Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

"Anything exciting happen here today?"

"How should I know?"

"You were here all day."

"Yeah, but I wasn’t paying attention."

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: the cars ahead and behind are there to annoy other drivers.

I’ve learned

1. Not to wait for my reflection in the mirror to smile first.

2. Good mothers turn off mixers before allowing children to lick the beaters.

3. The quickest way to get rid of a contractor is to hire him.

Did you know?

There are three parking spaces per automobile in the U.S.

A 2010 Wayne State University research project examined the baseball card photos of Major League players from 1952. The study found that the span of a player’s smile could predict his lifespan. Players who didn’t smile in their pictures lived an average of 72.9 years, while players with beaming smiles lived an average of 79.9 years.

The rumbling of the stomach is called borborygmus.

Those thrilling days of yesteryear

I needed to stop at a mink farm before going to church. The mink farm raised mink, foxes, and skunks. I pulled into the farm, got out of my car, and was greeted by the owner and a skunk. The skunk was a pet not his business partner. He handed the skunk to me, telling me what a fine companion it would make. He claimed it was cleaner than a cat. I was dressed in a suit and tie. I was wearing my church shoes, but I wasn’t thinking. I held the skunk. It was cute, but smelly. Back in my car, my task completed, I drove to church. I noticed that I had acquired an odor. I chewed a number of Certs — “It’s a breath mint! It’s a candy mint! It’s two, two, two mints in one!” — in the misguided belief that it might cut the smell. In church, I was as popular as a woodpecker in a cabinetmaker’s shop. I had my own p.u. and my own pew.

Watching TV

In her retirement, my mother loved watching Little House on the Prairie and Wheel of Fortune. She received 10 TV channels on a good day at the farm, so it was possible she could watch one of those programs three times in a single day.

I sat with my mother as she watched Michael Landon and his family deal with their problems on Little House on the Prairie.

"Oh," she said, "I saw this one yesterday."

I suggested we change the channel.

"That’s O.K.," she replied, indicating there was no need to search for another TV show. "It’s still good."

Hoodie Hoo Day

On February 20 at noon, my wife and I ran outside, waved our hands over our heads, and shouted “Hoodie Hoo!” This is what scares winter away. If we didn’t do this, winter would never leave. Doing the “Hoodie Hoo” has worked every year. Winter has always ended and spring has always arrived.

My Army physical

The doctor whispered, “Can you read the letters on that wall?’

There weren’t any letters on the wall. “What letters?” I asked.

“Splendid,” said the doctor. “You passed the hearing test.”

Nature notes

I heard the call of a red-tailed hawk in my yard. It wasn’t a hawk. It was a starling mimicking a hawk. The European starlings in North America descended from 100 birds released in New York City's Central Park in the 1890s. A group that wanted the United States to have all the birds mentioned by Shakespeare introduced the starlings. Because of this introduction, all the starlings in North America are closely related. Slight genetic variation often means trouble for a species, but starlings appear to suffer no ill effects. Starlings are able to fly at speeds up to 48 mph and are impressive vocal mimics. An individual starling could imitate the calls of 20 different species. Starlings regularly mimic the songs of the peewee, meadowlark, robin, flicker, cowbird, killdeer, and others.

Talking to the Holstein

I was talking to the Holstein the other day. The Holstein is a retired milk cow, so she has time to talk. She chewed her cud thoughtfully and said, “The dog used to run circles around us and nip at our heels to keep us together. I hated him until I realized that you always herd the ones you love.”

Meeting adjourned

William Arthur Ward wrote, "When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves."

Genie and I attended the 33rd Annual Eelpout Festival on Leech Lake at Walker, MN, (a town of about 1,000 people, 214 dogs, 171 cats, 23 hamster-gerbils, two monkeys and one boa constrictor.) All the ducks and geese in the pond by the local super market had gone south for the winter along with about 125 human snowbirds.

In our drive to stay at the Palace Casino Hotel, (just west of Cass Lake) we saw a first. There were three big, green John Deere tractors just south of Duluth, along the freeway, mowing the dead, brown grass in a ditch. We think it had something to do with that “in” saying, “Go Green.”

In checking in at the Palace Hotel we were given a hearty “Welcome Back” by Brennon and Chris. Brennon told us of a new slogan at the property, “To smile or not to smile, it’s never a question at the Palace Casino Hotel.”

The following are some of the smiles we experienced:

• Rebecca stopped to tell us she had a baby boy (Isaiah) and would be coming back to work in March.

• Becky, on a medical leave, stopped to welcome us back and  said she would be returning as hostess in about two months.

• Brad, the casino host, pulled some strings and got us two dinner-dance seats to the Gene Krupa show at the front table — wow!

• “Pretty Rickey, a radio DJ on the Eagle 90.1 radio station, dedicated a set of songs from the 70s and 80s to us. Rickey also is an employee at the Palace.

• Natasha let us watch her ability to dominate a guest laundry washer. It was a feat to behold.

• Awesome Heidi was her usual no holds barred “awesome” outgoing self.

• Charlie, at the room check-in, was truly an ambassador of the new smile slogan. Why? Because she always has a big smile.

We did not find any employee who was not a good example of the smile slogan. The Palace training program is fantastic. Amen.

It was a beautiful weather-wise weekend with over 10,000 attending the three-day event plus awards on Sunday. There was a live band on Thursday and Friday night. The main event Saturday was the Polar Plunge which raised in excess of $30,000 for the Walker Area Community Center. There was even an ATM on the lake along with Girl Scout cookies for sale. The estimate was each person spending an average of $100 during the event. Or in other words, $1 million changed hands during the festival, wow!

While in Walker we drove over to Brindley’s Resort on Leech to visit Arrow (our canine friend) and the father-son owners. The perch fishing is excellent; call (888) 547-5477 for reservations.

We attended the birthday party of Grace Nason Saturday afternoon at Trinity Lutheran Church west of Cass Lake. I won’t tell you her age but everybody younger than me is young in my eyes, thus Grace is young.

On Sunday morning, we attended the service at Trinity Lutheran Church. There is an ad in the Albert Lea Tribune “Get paid to go to church.” They want the impression of first-time visitors. Genie and I agree that Trinity Lutheran Church west of Cass Lake is a fine example of the initials TLC church.

The following is a true story of Dennis, one of the best deer hunters in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Dennis, a right-hander, was in his deer stand this last November. He witnessed a deer standing just so that he couldn’t get a shot right-handed. He decided to shoot left-handed but the scope was partially in the way to see the deer. He shot; the scope hit him in the eye from the recoil. A deer was still there; he shot using the other eye, the scope hit him in that eye from the recoil. Net result, two deer and two black eyes, plus a renewed MN driver’s license with two black eyes. All this can be verified by the one he must obey, namely “Betsy.” 

— — —

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 36th 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 were right about the chances of snow. It just wasn’t of the measurable variety for much of last week. Will our fortunes change? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs around 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Thursday, partly cloudy with a chance of some overnight snow. Highs again near 30 and lows of 20 – 25. Friday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs of 30 – 35 and lows of 15 – 20. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with another slight chance of snow. Highs of 25 and lows around 15. Sunday brings partly cloudy skies with highs around 30 and lows near 20. Monday and Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs of 40 and lows of 25 – 30. The normal high for March 1st is 33 and the normal low is 16. The scurs are guessing there may be one more snowstorm of major proportions before March Madness is said and done.

Warm temps last week brought the boxelder bugs out to sun themselves on the south side of the Mall for Men. More precip last week too, but not much in the way of thawed ground yet to allow much penetration. The SROC in Waseca was still indicating a frost depth of 14” on bare ground as of February 27th. Some moisture in the snow we’ve had is lost to evaporation, especially with the high winds we received over the weekend. It’s a little difficult to gauge exactly how much, but one can surmise by watching the sidewalk in front of the house dry off it is substantial in the top inch or so. Is the weather pattern changing? Slowly perhaps, but it does appear to be. March may not come in like a lion per se but it may be more like a lamb that needs to be dried off.

Speaking of lambs, their numbers in the past week quintupled at the ranch. Fortunately Mrs. Cheviot was around to ride herd on them so they were well cared for and off to a great start. The creep feeder was installed over the weekend and more ewes with lambs were moved to the loafing area. This allows more space in the lambing barn, although when the temperature takes a dive, having enough body heat isn’t always a bad thing. Keeping the barn well bedded so it stays dry during wet weather is critical. Pneumonia is lurking just around the corner if you don’t. The ear tags arrived so it’s time to process the lambs and ewes, making note of who is who. Ewes that aren’t milking up to snuff get a red tag so they’ll be easier to spot when it’s time to cull them. Bottle lambs are cute but oh what a nuisance. There are few times when one of them actually manages to become a contributing member of the flock.

The bird activity continues to remain at a higher level than what we’ve seen for much of the winter. The consumption of black oil sunflower seed in the last two weeks primarily by goldfinches surpassed what was consumed in the past two months. They’ve also tagged the thistle hard so it’s probably about time for a new bag of that. The chickadees have been singing their little two-note “fee-bee” spring song. We haven’t seen any robins just yet, but they can’t be too far off. There are still some crabapples on the Indian Magic tree to tide them over until the earthworms make the soil surface.

The appearance of the little fat buddies this winter has at best been staggered and haphazard. Perhaps it’s the jet-propelled pop machine that keeps anyone from hearing anything other than loud grunts. Perhaps it’s just the weather too. It simply hasn’t been nasty enough to force them to come into town to tell everyone how bad the roads are just yet. Some signs their habits may be changing: a reappearance of Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer. He recently returned from a trip to Mexico and claimed the stars and planets were the same ones we see here. About in the same spot in the sky also. Who knew?

Something that may lure the little fat buddies back into the fold include the recent Girl Scout cookie sale. They do seem to work wonders. Last Friday I made a run to the accountant’s office and then stopped at the license bureau to purchase several license tabs, a boat license as well as to renew my driver’s license. It went smoothly and when it was all finished, the gal who had waited on me told me to have a good weekend. I took off feeling good about all the odds and ends I’d tied up to end the week. Upon returning to the office I got an envelope ready to mail then received a call that the hay supplier to the stars was about to drop a round bale off. I swung by the post office and then quickly home to watch the gate so the sheep didn’t go roundabout. It was late enough so it was about chore time so we got that done and went in the house to watch Gopher hockey.

During the first period something was bothering me. There was something I’d forgotten to do. Then suddenly it dawned on me. Had I paid the lady at the license bureau? I couldn’t remember writing the check, although I had seen the receipt in the package of stuff I’d procured. I fished through my wallet and sure enough, I still had the check! Their offices were already closed, but I felt terrible. Some poor lady had probably tried to reconcile the books for the day and they likely didn’t balance so she was probably wondering where the error was all weekend. Some may have thought, hey, I got by with one, I don’t have to pay. Not me. I’m just not wired that way. When Monday morning rolled around I made a call as soon as I could while en route to their offices to explain the situation. I apologized for spacing it out and they in true Minnesota Nice fashion said it was as much their fault as it was mine. They hadn’t discovered the error yet so when I got there I wrote the check out and left some Girl Scout cookies to atone for my sins. As I headed out the door I could hear them say, “Who was that masked man anyway?” “I don’t know, but he left this box of Tagalongs.”

See you next week…real good then.

Funeral services for Ellis N. (Ollie) Reese of Ellendale, MN, will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 1, 2012 at the First Lutheran Church in Ellendale, MN. Pastor Richard L. Sliper will officiate. Visitation will be held Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from 4 until 7 p.m. at the Bonnerup Funeral Service in Ellendale and one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be in the First Lutheran Cemetery, Ellendale, MN.

Ollie died on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at the Albert Lea Good Samaritan Center. She was 87 years of age.

Ellis was born June 13, 1924 in Waseca, MN, the daughter of Erick and Clara Wobschall. She attended public school in Waseca County. On July 11, 1941 she was united in marriage to Harold G. Reese at the LeSeuer River Lutheran Church.

Ollie was a resident of the Ellendale area all of her married life. She was an active member of the First Lutheran Church participating in the Altar Guild and Church Circle. Ollie worked for Red Snapper Co., Ollie Cole Dress Shop, Pete and Rub’s and Lerbergs.  For over 25 years, she worked as a sales clerk for the JC Penny Store in Owatonna, MN. She was also a member of the Eagles Club.

Ollie enjoyed gardening, camping and would do sewing and alterations for others out of her home.

Ollie is survived by her daughters; Helen Schmidt of Ellendale, MN, and Darlene (Ronald) Christensen of Lincoln, NB. Grandchildren; Julie (DeWayne) Roberts, Jim (Mary) Brocker, Jane (Alan) Melander, Mike (Peggy) Christensen, great grandchildren; Cassandra, Nicolas, Jake, Jessica, Mercedes, Corbin, Caleb, Tyler and Brianna. Also surviving is one brother; Wallace (Marge) Wobschall of Austin, MN, and one sister Mae Hightshoe of Cannon Falls, MN.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Harold, son in law Chuck Schmidt, three sisters , five brothers, one brother in infancy and three grandchildren in infancy.

Panthers prepare for playoffs after nonconference loss at Waseca

SENIOR STRONG — The seven seniors on the 2011-12 NRHEG boys' basketball team are, from left, Pete Blowers, Matt Carlson, Tyler Sorenson, Carter Tollefson, Spencer Hanna, Sam Lundberg and Lucas Meyer. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

The NRHEG boys’ basketball team finished the regular season with a tough game against a tough opponent.

Hopefully, it toughened the Panthers for tournament play.

NRHEG dropped its regular-season finale 67-42 last Tuesday at Waseca. The Panthers, who lost a plethora of close contests this season, fell to 9-17. The Bluejays improved to 11-12 under first-year head coach Todd Dufault.

“Waseca's defense was the story of the game,” said NRHEG coach Pat Churchill. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do offensively. Their pressure man-to-man defense gave us nothing inside of 15 feet. We settled for outside shots and we were not hitting anything. You have to give Waseca credit for how hard and physical they played. It took us out of rhythm offensively and we were flustered all night.”

Avis Marie DeRaad, age 91 of Waseca, formerly of Clarks Grove, died Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at Mayo Health System Waseca.

Born in Clarks Grove on July 22, 1920, Avis was the daughter of Albert and Helen (Larsen) Larson.  She attended school in Albert Lea, and graduated in 1937.  She married Eldert DeRaad on January 10, 1944 in Clarks Grove.  She had been a member of First Baptist Church in both Clarks Grove and in Albert Lea during her life.  Avis enjoyed baking, decorating, and spending time with her family and friends.

Avis is survived by her children, Karen Nielsen of Waseca, Dale (Cindy) DeRaad of Waseca, Max (Sharon) DeRaad of Forest Lake, Lori (Terry) Fuller of Waseca, Keith (Cyndy) DeRaad of Bloomington, and Mary Ortiz of Stewartville; eleven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren; three sisters-in-law, Lorraine Larson, Maureen Larson, and June Larson; and several nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by both of her parents; her husband; one son, Dennis; one son-in-law, Paul Nielsen; two granddaughters, Melissa and Sara DeRaad; and four brothers, Robert and his wife Deloris, Charles, Ralph, and John Larson.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at First Baptist Church in Clarks Grove, with Rev. Jamie Cameron officiating.  A private family interment will take place before the service at Clarks Grove Cemetery.

NRHEG girls finish regular season unbeaten

The NRHEG girls’ basketball team completed a perfect 26-0 regular season with a pair of victories last week. Pictured above in the Panthers’ 67-35 win over Medford are, from left, Hannah Lundberg, Danielle Krueger and Raelin Schue. The Panthers host Triton in the opening round of the sub-section tournament Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. If they win, they’ll host a second-round game Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m. See Sports for more. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

Food shelf to kick off March campaign in style

By JODY WYNNEMER

Staff Writer

Now that football season is over, and folks need something to do on a Sunday afternoon, the New Richland Area Food Shelf has come up with a great idea.

Trinity Lutheran Church will be the site of the first-ever “Groove for Food” benefit on Sunday, February 26 from 1:30-3 p.m.

“This will be the kickoff to our March Foodshare Month campaign,” said Larry Goehring of the NR Food Shelf. “We will have five different musical acts performing throughout the afternoon. Local humorist and storyteller Al Batt will serve as the Master of Ceremonies. Between sets of each group we will be having a live auction.”

The various musical acts scheduled include Just Friends, Mr. and Rev. Pamela Jensen, Pantheria Vox Musica from NRHEG, Pam Brazil and son, and Melissa Williams.

Admission to the fun-filled afternoon is free, but everyone is encouraged to bring non-perishable food donations or cash to help the food shelf.

School board, NR City Council reach consensus on several issues

By JODY WYNNEMER

Staff Writer

Unlike the political posturing we have to endure in Washington and St. Paul, the first ever face-to-face meeting of the NRHEG School Board and New Richland City Council saw agreement and cooperation from both sides.

School Board Vice Chair Michelle Moxon convened the meeting in the absence of Chair Rick Schultz who was supposedly taking hula dancing lessons.

Superintendent Kevin Wellen gave a brief overview of the purpose of the meeting, which was discussion concerning the softball fields, summer recreation and signage for the crosswalk/school zone.

“We share facilities,” said Wellen. “They have served their purpose well.”

NRHEG Activities Director Dan Stork presented a list of immediate and long-term improvements to the softball fields at Legion Field. 

“The most important items from a safety standpoint are the backstops,” said Stork. “They need to be repaired or replaced.”