Category Archives: 2026

2026, books, Family, History, holidays, Uncategorized

You Call This A LIbrary?

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This week we have encountered two external references to our former region of ND. At church on Sunday we spoke to some fellow parishioners who had just returned from a cattle buying trip to Montana. They stopped in Medora, ND on the way there. Medora is about 40 miles east of where we used to live. It is a small town of about 120 people adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and home to the newly opened Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. Daughter’s best friend’s dad owns a ranch there, and she spent a lot of time there as a kid. It is also home to the Medora Musical, an outdoor theatre that has a cast of singers and dancers all summer for shows every night. The various attractions of the place have been promoted by a foundation started by Harold Shaefer, the manufacturer of Mister Bubble.

Our church friends were quite disappointed by the library, due to the pushy crowds and the fact that they saw no books in the library. We thought that perhaps all the books were digitized, but had no other explanation.

The other Medora connection was an article by Rachel Monroe in the August 17 edition of The New Yorker describing what is was like to be there during our current president’s visit on July 4th. It was, of course, a disaster. The musical had to be cancelled because the tech crew couldn’t got the stage ready in time to support heavy protective barriers for presidential security. She had much better experiences at the Mandan Rodeo and the 250th Celebration at the Sisseton Wahpeton pow wow. I encourage you to read the article if you can.

I know there is a special Teddy Roosevelt department at the university in our former town. Maybe they have some books. Who knows?

Ever been to a Rodeo, a pow wow, or a presidential library? What sort of books might Teddy have had?

2026, Family, Food, Kids, Uncategorized

Summer Treats

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On Friday we brought our grandson back to Brookings. The first thing he said to his dad when he got home was to describe the wonderful frozen yogurt bars he had at our house and he hoped his dad would get some right away. He also was happy that we sent a box of Effie’s Oatcakes home with him. He had never eaten those before and loved them.

I love frozen treats, especially Popsicles. I would devour them by the bag or box when I wasa child. My dentist was quite unhappy with me since I was also a random tooth brusher and had lots of sugary liquid in my mouth during the summers. I had lots of cavities as a result.

It is my understanding that frozen yogurt bars are all the rage these days. I still prefer icy treats, and I was excited to find mangonadas in the Hispanic grocery store on Luverne’s Main Street. They are enormous and icy with sweet and sour and spicy flavoring. You can see them in the header photo. They had no paletas, though, which are also wonderful Mexican frozen treats. They are my absolute favorite.

We are in Brookings this week, taking care of grandson until school starts. The Walmart store here has paletas, and if they have the yogurt bars grandson likes we will get those, too. It is still summer and it is still hot.

What were your favorite treats when you were a child? How about now? Any memorable childhood dentist experiences?

2026, animals, Art, books, Kids, Uncategorized

Reading Rules

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Finishing a book that I started was a “rule” of mine for more than half my life.  If you had asked me, I wouldn’t have said it was a rule, but that must have been what it looked like from the outside.  My three copies of Ulysses are a case in point.  Ever since my college years, I have thought I should read it but could never make it more than a couple of pages.  Then I would forget I ever had a copy and eventually buy a new one. 

At some point I read some place that so many books are published each year that even if you read a book a day, you would never get to all of them.  That’s when I did make a rule for myself – if I’m not enjoying the reading, I quit and move onto the next book.  I can be ruthless about this; more than once I have dumped a book after just a few pages. 

Today I am returning a book to the library that I have not finished.  It’s a Maggie O’Farrell, an author who I normally adore.  Every one of her books that I’ve read has earned 5 stars.  But yesterday, while listening to it on CD in the car, she broke one of my rules… the dog died.  When it happened I turned off the CD immediately to think about it.  That’s when I realized that even though I was about 1/3 of the way through the book, I hadn’t really connected to any of the characters and wasn’t enjoying it.  When I got home I looked up the summary online and found that continuing was probably not going to be enjoyable to me.  That made me ponder my reading rules.  I’ve never written these down before, in fact have never really thought of them as a list before, but here things that can put me off:

The dog dying (specially if the dog is killed)

Children dying (same caveat as the dog…)

Torture/rape (I quit Rob Roy because of this)

Graphic violence (Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy went back to the library quickly)

Child abuse (a fairly long string of abandoned books for this rule – Demon Copperfield, Swamplandia, Where the Crawdads Sing….)

Vapidness.  This probably seems a silly rule, but if the main characters are all shallow and full of themselves, I don’t see a finished book in my future.  (These tend to get rejected very quickly so I can’t even think of a title!)

I realize that these are all negative rules.  I’ve been pondering if I have any positive reading rules; the only thing I can come up with is things that draw me to books and that list is way too long to put here.  Suffice it say that the list would start with dragons and fairies!

Do you have any reading rules?  What draws you to a book?

2026, Family, Government, home, Uncategorized

Signs

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Husband and I were ND State employees for 37 years. As such, we were actively discouraged, almost prohibited, by our bosses from putting political signs in our yard.

This was the case no matter what party was in control of the State government. There apparently was great concern that State employees had to appear as neutral as possible and not be viewed as trying to influence elections.

I suppose in more populous areas inthe country people wouldn’t necessarily know if you were a State employee . In ND, where everyone knows everyone and where they work, nothing was anonymous.

This will be the first year in decades we will be able to put political signs in our yard. Husband is going to the county DFL meeting tomorrow night and I hope he brings some signs home. It is pretty exciting!

Do you put political signs in your yard? Ever run into problems with them or had them vandalized?

2026, Family, Games, Kids, Uncategorized

Gaming

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Since my retirement in October I have been increasingly addicted to online games. Most are from the New York Times. I play them on my phone.

I play Wordle, Strands, Connections, and Spelling Bee. The other games on the NY Times are a little frustrating and I don’t care much for them. I like word puzzles better than visual puzzles.

Wouldn’t you know that the New Yorker, to which I also subscribe, has a crossword puzzle in every magazine, as well as other word puzzles online. Husband has become addicted to those, and we played the online ones every day.

Grandson loves word puzzles, and I plan to play them with him when he is here this week. He always asks me to play puzzles.

What are your favorite games?

2026, animals, Family, Food, History, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Time With Oma And Opa

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Our grandson is spending a few days with us this week while his daycare is closed. We plan to take him swimming and to the local library. I also plan to bake with him and we will make Franzbrotchen, a Hamburg pastry. I want him to learn about where his ancestors came from. He loves to bake and cook and is an excellent sous chef. We will have Pasta Carbonara, one of his favorites. We also will enlist his help with some gardening. He loves to grow things. We are Oma and Opa, to distinguish us from his Grandma and Grandpa on his mom’s side of the family.

I spent time with both sets of grandparents in the summer. My father’s parents lived on a farm outside of Magnolia, MN. That grandma was a great lover of cats and had a regiment of them. She loved to feed them buttered sweetcorn cobs after we were done eating the corn kernals. I would help her collect eggs and work in the garden. The hens pecking at my arms as I took their eggs were scary. I liked talking to the cows and pigs. My grandfather was partially paralyzed from a stroke. He had a wonderful library of history books, and we would talk about his recent read and the history discussed in the book. He really liked talking about Napoleon, someone who had such an impact on his family in northwest Germany.

My maternal grandparents lived on a farm close to Hatfield, MN, a small town with a notorious dance hall, near Pipestone. That grandma (who we called Omie) and I would bake sweet rolls and cook wonderful suppers together. She was a great story teller and related lots of reminiscences from her childhood in Hamburg, Germany and her teen years in New York City. Grandpa was a really quiet guy who kept busy helping my uncle on the farm. His English was somewhat limited and we didn’t talk all that much. He was kindly and gentle.

I hope our grandson has positive memories of his time with us. We have books, a garden, fancy food, terriers, cats, a library, and a really nice swimming pool. What more does a kid need?

Who were your most memorable older relatives? What did you learn from them?

2026, crops, Farming Update, Uncategorized

“Work” work and farm work

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This weeks Farming Update from Ben

I’m back to Work work at the college, so that’s interrupting my home schedule. If only we didn’t live in a capitalistic society so focused on the paycheck. Thoughts on that? Should we consider the barter system?  

Last Saturday afternoon I pulled the bale elevator out of the weeds and greased it and oiled the chains and was going to get that set up in the pole barn for unloading straw. And then the hitch broke off the front. It broke off a few years ago and I welded it back on, but evidently not all that well. Now I have a different welder. So I rolled it around to the shed door and moved the welder to the new outlet outside the shop, and used the grinder and cleaned up the edges and welded it back on. Again.

I can be a good welder if I’m welding in a down position, and steel thicker than a pencil. But this is thin and upside down, and thin metal is harder to weld with an old fashioned ‘stick’ welder like I have. Not impossible, and good welders can make it work. I’m not that good of a welder. As they say, practice makes perfect, so I gave it a shot and tried different welding rods and different amperages on the welder and I got it enough to hold for another few years. That’s me in the welding helmet on the cover photo.

Welding

On Monday, Noah, Padawan 1 came out. We got the elevator in place, then I took him out and taught him how to rake straw. He doesn’t like driving tractors in the first place, and he said this was really boring. I said yes it is, why does he think I had him doing it? You rake, I’m gonna go find something better to do.

I took a video of him. Let’s try a youtube link:

https://youtu.be/9efkw-5N9XI?si=Q5w-_vbLhI8vzHp9

Raking two into one.

While he was going round and round, I was checking out the soybeans. Some of them look really good. Waist tall. And then the deer come in and graze off the tops.

Nibbling the tasty tops

And I did random stuff in the shed. Got the pole saw out and trimmed some branches. Several other small random things.

I decided to climb one of the silos because I haven’t been in them in 23 years, since we sold the cows. The silage has decomposed and settled a long ways. The old silo unloaded is still hanging in there.

Looking in and up from the chute
In and down, The back end of the unloaded
The bottom of the unloader. The spiked wheel is the drive wheel. It normally sticks off to the side. An indication how far the silage has settled.
Looking up the chute. The doors are the steps creating a ladder. Normally this was all full of dust and silage stuck to everything.

Tuesday I worked elections all day in our township.

Wednesday was back to work at the college. I did NOT wear sleeves, rebel that I am. I went home an hour early, and got out and baled two loads of straw.

Another video!

Baling straw
https://youtube.com/shorts/fiUmCrJOSaQ?feature=share

Baling

But on Thursday I wore sleeves and made the rounds; Talked with my dean, and several other people and got caught up on all the gossip. Friday I was without sleeves again and just stayed back in the shop.

P1 is bringing a friend to help unload straw on Saturday afternoon. P2 is on vacation this week and goes back to school next week. Besides, he sprained his ankle at home last week and is wearing an ankle brace. So, we’ll see how P3 does.

The basement bathroom is nearly finished. The maple trim is back ordered, but everything else is done and it’s a useable bathroom. Need some art for the walls yet.

BEFORE:

Very pink, from 1968

AFTER:

The stone is Blue Roma

SQUARES OR CIRCLES?

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHAPE?

2026, animals, Family, Kids, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

Bats

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Boommate and I hoped to go to a matinee at our local movie theatre tomorrow see The Odyssey. Our theatre, the Palace, is a 100+ year old former Vaudeville theatre that the community has restored and renovated for our local theatre group productions, movies, and concerts. The Missoula Children’s Theatre was scheduled for a workshop and a production as well. Tuesday we got the word that everything was cancelled. During the recent Green Earth Players production of On Golden Pond a bat was noticed soaring around the very tall ceiling. It apparently brought quite a few friends along, too. The bat mitigation company can’t come until next week. The Missoula Children’s Theatre has been moved to the Catholic church.

I am pretty sure the Palace was first movie theatre I went to as a child. Boommate and I took a trip to Sioux Falls on Tuesday to run some errands. Our travels took us to downtown Sioux Falls where we noticed the State Theatre, where we both remembered seeing The Sound Of Music when it first came out. It was the only theatre that had a big enough screen and modern sound system to accommodate the movie. My dad took me and it was memorable. I was about 7 years old.

Our 8 year old grandson is coming to stay with us for a few days next week and I hope the bats get removed before he arrives. The Palace always has children’s movies during the week and I would love to take him. I really want him to experience the Palace.

What was the first movie theatre you remember going to? Any bat or rodent stories?

2026, Games, Gatherings, Mysteries, sports

Fan-Girl

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Who would have thought that at I, who has eschewed all sports for 70 years would become a fan girl?

Banana Ball caught my eye on Facebook last year.  They are similar to baseball although they have a different rule structure (games only 2 hours long, no bunting, scoring is different, trick plays are encouraged, tickets cannot be resold for a profit, if a fan catches a foul ball – that’s an out, etc) and they have lots of entertainment and silliness.  This is what I like best.

They sell out everywhere they play and you have to enter a lottery to even get tickets.  The lottery for 2026 was in October last year and by the time I entered, there was no hope.  I joined a fan group in the spring and it paid off.. I got a notice that a bunch of single tickets were going on sale.  You can’t believe how fast I got online and scooped up a ticket for this past Sunday.  You may remember that YA doesn’t care for Banana Ball so I didn’t have to feel guilty that I picked Sunday afternoon when I knew she would be out of town.

Driving downtown and paying exorbitant parking doesn’t do anything for me so I took the bus (love the $1 fee for us oldies but goodies).  Just a couple of blocks from the bus stop to Target Field.  It was a sell-out, 39,000 folks.  I was in the “nose-bleed” section – five more seats higher and I would have been in the stratosphere.  But I was right behind home plate, so a fabulous view.  And of course, these days, everything is filmed within an inch of its life so you can see all the action on the big screens as well.

From the Stratosphere

Some of the fun was the baby race.  Unfortunately most of the babies were more interested in crowd-watching than racing.  Just one baby thought heading toward mom was a good idea but still a very slow good idea.  Hilarious

Baby Race – Kinda

It was a close game and everyone was on their feet for the last two batters.  The Coconuts took the game—WOOT.  They are my favorite team although I will admit it’s only because I like their team colors the best (and their catcher)!  I had to buy a t-shirt.

The Shirt

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see another live game, but I did just discover yesterday that all their games play on Disney+.  Watched one in the afternoon – they cut out a lot of the entertainment but it was fun anyway.  I definitely won’t stop watching the FB clips!

Have you ever been a fan-girl or fan-boy?  Any fan merchandise you’ll admit to?

2026, books, History, Uncategorized

The Boys

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Ever since Luverne was included as one of the four US communities featured in Ken Burns’ The War, townsfolk have been intent on highlighting veterans and their stories.

It was with great excitement that we heard about the heroism of yet another local veteran. Writer Nina Willner recently published a book called The Boys In The Light, the story of how her teenaged father and a teenaged companion were saved by a Luverne local after they had escaped from a Nazi death camp.

Elmer Hovland was a 23 year old Luverne native and a commander of a tank unit. They were rolling through northern Germany in 1944 with instructions to stop for nothing and no one, when Elmer spotted the two emaciated teens along the side of the road. Despite orders, Elmer immediately stopped the tanks and picked them up and took them along. He discovered that Nina Willner’s dad, Eddie, spoke English as well as German. He convinced his superiors that Eddie would make a great translator, and he was put to work doing just that. Both Elmer and Eddie survived the war. Elmer returned to his immigrant Norwegian parents’ farm near Luverne. He became a carpenter. Eddie eventually immigrated to the US and built a successful life.

The two men didn’t meet again until decades later. Nina Willner attributed Elmer’s actions to his Norwegian heritage and the values that were important to people from Luverne. I vaguely remember Elmer since he attended the same Lutheran church as I did. He died in 2012 at the age of 90. Very few people in Luverne knew anything about this story until the book was published late last year. It is next on my reading list.

Any notable people from your town? Any books written about your community or residents?