By Bill Anderson

September hesitated on its way to Autumn last weekend, when the temperature soared into the upper 80’s, with the humidity following suit, on Saturday & Sunday, September 18 & 19. Local mosquitoes thought that they might have a chance for a good season, after all, but their fantasies were foiled by a 35 degree plunge in temperature on Monday morning. Monday’s conditions wrung some moisture out of the air, resulting in a day long drizzle that left .2 of an inch of precipitation in Rutland, according to Roger Pearson’s rain gauge, and .4 of an inch of precipitation according to the rain gauge of Roger’s next door neighbor, Norbert Kulzer. As of Tuesday, September 21, the forecast is calling for pleasant, early Autumn weather through Uff-Da Day, Sunday, October 3. Cross your fingers!

Miss Lauren Kulzer of Kansas City MO visited at the home of her grandparents, Norbert & Beverly Kulzer, from Friday, September 10 through Sunday, September 12. Lauren is the eldest daughter of Stephen & Ann Kulzer of Hartford SD, near Sioux Falls. She is a graduate of South Dakota State University in Brookings SD, and is currently employed as an RN in a large hospital in Kansas City. As the old song goes, “Everything’s up to date in Kansas City.” Despite its modern advantages, though, Kansas City can’t compare to Grandpa & Grandma’s home in Rutland, or to Grandma’s home cooking.

Kevin Oland of rural Geneseo reports that a Marboe Township Reunion was held on Saturday, September 18. The Township is situated in the southeastern corner of Sargent County, and is south of the northern boundary of the Wahpeton-Sisseton Reservation and north of the North Dakota State Line. According to reunion organizer Carol Anderson, 60 current and former Township residents registered for the event, including 40 Alumni of Marboe Township’s 1 room country schools. The Wood Lake School building is the only one of the Marboe Township school buildings that remains at its original location. One of the Marboe Township school buildings is now part of an exhibit of structures from early Norwegian settlements in America on the island of Radoy in Norway. Carol Anderson is the daughter of the late Edwin and Fern Anderson of Marboe Township. Her grandparents homesteaded in Marboe Township, and Kevin Oland now owns and resides on the original Anderson homestead.

Sunday, September 19, was “Rally Sunday” at Nordland Lutheran Church in Rutland. Pastor Julie Johnson reported that 19 boys & girls from the Nordland Congregation in Rutland and the Trinity Congregation in Forman are enrolled in Confirmation class for the 2021-22 year.

Rutland native Judie (Anderson) Seavert stopped in at the Rutland Seniors Center on the morning of Monday, September 20, accompanied by 3 friends: Carl & Marilyn Taylor of Green Forest, Arkansas; and Carl’s sister, Lolita Hanes of Branson, Missouri. Judie and her husband, Steve Grohs, had become friends with Carl, Marilyn & Lolita during their winters on the Gulf coast of Texas. The trio had been visiting with Judie & Steve at their summer home on Lake Traverse, near Rosholt SD, and Judie wanted to show them around her native land and old home town in Sargent County. After morning coffee and conversation in Rutland, they drove to Forman for a brief tour of the County Courthouse and the Sargent County Museum as well as a visit with two more friends from winters in Texas, Mike & Cheryl Zirnhelt of Forman, and then drove up to Gwinner for a quick look at the birthplace of the Bobcat. Carl, a 1965-66 U. S. Army veteran of the war in Vietnam, had worked in the construction trades for several decades, and was well acquainted with the virtues of the 4 wheel skid-steer wonder. Judie is planning to be back in Rutland for Uff-Da Day on Sunday, October 3, before heading back to Port Aransas, on the Texas Gulf Coast, for the winter.

Sargent County Health District Nurses Briana Spellerberg and Taylor Chapin administered influenza vaccinations from 10 a.m. to Noon on Monday, September 20 at the Rutland Seniors Center. Ms. Spellerberg reported that 30 individuals received vaccinations, with 27 receiving the high strength dose recommended for senior citizens, and 3 people receiving the regular strength vaccine. The County Health District will be administering influenza vaccinations throughout Sargent County over the next 6 weeks. Their next stop will be in Milnor. For additional information about the availability of influenza vaccinations, call the County Health District at 724-3725.

Dick Meyers reports that he is planning to begin his southerly migration back to Sun City AZ by Friday, October 1. Dick has resided in “The Bunkhouse” on Main Street since his arrival from Arizona back at the end of May. During his summer stay, Dick has participated in “The Seniors’ Golf Tour and is proud of the fact that he has beaten his age on several courses in the southeastern part of the State. After lunch (we still call it dinner here in Rutland) on Monday, Sept. 20, Dick was reminiscing about a childhood friend, Dean “Bob” Paulson of Minneapolis, who was Dick’s age and spent his boyhood summers in the 1940’s with his grandparents, Hans & Lena Brown, and uncle, Art Brown, on the farm 3 miles east of Rutland. Bob Paulson’s cousin, Bill Anderson, remembered a story that Bob had told him about one of his visits. Bob had arrived in Rutland on the Great Northern’s west bound passenger train on an early summer morning, and Art had picked him up at the station. They went right to the farm, where Art was busy putting up hay. Art and Bob took a hayrack pulled by a team of mules out to the field to pick up a load of hay and bring it back to the barn. When the rack was fully loaded, Bob climbed up on top of the load and lay back, watching the clouds in the sky. The hay rack began to rock back and forth and they seemed to be going faster, Bob recalled. He slid down the front of the load to stand beside Art at the front of the hay rack. Art was leaning back with the lines tight in his hands, and the mules were running for all they were worth. “Gosh, Uncle Art, this is fun,” Bob said. “H**l, kid, this ain’t fun!” Art exclaimed, “This is a runaway!” … That story prompted Dick to recall an instance when he was helping a crew thresh grain at the Herb & Anna Swanson farm on the north side of Rutland, where the Denny Pherson farm is now.  The Swanson’s son, Ralph, then a young man,, was hauling bundles, with a young, newly broke, team pulling his bundle wagon. Dick had jumped on Ralph’s wagon for a ride to the threshing machine when something spooked the horses, & they took off like a flash. Ralph yelled at Dick, “Hang on kid!” as the horses headed south, across a field belonging to Josie Johnson. There was a gate on the south side of the field where a trail crossed the Great Northern’s track at the east end of the Rutland rail yard. Fortunately, the gate was open. Ralph was laughing, Dick recalled, as he snapped the taut lines and the horses took the bundle rack across the tracks on the fly. The horses slowed then, and Ralph turned them around and headed for the threshing rig where his father, Herb, demanded to know what was the sense of that maneuver. “They had to get it out of their systems,” Ralph told his Dad. … Norbert Kulzer then recalled that, when he was 11 years old, he was big for his age, and was pressed into service to help with the threshing on the John Nathe farm in Shuman Township. Norbert said that he was assigned an older team to drive and was sent out with a bundle rack to pick up a load of bundles. This was getting toward the end of the time when horses were used on local farms, and even though the horses Norbert was driving were old and slow, they hadn’t been used for a year and were a little frisky. As Norbert walked along, he pitched bundles from the shocks on the ground into the rack. Meanwhile, Mr. Nathe had an F-20 Farmall tractor with an early version of a Farmhand loader on it that he used like a sweep rake, to pick up bundles and load them onto the racks pulled by horses, speeding up the process. John dropped a loader full of bundles onto the top of Norbert’s load and told him to head for the barn, where the threshing rig was set up. Once the team got sight of the barn, though, the horses took off on a run, heading for home. Norbert said he couldn’t slow them, although he did keep them from crashing into fences and rock piles along the way. Finally, as they got near the barn and the threshing machine, the team slowed. Norbert turned to look back and discovered that most of his load had fallen off during the run, and was strung out behind, marking the trail from the field to the barn. He said that Frank Carlson, who was about 19 or 20 at the time, was spike pitching bundles into the threshing machine and jumped down to help him go back and pick up his load again. After recounting these stories, all agreed that it was a miracle that more people, and horses, weren’t injured or killed during “the good old days,” when strong horses, tough men and hard muscles were the main sources of farm power.

Preparations for Uff-Da Day, Sunday, October 3, continue to roll right along, according to Rutland Community Club President Katie McLaen. A session for making sand cakes is on the schedule for 1:00 p.m. on Monday, September 27, with Phyllis Wyum in charge; and, a session for making krumkake has been scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 29, with Katie McLaen in charge. Anyone who wants to lend a hand and learn how to make these Scandinavian pastries is welcome to stop in, she said. Both sessions will be held in the kitchen of the Rutland Town Hall. Uff-Da Day XXXVI will be held in Rutland on Sunday, October 3, all day long.

Well, that’s the news from Rutland for this week. For additional information about what’s going on in the little city that can, check out the community’s internet web site at www.rutlandnd.com, and take a look at the Rutland Facebook page while you’re at it, too. Remember to patronize your local Post Office, and don’t forget to keep the pressure on the U. S. Postal Service and the North Dakota Congressional delegation to SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! Later.