I’ve oozed from the primordial soup. I’m threatening to become an owner-operator of a TV. Please hold your applause until the end. A TV? Welcome me to the 21st Century. What next? An indoor outhouse? Wearing shoes in the summer? My ancestors went barefooted all year, wrapping barbed wire around their tootsies when the conditions were icy. The Batt Cave hasn’t had a … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – “In the Bleak Midwinter”
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) I love to walk in the woods. I love to listen to the birds. I love to hear the wind blow through the trees. I love the beauty and wonder of God’s Creation. The other day I went for a walk and in a field near our house a deer was standing quietly in the … [Read more...]
Life in the clouds
Life in the clouds Gasp! “My water broke!” reported my wide-eyed wife. We had been looking forward to this day for 10 months, yet still the surprise took me off guard. After a quick recovery from the drop in my stomach, I got my jaw off the floor. “Alright! Yes! How are you? This is awesome!” Oh, the excitement that comes with a baby! My wife is a rock star! At 2:00 the … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Warm tongues on frosted windows
Second of a series on winter It was challenging to keep a dwelling warm during winters of the early 1900s, according to Houston, Minnesota history columnist Ingrid Julsrud. The first seven years of her life, the family lived in rented houses that had no basement. The floors were cold; each autumn, her father purchased a large roll of tar paper or heavy blue paper and wrapped … [Read more...]
Pastor Devotion – So hard to have faith
By Pastor Jeff Jacobs Unity Lutheran Parish - St. Paul, Saetersdal and St. Matthew’s, Granger A colleague of mine was once on a mission trip in Mexico. While there, he visited an impoverished woman who, through an interpreter, talked about her life. Then at one point, she expressed how sorry she felt for Americans. My colleague was surprised, to say the least, as he … [Read more...]
I heard a muffled cackle at St. Aidan Cemetery
Joe was dying. But he got over it. The report of his imminent demise had been greatly exaggerated. He got better and lived a good number of years before he began dying again. This time, Joe died. After the funeral, Joe’s friends and family gathered at St. Aidan Cemetery, a lovely rural resting place near a ghost town. Wonderful words were spoken there. Then Joe’s … [Read more...]
One story of hope
We are in the midst of November. The end of autumn is a perfect point from which to look ahead to spring. The countryside reveals its period of rest and dormancy, a time when rebirth and renewal are just a few short months away. With the harvest ended, the land recovers. As it is now, we enter a season where hope takes us through the expectations of winter’s icy grip. … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Toasted pajamas and navigation by binder twine
Winter has always presented its particular challenges in southeast Minnesota. The earliest white pioneers, who came from states farther east or who immigrated from northern Europe, could even shelter first beneath their wagons during warmer weather. But as winter approached, indoor shelter was a necessity. If there was not enough time to construct a log dwelling, recent … [Read more...]
Thanksgiving thank yous
By Pastor Michael Harman St. Johns Lutheran Church and School Thank you. Thank who? You. To say thank you is to have gratitude or appreciation for something, but, all thanks is directed at some giver. For example, I’m thankful for my car. Really. But who am I thankful TO? Maybe the designers, those who dug and refined the metals, the workers who built it, the transport … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past From wheat to corn, cows and card games
Dairying would eventually bolster the economy in Houston County as would growing corn, but neither was the area’s first cash-producing agricultural enterprise. That was wheat. In the 1800s, farming was a matter of trial, error and adjustment, especially in unfamiliar territory as the nation expanded west with many farmers immigrating from Europe. But agriculture would become … [Read more...]