I spent time in the produce department trying to open a plastic bag.  Why don’t people eat more fresh fruit and vegetables? It’s because of those irritating plastic produce bags. My fingers finessed the bag open and I filled it. Fueled by a shopping list, I pushed my cart to other parts of the store with a vroom, vroom! It was a masterful performance. Academy … [Read more...]

Part three of a series Vagrants, often known as tramps, passed through southeastern Minnesota in the later decades of the 1800s and the early decades of the 1900s. Even those that were seemingly well-bred and educated to some extent, preferred to seek charity more often than to seek employment. There were more than a few tramps that traversed the highway near Eitzen and … [Read more...]

It is a beautiful sunny Monday morning in Fillmore County - birds singing, rabbits munching on grass and cool breezes blowing.  This is the day the Lord has made and we can rejoice and be glad in it!! I am writing this article in a refreshing way today; by hand with paper and pen. I do not have access to my computer this morning so I am taking pen to paper!! It seems … [Read more...]

Branding Iron It was a Tuesday night, which is taco night at the Branding Iron. Dale and Becky Koch, owners of the restaurant, have done an outstanding job.  They have been a part of this iconic establishment for many years, cooking, serving, and doing any other job that needed to be done. When they purchased the Branding Iron a few years ago from the Bahl family, it was … [Read more...]

My sheepskin had a tail. That tells you where I ranked in the class, but I’m giving a graduation speech in my dreams. I’ll talk about what I know. I’ll be brief. I’m from a generation far, far away. I missed my first day of school and am still trying to catch up, but here I am. You’ll never again chant, “It’s all right. It’s OK. You’ll be working for us one day,” after … [Read more...]

Phlox Orioles and hummingbirds have returned to Bluff Country. This usually occurs just before the bloom time of creeping phlox, one of the most popular ground cover perennials. Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) is an evergreen ground over that loves full sun. I have seen it draped over the edge of a retaining wall, defining a garden edge, and growing en masse down a steep … [Read more...]

Rev. Peter J. Haugen St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church “I thank my God always concerning you,” St. Paul says to the Corinthian Christians. Why? Because of “the Grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:4). The Grace of God has come to them through the Word of God, which did not return void, but which accomplished His Purpose. It created for God … [Read more...]

Part two of a series They were all “so hard up,” the young folks in the Eitzen area had to manufacture their own fun, recalled life-long Portland Prairie resident Elmer Thies about the Great Depression era of the late 1920s and 1930s. Entertainment involved roller skating parties, shadow pie sales, county fair booths, parade units and shivarees (a noisy, post-wedding serenade … [Read more...]

If you were a woman alive and active on Facebook in 2020, odds are that you were probably invited to an online party.  Now, I am writing about this because I think it is a “bad” thing since I love to shop, but do wonder how all of you readers are managing the new pattern of online parties due to social distancing and has your pocketbook taken a hit?  Mine did but it was great … [Read more...]

She was the last to know it was raining. I headed home from somewhere. Somewhere else someone had said, “Rain, rain go away, come again another day.” This was another day. The windshield wiper activity made me think of my mother. She was the shortest one in my extended family. I teased she was the last to know when it was raining. I was a foot taller than my mother when she … [Read more...]