The Rooster Crows – June 22, 2018

On June 22, 2018May 9, 2019 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

The skies opened, and the rains came! Accompanied by the ruffles and flourishes fanfare of an impressive thunder and lightning symphony, Rutland received 1.7 inches of rain beginning at about 7:00 on the morning of Saturday, June 16. There were smiles all around as the Assembled Wise Men received precipitation reports during the morning coffee and conversation hour at The Lariat. Two rain gauges that are hardly ever in agreement, those of next door neighbors Norbert Kulzer and Roger Pearson in the 400 Block on Gay Street, both measured 1.7 inches, creating quite a quandary. If they never agree, then one must be right and 1 must be wrong, but if one must be right and one must be wrong and they both agree, what then? Well, who cares? In fact, it was a great rain that will go a long way toward making the wheat crop that is now beginning to shoot heads. Jesse Brakke’s electronic rain gauge recorded 1.8 inches at his Ransom Township farmstead, Mark Wyum reported 1.5 at his farm shop about 1½ mile northeast of Rutland, and Doug Spieker said that his gauge showed .95 of an inch at his Tewaukon Township farm home on Saturday morning. About .8 was reported at Rick Bosse’s farm near Brampton, and Mark Wyum stated that the gauge on land that he farms near Crete, in the northwestern corner of Sargent County, only showed .1 of an inch. Rutland and vicinity received another .6 of an inch late Saturday night and early Sunday morning along with another healthy dose of thunder and lightning, bringing the 24-hour total up to about 2.3 inches in Rutland. “Rain makes grain,” is the old saying, and as crop prospects go up the price of major farm commodities goes down. Prospects for good farm income have taken a double whammy in the past few weeks, though, with corn and soybean prices being the first casualties in America’s escalating trade war with China and the folks who used to be our allies in Europe. Well, our President has said that trade wars are good, and easy to win. Who wins the war isn’t very important to those who get wiped out in the first battles, though.

When it comes to rain, timing is everything. Richland County Commissioner Nathan Berseth, a frequent Rutland visitor in recent years, reports that one inch of rain fell at his farm a little northeast of Colfax on Saturday morning, giving a much-needed boost to growing crops in that area. However, Nathan had just cut hay the day before, and as always happens when your hay crop is cut but not yet stacked or baled, the rain soaked the windrows leaving Mr. Berseth to be on the lookout for sunny skies and drying winds, at least for a few days.

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The Rooster Crows – June 15, 2018

On June 15, 2018May 9, 2019 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

Oh, listen to the rumble, hear the rattle and the roar, as she tears her way ‘cross the prairie, over hills and down the shore. Hear that mighty wind a’whistlin’, this ain’t no railroad train. It’s a monster of a thunderstorm, and it’s bringing in more rain! Accompanied by thunder, lightning and a powerful east wind, between .6 and .75 of an inch of rain blessed the Rutland area early on the morning of Monday, June 11. Roger Pearson reported .6 of an inch in his rain gauge at 409 Gay Street, and 1 block west, at 309 Gay Street, Paul Anderson’s electronic rain gauge recorded .74 of an inch. Harvey Bergstrom reported that his gauge situated 3 miles south of Cayuga showed precisely .63 of an inch on Monday morning, with a few intermittent showers yet to pass through, while Bonnie Anderson reported that the rain gauge at her farm three miles north and 3 miles east of Rutland registered .75 of an inch, and Doug Spieker stated that the rain gauge at his Tewaukon Township farmstead registered .95 of an inch when he headed to town for coffee and conversation on Monday morning. You can’t make it rain, and you can’t make it stop, but you can appreciate it when it arrives. Harvey Bergstrom reports that the flag leaf is beginning to emerge on his wheat fields, and, that with some sunshine and a little more rain, the wheat will soon be shooting heads. Harvey says that he’s not counting his chickens before they’re hatched, but right now there are enough eggs out in those wheat fields to produce a lot of chickens, metaphorically speaking.

The Rutland community has acquired another new citizen, the old-fashioned way. Easton Edward Erickson was born to Jake & Taryn Erickson of this community on Friday, June 1, at Sanford Hospital in Fargo. Easton weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces and stood 20½ inches tall in his bare feet on arrival. Easton is residing with his parents at the Erickson farm southeast of Rutland. He is the 6^thgeneration of Ericksons to reside on the family farm since it was homesteaded by his great-great-great-grandfather, August Erickson, back in the early 1880’s. Welcome to Rutland, Easton. We will expect to hear some stories and original songs from you in the future. You are Raymond’s great-grandson, after all. Better get to work on Great-Grandpa ray’s coin tricks, too.

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Small Town, Big Party

On June 9, 2018 By rutlandramblingsIn Life In GeneralLeave a comment

Rutland Fun Night 2018 was another big blast! Thanks to the Rutland Community Club – and party organizer Katie McLaen – for hosting another active and fun get together. Kids and adults alike had a blast (of water) and enjoyed s’mores and more. Just take a look at the pictures – they tell the story on their own.

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The Rooster Crows – June 8, 2018

On June 8, 2018May 9, 2019 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

The 2018 crop is in the ground. Some local growers finished up planting operations this past week, while others have been done for a couple of weeks or more, but the crop is in, and most of it’s up. Being done planting isn’t necessarily all roses, though. Mike Walstead reports that he was going to put his planter into storage last week, but had to move his combine out of the shop in order to get the planter in. As he backed out with the combine, one of the extensions on the combine’s hopper caught the bottom panel of the overhead door on Mike’s shop, so now he has some door repair work to get done, too. A farmer’s work is never done! Weed control will be a primary activity for most producers during the month of June, and Jason Arth, manager of Northern Plains Ag at Cayuga reports that demand for chemicals and spraying services has been brisk. The old cultivators that used to take out a few rows of corn with the weeds once in a while are now rusting in the trees, replaced by huge sprayers that cover more acres in an hour than the old 4-row cultivator could get done in a week. For the next couple of months all eyes will be turned to the sky, wondering when that next rain will come. Well, .2 of an inch of rain, accompanied by thunder, lightning and wind, did arrive late on the evening of Friday, June 1. Readings were uniform throughout the Rutland area, with Paul Anderson and Norbert Kulzer in town, Randy Pearson to the north, Doug Spieker to the south and Mike Walstead to the west all reporting .2 of an inch in their rain gauges on Saturday morning. Roger Pearson reported that someone had turned his rain gauge upside down, so it registered 0, although the outside of the gauge was damp. The agreement among rain gauges ended on the morning of Wednesday, June 6, though, as the thunderstorm that roared through at about 2:00 o’clock that morning put .7 of an inch into Norbert Kulzer’s rain gauge, but only .62 of an inch into Roger Pearson’s gauge located only a few feet from Norbert’s. The Assembled Wise Men averaged out the various reports, though, and have awarded an even .65 of an inch to the entire area, except to Rick Bosse who only received .4 of an inch at his farm near Brampton. Rick plans to put more effort into rainfall production next time.

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The Rooster Crows – June 1, 2018

On June 1, 2018May 9, 2019 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

All of that worrying about the lack of rain finally paid off early on the morning of Sunday, May 27, when Mother Nature kicked up her heels with a rip-roaring thunder and lightning show that was accompanied by an inch of rain in Rutland and its immediate vicinity. As is usual with thunder-storms, though, the coverage was not uniform. Randy Pearson reported .7 of an inch at his farm in Shuman Township, and Rick Bosse reported “nary a drop” at his farm home near Brampton. Brad Wyum also reported an inch of rain on the Wyum farm north of Rutland, but no rain at all on the land he and brother Tom farm near Guelph, in Dickey County. The Brampton and Guelph areas had received a .6-inch rainfall a week ago, though, when Rutland only got between .1 and .15 of an inch, so, what goes around comes around. Well, this won’t be the last rain that comes just in the nick of time, but it was the first one of this season, and it was sure welcomed by all, even though there were a few hailstones thrown in just to keep folks from getting over confident.

Janet Bradbury reports from the Warren Ranch near Rapid City SD that rain has even been falling in that normally arid region of our sister State. Janet reported via e-mail on Tuesday, May 29: “…I’m optimistic because it is raining here now, really nice slow soaker so far. Had 1.36 inches in last two days…” Thanks to Janet for the report, and congratulations to the ranchers in southwestern South Dakota, whose cattle will be dining on lush green grass for a while.

CORRECTION: Last week it was reported here that Jacob Mehrer, son of Shannon & Hilary Mehrer, was the only student from Rutland who would be graduating as a member of SCHS Class of ’18 on Sunday, May 27. That report was in error. There is another 2018 SCHS graduate of whom this community is equally proud. Also graduating from Sargent Central High School on Sunday, May 27, 2018, was Johnny Munch, son of Joe & Tammy Munch of this community. The Munch family resides at 315 Gay Street, and they have been Rutland citizens for about a year. The Rutland community extends congratulations to Johnny Munch, and to his parents, on his commencement from Sargent Central High School, and wishes him good fortune in his new endeavors. Our apologies to new graduate Johnny Munch, and to his family, for the oversight.

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The Rooster Crows – May 18, 2018

On May 18, 2018May 10, 2019 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster CrowsLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

Well, did you enjoy Spring this year? It commenced during the last week of April, and turned the corner into Summer on Monday, the 14^th of May. The birds, the bees, the grass and the trees are loving it. The Mayfly hatch has been in progress for the past week, and these insects that look like giant mosquitoes, without the deadly stinger, have been smearing windshields and providing nourishment for all kinds of wildlife, including fish. The fisherman who can make his bait look like a may fly when the walleyes are gorging on these bugs can usually count on some filets for the frying pan. Of course, luck may have some bearing on an angler’s success, too. Roger Pearson, an expert practitioner of the piscatorial arts, reports that he was fishing from the bank of one of our local lakes last week, with only a bullhead to show for his efforts, when a friend from Fargo who is a frequent Rutland visitor came down to the lake and began fishing some distance to the east of Roger’s position. As Roger watched, this fellow proceeded to cast his lure out into the water, and within 45 minutes he had caught his limit of 5 walleyes and was on his way home. Roger moved down the bank to the spot from which his friend had enjoyed such success, and, reports that his luck did not change. Still no fish. In his youth, Roger was an excellent baseball player, but occasionally he had to endure a slump when he couldn’t buy a hit. The only way to break out of a hitting slump is to keep going up to the plate and swinging at the pitch, and the only way to break out of a fishing slump is to keep going to the lake and tossing a hook into the water. A good hitter will eventually break out of a slump, as will a good fisherman. Of course, just because Roger says he’s not catching any fish doesn’t necessarily mean that he isn’t catching any fish. He is a fisherman, after all. Besides, as Roger has often said, “The worst day spent fishing is still better than the best day spent working.” A philosophy for the ages.

A pair of Rutland girls, Sonja (Anderson) Christensen of Wahpeton and Judie (Anderson-Seavert) Grohs of Rosholt SD were Rutland visitors on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 9. The two sisters joined friends for lunch at the Rutland Seniors Center and then stopped in for the season opener at The Old Parsonage where each found some items they could not live without. They plan to be back in the old home town on Monday, May 28, for Memorial Day.

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