Marriages may soon resemble car leasing companies. Instead of leasing the latest models with options to buy, however, marriages will offer options for divorce. According to Reuters, lawmakers in Chile, one of the few countries where divorce is banned, are pushing for a new divorce law with two marriage choices — with or without the possibility of divorce. If passed, the new law will make divorce possible for couples who are wishy-washy about the whole marriage thing. It will also allow optimistic couples to renounce their right to divorce when they register their marriages. Essentially, it’s a marriage with an escape clause, a plan for a fast getaway. It’s also an extension of what we already have in our country — the so-called "starter marriages." If U.S. laws follow suit and combine marriage licenses with up-front divorce options, our views of marriage and wedding ceremonies might change drastically. Instead of having ceremonies with the words, "Until death do us part", we will hear, "Until we get tired of each other and want to move on." Like it or not, romance will be replaced by realism. From the engagement announcement in the local newspaper ("John Doe and Mary X wish to announce their upcoming marriage with an option to divorce") to the proposals ("Would you like to be married for a while?"), the changes will be dramatic. Instead of giving the happy (for the time, anyway) couple gifts that will last forever, wedding guests will select short-lived gifts with less expectations — paper plates and tablecloths, disposable cameras, 20-minute recipe cookbooks and trial subscriptions to popular magazines. Gifts that might possibly outlast the marriage itself or expensive gifts that might cause additional stress during an unpleasant divorce settlement should be avoided. Gifts that require more time to appreciate than the couple will have together might include a year-long membership in a jelly-of-the-month club, fruit baskets with green bananas or other fruits that need time to ripen, slow-growing oak tree saplings, or wine-making kits. (Unless, of course the newlyweds might not mind saying, "Ah, April. That was a good month!") Another time-spanning gift which might not be popular would be a starter collection of state quarters, given the fact that the last coins — for Hawaii and Alaska — won’t be minted until 2008. Marriages with options for divorce don’t need the added pressure of waiting for a coin collection to be completed. Given the tentativeness of their relationships, newlyweds with options to divorce hanging over their heads should avoid long-term car and apartment leases or painting their homes with slow-drying paint. They should consider having pets rather than children. (Divorces might be hard on pets, too, but at least they won’t write condemning biographies of their parents when they’re older.) They should also seek out short-term investments. "The fastest way" should be the motto for newlyweds doing projects around the house. For example, covering the yard with already-grown sod would be much more efficient than planting grass seed and then dutifully watering the yard for the next 30 days, until the divorce papers are served, or whichever comes first.

The Bookmobile comes to our school. After December it won’t come anymore. I think it should stay so kids can learn how to read. Hills doesn’t have a library so we would have to go to Luverne to get books. The Bookmobile is good so we can pick out our own books that we like, because the classroom/home may not have the book we like. You don’t have to pay, unless your books are overdue. The Bookmobile has movies also, to check out. You get one month to check out the books, where if you go to the library you can only check out the books for two weeks. I think the Bookmobile should continue to come to Hills.Kacie Vanden Bosch6th GradeHills Christian School

A week or so ago I gave an address for holiday greetings for our local deployed soldiers. I was informed that since 9-11 the post office cannot deliver mail addressed to "Any Soldier.” Below is an address that will work. If you know a specific individual deployed with our local unit you can use his name in place of "Commander.” I apologize for any inconvenience caused by my error. CommanderPSC 41 Box 9000APO AE 09464SGT John Swanson,Administrative NCO Pipestone825-6898

Gluf is cross country’s unsung heroWhen we are cold he will give us his coat, when we are exhausted he will help us to our feet, when we need somebody to talk to, he is there! I am talking about Bruce Gluf, the Luverne boys’ and girls’ cross country coach. Many know that both the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams have gone to state this year, an accomplishment that every coach strives for while only a few achieve. But, people not involved in cross country do not know about our coach. Bruce is the nicest most laid-back man that I know and he also knows how to motivate his athletes. Some coaches yell at their players, others don’t say much, Bruce does a little of both. He will yell when he needs to, but he only yells positive things. I have been in numerous activities in my high school career, but I have never experienced a coach that has touched my life as much as Bruce has. As a senior, I am sad that I will not be back next year, but I am thankful that I had the chance to experience such a great coach and a great group of runners. We are considered family to Bruce, and I know that I speak for many runners on the team when I say we also consider Bruce family. So, the next time you see Mr. Bruce Gluf on the street, thank him for his hard work and excellent coaching abilities because without him, the Luverne cross country teams would not have been as successful as they were this year. Brent DeGrootLuverne

The Bookmobile should keep coming to Hills because there is not a library in Hills. Then people in Hills can walk or ride bike to the Bookmobile. You also get a longer time to check out books and movies. If kids don’t read they will have to be taught how to read so they can do different jobs and participate in school. Our school uses the Bookmobile, along with many other people, because there is a better variety of books and movies than at home or school. If the Bookmobile stops coming, people will have to drive to a library to get books or movies. The Bookmobile comes right to your town: you give them the books, take out new ones and then leave. I think the Bookmobile should continue to come to Hills. Mary Buys6th GradeHills Christian School

Marriages may soon resemble car leasing companies. Instead of leasing the latest models with options to buy, however, marriages will offer options for divorce. According to Reuters, lawmakers in Chile, one of the few countries where divorce is banned, are pushing for a new divorce law with two marriage choices — with or without the possibility of divorce. If passed, the new law will make divorce possible for couples who are wishy-washy about the whole marriage thing. It will also allow optimistic couples to renounce their right to divorce when they register their marriages. Essentially, it’s a marriage with an escape clause, a plan for a fast getaway. It’s also an extension of what we already have in our country — the so-called "starter marriages." If U.S. laws follow suit and combine marriage licenses with up-front divorce options, our views of marriage and wedding ceremonies might change drastically. Instead of having ceremonies with the words, "Until death do us part", we will hear, "Until we get tired of each other and want to move on." Like it or not, romance will be replaced by realism. From the engagement announcement in the local newspaper ("John Doe and Mary X wish to announce their upcoming marriage with an option to divorce") to the proposals ("Would you like to be married for a while?"), the changes will be dramatic. Instead of giving the happy (for the time, anyway) couple gifts that will last forever, wedding guests will select short-lived gifts with less expectations — paper plates and tablecloths, disposable cameras, 20-minute recipe cookbooks and trial subscriptions to popular magazines. Gifts that might possibly outlast the marriage itself or expensive gifts that might cause additional stress during an unpleasant divorce settlement should be avoided. Gifts that require more time to appreciate than the couple will have together might include a year-long membership in a jelly-of-the-month club, fruit baskets with green bananas or other fruits that need time to ripen, slow-growing oak tree saplings, or wine-making kits. (Unless, of course the newlyweds might not mind saying, "Ah, April. That was a good month!") Another time-spanning gift which might not be popular would be a starter collection of state quarters, given the fact that the last coins — for Hawaii and Alaska — won’t be minted until 2008. Marriages with options for divorce don’t need the added pressure of waiting for a coin collection to be completed. Given the tentativeness of their relationships, newlyweds with options to divorce hanging over their heads should avoid long-term car and apartment leases or painting their homes with slow-drying paint. They should consider having pets rather than children. (Divorces might be hard on pets, too, but at least they won’t write condemning biographies of their parents when they’re older.) They should also seek out short-term investments. "The fastest way" should be the motto for newlyweds doing projects around the house. For example, covering the yard with already-grown sod would be much more efficient than planting grass seed and then dutifully watering the yard for the next 30 days, until the divorce papers are served, or whichever comes first.

I thought March was supposed to have the title of being the windiest month of the year? It seems to me we have had a lot of windy days all year but this fall it seems nearly every day you had to hang on to your hat or you would be chasing it.This week I think we might have set a new record as I think it was Friday when wind gusts reached 55 miles per hour. Now that is enough for me! Just think what the pioneers went through when they were settling the prairie. When the prairie winds blew there was absolutely no shelter for them as there were no trees or buildings of any kind. Some of them dug caves in the ground. They taught us that when we built buildings of any kind to be sure they were on strong foundation.Chicago is supposed to be titled the “windy city” but what about those of us living on the Midwest prairie in farming country where the wind still blows? Those of us living here think it was a good thing we followed the pioneers’ advice or we would all have blown away by this time. Art and Henrietta Boeve left last Wednesday with Donna’s tour bus for Branson, Mo., where they attended several shows and enjoyed many other things. Others going from this area were Gert and Dick Hup from Hills, Cornie and Darlene Bosch, Harold and Corrine Niessink and Anna Elbers, all from Luverne. They returned home on Sunday. Helping Verla Baker celebrate her birthday on Wednesday at her home were Henrietta Huenink, Winnie Scholten, Joan Hoogeveen and Jennie Schouwenburg. Mildred Keunen and Jo Aykens met Dena Hubner, from Edgerton, for dinner in Luverne on Friday. Harold Wissink entered Luverne Community Hospital on Friday where he underwent some tests. He was able to return to his home on Friday. The Hills-Beaver Creek Student Council will host a Blood Drive from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, in the high school gym. Appointments can be made by calling the high school at 962-3240. Isabel Bosch, six-year-old daughter of Tom and Amy Bosch, Sioux Falls, spent the weekend in the home of her grandparents, Dries and Laura May Bosch. Coffee guests in the Jo Aykens home Saturday afternoon were Bertha Bosch, Mildred Keunen and Ginger France from Sioux City, Iowa. Melvin and JoAnn Paulsen returned home last Monday from a two-week vacation which they spent in the home of JoAnn’s sister, Joyce and Otis Wells, at Hilmar, Calif. Winnie Scholten and Mildred Paulsen attended a pre-Thanksgiving potluck dinner Wednesday evening at the Forester Center in Rock Rapids Iowa. Entertainment for the evening was provided by the Brown family from Merrill, Iowa.Among those attending the Quartet Convention at the Ramkota in Sioux Falls, Friday and Saturday, from the Steen area were Jim Elbers, Bill and Marlene DeYager, Art and Henrietta Boeve, Dick and Gert Hup, Melba Boeve and Carol Zwaan.Ginger France, Sioux City, spent the weekend visiting her mother, Micky Bonnema, at Tuff Home and other relatives.Deric Ehde, son of Rick and Lorie Scholten, spent the week visiting in the home of his parents and celebrating his birthday. He attends college in northern Minnesota. Kenny and Gwen Bodewitz, Valley Springs, S.D., were Saturday evening callers in the home of his mother, Henrietta Huenink. Time marches on and ready or not, the holidays are rapidly approaching. I think fall is my favorite time of the year. I love gathering in the perishable plants and garden produce before the first frost gets them. On a beautiful, bright, sunny day I love to get at the fall housecleaning. It is fun getting to the bottom of many corners that have been neglected through the summer. You never know what you might find! Hopefully, now things will settle down so that we can get our housecleaning done.When I thought about this, how busy everyone is and under so much pressure, it seems our schedules are always filled with more than we can get done. Maybe we all need to do a little personal housecleaning as well. Perhaps it would be a good idea, when evening comes, to go off into a quiet place and review your day or week if you have time. Some things to ask ourselves are:•Have you been kind and thoughtful, or mean and thoughtless?•Have you kept an even temper, or have you lost your temper when things have gone wrong?•Have you been pleasant or grouchy?•Have you inspired those whom you have met, or have you depressed and discouraged them?•Have you done something creative and worthwhile, or have you wasted the day with petty things? •Have you been fair and square in what you have done?•Have you increased the happiness moments in the lives of others or have you thought only of yourself?•Have you enlarged your mental horizon, expanded your personality or have you grown larger or shrunk smaller?Think about these things. What we do day-to-day determines what we become. Hour by hour we build our lives for better or for worse. A daily inventory will help to keep us on the right track and headed toward our highest ideals. Why not give it a try?

Tuff Village has been tastefully decorated with paint, wallpaper and its matching borders by an interior designer, but the entries to our apartments we do ourselves and show our own interests so guests can find us for we do not have name plates on the doors.For example, Bud and Ione are easily identified for the Bush name is everywhere. The Bush name and the Hills Main Street has been burned into wood by Sandy Feucht. Then a long picture with big letters spelling Bush. You can’t miss who these apartment dwellers are. Currently a little Viking caroler is in the corner of apartment 112.Our woodworking friend in 107 always has one of his creations on the wall. A fish, a deer or now, a raccoon. There is a sign on the door telling guests he’s in his workshop if he’s not around. His intricate maple leaf is hard to believe it’s homemade.In 108 welcome signs and the Crawford Crest greet you. Sandy made Beaver Creek street signs, too. She has a pen and pencil available for notes if she’s unavailable and a little snowman is currently carrying a pail filled with snowballs.Across the aisle our Norwegian neighbor identifies herself by a Hardanger wall hanging.Room #110 finds Caroline with a chicken welcome. Since she’s a quilter, she has a little 5x5-inch quilt hanging from a doll rod and a statue of a lady quilting in front of a beautiful mauve, purple and blue quilt with a basket of needles, thread and a gray and white kitten sitting nearby. I wish you could see it. She also has a Iowa sign made by Sandy.Erma in 106 is always changing her entry but currently a corn husk doll sits on a table with fall leaves in a duck flower vase. Once Erma had a shoe and a bee on display or a gum ball machine with a sign saying she needed help to pay her rent.Room 101 is now bare but Earl has had cut glass angels he made himself that were beautiful.Arnold’s daughter, Joan, is active helping the people of Bolivia so its fitting scenes of this country are artfully framed for his entry.If looking for Berdella in 105 you can’t miss for her name is framed and hung. A counter-cross-stitch “You Are Special” on plastic canvas is there as well as a poem in a counter-cross-stitch hoop that says “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful. The Lord God made them all.”Welcoming Thanksgiving is on Shorty’s door #103 as well as a rock with welcome painted on it.The Sandagers in 104 have an etched picture of the farm. Indian corn and a little scarecrow sit on a table and a big political sign reads “Council at large Jim Sandager” He won, he is now a councilman in Des Moines, Iowa.A long welcome tapestry with flowers and birds welcome 117L guests. A large cloth picture of corn candy adorns the other wall.Room 116L has Goettsch framed crocheted name and a welcome sign with birds in the nests and others hanging from the bottom on cords.Room 114L has pretty pastel morning glories and the Serenity Prayer to welcome Florence’s guests.A fall wreath with berries and acorns. 115L is in keeping of the season.A girl swinging from a harvest wreath is in the middle of Dave and Alta’s door and a farmer and his wife writes their names as well as a heart saying “All who enter should do so with a happy heart.” 118L also has a weathered wooden sign with the Olson’s name on.A huge grapefruit wreath with fruit and berries identify Sarah. Small Indian corn tied in a plaid bow, hangs next to an embroideried Sarah.Palma, in 120L, has a framed fall picture and a plastic canvas welcome sign with a huge full pink tassel.Everyone seems to recognize the season. The Apostolic Singers came in great form and about 35 in number. Judy, Sarah’s daughter, brought treats. The singing itself was a treat. The Bush boys are here and hunting, gathering mementos from the home they’re moving out of. Erma and Martha have packed their bags and gone on a trip. I’m not sure where.I’ll keep you posted.

The Bookmobile comes to our school. After December it won’t come anymore. I think it should stay so kids can learn how to read. Hills doesn’t have a library so we would have to go to Luverne to get books. The Bookmobile is good so we can pick out our own books that we like, because the classroom/home may not have the book we like. You don’t have to pay, unless your books are overdue. The Bookmobile has movies also, to check out. You get one month to check out the books, where if you go to the library you can only check out the books for two weeks. I think the Bookmobile should continue to come to Hills.Kacie Vanden Bosch6th GradeHills Christian School