Category: Rooster Crows

The Rooster Crows – July 20, 2018

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By Bill Anderson

The thunderstorm that rolled through at about sun-up on Sunday, July 15, deposited .25 of an inch of rain in Norbert Kulzer’s rain gauge and .2 of an inch in the gauge of his next-door neighbor, Roger Pearson, and brought along some cooler, drier air in its wake. Norbert and Roger have both noticed an interesting development in their lawns this Summer, the presence of an abundant crop of volunteer corn growing in the bluegrass. For quite a few years, Roger has been supplying the local squirrels with several cobs of ear corn each week. The squirrels, being conservative North Dakotans who have experienced hard times, or think that they might, don’t eat all of the corn, but save some of it by burying it in the ground, “squirreling it away,” so to speak. This year, with the abundant precipitation and warm weather of June and July, the squirrels’ corn caches have all sprouted, providing Roger and Norbert with added incentives to mow their lawns on a regular basis. Corn is a grass, though, so as long as moisture and temperature allow, it will keep coming back. The squirrels have not indicated whether or not they have signed up for multi-peril crop insurance or for the Federal Farm Program. It’s pretty certain that their 2018 corn crop will end in disaster, though, but Roger says not to worry. There’s going to be plenty of ear corn this Fall, and he’ll keep on supplying it as long as the squirrels stay out of his attic.

Weather conditions aren’t so great for growing crops everywhere, it seems. Rolf Odberg of Halden, Norway, a cousin of the Anderson family of this community, reports that this Summer has been the hottest and driest in southern Norway and Sweden in more than 70 years. Not since 1947 have the farmers of that region experienced a total failure of the hay crop, but it has happened this year. Norway and Sweden have numerous small farms, and most of them rely on dairy production for a substantial portion of their income. No hay equals no milk, and Rolf reports that some farmers there have been forced to sell their cows on the slaughter market due to the hay shortage. The increased supply of beef on the local market has depressed meat prices, too, so the farmers’ woes have become even more dire. Fortunately for the farmers of Norway and Sweden, their Viking ancestors homesteaded the island of Iceland, out in the North Atlantic, more than a thousand years ago, and their Icelandic cousins are harvesting a bumper hay crop this year. The Icelanders are selling their surplus hay to their Norwegian and Swedish brethren, rescuing the dairy farms of southern Norway and Sweden, and proving once again that nothing that happens is so bad that someone can’t get some good out of it. Thanks to Rolf for the report. Mr. Odberg and members of his family have visited in Rutland several times in the past few years, most recently for family reunions in 2014 and 2017. Ms. Stephanie Watson of Rogers MN, a granddaughter of the late Rudy & Edna Anderson of this community, is planning to be visiting at the Odberg home in Norway at the end of July, Rolf reports.

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The Rooster Crows – July 13, 2018

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By Bill Anderson

Well, here we are: the Summer Solstice, the mid-point of the Solar Year, was 3 weeks ago; June 30, the end of the first half of the calendar year, was 2 weeks ago; and, the 4th of July, Independence Day, the mid-point of Summer vacation, was just a week and a half ago. Only 5 weeks to go until the kids head back to school. Ain’t that a pip!? Sun, rain, wind and heat continue their work, though, no matter what the calendar, or the School Board, says. The thunderstorm that brought rain to this area on the evening of July 2 and morning of Tuesday, July 3, deposited .5 of an inch on Rutland, according to Roger Pearson’s rain gauge, while the gauge of his next-door neighbor, Norbert Kulzer, recorded .6 of an inch. Everything is back to normal. Another rain on the evening of Sunday, July 8, a Thunderstorm that rolled through at about 8:00 p.m. left .2 of an inch in Roger Pearson’s rain gauge and also .2 of an inch next door, at Norbert Kulzer’s.  Jesse Brakke reported .4 of an inch at his farmstead between Rutland & Cayuga, Jim Lunneborg .65 of an inch at his farm in Shuman Township and Rick Bosse .8 of an inch on Sunday evening, and another .18 at about Midnight to bring the total at Brampton to just under an inch. But that’s not all! The next thunder and lightning show started at about 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 10, and dropped about .75 of an inch of rain on Rutland, with more to the west and southwest, as Rick Bosse reported another inch at Brampton and Judee Silseth reported 1.4 inch at the Silseth farm southwest of Silver Lake. Paul Anderson reports that his electronic rain gauge has recorded nearly 10 inches of rain at Rutland since the 1st of June. By contrast, only about 1.5 inch of precipitation was received during the months of April and May. Some wheat fields in the area are beginning to exhibit that greenish, golden hue that indicates the first round of harvest activity may be commencing around the end of July.  The wheat crop looks very good right now, but, as we know, “…it’s never as good as it looks from the road,” and that’s the truth!

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The Rooster Crows – July 6, 2018

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By Bill Anderson

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to celebrate the independence and liberty of a great nation and a great people, there’s no better way to do it than with the fireworks and fury of a good, old-fashioned thunderstorm. Thunder, lightning, wind and rain rolled through Rutland at about 3:30 in the morning on Friday, June 29, leaving enough water in its wake to do some good, and not enough to do any harm. Roger Pearson reported that his rain gauge showed .2 of an inch, while Norbert Kulzer’s gauge showed .3 of an inch right next door. Shawn Klein reported that .25 of an inch was recorded at Havana, and Dennis Goltz stated that .2 of an inch was received at his farm in Weber Township. Kurt Breker finally broke the drought at his farm 1 mile south of Cayuga with a timely .3-inch rainfall, and Jim Lunneborg reported that .2 of an inch had fallen at his farm in Shuman Township. The precipitation is keeping crops doing well throughout Sargent County. Now, if only there was a price…

Back on July 2, 1776, John Adams predicted that date, the date on which the original Resolution Of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, would be celebrated with bands, flags and fireworks by future generations of Americans, and Mother Nature honored that prediction with another thunderstorm that rolled through on the evening of Monday, July 2, with heavy rain to boot. As it was still raining as of the writing of this article, though, no report of amounts is yet available. The deluge was reminiscent of “pitchforks and hammer handles,” though.

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The Rooster Crows – June 29, 2018

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By Bill Anderson

“Doesn’t it ever quit raining around here?” Wait a minute! Wasn’t it only about 10 days ago that the question was, “Doesn’t it ever rain around here?” How fickle are we, anyway? The thunderstorm that rumbled and rolled through the area on Saturday night and Sunday morning, June 23 & 24, dropped 1.1 inch of rain on Rutland, according to Roger Pearson’s rain gauge at 409 Gay Street. Another series of showers on Sunday afternoon and evening left another .88 of an inch, making the total 1.98, that’s darned close to 2, inches for the 24-hour period. Jim Lunneborg reported 1 inch, even, at his Shuman Township farm, and Doug Spieker reported 3.1 inches of rain at his Tewaukon Township farmstead while his neighbors to the west, Joe & Patty Breker, had 3.25 inches in their rain gauge on Monday morning. The countryside is full of green and growing crops, with what some producers believe to be sufficient moisture now to pull the wheat crop through to maturity and get the beans and corn well along the path toward a good harvest. Mike Walstead reported that he checked one of his corn fields this past weekend and found that the top leaf was nearly chest high. The days when “knee high by the 4th of July” was the harbinger of a good corn crop are long gone. It’s still a long way from the field to the bin, though, and many perils lay in wait between here and there, so keep your fingers crossed!

Rutland native Judie (Anderson-Seavert) Grohs, now residing on the shores of Lake Traverse near Rosholt SD, sent a correction to a report that appeared in the Rooster Crows column back on June 8. Here’s Judie’s message: “Thanks for mentioning the Sargent Central Class of ’68 Reunion in the Rooster Crows. Good story but I need a bit of a correction. The reunion at the Silver Lake Pavilion is on the 4th of August, only, starting at 2:00 p.m. A catered supper is at 5:00. With all the activities in Rutland that day, (The Rutland Rib-Fest is on Saturday, August 4, with ribs, music, etc.) the class of 68 should find plenty to keep them busy if they find all us Oldies too boring. Anyway, we have a few classmates excited about returning to visit with all the rest of our classmates. Hoping more will let me know they are coming. They can always call me at 701-640-9522 to make sure we have enough food and other goodies for the event.” Thanks to Judie for the correction. Best wishes to the members of the SCHS Class of ’68 on your 50thAnniversary Reunion on Saturday, August 4, at Silver Lake.

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The Rooster Crows – June 22, 2018

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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

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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 6thgeneration 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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