The scurs made it through another week unscathed. Their forecast for tiny chances of showers were true both from an amount and odds standpoint. What’s in store this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs of 50 and lows of 30 – 35. Thursday through Saturday, clear skies with highs around 50 and lows near 30. Sunday, partly cloudy and slightly warmer with a small possibility of a shower. Highs of 55 and lows of 35. Mostly sunny on Halloween Monday, warmer again with highs near 60 and lows around 40. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with highs once again near 60 and lows of 40. The normal high for Halloween is 51 and the normal low is 30. The scurs foresee no repeat performance on the 20th anniversary of the Halloween Blizzard for trick or treaters.

Harvest continues to streak towards the finish line. Some anhydrous ammonia has been applied and like anything else, if you’re the one doing it, it went on perfectly. If you’re not, it probably is too early yet. Some areas did receive more rain than others in the October 13th rainfall event so it is quite variable. Soil moisture continues to be a question mark though as the hard soil conditions, particularly on the higher, lower organic matter parts of fields, are making it difficult for tillage implements to penetrate to full depth. With little rain falling one may want to be a little picky about where and when ammonia is being applied. As one who spends many hours afield this time of year, even where more rain did fall, there are still places the soil is extremely hard and anecdotal evidence from those doing fall tillage tends to make me believe I’m not seeing things.

What I am seeing fortunately for the pheasants, both of them, is a lot of corn on the ground behind the combines. Some are in denial that there is much field loss. Given the extremely dry corn and ear droppage that occurred when the snapping rolls grabbed the stalk along with the whirring chopping corn head blades, it makes one wonder why there wasn’t more in some cases. It doesn’t take much corn to add up to a significant loss. For instance, if you see only four kernels per square foot on the ground, that’s almost two bushel per acre. In many cases this year, it’s not unusual to see 10 – 20 kernels per square foot.

Rainfall continues to be a concern. We are far short of what we’d normally expect at the ranch with only .37” of precipitation falling thus far. In town it’s even worse with only a 10th for the month. Last week’s report from the SROC in Waseca summed it up nicely when they reported they were at only 42% of field soil moisture capacity or about five inches less than we would expect for this time of year. Dryness abounds.

It has been slow at the ranch on the bird watching front lately, but there were a couple rooster pheasants that flew out of neighbor Mark’s corn as he was harvesting the other day. His grove is one of the nicest in the area when it comes to winter shelter for them. Made me feel good to see they were still around. Once the corn is off there always seem to be more pheasants out there than we once thought on this side of Bugtussle anyway. Oh sure we still have a few chickadees, juncos and blue jays along with the occasional smattering of a goldfinch or two but certainly nothing like we had in August. TP has reported similar findings at her feeders in town. Give them time. With a colder and wetter winter predicted it won’t take long if that happens for many birds to be looking to press the “easy” button. The squirrels have already done that. Putting some of the ear corn collected out in a feeder last week, the one lone fox squirrel made the first couple ears last several days. Replacing it one morning, I was shocked to see it all gone the next morning. Deer perhaps? The following morning there were 3 fox squirrels taking turns so it came as no great shock that the corn was disappearing as fast as it was.

Sunday finally meant a long awaited trip to Mom’s with Ruby in tow. Luckily Ruby had worn off the powerful odor of whatever it was she rolled in earlier in the week. She definitely earns her nickname, Stinkpot, when that happens. It was our annual vegetable delivery trip, taking some of the bounty we have been blessed with to share. We brought a sampling of most of what we produce including Haralson and Fireside apples, Pontiac and Norkotah potatoes, three kinds of squash, carrots, Indian corn and gourds. Since we had recently butchered lambs there were also some packages of that to be shared. Ruby and Fudgie were off for their run around the yard. When it came to deciding what to fix for dinner, there was plenty to choose from so I grilled some lamb steaks while Mom cut up some carrots, micro waved some squash and baked a couple potatoes. There was already a pie baked when I arrived so the aroma was enough to make anyone hungry. Can’t top Mom’s apple pie with the brown sugar crust with plenty of cinnamon and some ice cream on top. Apple pie just isn’t apple pie without both. Best of all I got to take the rest of the pie back home along with a freshly baked loaf of banana bread as well as a bag of pretzel M&M’s. Think I got the better end of that deal.

It will soon be time for the little fat buddies to start their winter training sessions. The chairman of the board seems to be mired in tillage operations at this point so we’re waiting until he gets that out of his system. In the meantime there will be plenty of tales about the wild cropping season we’ve just been through and the endless honeydew lists that await the little fat buddies after they’ve made all their daily scheduled appointments. There are also likely to be lots of goodies with Halloween and the church bazaars (or is it bizarres?) to supply us with nourishment for the long winter ahead.

See you next week…real good then.

TOUGH RUNNING — NRHEG senior Geoff Ramaker (1) breaks away from Maple River defenders last Wednesday at Mapleton. Ramaker rushed for more than 100 yards for the second straight week after missing most of the season with a broken foot. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

COOL AS A CUCUMBER — NRHEG quarterback Sam Lundberg (11) gets off a pass just before getting tackled by a Maple River defender. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

NRHEG seeded fourth in section

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

The NRHEG football team finished the regular season on a positive note, pulling off a come-from-behind 14-12 upset at Maple River last Wednesday.

The Panthers, who improved to 4-3 in the Gopher Conference AA Division and 4-4 overall, drew the No. 4 seed in the Section 2A tournament, earning the right to host No. 5 Kenyon-Wanamingo Tuesday, Oct. 25 in New Richland. The winner plays Saturday at 7 p.m. at top-seeded WEM.

The Maple River win was big because the Eagles still had a chance to tie for the conference championship if WEM had lost. But the Panthers made it a moot point.

“I couldn't be more proud of these guys,” said NRHEG coach Dan Stork. “It seems like I say that every week, but these guys are so fun to coach. They never quit. They play with such heart and passion for the game.”

I CAN DIG IT — The Panthers’ Anna Schlaak (9) gets set for a dig as teammate Tori Raimann (2) looks on for the NRHEG volleyball team, which defeated WEM 3-0 in the regular-season finale last week. The Panthers host a sub-section tournament match Thursday, Oct. 27 in New Richland. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

Panthers seeded No. 2 in sub-section

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

With the Gopher Conference volleyball championship already decided, the NRHEG Panthers and WEM Buccaneers played one final meaningful regular-season match last Tuesday.

The Panthers defeated the Bucs 3-0 at New Richland, claiming second place in the 2011 final conference standings. NRHEG won 25-15, 25-17, 25-13.

"It was definitely a huge win for us,” said NRHEG coach Joe Kuechenmeister. “We were tied with WEM for second place in the conference, meaning whoever won tonight would take that position outright. I was extremely pleased to see us come out and compete at a high level, and our intensity and playmaking in the early stages of the match really set the tone and took the Bucs out of whatever game plan they had coming in. To our girls’ credit, they kept their foot down on the gas pedal throughout the duration of the entire match, and we were able to come away with one of our most definitive victories of the season. It's great to have this kind of momentum heading into postseason play."

RUNNER-UP — Sophomore T.J. Schiltz finished second among the boys in last week’s Gopher Valley Conference meet at Madelia. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

Optimal performance at season’s end.

That’s what NRHEG cross country coach Mike Weber wants, and that’s what the Panthers delivered last week.

Sophomore T.J. Schiltz finished second overall to lead the NRHEG boys to perhaps their best overall showing of the season, 10th among 12 schools in the Gopher Valley Conference meet at Madelia.

The girls also ran tough, taking eighth.

“The boys did exactly what we had hoped for the conference meet, and as a team we had our best effort,” said Weber.

Schiltz almost topped the field while earning all-conference honors, finishing with a time of 16:50.

Marjorie (Marj) Jeanette Rossing, born October 12, 1922, went to be with her Lord on Tuesday, October 18, 2011.  Marj lived her life in Princeton, Stillwater, and Ellendale.  She was married to Myron Rossing on November 22, 1944.  She called herself a homemaker but that word doesn't begin to describe the woman she was.  She was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and at age  83 became an author of her own daily devotional.  Her book sales made her known from coast to coast.  Marj also led Bible studies for over 55 years, her most recent on her 89th birthday.  She also lead retreats and prepared the material for the studies herself.  Her life was full and satisfying.

Council also approves deal with Minnesota Energy

By SCOTT GROTH

Contributing Writer

The Ellendale City Council met Thursday, October 13 with all members present. Also in attendance for the meeting were Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele, County Auditor Laura Ihrke, Rory Lenton, representing Minnesota Energy, City Attorney Phil Kohl, Clerk Brian Louks and Maintenance Supervisor Roger Swearingen.

Thiele and Irhke were recognized to discuss the law enforcement protection provided by the county to the city. At the previous meeting, the council asked the Thiele and Irhke to bring back a proposal for the city to consider. Council members felt it was their duty to look at all options for trimming the budget.

Thiele started by suggesting the new agreement will be for the upcoming 2012 year, noting there is only 2 ½ months left in this calendar year. Thiele said that for 2011, the city was billed $2916 per month, plus fuel. This was for approximately 2.7 manhours per day. Thiele said the city receives more hours than they are billed for. The total for 2011 will be around $42,000. Thiele suggested that for 2012 the county would bill the city a flat fee of $3166 per month. That would total about $38,000 for the year.

Geneva City Council

By RACHEL RIETSEMA

Staff Writer

The Geneva City Council gathered round on October 11 for their monthly meeting. All councilmen were present except Taff Worrell.

Mayor Steve Bailey called the meeting to order. Only a minute later, Janell Tufte made a motion to approve minutes, financial report and bills payable. Rick Weckwerth seconded and the motion carried.

Immediately thereafter, late items were discussed. Tufte made the council aware of two light poles out by Wildview. Bailey has already acquired their Alliant representative’s contact information and will call him very soon.

Weckwerth then inquired if Steele-Waseca Cooperative had contacted anyone as of late. According to City Clerk, Nancy Cornelius, the cooperative is still in discussion about the matter.