By Al Batt It was 4 a.m. on a 14-degree January day. If you’re a Minnesotan, you’re probably thinking, “It could have been worse. It could have been 14 degrees below zero.” That’s a good point, but it got worse. There was a massive fire, and every fire department in the county was called to the scene. Each department performed masterfully, as they always do. It got … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Marriage Meant Instant Live-in In-laws
By Lee Epps Water was quite a problem for her family, according to the childhood memories of Augusta Burow in the 1870s. Her parents collected rainwater off the roof in big barrels except in winter when they melted snow or hauled water from a creek about two and half miles from their farm home on South Ridge in Houston County, Minn. Her father Friedrich Martin Burow was … [Read more...]
Fresh Off the Farm
Are You Tracking with Me? I’m embarrassed to say that I made a 2023 image board for my 2023 goals and I am STILL planning to print it... as in, I lived 12 months meaning to take action on my goals and there it sits on my computer - unprinted and unused. It’s not like I didn’t do anything last year. I did a lot, but did it align with what I wanted for my year? It could have … [Read more...]
Fine Dining at the Eat Around It Cafe & Video Rental
I’ve eaten at the Take It Or Leave It Café four times. John Muir wrote about “toiling in the treadmills of life.” Regardless of what kind of treadmill you’re on, it builds an appetite and when you’re hungry, it’s not the journey, it’s the destination. I wanted to put the foot of my hunger into the stirrup of ingestion. I went looking for a delicious and nutritious … [Read more...]
God With Us in Life’s Chaos
By Pastor Nissa Peterson Chatfield and Root Prairie Lutheran Churches The Christmas season just barely ended – the church season of Christmas ends January 5, and many churches are already in full swing planning for Lent, which is just around the corner this year. It feels like we’ve hardly had a moment to breathe between these two busy seasons! Often happens in life, … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: Cussing Punishable by Fine or Confinement
Gambling, drunkenness, fighting, trespassing, larceny, selling diseased meat and adulterating food or liquor were all prohibited in Brownsville, Houston County. About everything was covered by an ordinance passed in May,1872, “For the Suppression of Vice and Immorality” to prevent and punish crime and benefit trade, commerce and health. A jail was authorized the same … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: “Let There Be Light” – and the 10 O’clock News
Technology changed life for the residents of Houston, Minn., during the first half of the 20th century (1900s), when according to area historian Ingrid Julsrud, “More has been invented and new things have come into existence… than in many previous centuries together.“ Electricity came late to the village of Houston, maybe conjectured Julsrud due to a lack of labor and/or … [Read more...]
There Will Be Weather Each Day Except Every Third Monday
Reindeer sweat isn’t a pretty thing. The temperature on Christmas Eve in my neighborhood set a record high of 52 degrees. Not a single economist predicted that. The doorbell rang. I opened the door and a robed visitor accompanied by sitar music walked in out of the dimming twilight. The renowned mystic from the Far East part of the township, the fabled soothsayer, … [Read more...]
Clothed with Christ
By Rev. Peter J. Haugen St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church In Genesis 17, God established circumcision as a sign for the people of God, for the Old Testament Church. Every male was to be circumcised. Circumcision brought individuals into the people of God, brought them under the covenant that God had made with Abraham and with his descendants. Any male who was not … [Read more...]
How to Prevent Sunscald on Trees This Winter
By Morgan Pickett University of Minnesota Extension As we head into the winter months, and before we snuggle in for the winter. Let’s take one last look at our young trees and wrap them up, too. Sunscald, also known as sunburn or frost canker, is a condition that primarily affects the bark of trees, especially young or thin-barked trees, often seen particularly in … [Read more...]