you want to about a person through your computer. It stated you could find out who owned property, and the conservative value of the property, around any lake in Minnesota. It went on to say that you could find out the income, taxable income, and income tax for the lake property owner. With all this info, the letter stated, one could determine the net worth of any lake property owner. In doing this for all the property owners on South Beaver Lake Road, the lowest net worth was $614,000. Based on this, the letter said, the cabin owners could afford to pay for the blacktopping themselves.

As a result of the above three responses, the user fee has been dropped!

Cabin #80 is one tough cabin to find. I found #79 and #81, but no #80. Can you find it? (I checked with the Steele County Law Enforcement Center and no one has reported a Missing Cabin.)

How is your social life? Do you know what great things are happening in Minnesota? Your area is abuzz. Do you know why?

To get with it, there is a Great Social Event from 9 to 11 a.m. every Saturday next to the Liquor Store in Ellendale from now through the last Saturday in October. To make it sound good, the event is known as “Farmer’s Market.” Not only can you buy something locally produced, but you can find out the talk of the town. For example, “Who is Gus?” or The Name of the Lady Running For Mayor In the Next Election (The Guy With the Red Suspenders can clue you in).

— — —

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. 

The scurs did well mid-week and on the weekend forecast but days 6 and 7 continue to baffle them. Will they remain baffled another week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy and hot with highs near 95 and lows near 70. Partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and a thunderstorm for Thursday and another warm one with highs near 90 and lows of 70. Slightly cooler for Friday under partly cloudy skies. Highs around 85 and lows near 65. Mostly clear on Saturday becoming partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the evening. Highs of 85 and lows near 70. Partly cloudy on Sunday with highs of 85 and lows of 70. Mostly sunny and warmer on Monday with highs again near 90 and lows near 70. Partly cloudy for Tuesday, slightly cooler with highs of 85 – 90 and lows of 65- 70. A prediction for Independence Day calls for mostly cloudy and cooler with a possible shower or a thunderstorm. Highs near 75 and lows of 60 – 65. The normal high for July 4th is 83 and the normal low is 62. The scurs will be working on their wrist action for turning up the A.C. 

Crop growth following last week’s generous rainfall and warm temperatures has been nothing short of tremendous. We should see tassels in some area corn fields prior to the 4th of July, something we would not have imagined last year at this time. Most soybeans are flowering as of this writing and pea harvest yields continue to impress. Small grains are through the flowering stage and are into the critical grain fill period. Hopefully the heat doesn’t ruin what appears to be a nice crop. Second cutting alfalfa is in the process with reports of better yields than what was harvested from the first cutting.

The garden progress has been positive too although the weeds are right on the heels of the vegetables. Some nitrogen was applied to the various crops Saturday and was dissolved by light showers. Some additional watering was necessary to move it into the soil however. It’s doing its job as everything is taking off. This week will be crucial for getting the tiller through the vine crops so they can work their magic and canopy over any small weeds that come afterwards. The tomatoes have liked their home where new ground was broken up with them in mind. Potatoes in the main garden have responded to the brush clearing that was allowing too much shading during critical parts of the day. In the small garden, the Pontiacs are about waist high and flowering like mad. Should be interesting to see what’s under those vines come fall. It always is. 

We continue to be a bird nursery and there are so many to different species it’s tough to keep track of them all. Most of the tree swallows have now fledged, leaving behind their now crusty feather lined nests. I usually clean them out just in case there’s a chance a late-nesting bluebird is looking for a spot. Appears the bluebirds at the kindly neighbors’ pasture have left the nest, having seen some young birds there recently. At home, the bluebirds continue to incubate three blue eggs in their nesting box on the old plow. They let you know when they think you’re too close to the nest so it’s best to leave them alone. The killdeers must have hatched too, leaving behind one egg that was apparently sterile. Unfortunately no one was around to witness them leaving the nest, which is not surprising. Once they’re dried off they’re ready to run. There has been ample killdeer calling from the soybean field adjacent to the area where their nest was located so it’s likely that’s where they went. It’s been interesting to watch a mother and young downy on the tree holding the sunflower feeder. The mother would fly up to the feeder, grab a sunflower seed, crack it open then scoot around to the youngster and stuff it in its mouth. This process was repeated numerous times making one wonder how many more times until she’d had enough and would tell junior to get his own seeds.

Ruby and I have been manning the ranch all by ourselves with Mrs. Cheviot in Missouri at a sheep show and sale. We’ve had our ups and downs. Luckily there were lots of leftovers from the weekend. On Sunday we decided we’d had enough with the antics of a yearling ewe who’d cleared the panel into the fat lamb pen. Since her destiny was that of a brood ewe anyway, the logical course of action was to put her in the pasture. Trouble was none of the brood ewes were in sight so after putting the ewe where she belonged Ruby and I set out to find the others. It didn’t take long and with Ruby’s nice out run and follow up, they were all together. The same ewe however decided to hop over another panel to get back into the fat lamb pen that night when I fed them. After putting a cattle panel in its place, she was captured once more and hasn’t bothered since. Must’ve heard my mutterings about Morgan’s Meat Market. You may run but you can’t hide, especially when you’re the biggest, fattest, greediest pig, er, ewe in the pen.

Auntie Mar Mar’s visit to celebrate her birthday last Friday night was entertaining. She enjoyed one of her favorite pastimes watching the birds even though she isn’t real good at identifying them. Hint: All the little black and yellow birds are goldfinches. A birdfeeder and bird book are definitely in her future. We were able to use the new grill again to see how it functions and it passed with flying colors. The time also passed too quickly with many a good laugh, especially when Mar Mar told us she was coming back to steal Mrs. Cheviot’s pots and dig up my potatoes. Looks like we’ll probably need to put up some of those cattle panels around the house to keep her out. 

See you next week…real good then.

Helen C. Kruger, age 93 of Waseca died on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at Colony Court in Waseca.

Born on January 6, 1919 in Otisco Township, Waseca County, Minnesota she was the daughter of Carl and Jennie (Swanson) Frisk.  She attended rural Waseca County school district #48 near the Vista community and graduated from New Richland High School in 1936.  On December 17, 1942, she married Martin Kruger at Vista Evangelical Lutheran Church.  They farmed in Wilton Township until Martin’s death in 1977.  Shortly after Martin’s death, Helen moved to her new home in Waseca where she lived until 2006 when she moved into Colony Court.  Throughout her life, Helen was very close to her immediate family.  She loved spending time with her family and especially the annual fishing trip to Leech Lake.  Her grandchildren and great grandchildren were a great joy to her.  The time she spent watching the Twins, Vikings, and playing games and cards with them was very special to everyone.  Helen was also very involved with the activities of her many in-laws, nieces and nephews.  She enjoyed family holidays and reunions with relatives. 

Kaylee Rae Borchert, 23, of Owatonna, died Saturday, June 23, 2012 at United Hospital in St. Paul.

On June 25, 1988 Kaylee Rae Borchert joined her parents Joni and Jeff and her big brother Matthew. Two years later they were joined by her little brother Erik. A tiny beautiful girl with big brown eyes, she was a special gift from the beginning. Though her body was fragile, her courageous spirit had an unconquerable strength. The painful trails Kaylee endured would have made an average person angry or bitter, but Kaylee always continued to love her life. Her radiant spirit embraced everyone in her world. Although she couldn't communicate in words, the love and joy in her heart sparkled in her eyes and bubbled out in her smiles and laughter. To know her was to truly love her. Though it is hard to let our Angel go to heaven, it makes us smile to know that she is celebrating with other family who has gone before her.

By JODY WYNNEMER

Staff writer

The New Richland Reds are starting to find their mid-season offense as they are finally able to put some runs across home plate. The pitching staff has also come on not allowing as many runs as in the earlier season games.

Reds 12, Cleveland Condors 7 

The Cleveland Condors came to town on June 13 and left on the losing end of a five-run defeat. The Condors starting the scoring early with two runs in the top of the first to go up 2-0. Jason Churchill and Colton Schlaak both scored to knot the game at two. Cleveland countered with three runs in the second, but the Reds came back with two of their own to trail 5-4 after two frames.

Memorial Services for Violet Howser will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 6, 2012 at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Hartland. The Reverend Dennis Frank will officiate. Interment will be in Hartland Cemetery.

Violet died peacefully on September 6, 2011 in Monterey, California, following a severe stroke on June 10, 2011. She was 89 years old.

Violet was born January 2, 1922, in Hartland, Minnesota.  She grew up on the family farm east of Hartland and attended Hartland Elementary School, Freeborn High School and was Valedictorian of her graduating class.