Tag: Rutland-Cayuga Rural Fire Department

Rutland Ramblings – Dec. 1, 2023

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Kyle & Kaia Mahrer hosted a full table of dinner guests at their home in Rutland on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 23. Those in attendance included Kyle & Kaia Mahrer and their children, Brody, Julia, Adalyn & Kaitlyn, Pearl Brakke, Becky Parrow, Nell Brakke, Jesse Brakke, Steve Thorfinnson, and Bill Anderson. The large table in the dining room/kitchen of the Mahrer home was originally used in the dining hall of a large Bonanza Farm in the Park River ND area. Kaia’s grandmother, the late Kathy Brakke of this community had acquired the table about 30 years ago. Kaia recalls that, at the time the table was given to Kaia, her grandma’s instructions were to use the table often, and to keep it full. The Thanksgiving Day menu included: ham, prime rib, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, salad, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert. All agreed that the dinner was top-notch in both quality and quantity.

Saturday evening guests at the Bill Anderson home on Saturday, Nov.25, included Chuck Sundlie, Aden Kohler, Joanne Harris, Andy Harris, Mike Harris, and Vern Leist. Papa Murphy’s Pizza was the main, and only, dish served. The pizza party was held to honor the memories of the Late Susan Anderson, Kathy Brakke, and Renee Cramton. Back in the day when Kathy & Sue, with the assistance of Renee, used to have their crafts & collectibles sale on Thanksgiving afternoon, the day was closed out with a pizza supper in the kitchen of Kathy’s home at 318 First Street. This year the pizza was enjoyed at 309 Gay Street, Susan’s home.

The Rutland Senior Center was full of activity on Thursday, November 30, after the noon dinner with a surprise party for Janet Kiefer. Janet has been the main cook at the Rutland senior center for nearly twenty-five years. Watch for more news on the event in next week’s column!

The Lariat Bar will host its first trivia night on Friday, December 1, starting at 7 p.m. Local rumors indicate that there will be a few teams participating and there are even some individuals who have been contacted by more than one team, so the competition has already begun. Sounds like Friday is the night to hang out at The Lariat.

On Saturday, the Rutland Community Club Santa Day will be held at the community center starting at 5 p.m. Bingo and a free-will spaghetti supper will be offered along with plenty of activities and crafts for the kids. The event is scheduled to end at 7 p.m.

The Rutland American Legion Auxiliary members are busy cooking and baking up a storm for the free-will bake sale on Sunday, December 3, starting at 8 a.m. at the City Hall. Stop in for the Rutland-Cayuga Rural Fire District free-will pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hall and get the fresh baked goods before they are gone.

The Rutland City Council public hearing on the proposed sidewalk project special assessment will be Monday, December 4, at City Hall starting at 5 p.m. This is an opportunity for residents to provide input and comment on the upcoming project. The monthly City Council meeting will be held immediately following the public hearing.

Stay up to date on Rutland activities and events on the Rutland Facebook page and on the Rutland City website. The City of Rutland will soon have its own app through the Living Local program and information on this will be out soon so watch for this new, fun way to keep informed on Rutland activities. Residents will be able to get notifications on recycling day, check the city calendar, and, yes, pay the water bill through the app. Have a great week.

Rutland Ramblings – Nov. 10, 2023

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Harvey and Judy Preble of Eagan, MN, were visitors in Rutland on Saturday & Sunday, October 28 & 29. They were in town to help Harvey’s younger sister, Dianna (Preble) Anderson celebrate her birthday. Harvey and Diana share the same birthday November 7, although Harvey was on the scene two years prior to Dianna’s arrival. According to gamblers’ superstition, number 7 is a lucky number, and this birthday should be double lucky for Dianna.

The Rutland City Council met on Monday, November 6, and approved the Engineer contract for services for the sidewalk improvement project, renewed the water sampling contract with SE Water Users, and adopted the 2024 meeting schedule. Water rates were also discussed as SE Water will be raising the City’s cost of water in January. Rates were last increased in 2017 for water. The Council voted to raise water rates by 5%. The current rate for water is $23.00 for the first 3,000 gallons; the increase will result in a new rate of $24.15 for the first 3,000 gallons and $5.25 for overage use per 1,000 gallons. An update was provided on the Post Office reopening and it may be at least another four months before it happens; stay tuned as time (and mail) moves slowly – but surely. The next Council meeting will be Monday, December 4.

The Sargent County Extension Office is seeking individuals willing to become a NDSU Extension Master Gardener in the county. The application deadline is November 15. If you love gardening and are community-minded, now is your chance to apply. Complete weekly online classes from January 19 – March 22, 2024 on vegetable and fruit production, soil health, flowering plants and more! Application and more information is available at this link: ndsu.ag/mgcourse. Contact the Extension Office at (701) 724-3355 if you have any questions!

The Sargent County Commission passed a preliminary resolution that would redesignate the elected positions of County Auditor and County Treasurer/Recorder Clerk of Court as appointive positions. Before a final resolution can be passed, public hearings are requested. The Commission will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, November 15, at 6 p.m. at the Milnor Senior Center. The commission would like to receive public input on whether or not to proceed with the change. The meeting can also be joined via GoToMeeting at https://global/gotomeeting.com/join/504808517. A copy of the preliminary resolution can be obtained from the Sargent County Auditor or online at http://sargentnd.com.

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The Rooster Crows – Nov. 11, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

“Don’t know why … there’s no sun up in the sky … stormy weather…” moaned the late blues singer Lena Horn as she mourned the loss of a faithless lover in her classic theme song. Her sentiments were echoed by Republicans on the morning of Wednesday, November 9, as they awoke to find that their predicted Red Tidal Wave had not materialized as the votes had been counted the night before. There was not even a Red Wave, as many Democrats had feared, although the national results might be described as a Red Ripple. As of Wednesday morning, control of the U. S. Congress was still in doubt, although it looked as if the GOP might eke out a bare majority of a few votes in the House of Representatives. The Senate had 48 Democrats, 47 Republicans and 5 contests still too close to call. The election results indicate a fairly decisive rejection of Trump and Trumpism by America’s voters and may indicate that the flood of political poison unleashed on America’s body politic by Trump’s brand of politics may finally be receding. In North Dakota, the GOP, fueled by a flood of oil money, has retained control of State government by a substantial margin. The initiated measure that would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the State appears to have gone up in smoke, and the voters approved an initiated measure limiting State Legislators and the State’s Governor to two consecutive 4 year terms. Well, Election 2022 is over, and Election 2024 has begun. This year neither the red wave nor the blue wall controlled the result. Next time, who knows? 

The first winter storm of the season has been predicted to hit North Dakota, South Dakota & Minnesota on Thursday and Friday, November 10 & 11, threatening to disrupt activities and programs honoring America’s veterans on November 10 and on Veterans Day, November 11. According to Kaia Mahrer, a teacher at Sargent Central, if Thursday’s predicted blizzard causes the scheduled November 10 program at the Sargent Central Activities Center to be postponed, the program will be rescheduled to 2:00 p.m. on Monday, November 14. Keep your eyes & ears open for schedule changes.

The Rutland City Council met at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 7, in the Rutland Town Hall with Mayor Mike Mahrer; Auditor Deb Banish; and Council members Bill Anderson; Rodney Erickson; Delores Lysne; and Lori McLaen; present. Also present was City Maintenance employee, Scott Haan. The Council and Mr. Haan discussed a minimum hours guarantee per pay period for Mr. Haan’s position, and reimbursement of Mr. Haan for use of his personal vehicles while performing city work. The Council approved payment of a minimum of 50 hours per bimonthly pay period for City employee Scott Haan; and, authorized a payment of $50.00 per month to Mr. Haan for the use of his personal vehicles for City work. The Council also complimented Mr. Haan on the excellent work that he has been doing for the city. The Council discussed the State of North Dakota’s water operator certification requirement and approved the City entering into a contract with Southeast Water Users to maintain an appropriate valid operator certificate for the City of Rutland’s municipal water system. The Council authorized the purchase of the tax forfeited property in Rutland described as Lots 1 & 2, Block 5 of the Original Townsite of Harvard a/k/a Original Townsite of Rutland, at a cost of $1.00 plus delinquent special assessments, if the property is not sold at the County’s auction on November 15. The Council discussed the cost estimate for replacement of two exterior entrance doors at City Hall. The Council postponed action until other cost estimates have been received and reviewed. The Council approved the October financial reports and payment of bills as presented. The Council Adjourned at 5:45 p.m. The next meeting of the Rutland City Council is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 5, at the Rutland Town Hall. All meetings of the Rutland City Council are open to the public, and Rutland residents are invited to stop by to observe their City’s governing board in action.

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The Rooster Crows – Sept. 16, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

The long, hot days of Summer ended, and Autumn’s more moderate temperament, took over on the morning of Friday, September 9, with the mercury in the 40’s as day dawned and the high temperature for the day only hitting the 70 mark, replacing the high 80’s and low 90’s of the preceding week. The soybean and corn crops are beginning to show the effects of fewer hours of sunlight, cooler weather and dry conditions, as many fields are turning color, from green to gold, at a rapid pace. No combines are rolling, yet, but, with soybean and corn prices at astronomical levels, local farmers are not going to want to leave those golden crops in the field any longer than they absolutely have to. The cloud currently hanging over harvest plans is not a rain cloud but an impending rail strike. Most of North Dakota’s grain crops, including wheat; soybeans; and corn; are exported to other parts of the country, and other parts of the world, and dependable rail service is essential to that process. If the crops can’t move, they will just be big piles of grain on the ground. Sometimes, even with railroads moving the crops, local grain elevators end up with piles of grain on the ground. That’s likely to be a lot worse if the trains are not moving at all. Back in the 1940’s, when a rail strike endangered national security, President Harry Truman nationalized the railroads and called out the Army to operate them. Truman’s action was later declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court, but it did shock the rail unions and management into action to settle their problems and get back to work. North Dakotans can hope that the current President will follow the example of “Give ‘Em Hell” Harry, by taking firm, quick, no-nonsense action to keep the railroads moving.

Rick Bosse stopped in at the Rutland Seniors’ Center for coffee & conversation on the morning of Monday, September 12. He reported that he was one of a party of hunters from the Britton SD & Brampton ND area who were on a guided black bear hunt near Big Falls, in northern Minnesota, during the week of September 5 through the 8th. Rick has been hunting in this area before, and his guide this time out was Jeff Larson of Big Falls. Rick said that he had a couple of opportunities early in the week but turned down the first one because it was too small and turned down the second because it was a sow black bear with 2 cubs at her side. On Friday, the last day of his hunt, Rick was in a tree stand when a big boar showed up and went for the bait. The bait, a combination of stale bread, candy and other edible items that bears like because it tastes good to them, even though it smells bad to us, was covered up by a pile of logs so raccoons and skunks wouldn’t get into it. The big black bear flipped the logs out of the way with one of its huge front paws. It was about 50 yards away, said Rick, and quartering away from him. He was armed with a rifle that fired the .300 Remington Ultra-Mag, a new type of ammunition that is quite powerful. Rick fired one well aimed shot, and the bear went down. After it was field dressed, the bear tipped the scales at 405 pounds, a real trophy by northern Minnesota standards. Rick received a lot of advice about what to do with his black bear from the Wise Men at the Round Table: have a full body mount; make a bear rug; or serve it up for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Harvey Bergstrom was in Andover SD last Saturday, September 10, to take in the steam power exhibition there. Harvey reports that the centerpiece of the show was a 150 horsepower J. I. Case steam tractor that was old and new at the same time. Back in 1909 the Case company manufactured fewer than ten of the mammoth tractors before scaling back to build a steam tractor that had less power and more demand. Over the years that followed, the 150 horsepower tractors all made their way to the scrap iron pile, and there have been none in existence for many decades. A few years ago, though, a young man from Andover, Corey Anderson, went to the head office of the J. I. Case company in Racine WI, found the original engineer’s specifications and drawings for the big steam tractor, copied them, then transcribed them into a computer assisted design (CAD) program, bought a foundry and used the information he had retrieved from Racine to make all of the parts needed to build a brand new 113 year old 150 horsepower steam powered tractor. Harvey said that a plowing demonstration was presented last weekend in which the big tractor pulled a plow with fifty 14” bottoms. The plow had 25 gangs of two bottoms each. A crew of men rode on the plow to manipulate the levers to put the bottoms into the soil at one end of the field and to withdraw them at the other end. There was no hydraulic or steam assist to operate the plow, only muscle power. Actually, Harvey said that one of the plow operators was a woman who did a good job of handling the plow’s levers.

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The Rooster Crows – Mar. 18, 2022

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By Bill Anderson

Well, if Spring hasn’t sprung, it’s sure getting froggy. From below zero temperatures a week ago to highs in the 40’s and 50’s above Zero this week, the weather turnabout has improved outlooks and lifted spirits throughout the community. Cameron Gulleson says that it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Gulleson Ranch has about 100 new Black Angus calves on the ground, with another 600 soon to arrive, and new calves do a lot better at 50 degrees above zero than they do at 10 or 20 below. The Vernal Equinox occurs this Sunday, March 20, and that is the First Day of Spring, according to the Sun. History tells us that there will still be plenty of opportunities for blizzards and freezing weather between now and the First of June, but at least the end of Winter is near. Although weather historians tell us that we have endured tougher winters than the one just ending, this one, with its biting cold and fierce winds, seemed to be about as tough as we would want to have it. We North Dakotans will hang on to bragging rights for enduring Winter’s icy blasts, but there’s no sense in overdoing it. Enough is enough!

Twenty-one volunteer firemen, 16 from the Rutland-Cayuga Fire Protection District and 5 from the Forman-Havana Fire Protection District, gathered at the Rutland Fire Hall on Friday and Saturday, March 11 & 12, for vehicle extraction training. The Rutland-Cayuga Department had recently acquired the tools, including: the Jaws of Life; hydraulic powered cutting tools; a hydraulic ram; and a hydraulic power unit; and Rutland Fire Chief Jesse Maly had arranged for Rick Jorgenson from Lidgerwood, a North Dakota Certified Trainer, to lead the training exercises. During the course of the 2-day training session, the firemen cut apart 4 wrecked automobiles while learning how to handle the new tools. The new equipment was obtained from a dealer in central Minnesota who spends a lot of time hunting in the Rutland area each Fall, according to Cam Gulleson, a member of the Rutland Fire Department. All 21 of those who attended the training sessions are now certified to operate the Jaws of Life equipment, when and if necessary. The Rutland-Cayuga Fire Protection District will be holding its annual meeting this Thursday, March 17, at the Rutland Fire Hall. Bryce Carlson & Chris Jochim currently serve as the District’s board chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, and Kaia Mahrer serves as the District’s Clerk. Jesse Maly is Fire Chief and Travis Peterson is Assistant Fire Chief of the Rutland Department. Kurt Breker is Fire Chief of the Cayuga Department. Sargent County Emergency Manager Wendy Willprecht has commended those firefighters who completed the Jaws of Life training, increasing their ability to provide potentially life-saving services to the people of the community.

A large group of friends and family members gathered at the Jesse Brakke home in Ransom Township on Saturday, March 12, to present Jesse with a surprise 60th birthday party. Among those who came from a distance were: James & Sydney Brakke of Somerset WI; Claire Brakke & Alex Markovic of Madison WI; and Doug & Nancy Glarum from Detroit Lakes MN. Those in attendance report that a rollicking good time was enjoyed by all. Jesse’s birthday was actually on Sunday, the 13th, but, as long as everyone was there on Saturday, might as well party on.

Speaking of rollicking good times, Rutland Community Club President Katie McLaen reports that one was enjoyed by those attending Fun Night in Rutland on Sunday, March 13. More than 180 were present and having a good time in the Rutland Town Hall, according to Community Club board member Morgan Peterson. Twenty community volunteers manned the 12 game booths, the cakewalk, the BINGO game, and the lunch counter. Pizza & hot dogs were on the menu, as well as popcorn, cotton candy and Shirley Temples. You can’t beat that for a balanced diet! Sixty door prizes were awarded, and so many cakes had been donated for the cakewalk that, despite 2 hours of continuous action, there were still 15 cakes left at the end of the evening that also were awarded as door prizes. Congratulations to the Rutland Community Club and its officers on another great event in Rutland. The next Community Club event coming up in Rutland is the Annual Easter Egg Hunt at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 16, at the Rutland Town Hall.

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The Rooster Crows – March 5, 2021

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The weather roller coaster continues. From a high of 48 above on Friday, February 26 to below zero on the morning of Monday, March 1, then back up to a high of 57 above on Tuesday, March 2. Well, the old timers used to say, “If you don’t like the weather in North Dakota, just wait a minute. It’ll change.” In a land in which there always has to be something to be concerned about, though, the extreme swings in temperature, along with the lack of moisture in the topsoil and in the atmosphere, has some local farmers worried. Sargent County has not experienced a severe drought, a drought that completely eliminated the year’s crop, since 1988, but, right now, 2021 appears to be putting the conditions in place for a repeat of that performance. Of course, if you don’t like that forecast, just wait a minute. It’ll change!

Rutland native Judie Seavert reported from the Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday, February 25, that the weather inn Port Aransas TX had returned to normal, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s. Judy also reported that the severely cold weather that hit Texas 3 weeks ago wreaked havoc with fish populations that inhabit the shallow waters near the shore, in addition to inflicting terrible damage to vegetation in the area. According to Judie, crews were busy cleaning up huge piles of odoriferous dead fish from the beach this past week, and big sea turtles that had been rescued from the cold by commercial fishermen were being returned to the sea after getting a warmup at local rescue centers. The weather fluctuation also seemed to pique the appetite of the area’s premier game fish, the red snapper, and Judie’s husband, Steve Grohs, had been out on the Gulf on several occasions, bringing in his limit. There is nothing that is so bad that somebody can’t get some good out of it, and if it takes a weather disaster to get some good fishing, well, so be it.

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