To clean or not to clean Fall comes quickly in Bluff Country, and this year is no exception. The summer vegetable gardens are done, but a few leafy greens, carrots and leeks still remain here and there. Asters and Chrysanthemum may still have a few lingering flowers, but most of the perennials have stopped blooming. Ornamental grasses blow and rustle in the breeze, their … [Read more...]
Journal Writing Project: The fall skies
By Bethany Schneekloth The colors are brighter, the rain is colder, and the days are steadily getting shorter. These events happen every year in our little neck of the woods right here in the midwest. The fall skies are among my favorite parts of the season, with sunrises being a bright combination of pinks, blues, and yellows, the geese and other birds flying south, and the … [Read more...]
Historic memories of Fillmore County: The Lazy Dazy Bait Company in Preston
The Lazy Dazy Bait Company was a thriving Preston, Minnesota business in the 1950s and ‘60s! The fishing lure entrepreneurship was located upstairs over the businesses on Fillmore Street on Preston’s downtown square. The late Richard Hovelson who was a virtual “walking history book” for most of the small towns in Fillmore County, told me that the founders of the business … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Many bricks, a buffalo, a campground and currency in the creek
The question frequently arises as to how the village of Money Creek got its name. One tale of floating bills persists, but I have not yet seen an explanation for the previous names of Clinton and Hamilton. The curious name of the creek finally became the name of the village when the first post office could not use Hamilton, the name of an already established post office. The … [Read more...]
The Working Mom 2.0
The Newlywed Game Do any of you remember the Newlywed Game? If not, get on YouTube before reading this article to watch some of the original episodes and get ready for some big laughs. We were going to be spending time with our “COVID-safe” friends (the same friends you hang around with since the pandemic started) and wanted to have a different game that even the husbands … [Read more...]
An eerie yearie is 2020
I looked for toad feathers. The unexpected is expected in 2020, so this might be the year to find toad feathers. The year has provided a bag of mental pretzels. Some folks wish 2020 would hurry to an end. I’m not one who wants to grease the skids for its getaway as I don’t want to wish away a minute of my life. As a boy, I wished for Saturdays. My mother warned me not to … [Read more...]
Obsessively grateful
“Begin each day with a grateful heart.” This has been my theme for the past several months. You don’t need me to outline the challenges our world faces – in 2020 and every other year. As a world, we may all be in the same storm, but everyone is in a different boat. It’s certainly not my place to say how easy or difficult these challenges are to overcome. However, no matter … [Read more...]
Historic memories of Fillmore County: Harvest for Fillmore County farmers is easier these days than 120 years ago
The picture this week is a good one. Found in Aaron L. Sleyster’s book of poetry, it accompanies a poem that simply “sings” with the excitement of harvest time long, long ago. And if you are wondering just where the picture was snapped, look at the tree covered hill in the top left corner of the photo. As you leave Preston on Highway 52 and look to your right, beyond “Corn … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: County high schools were private, parochial before public
The first high school education in Houston County was offered in Caledonia, as late as 1868, by Yale University graduate, the esteemed Julius Emmons. The next year, the first edifice, constructed exclusively for high school students, opened under the direction of Caledonia’s Trinity Episcopal Church, its rector Rev. William R. Powell and Bishop Whipple. The Minnesota state … [Read more...]
A little of this, A little of that
An apple a day keeps the doctor away is an old saying. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that were really true! Sadly during this virus before a vaccine is discovered, all we can do is: wear a mask, social distance and wash our hands often. I used to love going places. Now I only go to the grocery store and the pharmacy. Staying home was NEVER my idea of a good time. Now at … [Read more...]