This is another one of my hop-scotch columns. (A running of the words in street talk language.)

Words of wisdom to every deer hunter when illegally dumping the deer carcass: “Remove the deer license tag first.”

All hikers when petting black and white kitties will learn there are two kinds: “Those that are odorless and those that aren’t.”

Genie observed two cottontail rabbits eating her pretty red and yellow tulips. (The rabbits preferred the yellow tulips.) As my CEO, Genie told me to solve the problem. I got out my old daisy air rifle and created a good and a bad random act of kindness in two shots. The good was for Genie and the tulips, the bad was for the two rabbits. (We each enjoyed two meals of Hasenpfeffer Rabbit with a glass of red wine.)

A few days after eating the rabbits a man in a conservation uniform knocked on our door. He said he had a search warrant for our freezer. He looked in our freezer and started mumbling to himself. He told me he was aware that I liked to hunt and fish but there was nothing in the freezer to prove it. 

I explained that I didn’t get a deer last fall, didn’t catch any fish this winter and we no longer had a cabin at Beaver Lake, thus no pan fish to bring from the lake. He asked if I was aware of the two rabbits (that he had received a TIP that had shot) were not in season. Genie answered that when she got done marinating them they were very much in season. As he walked out we heard him muttering, “You can always tell a Norwegian but you can’t tell them much.”

Paula of Beaver Lake fame told me she wasn’t going to have any more birthdays so I didn’t give her the as usual Hallmark birthday card with a picture of Jackson on one side and In God We Trust on the other side of a Federal Reserve note.

I wanted an extra copy of the Albert Lea Tribune paper dated April 9. There weren’t any to be bought. In checking I found out long time residents of Beaver Lake had purchased all of them. It was because a kindergarten student at Lakeview Elementary School in Albert Lea with the same last name had a worksheet about an Easter Bunny in the paper. Claire LaFrance, you sold out the Albert Lea paper that day.

Look at May 9-10 on your calendar. All Minnesota resident moms fish free the entire weekend. Whether living or deceased, honor that great mom of yours on May 10. Ask yourself if Mom had anything to do with your being in this great world.

Ole of Grand Marais, Minnesota decided it was safe to try one more fishing outing on his ATV before the ice went out. Ole now knows a grappling hook is the best lure to use when fishing for an ATV.

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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. 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. Bob says if you enjoy his column, 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.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club

Honesty is the best policy.

Do you really believe that?

I do. Unless you want people to like you.

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 only thing I can do better than anyone else is to read my own handwriting.

Cafe chronicles 

It was amateur hour at the cafe. He read the menu like it was his old high school yearbook. Things looked familiar, but he couldn't remember all of them. He ordered just one thing. None of the regulars ever ordered just one thing because the waitress always forgot to bring one thing.

A discussion was ongoing.

"It was that guy. He was in that movie I liked."

"Do you mean 'Groundhog Day'? You loved that film."

"No, it was similar, but completely different. He made a couple of movies with that blonde woman with the perky nose."

"Oh, I know who you mean, I can’t think of his name either. I think he was in a movie with 'the' in the title."

"Here, I’ll Google it," said another grabbing his smartphone.

A hush fell over the crowd. Attitudes worsened. They didn’t want to know who the guy was. They were just enjoying the process.

Visiting day

I visited a hospital. A man dropped his cellphone to the floor with a clatter. I hoped he wasn't a surgeon. I called on a friend. He was doing as well as could be expected, but he should have bought an extended warranty.

Later, I visited a home with a flowery hanging on the door saying, "Happy everything." A woman, a regular reader of this column, told me that I seemed almost normal. She appeared surprised, but it was a nice compliment.

At another stop, a friend told me that he regularly played checkers with the administrator of the facility wherein he resided. He said that they played for money and claimed that he wouldn't need to be paying any rent for a long time.

This was where I learned who George Strait was. I enjoy music, but I tend to listen to what I already like. It’s hard to get it all listened to. This leaves me clueless about most singers.

I looked up the spelling of his name. I knew how to spell George. That was my father’s name. I thought the last name was Straight because of experience.

I’d enjoyed "The Straight Story," a film based on Alvin Straight's 1994 journey on a lawn mower. Straight was a 73-year-old who’d heard that his estranged brother had suffered a stroke and decided to visit and make amends. Straight’s eyesight and health were too poor for him to get a driver’s license, so he hooked a trailer to his 1966 John Deere lawn tractor, maximum speed of about 5 miles per hour, and began a 250-mile journey from Laurens, Iowa, to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.

I’ve spent time along the Straight River, which is crooked.

I once spent time in a Minnesota cabin that almost made it to Canada. It was before iPods or cellphones. I had a battery-powered radio that refused to pick up anything but white noise. Strait might have been part of it.

My research informed me that Strait sang, "All My Ex’s Live in Texas." I’d heard that tune. I’m not sure why "Ex's" is in the possessive form. I have no exes, but if I did, Texas would be the place for them.

Yesteryear

Toys ran on imagination. School was school, one no better than another. Teachers threatened to kick a misbehaving student so hard that when the lad sat down, he’d leave a footprint. If a boy wore a baseball cap backwards, he was a catcher. We checked the bottoms of our shoes before entering a home. Boredom was expressed as, "What can I eat?"

Mother’s Day

Mom found the camera. There were a couple of shots left on the roll of film. She couldn't remember what was on the roll. There was only one way to find out. She lined up available family members, took a couple of photos of them and headed to the drug store to see what developed.

On Mother’s Day and on all other days, I hold my mother’s memory in loving thoughts.

Nature notes

The ancient Greeks believed that swallows burrowed underground instead of migrating.

Meeting adjourned

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions." - Chanakya

Studies show that children raised in a household that votes predominantly for one party in elections will likely vote along the same party lines, especially if the parents are vocal about their beliefs. That would seem like a natural thing. Things and ideas we are exposed to as youth tend to shape the way we think.

I’ve heard students over the years utter extremely racist or other insensitive remarks and been taken aback. In some of those instances, upon contacting parents, I’ve understood why those students thought those things were okay to say. Mom and/or Dad also talked that way. Once, when telling parents their child had uttered a racial slur, I was asked, “What’s wrong with that?” Ah, the influence we have as parents…

Should we believe everything our parents tell us? Certainly not; those of us who are parents know we’ve all misled our children at times (I present to you certain holiday-related mascots), but I hope most of us try to set a good example for our children to follow. Do we persuade our children to have a particular outlook on different parts of life? Of course.

One thing we should perhaps teach them as well is the ability to look at all sides of an issue and to make up their own minds about topics. This is what my 8th graders have been working on as they delve into persuasive papers.

Persuasive writing is always one of my favorite units to teach. We start with the kids choosing a rule they dislike and would hope to see changed. Many write about their curfews or increasing passing time between classes. These are minor things in the grand scheme of life, but our focus is always on trying to look at all sides of the issue in question.

If the student is writing about curfew, he or she has to explain in the essay the parents’ point of view in imposing that curfew. If it is about passing time, the ability to understand the school’s reasoning for the three-minute limit is vital. Students learn to acknowledge that opposing viewpoint and then use that to springboard to their own reasons for desiring change.

We do this all the time, don’t we? If you go in to your boss and ask for a raise, don’t you need to know how the company has been doing? It helps your cause if you can point out recently increased profits before asking for more money for yourself. If you go in and ask for a raise without being aware that your company has lost money the past two quarters, you might look foolish and hurt future chances at an increase in pay.

Persuasion is a fine art. I use the analogy with my students of being a coach. A coach will look at how the opposing team runs their offense and their defense and devise a game plan to beat that. This is similar to looking at the opposing point of view in a debate or paper. If I know the team we’re playing will run a 2-3 zone defense, I’d better have my players ready to run an offense that can work against that. If you want to persuade somebody to change his or her mind, you’d better have a game plan and know their reasons for thinking that particular way before engaging in attempted persuasion.

The key is to always respect the other person’s right to have an opinion different from your own. We might be absolutely convinced that we are correct, and no matter how hard we try and how many great reasons we think we have, we might not be able to change the other person’s mind. There comes a point where we have to just admit we tried, but we won’t have success in that endeavor.

This was a difficult idea for this stubborn German to accept, but as I got older and matured, I learned to be more accepting of different ideas. College exposed me to so many different cultures and ideas and opened up a world of possibilities, if only I stopped to listen. My roommates and I had some fascinating discussions that really opened my eyes.

This is what I encourage with my students. Stop and listen for a moment. Think about all points on an issue. Contemplate all this before coming to a conclusion. If your mind stays the same, that’s fine. I’ve read many papers over the years with which I disagree, but some of the best I’ve read are ones where I’m opposed to the opinion expressed. However, the student has written a good persuasive essay, and if it gives me pause to think again, then the writing has done its job.

Ultimately, persuasion includes a strong voice, and I hope my students develop that ability. I use persuasion all the time, but just like my students when they debate with me, I don’t always win the argument. Even so, I will always understand the other person better, and that’s still a win.

Word of the Week: This week’s word is kippage, which means commotion or excitement, as in, “The kippage in the room rose was palpable when the student stumped the teacher during a debate.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!

It took a while, but the scurs finally got the heater control valve unstuck on the Weather Eye just in the nick of time. Starting Wednesday, sunny, with highs near 70 and lows in the mid-40’s. Thursday, sunny with highs in the low 70’s and lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly sunny Friday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with a chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Sunday, partly sunny becoming mostly cloudy with a good chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Mostly cloudy Monday with a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms, Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Tuesday, mostly cloudy and cooler with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. The normal high for May 1st is 64 and the normal low is 42. On May 6th we will experience sunrise before 6 a.m., the same as we saw last July 29th. By May 6th the scurs’ May Basket will be ancient history.

The Full Moon for the month occurs on the 3rd and generally goes by the Full Flower Moon. April showers indeed bring May flowers if they don’t freeze off of course. This moon also goes by the Full Corn Planting Moon and the Full Milk Moon. The Ojibwe called this the Full Blossom Moon and the Sioux, The Moon When Ponies Shed. At the ranch it is a perpetual Moon When Border Collies Shed so it probably more accurately goes by The Moon When Lambs are Weaned or The Full Bellering Moon.

About one day of progress in the fields this past week after the prior weekend’s rainfall and ensuing cool temperatures made it difficult for farmers to get excited about planting full bore. On April 23rd the low at the Waseca airport was 21 degrees. Average soil temperatures at the 2” depth at the SROC spent a few days in the 40’s with one day in the upper 30’s. A forecast for rain on Friday didn’t help matters, although the forecast amounts were small. However, when the rain stopped on Friday, instead of a tenth to a quarter inch, it was closer to ¾” and it was cold. Nevertheless, some did plant on Thursday again only to get rained out Friday morning. Corn planted the week of the 12th should emerge this week given the warm forecast. No sign of problems thus far with any of the corn planted since then, with corn planted on the 14th exhibiting a ¾” long radicle and coleoptile around ¼” on the 23rd. Rainfall for the month has totaled 3.45” at the ranch and 3.5” in town at the Mall for Men. This is slightly above normal when compared to the April normal of 3.21” at the SROC. 

You can now access my daily precipitation measurements from the ranch online. I enter them religiously now that I know how to report them electronically. Go to: http://www.climate.umn.edu/HIDENsityEdit/HIDENweb.htm, click on “browse” where it is highlighted by “MNgage precip” under the “Looking at the data” heading. It will take you to “View Minnesota Precipitation Data by Location.” Enter “Steele” where it asks you to find a county then click on the “find a county” button. My location appears as “Berlin s7”. For the SROC in Waseca, choose Waseca where it asks for county and they are denoted as Woodville s18. Click on the monthly total and a drop down box will appear with the daily entries for the month. Make sure you turn the pop up blocker on your browser off for the site or that last part will be an exercise in futility. Speaking from experience.

It has been a fun week to note the subtle changes in bird activity. A white-throated sparrow was seen on the 25th meaning the much anticipated arrival of the orioles at the ranch should occur within a week or so. Thanks to fellow bird feeder T.P., on her advice I stashed an emergency jar of grape jelly just in case. The tree swallows are swarming some of the bluebird houses like gnats. They were cleaned out once earlier this spring but might not hurt to make sure a deer mouse hasn’t stuffed them full again. The robins were busy building their nest in the spruce tree right outside the living room window. It made a nice diversion to watch during breaks in the action during the Wild game. A pair of mallards has started to use the tree planting corridor as a place to snack. The low hanging fruit on the American cranberries is just the right height. Last but not least, the wood ducks that have been picking away at garden leftovers apparently are the two nesting in the wood duck house in the wetland. Checking the box last Thursday, there were four or five eggs in it. What doncha like about that? 

The Border Collies had a big weekend, first being able to follow the Gator around the yard and after that, their first lawn mowing excursion of the season. Fudgie and Ruby seem to live for this sort of stuff. Keeping an eye on all the sticks, then watching as the loads of debris were hauled off and dumped gave them a whole forenoon worth of entertainment on Sunday. Then following chores, the lawnmowers made their maiden voyage for the year as did the dogs, following back and forth with each pass. Tires had to be bitten first of course before the lawnmowers made it out of the chute and the weary pair could sport their first grass-stained white socks of the spring. Priorities.

See you next week…real good then.

Gregory Allan Fischer, 61, of New Richland passed away April 27, 2015 at Homestead Hospice House in Owatonna. Greg was born May 11, 1953 in Owatonna, MN, the oldest son of Robert and Patricia Fischer. Greg graduated from Marian High School in Owatonna in 1971, and continued his education at Mankato State University with a degree in Business. 

Greg married his high school sweetheart Diane (Karow) Burns in 1974, and is the proud father of their four children, Angie, Brianna, Cody and Devin. Greg had a successful 40-year career in veterinary pharmaceutical sales, most recently with Midwest Veterinary Supply. He valued deeply the many friendships he cultivated with veterinary staff across Southern Minnesota.

Lillian M. Wyrum

Funeral services for Lillian M. Wyrum, age 94 of Albert Lea will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 2, 2015 at the Cross of Glory Lutheran Church, Hartland. Pastor Kent Otterman and Pastor Mark Hillmer will officiate. Interment will be in the Alden Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4-7:00 p.m., Friday, May 1, 2015 at the Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home, and one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Online condolences are welcome at www.bayviewfuneral.com.

Lillian passed away peacefully April 28, 2015, surrounded by love.

Peterson, Nora H., passed with peace and grace on April 20, 2015 of natural causes at the age of 96. She had been living in the Atlanta, GA area. She was predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Russell Peterson, and her daughter, Jeanne Peterson Tukua. Nora is survived by her son, Jon Peterson, of Arizona, grandchildren Erik and Kirk Tukua of Georgia, Nate Peterson of Ohio, and Stacey Peterson Thomas of Colorado. She is also survived by eleven great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Dana Leslie Kapke, age 67, of Wells, MN, died Thursday, April 9, 2015, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN. A memorial service will be held Friday, May 1, 2015, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Wells, MN at 1 p.m. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be at St. Peter’s Cemetery, New Richland, Waseca Co., MN. Bruss-Heitner Funeral Home of Wells is in charge of arrangements. Please see www.brussheitner.com to leave online condolences.

The Albert Lea Beyond the Yellow Ribbon group will meet Tuesday April 28 at 11 a.m. at the Albert Lea American Legion. The main topic of discussion will be Freedom Festival 2015. This event is scheduled for Friday July 3 at Fountain Lake Park.

For more information contact John Severtson at 507-438-8225

Check us out on line at www.facebook.com/pages/Beyond-the-Yellow-Ribbon-of-Albert-Lea.