The day had been nearly copacetic. I walked indoors in a shopping mall because of the wet weather outdoors. Bob Dylan had predicted it when he wrote, “And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard. And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.” I like Dylan, but sometimes his needle becomes stuck. He’s a songwriter/singer and a crack meteorologist. He not only predicted … [Read more...]

Part three of a series During the Great Depression decade of the 1930s, families were often large while money and employment were scarce. The United States government purchased relief food, clothing and supplies and gave it to the Red Cross for distribution to those in need. Flour was the primary food staple with other foodstuff added when possible. The distribution center … [Read more...]

I find things. Sometimes I find things funny. I can’t find things, too. I couldn’t find my camouflage socks. Sometimes I find things I can’t find funny. I found a glove the other day. I’m keeping it in case I find one for the other hand. My mother bought mittens for me and put them directly into my grade school’s lost and found shelf. Family legend said it was a rare … [Read more...]

Part two of a series It was September 1932 when Mathilda (Mrs. Knute) Lee of Spring Grove traveled by bus to Rochester to meet with Minnesota congressman Paul Quale from Benson, the top regional official of the Red Cross, C. M. Roland, that organization’s Assistant National Director of Disaster Relief, Henry Baker, and other volunteers from other Minnesota counties. Her paid … [Read more...]

My father was outstanding in his field. As a farmer, he spent a lot of time in the dairy barn, but it seemed like he was always in the field. He dedicated a significant part of his life to riding our collection of farm tractors – Allis-Chalmers (orange), Farmall (red) and Oliver (green). Sometimes he’d get so busy in the field that he’d forget about eating. This didn’t go … [Read more...]

Consuming homegrown food was certain for farm families. It was not as common an occurrence for families living in town – until it was, until it had to be. “I hated it,” wrote Robert E. A. Lee about his boyhood agricultural chores in Spring Grove. “I still remember cutting potatoes and dropping them as seeds into the holes my brother had fashioned with his spade. And there … [Read more...]

How Do You Look When You Die? “Turn on the dancing music!” yelled my 4-year-old son. We had decided it would be fun to learn a dance move called “the running man,” which is essentially a series of marching and sliding backwards in such a way where it looks like you’re walking but you’re staying in the same place. It hurts your brain at first because your legs are moving back … [Read more...]

The day had a lot of moving parts and one too many unmoving parts. Someone, who happened to be me, stubbed his toe. If I’d meant to have done that, I’d have gotten an A+ on the assignment. I was up early to avoid sloth when the leg of the bed initiated an attack and forced me to defend myself. I hadn’t put hammer to stone and created a masterpiece the day before, but I’d … [Read more...]

Part three of a series In preparation for Houston County’s diamond anniversary (75 years) homecoming celebration in 1929, one committee produced a 48-page history pamphlet that included the information recounted here, surely drawing from extensive county histories published in 1882 and 1919. One section was devoted to the early settlement of several townships and villages. … [Read more...]