Making syrup has always been intriguing to me. Is it true there could be so much goodness flowing through the trunks of trees? I had been hearing tales of tapping for several weeks. Those die-hard sappers kept telling stories of the woods. Their stories, and my love of syrup, kept calling me to give it a try. There’s that old saying, “When the cat’s away, the mice come out … [Read more...]
A Slow Driver is Anyone Ahead of Us
The car ahead of me was plodding along. It was moving a mile an hour faster than if it had been parked. The driver apparently found driving the speed of a herd of turtles to be invigorating. He was accomplishing as much as if he were milking a Plymouth Rock chicken. As an impatient teenager, I would have mumbled in the direction of the aggravation on wheels, something … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Farm Wife Flattens, Silences Loudmouth Lumberjack
Part one of a two-part series Four years ago, for the 2021-2022 school year, wrestling for girls became a sanctioned high school sport in Minnesota. But about 160 years earlier, sometime about 1860, one female took part in possibly the first wrestling tussle in Houston County that included a female, surely the first one recorded in a history book. And that 19th century, … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotions – Knowing Your Destination
By Pastor Paul Hauschild Chatfield Lutheran and Root Prairie Lutheran Once when Albert Einstein took a train from Princeton University, a conductor boarded to check the passengers’ tickets. When he reached Einstein, he began searching his jacket pockets for his ticket but couldn’t find it. He then looked in his trouser pockets, then in his small carry-on suitcase, … [Read more...]
Be Sure to Check in Innumerably Before You Check Out
I checked the weather. I should have checked my blood pressure before I checked the weather. The weather report was dire. If I were a crack meteorologist, I’d predict bad weather every day. That way, if we didn’t get bad weather, everyone would be happy because we’d dodged the bullet. If we got bad weather, everyone would think I was a crack meteorologist whose Magic 8 Ball … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Cattle Drives in Houston County? Yep
Cattle drives in Houston County, Minnesota? Yes, but it was nothing the bovines expected or enjoyed. Cattle drives were featured in many western movies, but likely no film depicted cattle drives to La Crosse. In the late 1800s, farmers were their own butchers for family and nearby neighbors. And there was also a commercial market at packing houses, especially for hogs and … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotions – “And Can It Be That I Should Gain”
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish of the UMC Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston, and Spring Valley: Faith Churches (and Lenora) We are in the season of Lent. The Lenten season is often overlooked by secular society, as Lent does not draw the attention and glamour often paid to the Advent season leading up to Christmas. Lent is a quiet, personal and reflective … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Sometimes Wild, Irish Wakes Were Three-Day Events
Part two of a two-part series “They’re all drunk. They have the corpse standing up in a corner, and one guy passed out and is in the coffin,” reported Ake Nelson to his wife, explaining why he was back home so soon. He had walked, carrying a lantern in the dark, “only” about two miles from home to pay his respects to a neighboring family after the death of one of the Brady … [Read more...]
My Diet Influencers are Miss Piggy and Orson Welles
It was March 4th. I followed the instructions and marched forth. I do what my calendar tells me to do. I dug to the back of the Greek yogurt shelf because I avoid the front items on grocery shelves. Someone stopped to greet me. My brain had logged out due to inactivity. The friendly man’s name had slipped my mind. I’ve reached the age where I’m incorrectly mistaken … [Read more...]
A Goodly Heritage – Incident in the Hen House
Today, I had to ask my husband the big question. “When I go out to do chores, how long will it take you to come out and look for me?” He set down his paperwork, looked at me through his reading glasses and his lips began to curl up in a mischievous little smile. “Why?” he queried. ”Did you have some trouble today?” I began to give him the blow-by-blow facts as I went … [Read more...]