Columns

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article appeared in the March 25, 1943, edition of The Rock County Star Herald.          When Edward Byrne, Luverne, came west from Iowa to settle, South Dakota was still a part of Dakota…

Well, this has not been my favorite year gardening! It seems like every pattern of weather was messed up, and the consequences were and are enough to make me wonder why I work so hard to “make it work.”  Of course, my expectations belong to me, and what you see is what you see, not the picture in my mind of what I carefully envisioned and planned. I’m reminded of that so often when I’m working in…

I’ve seen flooding on TV and pitied the poor people who had to clean up after it, but I’ve never personally had to clean up after a flood.  That changed July 5 when 6 inches of rain falling in less than an hour washed the gravel, garbage and grime off Cedar Street into the basement window of a small apartment building that my husband, Jim, and I own. We were made aware of the situation when one…

Question: If involved in a minor auto accident with another driver, what steps should be taken at the scene by both parties? Answer: Crashes happen every day in Minnesota. Crashes are one of the State Patrol’s primary duties. It’s important to know what to do immediately after a crash happens. The first and most important thing to do after you’ve been involved in a crash is to get to a safe place…

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article appeared in the March 18, 1943 edition of The Rock County Star Herald. One of Clinton township’s well-known retired farmers is Bernard Slieter, Steen. Known more familiarly to his close…

I moved to Worthington at the age of 13 and after my folks bought me a new bike, I was the traveling fisherman and hunter. I would ride my bike to the local lake in my town almost every day. When I reached the age of 14, which is when you can hunt without an adult, I would ride my bike about six miles out to the Lake Ocheda Waterfowl refuge and try to shoot a Canada goose. I would often ride home…

Twenty-five years ago last month I graduated from Luverne High School.  It will be five years ago next month that I returned to Luverne High School as a social studies teacher.  Needless to say, it was fun and interesting to return to my alma mater 20 years later in a new role.  So many things had changed obviously. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, so much had stayed the same.  Sometimes exactly the…

It’s a big weekend for Luverne starting on Thursday with the 60th annual Hot Dog Night. It’s estimated that well over a half million hot dogs have been served up over those years. Nearly 60 businesses have signed up to give away somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 hot dogs this year alone. It’s not just free hot dogs that draws the large crowds to town. There is a corn hole tournament at the…

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article appeared in the February 18, 1943 edition of The Rock County Star Herald.   To the average reader of this article, a covered wagon is a kind of wagon described in stories about the Old…

It’s so easy to procrastinate when it comes to sorting and getting rid of stuff, but Dr. Phil has gotten me started. I have to say, I seldom watch “Dr. Phil,” but I just happened to catch a show recently where an older couple had married and combined both households of stuff into one single home they had purchased together. They never got around to unpacking and were now living in a home where…

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article is continued from last week about William Everett.   Lived on Milk Five Days From there he went back to LeMars where he worked for Dr. Foster, the man who, according to Everett, imported…

The fishing season is underway, and the reports have been better than I can remember for the past five years or so. As always there are certain lakes that do better than others, and your location and how much time you have to fish often dictates where and how long you can stay. I make an annual pilgrimage to Upper Red Lake with my son and son-in-law and just a few others. This is a tradition that…

As you know, when I write these columns, I usually take a humorous look at an everyday situation. I start with the premise, “The column must be about something funny.” Sometimes, what’s funny is that I wait until the very last minute to write my column and turn it in to the dear editor at Tollefson Publishing. She has an obsessive focus on something she calls “deadlines.” After waiting too long…

July 4th, the Fourth of July, or Independence Day – however you refer to the day, it’s generally a day that brings back memories of past July 4 celebrations. As a kid growing up in Heron Lake, my memories of the Fourth of July centered around spending the day celebrating our nation’s independence in Okabena. The memories of those bygone years are pretty much the same year after year after year.…

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older. This article is continued from last week about William Everett.   Survives “La Grippe” Siege It was in about 1878 when there was a siege of “la grippe,” then a very rare disease. He recalls that he was…

The battle with the bugs continues. … I am seeing damage on the lower leaves of purple dome asters. The leaves are getting a speckled yellow color, and if you look on the underside of the leaf, you will notice very small gray-colored spots that look like little bits of ash dust. Those are the critters causing the damage. The bug is called a psyllid, and they suck the sap out of the leaf, causing…