By Bill Anderson

Rain all the time! Can’t get a thing done! The most recent rain event, on Thursday, September 2, brought the total precipitation since August 20 up to 5” for Rutland and vicinity, give or take a tenth or two, and depending on whose rain gauge you choose to read. For Thursday’s rain, Roger Pearson’s gauge at 409 Gay Street showed 1.5”, while the gauge of his next door neighbor, Norbert Kulzer, showed 1.6” and that of Chuck Sundlie, just 2 blocks south,  read 1.7”. Two miles south of Cayuga, Harvey Bergstrom had 1.15” of rain in his gauge, and Kurt Breker’s rain gauge, just 1 mile south of Cayuga held 1.5”. In Shuman Township, between Rutland and Milnor, Randy Pearson’s rain gauge showed  1¼”, and Shawn Klein topped the list with more than 2” at her home in Havana. The rainfall amounts may vary, but one thing is the same all over the area, the moisture and cooler weather have resurrected and rejuvenated lawns that had been written off as dead or dormant for the remainder of the year, keeping law mowers busy trying to stay ahead of the fast growing grass. With the boys and girls who had been mowing lawns earlier in the Summer now back in school, that’s one more labor shortage the economy has to deal with. Harvey Dawson, who owns a considerable chunk of real estate in the townsite of Brampton, has a flock of sheep on retainer to keep the grass and weeds down on his holdings, an alternative we may have to consider here. Well, when the world is green and growing, we can deal with anything.

Mike Kulzer was in Rutland on Monday, August 30, and stopped in at the Rutland Seniors’ Center for morning coffee and a consultation with The Assembled Wise Men. Mike was in town to assist with some maintenance work at the home of his mother-in-law, Phyllis Erickson, and to do some work on the deer stands he plans to use during the whitetail deer rifle season this coming November. This prompted Mike’s cousin, Norbert Kulzer, to reminisce about his first deer hunt with his brother, Kurt, and father, Romey, back in the early 1950’s. The whitetail deer population in this area at that time was slim to none, so Romey had arranged to take his boys hunting in the sandhills near McLeod, where the whitetails were plentiful. Norbert and Kurt were equipped with shotguns firing slugs, and Romey had the deer hunter’s special, a 30-30 Winchester. Romey positioned the boys in likely spots and told them to keep a sharp eye open for any deer that might come by. It was cold, Norbert recalled, but he had a spot in the sun and out of the wind and he soon dozed off. He suddenly awoke to find a whitetail doe staring at him from just a few feet away. Norbert wanted a buck, so he didn’t shoot. He dozed off, again, and awoke to find himself face to face with a whitetail buck. It wasn’t “The Turty Point Buck,” but it was close. Norbert fumbled with his shotgun and the deer took off. He fired, and the 12 gauge slug hit the deer in the front quarter, rolling him over, but he rolled right back onto his feet and took off running, again. Norbert shot again, hit the deer again, but it kept on going, over the top of a dune and temporarily out of sight. Romey came running over to Norbert’s position to see what all the shooting was about, and the two of them took off after the buck, running for all they were worth. Norbert said that they must have run 2 miles, first one way and then another, until they finally caught up with the deer. “It turned around and charged us!” Norbert said. Romey yelled, “Step aside!  Get out of his way!” and Norbert jumped out of the big buck’s path. As the deer went by, Romey put a 30-30 bullet into him, and he went down for good. “I’ll dress this deer out. You go back and get the pickup,” Romey told Norbert. Norbert started walking, and soon realized that he had no idea where he was, where the pickup was or even where Romey and the deer were at.  Everything looked the same. He just kept walking, figuring that he must eventually find something familiar, but having some doubts. He finally came upon another deer hunter, and asked him if he had seen a newer green & black Dodge pickup. The hunter said that he had seen a beat up old pickup over the next hill, not too far away. Norbert thought that it was probably not their pickup, but it was worth a look. It was the right pickup. It wasn’t beat up, but it was dirty and mud covered from the trip over gravel and dirt roads from Rutland to the sandhills. Norbert said that he still didn’t know where he was, or where Romey or Kurt were, but he drove around until he eventually spotted his Dad and knew that the day was a success. The next year, Romey bought brand new Marlin .35 caliber lever action rifles for Kurt and Norbert. Norbert still has his Marlin, and still uses it during deer season, if he gets a license, a reminder of good days and simpler times.