HANDOFF — NRHEG’s Hailey Schuller, left, takes a handoff from Emily Habeck during a relay race Saturday at Minnesota State University, Mankato. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)

The NRHEG track and field teams opened the season indoors Saturday with a five-team meet at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The girls had the better day for the Panthers, taking fourth with 81 points. Fairmont won with 194, USC/AC had 113, Albert Lea 93 and GFW 2.

Freshman Carlie Wagner picked up where she left off on the basketball court, taking first in four events including a school-record leap of 5 feet, 5 inches in the high jump. She also won the 55-meter hurdles (7.61 seconds), the 200 (28.22) and the 400 (61.6).

“Carlie had a “Wow!” meet,” said NRHEG coach Duey Ferber.

Danielle Krueger was second in the 800 in 2:37.

NRHEG High School winter sports award winners were announced at the annual ceremony. Boys’ basketball award winners are, front from left: Matt Nafe, Captains Award, MSHSL Gold Academic Award; Kyle Bayerkohler, Panther Award, MSHSL Gold Academic Award; and Brian Billing, Practice Player Award, MSHSL Silver Academic Award. Back: Hunter Eustice, Captains Award, Defensive Player of the Year, all-conference honorable mention, MSHSL Silver Academic Award; Matt Carlson, all-conference; and Evan Ferber, Most Improved, all-conference, MSHSL Silver Academic Award. (Star Eagle photos by Carol Jolly)

NRHEG High School winter sports award winners were announced at the annual ceremony. Girls’ basketball award winners are, from left: Kristina Cole, Most Valuable Player, Captain Award, all-conference, MSHSL Gold Academic Award; Carlie Wagner, Panther Award, all-conference, Gopher Conference scoring leader, MSHSL Gold Academic Award; Jade Schultz, all-conference; coach John Schultz, Anna Schlaak, Rebound Award, Captain Award, all-conference, MSHSL Silver Academic Award; Danielle Krueger, Practice Player Award; and Tori Raimann, Most Improved Player, MSHSL Silver Academic Award.

     Margy Dene Toft, age 82, of Spring Valley, Minn. died Tuesday morning, March 29, 2011, at the Spring Valley Care Center.

     Margy was born February 12, 1929, in Steele County, Minn., the daughter of Otto and Virginia (Dezell) Sorenson.  She was baptized July 19, 1942, and confirmed May 9, 1945, at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Richland, Minn.  She graduated from Freeborn High School in 1947.  She married Charles “Chuck” Toft July 6, 1947, at First Lutheran Church in Hartland, Minn.  The couple farmed in Steele and Freeborn Co.’s until moving to Spring Valley in 1958.  While in Spring Valley she was a waitress at the Highway Cafe and Frontier Room and retired after working as a clerk at Snyder Drug.

I love the Hartland windmills. I don't know why, but there is something about these quiet, seemingly slow, moving giants that is mystifying. It is relaxing, and the seemingly unhurried behavior is like a reverence. As their mighty limbs lift to the sky, it is as if they were in tune with God and offering their strength in prayer.

Also, what a difference a woods makes. Yes, I am still talking about that mighty little oak woods just west of Ellendale that the tornado decided to thin out. It still will be a nice spot, open and pretty, but it just isn't the same. It was like a sanctuary.

I think of the various wood lots that are no more, some taken down for progress.  Sometimes it is hard to remember where they were. Trees are so necessary to our existence and enjoyment. People don't often plant oak trees anymore because they are considered a slow-growing tree. Maybe they are, but I've seen a few that didn't really take that long to grow, which makes me suddenly realize how fast the years have flown by. It is always picturesque to see a lone oak or several, perhaps, in the middle of a field. Obviously the farmer thought it was worth the extra work to work around them so it could stand there in all its beauty.

This past year was not a good year for acorns. Normally, I would say that was an indication of a nice winter. Ha! Science would probably say we should calculate like the native Indians did. Nature knows when to produce to save its species.

  You have to like black walnuts to harvest the edible parts. My dad used to run them through the old corn sheller. Then he would rinse them off before he cracked them so he could harvest the nutty part inside. They stained one’s hands real good if you didn't wear gloves. I remember he quit harvesting black walnuts when we realized my mother was allergic to them.

My mother has never been fond of willows because they throw off so many sticks, which get in the way of the lawn mower. However, she says she will never forget the willow trees we had at the lake. Gold finches, by the hundreds, would stop and feast on those seed tails and sing. They would sing the most beautiful songs imaginable, and the world around them became an enchanting cathedral.

There is something to be said for all trees. The oak is so strong and sturdy, but too much stress can cause even it to break. On the other hand, the willow tree, true, tall and slender, can bend with the wind and pressure, lose limbs and live on.

Trees are beautiful.

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Birthdays and anniversaries this week:

• Thursday, March 31st: Jinny Nielsen, Hannah Haroldson, Melissa Collins, Carson LaShawn Ray, his 5th; Jill Anderson, David Hemingway, Ross Johnson, Shane Johnson, Doug Hunt, Mike Misgen, Joanne Neuhart, Mollee & Joseph Tscholl, their 4th

• Friday, April 1st: April Fools Day!  Madison Hanson, Irene Paulson

• Saturday, April 2nd: Harold Wayne, Leanna Burns, Luke Miller, Joyce Tufte Sorenson, Sonja Larson, Teresa Jensen, Kaleb Smith, Dwight Schewe, Greg Nelson, Matthew Halla, Genevieve Wayne, Bill & Pat Draayer, David & Shelly Mangskau, Brian & Lois Nelson

• Sunday, April 3rd: Solveig Sorenson, Linda Goodnature, Joanne Christensen, Randy Kronberg, Patty Slatter, Jase Dean Knudson, Kevin Born

• Monday, April 4th: Daryl Paulsen, Jena Richards Thompson, Erik Smith, Rachael Nicole Rhoades, Erin Elaine Peterson, Nathan Spande, Richard Krause, Theresa Kasper, Danny Larson, Don Larson, Ann Michelle Larson, Diane & Dave Broskoff

• Tuesday, April 5th: LaVada Jensen, Colette Bauers, Samuel Thompson, Alyssa Hareid, Brian Shultz, Duane Nelson, Mike Johnson, Gary & Sue Hunnicutt, Dick & Judy Wacholz, Dale & Nancy Kelly

• Wednesday, April 6th: Skip Cromwell, Spencer Kubat, Eric Crabtree, Duane Lembke, Cheryl Sauke, Dean Westrum, Andrew Hareid, Paul Underland, Ross Anderson, Laurie Wayne, Paul Highum, Chris Phillips Carlson

• Thursday, April 7th: Bev Farr, Janye Villarreal, Janice Jensen Skovera, Ron Christensen, Lou Hanson-Vu, Katie Lembke, Michael & Kari Ingvaldson, Gary & Sonya Peterson

• Friday, April 8th: Sarah Collins, Ivy Obermoller, Dick Tracy, Nick Vreeman, Tim Stollard, Mark Hemingway, Sherri Carlson, Karen O'Byrne, Bob Donovan, David Pitcock, Alice Grosland, Dale & Vivian Dulas, Paul & Karissa Dolan

Surprise somebody. Call someone. Send a card and make their day. Little things mean a lot.

Last week’s column dealt with an amateur’s futuristic look at Justin Morneau using the divisions: what is likely? What is unlikely and wild cards? This week’s column deals with position players of our Twins and the likely batting order against right-handed pitching. I am again using the three divisions to help determine the prediction.

Take the starting lineup one by one, beginning with Denard Span. He is likely to be a slightly better than average leadoff hitter and centerfielder. Unlikely but possible that he may play to his previous batting capabilities shown during the 2009 season.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka, second baseman, is the Twins’ biggest wild card. His being given second base by Manager Ron Gardenhire without a strong major league backup is a gamble, not so much from a fielding standpoint, but will Nishioka be able to hit major league hitting for six months? How Nishioka fares will reflect strongly on how the Twins fare.

Batting third, catcher Joe Mauer is as sure a thing as you can find in the majors. Joe is very likely to have a year similar to his past years and that’s very good. Will he be among the top five hitters in the American League? Very likely!

Clean-up hitter Justin Morneau is another wild card, although I’d go with Morneau over Nishioka when attempting to forecast each one’s success this season. Morneau ‘although recovering from his injury, is a proven major league all-star. Nishioka is not.

Batting fifth, left fielder Delmon Young is likely to be the same good hitter, poor fielder he was during 2010. Delmon has gained weight, which probably means he’ll have a little more power at the plate and have a little less speed on the base paths and in the outfield.

Designated hitter Jim Thome will bat sixth when there is a right-handed pitcher on the mound. His hitting is eventually destined to drop off as his batting skills diminish with age, but most observers are not ready to pull the plug and I look for him to have a good year, likely not as good as last season, but still a slugger’s year.

Batting seventh, right fielder Michael Cuddyer is likely to have a Michael Cuddyer year. The trouble is, no one knows what that is. He has varied between being an average fielder and hitter to a better than average Twin. He carried the team the last half of 2009, but was very average last year. If he is able to stay at one position all year he is likely to have a good season.

Third baseman Danny Valencia is batting eighth andwhile nobody expects him to repeat last year, he doesn’t have to. His average could drop 30 points and the Twins would be satisfied. As an aside, I think it says something about the Twins’ lineup when they have a .300 hitter batting eighth.

Alexi Casilla batting ninth is a wild card. He has been unable to assume a starter’s role in the past and the Twins are taking a chance in handing him the shortstop job.

If I had to point out what is most likely to be a Twins’ weakness, it would be their gamble with the middle infielders. I would have liked the Twins to have Casilla or even Punto available if needed. Why didn’t the Twins resign Punto? If he was good enough to start last year as the third baseman, why isn’t he good enough to be a utility man and possible relief starter this year?

The Twins’ position players look good overall and most are likely to succeed, but there are question marks with the middle infielders and Justin Morneau.

Next week: the pitching staff and will the Twins go to the World Series?

This past Monday, I had received a call from Jim Malepsy, one of our local outdoorsmen and a member of Ducks Unlimited. He said one of our local Boy Scout troops was going to be at Halvorson School that evening assembling wood duck houses and wondered if I’d like to stop by and see what it was all about.

I was more than happy to check it out and was glad that I did. I found out from Scout Leader Doug Lind that Troop 7 was the group involved in doing the work and that the kids were more than excited to be a part of it. Troop 7 has 35 members ranging from ages 10-17 with 10 kids joining this year and it has had nine Eagle Scouts in the past 5 years. There were a lot of dads and other troop leaders there to help, but the part that got me was how enthusiastic all of these kids were to be doing this project.

The wood was donated to them by Freeborn Lumber Co. and was cut to size by some members of the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited. With the kids’ help, they will be able to distribute 24 wood duck houses this year to different places around the area. They are given to people who have access to a stream or body of water that is considered good waterfowl habitat.

When the houses are set up they have to be protected by a critter guard to keep their eggs from being eaten by skunks, weasels and coons. The inside of the houses have a small piece of screen leading from the bottom to the opening so that the baby ducks can climb up the inside to the opening and drop down to the shore. The screen has to be the type with fairly large squares so they can grasp them. The bottom of the house is filled with wood shavings for nesting.

When the time is right, the baby chicks will emerge from the house and drop to the ground and into the water. I have witnessed this event once in my lifetime and that was at Spider Lake. I was trolling along the shoreline and spotted a baby wood duck perched on the edge of the hole of its house. The small duckling dropped to the ground bouncing once before entering the water. As soon as the first one hit the water, a second one dropped, and this was repeated a total of 10 times. It was quite a sight to behold and one of those things that I just feel lucky to have had a chance to observe it.

Getting our youth involved in a project like this sets the groundwork for protecting the future of our outdoors heritage. When we get our youth interested in anything outdoors we are protecting the future of our great Minnesota outdoors. These days there are far too many distractions (electronics) that take away from time that could be spent outdoors learning about nature.

Organizations such as D.U., Minnesota Deer Hunters, Minnesota Waterfowl Association and Pheasants Forever are just a few of the organizations that do their part to encourage our youth to get involved in different sports and the outdoors in general.

It is a known fact there are fewer hunting and fishing licenses being sold, and this means there are less people using our natural resources. It is very important that we as sportsmen do our part to pass on our interest in the outdoors to our future generations because they are the future of our outdoor heritage.

It can be as easy as taking a kid fishing on a summer afternoon or teaching someone how to hunt. Just taking someone camping and teaching them about starting a campfire and cooking over an open fire can have a lasting impression. As long as you make it a positive experience, they will want to do it again. These are just a few ways that we can pass on our love of the outdoors to future generations. 

Until next time, get ready for spring fishing and be sure to get out and enjoy our great Minnesota outdoors!

Remember our brothers and sisters who are proudly serving our country so that we can keep enjoying the freedoms that we have today.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

“You’re late.”

“The goat ate my alarm clock.”

“You don’t have a goat.”

“I know. I had to borrow the neighbor’s goat.”

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 you expect to save at all, do it when your income is small.

Things I’ve learned

1. To keep several get well cards on my desk. If unexpected guests arrive, they'll think I've been sick and unable to clean.

2. Words that soak in are whispered, not yelled.

3. Children of my generation had survival instincts that allowed them to find the one spot in each moving car that fathers couldn’t reach.

Café chronicles

The fellow told me that he puts sugar in his coffee but he doesn’t stir the mixture. He likes the sweetness at the end. He said that sugary concoction helped him run the marathon that he started.

“Started?” I wondered aloud.

“I ran for a couple of miles and I found myself securely in last place,” he said. “The guy just ahead of me was taunting me. Saying things like, ‘How does it feel to be last?’ I let him know. I dropped out.”

Those thrilling days of yesteryear

It was a cold, winter day. I was doing some work outdoors for my mother.

When I came inside, my mother rose from her chair and said, “Sit down here, I warmed your chair for you.”

Bath

I live near the city of Bath. You won’t find it on a map unless you have an exceptional and ancient map. Bath is smaller than it has ever been. The population is zero. The sign reads, “Welcome to Bath. Beware of dog.” Bath is a drive-by community that cannot claim even two streets (Main Street and Non-Main Street). The only part of the once thriving city that grows is the cemetery. In Bath, there are more skeletons below ground than in the closet. A reminder, persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves. Bath rules.

At Lake Inferior

The man had been fishing all day. He enjoyed his time along the lake. He had some good luck, but there was a man staring at him. That took his mind off his fishing and was beginning to irk him.

“Hey, pal! You've been standing there watching me fish for over three hours! Why don't you get a rod and reel, buy yourself a license, and do some fishing yourself?”

“No, thanks. I don't have the patience for it.”

The bumper sticker read

Stop honking. I’m on the phone.

Lent

I would like to give up snow for Lent. I tried to give up milking cows for Lent one year. My father countered with an offer to give up feeding and housing me. I continued to milk the Holsteins. A woman from Alexandria told me that she gave up fishing from a boat and eating watermelon for Lent.

Nature notes

“Is an owl able to turn its head all the way around?” When I was a boy, a neighbor told me that if I circled a tree with an owl in it, the owl would keep an eye on me and wring its own neck. Owls cannot turn their heads all the way around. Most sources claim an owl is able to turn its head approximately 270 degrees. This, combined with rapid head movement, gives the illusion that an owl has turned its head all the way around. Owls can’t move their eyes back and forth or up and down without moving their heads. This gives an owl a battery-powered appearance. An owl can move its head so freely because its neck has 14 vertebrae, which is twice as many as humans have. I still circle the trees. I do it for the exercise.

“How did the monarch butterfly get its name?” It is believed that the butterfly was named after King William, Prince of Orange, stateholder of Holland, and King of England. The monarch’s color suggested the name. Some people call the butterfly by a nickname, King Billy. It takes four monarch butterflies to weigh as much as a dime and about 900 of them to make a pound.

“What is a BBRP?” It may sound like a burp, but it is not. It’s bluebirds. To find out more information about the BBRP Expo, go to www.bbrp.org.

Meeting adjourned

Willie Davis wrote, “If you step on people in this life, you're going to come back as a cockroach.” Be kind.

After church on Sunday, March 13th, Genie and I left by car headed down I-35 for Harrison, Arkansas. Just south of Clear Lake, IA, we were past the snow, ice on the water and into what looked like spring. We saw robins, blackbirds, geese, red-tail hawks, a gray fox, vultures, black angus cows, lots of deer laying down, and about six horse-drawn, slow-moving vehicles with the occupants dressed in their black going- to-church Sunday outfits.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn of Marshall, MO on Sunday night. Much to our surprise, winter was there to greet us Monday morning, as there was about six inches of wet snow during the night. After 75 miles south and lots of vehicles in the ditch, we were back to spring conditions.

We arrived in Harrison Monday p.m. on time to enjoy fresh bread, home made soup and coconut cake with Frank and Sandy Meng. An interesting thing about Frank is even though it says “Made in China” on the bottom of his right foot, he is really a displaced Norwegian from Iowa. Sandy is also from Iowa, where her and Genie grew up together to be great ladies. (Lucky Frank, lucky me.)

They showed us a very interesting church outreach ministry. The First Baptist Church of Harrison made the decision to have an outreach ministry. The result is a building with an inside walking track, plus a fitness area open to all Monday through Friday. Seeing is believing as it is most impressive.

We stayed four nights at the Quality Inn in Harrison. St. Patrick’s Day morning Genie observed a young man in his pajamas with bare feet, carrying a refrigerator and putting it in the trailer behind his truck. Genie thought this was rather odd at 7 a.m., seeing as how the refrigerator was identical to the one in our room. The net result was one young man didn’t get to wear any green, as he got an orange outfit to wear while in the slammer.

We left Harrison early Friday morning back to Albert Lea. An interesting thing we noticed was most of the deer we saw laying down going south were still laying down in the same spot as we went north. 

Many of you readers are aware of the “blue” building as a landmark on the Bath Road between Beaver Lake and Albert Lea. Genie and I are now staying in the “golden yellow” landmark building in Albert Lea because of a kitchen fire in our house on St. Patrick’s Day. Brad Combs, our godson, was doing some handyman work when the fire started. He mananged to put the fire out, thus saving our house. Thanks, Brad.

We have three employee guardian angels here at the “golden yellow” building motel. Tracy, Theresa and Chelsea are so great, as they even fed us pizza the first Sunday night at the motel!

Hopefully, I’m done with the “Uffda” stomp ‘til next December. For you non-Norwegians, that is when you stomp your feet three times upon entering a building to get the snow off your boots as you say “Uffda.”

Trivia — Gas was $3.239 per gallon in Missouri on Friday, March 18th. Lots of meadowlarks in Missouri. Snow geese follow open water as they migrate north.

 — — —

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 35th 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 called for a cool week and a cool week we received. Will it rebound this week and be spring again? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs of 40 – 45 and lows dropping to 25 - 30. Thursday, partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs of 40 – 45 and lows of 35. Mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy on Friday with a chance of morning showers. Highs near 45 and lows around 30. Saturday, mostly clear. Highs around 50 and lows of 35. Cloudy on Sunday with a chance of showers. Highs of 45 and lows of 35. Cloudy on Monday with a chance of rain. Highs near 45 and lows around 25. Mostly cloudy Tuesday with a chance of more showers. Highs of 45 – 50 and lows. The normal high for April 1st is 50 and the normal low is 28. The sun will rise before 7 a.m. for the first time since February 24th. At this rate the scurs think it will surely be spring by May or possibly June. No foolin’.

Last week could only be characterized as a real weather downer. Just when it looked like we were suddenly playing with the lead, temperatures decided to behave more like the last week in February. High winds and cold rain followed by snow as a coup de grace nearly sent some over the edge. At the ranch, it was cause to put the tank heaters back in the water tanks, to smash ice out of the water buckets and drain the garden hose after each use. The long handled underwear were dug out of mothballs as was the heavy chore coat. It was a bit of a double-edged sword in some respects though. It did allow for some seed deliveries on the frozen yards and made spreading a few loads of manure possible until the fields got too greasy. Oh, it can still be spread when it’s greasy, but the resulting mud on the road raises the ire of motorists and can be a safety hazard when it becomes too thick. The water in the rivers and streams has been metered somewhat by the overnight freezing and thawing. Some of the predictions of record flooding have largely been averted. March precip has also run below last year in this area, so that hasn’t hurt. 

There were some positives at the ranch, however. The frozen ground keeps Ruby much cleaner, and for that we can be thankful. She doesn’t like having to stay inside when it’s muddy, especially when it’s time to feed the bottle lambs. Speaking of that, they are starting to get into the creep feed as evidenced by their occasional absence at bottle time. The end of that business is coming nearer to a close. Along those same lines, after what seemed an eternity, we found the lamb we were looking for: the last one born for the year. Last Friday morning there she was, no more than an hour old, with the ewe licking her off. Put mother and daughter in a pen, got the ewe a bucket of warm water, then went off to do the chores in the other barn. When returning with feed for the new mom, the lamb was already up nursing. That’s the way it ought to be.

On the bird front, a large contingent of goldfinches has settled in. Only a few are starting to show some yellow color again, but all are showing signs of being hungry. It had been a while since the thistle feeders had been filled, so that suddenly needed to be done. With the snow largely gone, the pheasants have dispersed across the landscape, although there is one large rooster who appears to have staked a claim to the brushy area on the edge of the yard. Sunday afternoon he pecked at the corn and other goodies, then sunned himself apparently waiting for Miss Right to show up. Monday morning he was up bright and early, drumming and crowing before sunrise. That close to the house, the drumming almost rattles the windows. Some of the sandhill cranes must’ve decided the water was too hard to wade in. Six of them were heading back south on Friday morning. Swans were spotted Saturday lumbering along after I’d procured some straw from the Dubyas’. There are some areas where there is deeper open water, so one can bet they were heading towards it. The swans, not the Dubyas. While at the Dubyas’ however, we determined that the LeSueur river Lutheran church steeple at 125 feet was taller than their silo. The swans were flying higher than that. 

At the Mall for Men, after solving the world’s problems, the little fat buddies have been busy tackling local issues. Odd that at an establishment known only for the truth would train its thoughts on the wind. Generally wind is considered Al Batt’s turf, hence the reason most of those windmills were built in his backyard. The flashing lights on those windmills have been of particular interest to our panel of experts. There have been instances when those of us of who get up in the middle of the night to make sure they’re blinking have noticed they haven’t been. Some nights, the white strobe lights were on and that prompted even more discussion and speculation. Apparently there were some problems that arose from an ice storm and that had the lights all out of kilter. Now we’re focusing our attention on the two small windmills east of town, trying to determine why the blades are sitting still. Conclusion? It’s because they’re not turning. 

See you next week…real good then.