Category: Rooster Crows

The Rooster Crows – Dec. 10, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

Santa Claus is comin’ to town! He’s making a list and checking it twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. Jolly Old St. Nick will be making his 76th annual pre-Christmas visit to Rutland on Santa Claus Day, Saturday, December 11, at 5:00 p.m., at the Rutland Town Hall. He will be handing out bags of candy, consulting with kids of all ages about their Christmas wish lists and awarding Christmas hams donated by local businesses to the lucky winners of the annual drawing. Other Santa Claus Day activities will include: crafts & games for the kids; BINGO for all; and, a spaghetti supper. This is your chance to see Santa Claus in the flesh and to have a personal, face-to-face visit with him before he swings through town to make deliveries on Christmas Eve. Don’t forget: Santa Claus Day in Rutland from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 11, in the Rutland Town Hall.

Winter has definitely arrived, making its presence known with a thermometer reading of 2 degrees below Zero on the morning of Monday, December 6 and a 60-mph wind that battered the area the night before. Less than a week earlier, on Wednesday, December 1, the mercury had topped out at 58 degrees above Zero. Preceding the wind on Sunday, Mother Nature, or maybe it was Old Man Winter, had deposited about 2 inches of snow on Rutland and vicinity in a series of snow flurries that began on the afternoon of Saturday, December 4 and ended on Sunday, December 5. After sidewalks and driveways had been cleared of snow on Monday, another half an inch of the white, powdery stuff was delivered to the community on Tuesday morning, just to show us who’s the boss.

CORRECTION: Last week’s column contained a few errors that need to be corrected. It was reported that, as of Tuesday, November 30, there had been no activity at the Rutland Post Office building. In fact, workers were observed doing some cleanup work around the exterior of the building, and removing materials from the interior on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, November 29, 30 & December 1. No explanation of what is planned for the building has been received, however. Apologies for the error. We’ll try harder in the future.

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The Rooster Crows – Dec. 3, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25, opened with a thermometer reading of +4 degrees F., and has turned out to be the coldest day of Autumn 2021, so far. The remainder of November, and the first few days of December have reached highs ranging from the upper 30’s to the mid-50’s. Not too bad for the month before Christmas. A return to more seasonal temperatures is forecast for this weekend, though, with even some snow included in the prediction. What a surprise! Snow in North Dakota in December. Will wonders never end?

Ted Lee reports that some consistent cold would be welcomed down on “the flat” south of Rutland, near the Lee farm in Tewaukon Township, where wet field conditions have prevented the harvest of several cornfields. Despite last summer’s drought, the rains of September & October turned the fields to mud, making them impassable for combines and impossible to harvest. Once the ground freezes, if it does, the task can be completed with relative ease. A covering of snow, which would insulate the ground and prevent its freezing, is not a possibility which the affected farmers prefer to contemplate.

Some local folks have been on the move this week. Chuck & Mary Beth Anderson; Mike & Debbie Banish; Mark & Kathy Wyum; and Roger & Caryn McLaen boarded the Farmers Union bus for a trip to Branson MO on Monday morning, November 29; and Joe & Patty Breker were seeing the sights in New York City during the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Brekers took in an NFL football game on Sunday, November 28, the Philadelphia Eagles v. the New York Giants, but, as they are Eagles fans and don’t like to see their team lose, the final score of Sunday’s game will not be reported here. Joe noted that it is ironic that the 2 NFL football teams claiming New York City as their home, the Giants and the Jets, both play their home games at a stadium located in New Jersey. Something to think about.

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 26, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

Thanksgiving, at least Thanksgiving dinner, came a week early to the Rutland Seniors Center on Wednesday, November 17. Head cook Janet Kiefer prepared Thanksgiving dinner with turkey; dressing; mashed potatoes & gravy; green bean casserole; cranberries; lefse; and, pumpkin pie with whipped topping; for a total of 33 patrons, 24 who enjoyed their dinner together at the Seniors’ Center, and 9 who had their dinners delivered by “Meals On Wheels,” otherwise known as Roger Pearson & Hal Nelson. Janet and her husband, Cliff, headed south on Thursday, November 18, bound for Dallas TX to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their son, Andy, and his family. Delores Lysne filled in for Janet in the Seniors’ Center kitchen on Thursday, November 18, and Diane Smith was in charge of dinner preparation on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, November 22, 23 & 24. Rutland’s Seniors are fortunate to have three such talented & capable chefs ready, willing and able to take charge in the kitchen and do the cooking the way their mothers taught them.

Aaron & Silvia Brooks of this community were called to Yuma AZ last week, where Silvia’s father, Alfredo Tastana, was seriously ill with covid-19. Mr. Tastana passed away on Thursday, November 18. According to Silvia, there will be a funeral service later this week at Yuma, followed by interment of her father’s remains at his home community in Mexico. Mr. & Mrs. Brooks expect to be back home in Rutland sometime next week. The Rutland community extends condolences to the family of Alfredo Tastana on the loss of the family’s patriarch. May he rest in peace.

Five of Rutland’s “Happy Warriors:” Mike Mahrer; Kyle Mahrer; Vaughan Rohrbach; Bill Hoflen; and, Jesse Brakke; accompanied by Steve Thorfinnson & Alwood Huckell of Fort Ransom; and, Ray Ohm of Hankinson; departed Rutland on Tuesday, November 16, bound for their hunting grounds in western Kentucky, where the whitetail deer are as plentiful as are cottontail rabbits in North Dakota. The group from Rutland has been hunting whitetails in western Kentucky, near the town of Clinton KY, for the past several years. The area has a combination of small farms and dense woods, ideal habitat for whitetail deer. The local residents consider the deer to be a nuisance and are happy to have hunters come in to harvest the surplus. The hunters expect to be back home by Wednesday, November 24. 

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 19, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

Mother Nature gave Rutland a shot of rain on Wednesday, November 10, that coated streets and sidewalks with a sheet of ice, and then followed up with some big, fluffy snowflakes to create a slushy, mushy, slippery mess. The rainfall measured .25 of an inch of rain according to the electronic gauges at the Chuck & Mary Beth Anderson farm 6½ miles southwest of Rutland and the Mike & Debbie Banish farm 2 miles south of town. According to The Assembled Wise Men, there was about 2 inches of snow from the flurries on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Fierce winds, gusting up to 60 mph, on the night of Thursday, November 11, raised concerns, but everything seemed to be intact when the big blow subsided on Friday. A sunny day on Monday, the 15th, and a temperature in the mid-40’s on Tuesday, the 16th, cleared out most of last week’s ice & snow, making room for the next blast that’s sure to come. A new blast of wind was tearing at the countryside on the morning of Wednesday, November 17, and Chuck Anderson said that the anemometer on his electronic weather station indicated gusts up to 37 mph by 9:00 a.m. The wind was out of the west, so, if it doesn’t relocate us to Minnesota, we’ll report further next week.

Rutland native Janelle Brakke reports that she has moved from the South Fargo apartment which has been her home for the past 9 years to a townhouse on 39th Avenue South in Fargo, a few blocks west of 45th Street. According to Janelle, the townhouse complex in which her new home is situated was originally constructed in the 1970’s, but it has been well maintained and was recently thoroughly renovated. The townhouse is considerably larger than her old apartment and, best of all, it has an attached garage. Janelle is an RN, and is employed by Clay County Public Health in Moorhead.

Rodney Erickson reports that harvest activity in the Rutland area wrapped up last week, and that the final loads of corn from the 2021 crop were hauled in to the Rutland Elevator on the evening of Tuesday, November 9, just before the rain started. The best that can be said for the 2021 corn and soybean crops in this area is that neither was as bad as anticipated, and that both were better than expected. As the late Dave Hoflen of this community often observed, “There have been 2 good years in North Dakota, 1914 and next year.” Hope springs eternal, and there’s better times a’comin’!

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 12, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

The first weekend in November may have been the last weekend of “Indian Summer” for the year of 2021. Friday through Sunday had temperatures in the 60’s, topping out at 67 degrees (that’s above Zero) on Saturday, November 6. Monday and Tuesday, November 8 & 9, were both bright, sunny days with the mercury hitting the mid-50’s, but the TV weather experts are assuring us that the pleasant conditions will end by Wednesday, November 10. Those dreaded 4 letter words, rain, cold, wind and snow are in the forecast for the days ahead. Farmers with crops still in the field have been running their combines and trucks day and night, trying to reach the end of the harvest before Mother Nature puts an end to it for them. Well, it’s not as if we didn’t know it was coming, and it won’t be the first time, nor the last, that mud and snow have made life difficult for local farmers. Still, it’s always preferable to have the harvest all wrapped up before Old Man Winter arrives, rather than to have him riding in the combine cab with you.

The 2021 North Dakota rifle season for Whitetail deer opened at Noon on Friday, November 5, but local hunters are not reporting much success, so far. The weather has been too nice, and neither the deer nor the hunters have been in the mood for the chase. The situation is expected to improve this coming weekend, though, as more seasonal conditions move into the region.

There has been one report of deer hunter success so far this week. Jim Huckell, who has been successfully hunting deer in the coulees of the Coteau des Prairies Hills south of Rutland since the days of John C. Fremont and Joseph Nicollette, well, maybe not quite that long, bagged a good sized 4 X 5 buck just before sunset on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 9. Jim has farmed and ranched in the hills since his childhood days, and knows every draw and coulee like the back of his hand. When you know the land you’re hunting on; the habits of the animal you’re hunting; and, the characteristics of the weapon you’re hunting with; you’re halfway to deer sausage on the grill.

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 5, 2021

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By Bill Anderson

The rain that moved through the Rutland area on Wednesday, October 27, left more than an inch of precipitation in its wake.  Roger Pearson’s rain gauge at 409 Gay Street held 1.2” when the rain stopped on Wednesday evening, and Camron Gulleson reports That his gauge recorded 1.3” at the Gulleson Farm 1½ mile east of town.  Last Wednesday’s reading was the last one from Roger’s gauge for the 2021 season, as he has now removed the gauge from its post in the back yard and taken it inside for the winter. Cameron said that the cumulative amount of rainfall at the Gulleson Farm since August 20 is 13.86”. Prior to August 20, the rainfall amount during the entire 2021 growing season was 3.49”, according to Cameron’s records. Well, there won’t be much growing going on for the next several months. From now til then we are likely to be measuring precipitation amounts with a yard stick, rather than with a rain gauge.

Cameron Gulleson also reports that he and Jenny have been making some improvements to their Ransom Township farm home. A new entryway/mud room has been added to the east side of the house, and the entire house is being re-sided with “Smart Siding” a laminated wood product. Cameron says that he, Jenny and his Dad, Bill, have been doing the work. The house will also be receiving new roofing in the near future. The house was originally built on the NE¼ of Section 13 in Rutland Township by Dale McLaen, and was moved to the Gulleson farm in the NE¼ of Section 29 in Ransom Township by Cameron & Jenny several years ago. Congratulations to the Gullesons on the improvements to their home.

John Lloyd, Mark Charnowski (He says that he’s Irish) and Moose Rose of Fond du Lac WI were Rutland residents from Monday, October 25, to Monday, November 1, headquartering at Lori McLaen’s rental, The Bunkhous, on Rutland’s Main Street. The trio were hunting ducks and pheasants during their stay here. They also spent a few evenings at The Lariat, getting acquainted and making new friends. They enjoyed success on all fronts.

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