Columns

So, I tried out for the Green Earth play and I got a part. As I learn my lines, I'm also learning that my 61-year-old brain is not as able to memorize as was my 18-year-old brain. That's how long it's been since I was in a Green Earth play. It was 1981. I played Mrs. Smith in “The Bald Soprano.” “She always styles her hair the same way." Mr. Smith was played by the late great Rod Iveland. The…

On Sept. 13 we marked Carson’s two-year heaven-versary, and at the Sept. 14 suicide prevention walk in Luverne, I remembered him as I walked alongside many others walking for loved ones gone too soon. Those of us “in the same boat,” talked about “how we’re getting along.” My short answer is, “I miss him, but I’m blessed to be surrounded by really good people.” But there’s a longer explanation…

It’s not just a flagpole. It’s a sign of strength and stability and patriotism We put up a new flagpole in front of the Peterson household a week or so ago. It got me to thinking about iconic flagpoles. For me one of the two most iconic flagpoles is first and foremost the pole that held the flag that the six United States Marines raised up atop Mount Suribachi on the small island of Iwo Jima…

Every morning I get up about 5:30-6 a.m., open my garage door, and share my morning coffee with three Labradors that keep watch for anything and everything that might walk by. Seems like only in the last week or so when I open the door, it is no longer light outside. This is a sure sign that the pheasant hunting season will soon be upon us. The opening day of the pheasant season this year will…

I am one of those dyed-in-the-wool property rights kind of guys. I would never – and  I mean never – set foot on anyone else’s property without permission. I think that any person who trespasses on another person’s property without permission should be held to the highest extent of the law. I hear of many landowners who might go out and shoo a trespasser away and never take any real action with…

This proofreader, at age 81, is still being humored and tolerated at the Star Herald office. It’s been 20 years … 20 delightful years of working with an outstanding staff! I get to see firsthand the effort that goes into each edition and the careful attention to detail and accuracy. Stories are checked with sources before going to print. My job has become somewhat easier with Google. When I…

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…