Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper
Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper
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Melissa and I celebrated our anniversary in Scotland this year. It reminded me of a story from a decade ago. Melissa and I had planned a full day, so we decided to go to the earlier Mass at 8 a.m. After church, we went to Second Street Cafe, for breakfast. Pulling into the parking lot between Bailey's Office Supply and Hotel Ottumwa, we took the last space available; a diagonal space between two sedans. Melissa has always been methodical in her protocol for disembarking the vehicle...I mean to s...
I started school at Horace Mann Elementary in Ottumwa, Iowa. Dad was the general manager of KBIZ radio and KTVO television. Before the end of my second-grade year, Dad moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to manage WMAD radio. Mom stayed in Ottumwa with the kids to finish the school year, then we joined Dad in Madison. When I was eleven, Dad bought WGLB radio in Port Washington, about 90 minutes from home. Dad had an apartment in the radio station's basement where he worked through the week, coming...
Living in a small town sometimes necessitates going to a larger city for products and services needed. In my case, the larger town is Duluth, Minnesota, about 60 miles south of Silver Bay; usually 140 miles round trip. With high fuel prices and the cost of operating a car these days, it's important to make trips to the city count. On many of my recent trips to Duluth, I have failed to accomplish all the tasks I had planned. A few trips have been futile; some were my fault, and others were for...
The weekend before Labor Day, we had a get-together at our house to break in the new deck I'd just rebuilt. My brother-in-law, Jeff, came to join us in the celebration. Jeff brought his son, Andy, daughter Libby, Old Smokey, and Bug Zapper. The Old Smokey and Bug Zapper (prized possessions) were family heirlooms, handed down from his grandpa, Max. Jeff set the Bug Zapper on the corner of the new deck, but frankly, it didn't do anything. The Mosquitoes were not a problem, so the zapper had the...
Over the years, I have owned several different canoes. I bought my first when I was in my early twenties. It was a used, red Coleman-brand canoe with two paddles, I got it for a mere $40. Used Coleman canoes usually sold for over $100. I was so excited when I bought my canoe on that beautiful spring day that I failed to notice the red duct tape on the lower right side near the floor. As a matter of fact, I didn't notice the duct tape until my feet were getting wet on our maiden voyage. What a...
There was an old song by Jim Stafford called Spiders and Snakes. The song is about Mary Lou, a school-age girl who is sweet on a classmate. She invites him to walk her home from school. On the way, she tells him, "I don't have to go right home, and I would kinda like to be alone some, long as you would." The young man answered, "Me too." So, they took a stroll and wound up down by a swimming hole; she wanted to get romantic. But in his adolescent awkwardness, the school boy finds a frog in the...
I was on my way to northern California, pulling a Scamp trailer. It was late, around midnight, and I was in the middle of nowhere Nevada when the state trooper turned on his lights to pull me over. I wasn't speeding, so I had no idea why I was being stopped. I greeted him, "Good evening. I usually know why I'm getting pulled over, but I have no idea tonight." The officer laughed, then said, "You don't have any lights on the trailer." "Really?" I was surprised. "I just had the wiring on the car...
I was in Bloomfield, Iowa, when I first saw one; I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. I turned my car around to make sure I saw what I thought I had seen. A pet wash? Yep, right there on Highway 63, just a short distance from the downtown square. Since then, I've seen many others, and I'd shake my head each time. "Why? Why not just bathe your dog at home. Good grief." I suppose for the same reason, most people don't wash their cars at home anymore. The car wash is more convenient. S...
I stopped at McDonald's for a cup of coffee. I sat on the end of the long bench seat, a continuous bench that runs along a wall with several individual tables in front of it. A man standing in line waiting for his meal wore a T-shirt bearing the famous green and blue Seattle Seahawks logo. But his bird wore a sombrero, and the caption read "Si-Hawks." Finding it quite humorous, I commented on the shirt. I told him I was a die-hard Broncos fan, then asked, "Why is it that when the Seahawks were...
"I could eat five tons of these," my granddaughter Addison boasted. "They are so good." I challenged her claim. "Five tons is a lot. Are you sure you could eat that many?" She grabbed a few more. "Over twenty-one days," Addison said nonchalantly. Then she smiled and walked away, returning to the container a few minutes later. What could be so delicious? Pie chips. Now, you may not remember them as pie chips, which is a name I gave them, but I'll bet you've had them before. Maybe your mom or... Full story
My wife and I take a trip each year on our anniversary, but we don't call it an anniversary trip; we call it another honeymoon; this year's trip will be a doozy, but there will be more on that in another story. When traveling like this, we prefer historic accommodations over modern motels. One of the flats Melissa rented for this trip is in a historic building overlooking beautiful sites around the city. She showed me the photos online. "Beautiful," I agreed. "But there is one thing I have to...
It doesn’t matter if it’s your kid or not; nothing will get your attention faster than a young child who screams, especially if it sounds like they are hurt or in danger. My daughter Delaney and I share adjacent birthdays; hers is November 14th, and mine is the 15th. When she was about four, I took her to a Denver Broncos football game to celebrate our birthdays together, just the two of us. I’m not a huge fan of stadium food; however, I’ll admit that I like their overly salty hotdogs on a pl...
My dad was a tad over six feet tall, while Mom barely hit five feet. Most of my sisters have Mom's short gene, and none of the boys hit six feet, but in my family, the brothers are taller than my sisters. At 5' 8", I'm not really short, but I'm not tall either. I guess I'm just right. In our house, it was common to hear Mom ask, "Can you get that down for me?" She was referring to something too high to reach in a cabinet. The boys were always happy to help; the girls had the same issue Mom did....
A school teacher, Carole Olsen, was in charge of religious education at Saint Mary’s church in Ottumwa. “You should be teaching a CCD class,” she told me. I was in my early twenties; I was not a teacher and knew nothing about teaching, so I told her no, but Carole didn’t give up. “You don’t need a degree in education to be a teacher,” she said. “A teacher is someone from whom others learn. A degree just lets you get paid for teaching in the public schools.” “I wouldn’t know how to go about...
Back in my radio days, our station had the best DJ service around. We played all types of events: school dances, class reunions, company parties, birthday parties, and anniversaries. The most common gigs we played were wedding receptions. Before the wedding, I always met with the couple to discuss what songs they wanted played for special dances, such as the bride and groom, father and bride, and groom and his mother's dance, and maybe a few requests they would like played throughout the...
As my wife and I travel about the country, we notice the annual jacking up of gasoline prices coincides with the coming of Memorial Day weekend, the kick-off to the summer travel season. Every year, the big oil companies have another excuse for raising gasoline prices: a natural disaster somewhere in the world, foreign issues, government problems, OPEC raising the barrel price of crude oil, OPEC lowering the price of crude oil, causing a rise in gasoline prices, or fewer swallows returning to...
People get excited for Memorial Day weekend. In just a few days, the schools will be out for the summer, traditionally kickstarting the summer vacation, camping, and picnic seasons. I love a picnic. I remember picnics with my family when I was a small child. Mom was a great cook who could make something out of nothing when there was "nothing to eat in this house." She also packed a delicious picnic. Sometimes, our picnics featured hotdogs and hamburgers on a park grill-an old-fashioned grill...
In the early 1970s, young people across America, mostly college students, took a liking to streaking, the act of running naked in public wearing only sneakers and a smile. They thought they'd started something new, butt not so! (Pun intended.) After some research, I learned that George William Crump, a senior at Washington College, was arrested in 1804 for running naked through Lexington, Virginia, where the college was located. In 1799, a man was arrested for streaking through the Mansion...
I have wonderful neighbors. One is a retired machinist, which comes in handy for me. Being able to tap into his expertise has often times helped me. He is talented in many ways, including having the best garden along the north shore - maybe all of Minnesota! He’s a giving man, Melissa and I benefit from his bountiful harvest every summer and fall. Gene is a Finlander, through and through, and mighty proud of it; he’s also a great storyteller with a charming accent. I love listening to him share...
Libraries are much more than books. I use our library fairly often to research things online because it doesn't have the distractions I have at home. For example, at the library, I've never had a cat (Edgar Allan) walk across my keyboard, typing random gibberish while I went for a drink of water. The ladies at the Silver Bay Public Library are great! Shannon, Eileen, Julia, and Tracy have helped me a lot over the years, especially with printing and technical issues. (I'm not the kind of guy who...
With a wife and three daughters, I have been asked occasionally to go to the store to pick up some items that may not be - well, obviously are not, for me. Some manly men friends tell me they would never pick these items up at the store for anybody, for any reason. I don't believe them. These are the same guys who embellish the size of the fish that got away, the gas mileage of their pickup with the monstrous mud tires and big V-8 motor, the deal they got on their riding lawn mower, and claim th...
We bought our house in Minnesota almost 10 years ago. Planning to do a complete remodel, I gutted every room in the house. Naturally, while they were open, I tried to think of everything that should go inside the walls. I ran new plumbing, wiring, and ducts for the heat, air conditioning, and exhaust fans. We ran cable for TV and USB ports in nearly every room. I even remembered running a cable to hardwire the smoke detectors and a waterline for the ice maker in the refrigerator. I thought I’d t...
The first flat tire I changed was on my sister Barbara's car. We worked at the Runway Café in Ottumwa, Iowa; Barb was the manager, and I worked for her. Barb was going to run into the bank to get change. It was cold outside, so she started her car and let it warm up. She came back inside with a frustrated look on her face. "My car has a flat tire," she said. "Can you go change it for me?" I was only 15 years old at the time. "I've never changed a flat tire, but I've seen it done before," I said....
Just the other day, while walking through Walmart, I noticed their Easter supplies were marked way down. I stopped to glance at the selection. I noticed the PAAS egg coloring kits. Wow, I remember those from when I was a kid. I wondered how long they've been making those. As I kid, I thought PAAS egg coloring dye tablets were made from Crayola Crayons. As an adult I know the tablets are not chunks of crayons, but I wondered if they were made by the same company; it seems logical since both produ... Full story
My daughter drove a small Chevy Cobalt during high school. One day, she drove my full-size Ford pickup southbound on Church Street. She felt crowded by a car in the center lane, so naturally, she moved to the right to avoid any contact. Unfortunately, she was not accustomed to driving the larger vehicle and moved a little too far to the right; the mirror of my truck connected with a parked vehicle's mirror. Since my truck was moving forward, it simply collapsed my mirror, folding it closed. The...