Columns

Ten years. It was September 2014 when I started working as a full-time reporter at the Star Herald. A decade’s worth of time capturing the local news and happenings of Rock County. It seems like time has just sped by, and yet it doesn’t. I’ve attended hundreds of meetings and events … talked to hundreds of sources and completed hundreds of stories. I’ve been there for times of joy and…

We get two magazines at the Peterson household on a regular basis, one being AARP and the other is the Pheasants Forever magazine. The AARP gets a quick thumb-through until I spot an article of interest. The Pheasants Forever is read cover to cover by me … Mary not so much. The most recent issue of the Pheasants Forever magazine is something they call the Upland Bird Hunting Super Issue 2024.…

I get a lot of comments from student athletes like, “You got a photo of me with a weird face as I hit the ball,” or “How come you shot a photo of me with my tongue out?” Those comments give me two thoughts about my coverage of sports events. One, the kids are looking for the photos of themselves in our coverage of the events in the paper or online. Two, I can’t control how they look when they…

How many times do you hear folks say that the summer just got away from them and they cannot believe it’s almost fall already? I am getting to be a pretty old man, and I realize I am most likely living in the last quarter of my life. I spend considerable effort doing my very best not to be one of those other folks. I spend every waking moment I can outside. I hustle to finish at least part of…

The wedding of our youngest daughter, Katherine, to her man of many years, Dylan, last Saturday was a mountaintop experience. Literally. They got married on a mountaintop. It was dark when we headed west out of Denver toward Boulder. I rode in the back seat through several miles of hairpin turns as we ascended the wedding mountain. I was flanked by two granddaughters, one of whom spilled a…

Question: I’ve been helping my neighbor prep for sale a 1955 Ford pickup that has been in her family since new.  I noticed the other day that the VIN plate is missing from the glove box door (the rivet holes are still there).  It must have been lost by the body shop that painted the truck about 15 years ago, and is now out of business.  I was able to locate the VIN stamped into the frame and it…

How many times do you hear folks say that the summer just got away from them and they cannot believe it’s almost fall already? I am getting to be a pretty old man, and I realize I am most likely living in the last quarter of my life. I spend considerable effort doing my very best not to be one of those other folks. I spend every waking moment I can outside. I hustle to finish at least part of…

Matt and I were married 10 years ago, on Sept. 6, 2014, and we came across my wedding column titled “Cross-county courtship results in marriage — and new byline for the editor.” The column shared that Matt and I knew each other professionally through his work in the State Patrol and mine in the media. We connected personally in December 2005 when he responded to a playful request for Christmas…

Had a bit of a weird experience the other evening. It was more of an odd observation. Mary and I stopped at the new Alibi bar and restaurant on the east side of Sioux Falls on Highway 42 between Sioux Falls and Brandon. If you take the back way to Sioux Falls, you might remember the old Alibi Bar on the corner of Highway 42 and Six-mile Road. It’s fair to say the old Alibi was a bit of a dive.…

My fiancée Joan Holles is signed up for a Women’s Learn to Hunt workshop for next weekend. When visiting her daughter in Orlando a few weeks back, she shared this little tidbit with her daughter and son-in-law. The first words out of their mouths were, “How could you ever even consider shooting a pheasant?” This is a question often asked by the non-hunting public. They could not conceive of an…

Sometimes it’s good to step outside your box.  Other times it might be good to step off the dock and into a small fishing boat.  In my experience last weekend, the two mean the same thing.  As a teacher, my summer ends this week. It’s been a great summer and I’m always thankful for the opportunity to rejuvenate and reset for the new school year.  My last opportunity for rejuvenation came last…

Question: Since I've moved to Minnesota, I've seen many drivers use right turn lanes as a bypass lane.  Is this legal or does the sign reading "lane must turn" mean exactly what it says? Answer: White signs are regulatory and failing to comply can result in a citation for “fail to obey traffic control sign/signal.” “Right Turn Lanes” are what they are posted for, not passing or bypassing. The “…

Gals love to shop and guys go the store to buy stuff. There is no memory I have of going to a hunting/ fishing store and just looking around for a few hours and then going home with nothing. That whole idea is foreign to me. Another pretty foreign idea to me is to spend about three weeks looking in every store that has the item I want in order to save $3.95 on that item. What I am a little…

Two months ago I wrote about how my mother blossomed into a different person since moving into Tuff Home in Hills late last year. For as long as I can remember, she mainly showed her stubborn side and rarely let a softer side of her personality shine. On Sunday, at the age of 96, and after living a full life on her own terms, my mother died. Her service is today (Aug. 15), and I agreed to…

When you live in Minnesota, you have a variety of seasonal tools. In the winter a snow shovel, ice scrapper and possibly a snow blower are all tool essentials. For the fall the rake probably ranks at the top of the list. In the spring you break out the rake again to do a little spring cleanup around the yard. If you’re a gardener the hoe is your “go to” tool. Summer is where you need the big…

My decision on the next dog to join the dog pack at my house is getting closer. I have been bringing you into my decision-making criteria for the past two weeks or so. I have narrowed the choices from about 30 down to three. The dog breeds that are still on my short list include the small Munsterlander, the English setter and the German shorthair pointer. The pros and cons of each as I am able…