Dakota Today

*** A few words and phrases for today

Cape, tops, orate, irate, reran, terra, ant, coaster, Lay Down, yen, spurn, acts, Lee, cur, spat, Satan, pen, go to sea, longing, has areel, users, tired, Torte, asks, Tsos.

Not much new here.  Cold and more cold with a fraction of an inch snow this morning atop all the snow from last week, none of which has melted.

If I don't get around to more humbug here in the next few days, Happy New Year.

***Stay tuned for more weather falling out of global warming anomalys.--- Doug Wiken

***Christmas Greeting 2017

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Douglas and Wanda Wiken

Click on image for a larger version.  Obvious that I buy too much stuff at Shopko.

*** Stay tuned, I am working on a post concerning the proposed new Platte-Winner Bridge -- Doug Wiken

 

***Snow ..a couple inches plastered everything

On the first day time went back to standard time, we woke up to a wet frozen snow that stuck to windshields, doors and the rest of the car.  Started it up until the defrosters started working and that layer could be slid off.  That was enough "winter" before official winter arrived, but this morning we saw two more inches of snow, but this time it was fluffy and swept off relatively easily.

Streets and highways were another thing in the early morning however.  County and State had spread some sand and salt but that left a few inches of slush.  Every time we met a vehicle, we had to run the windshield washer to see ahead.  Then on the road were idiots driving with lights off and only a little hole of snow off the windshield.  None of the snow brushed off.  They were like camouflaged snow drifts blending into all the other whiteness.  Anyway, by this afternoon the county had the slush of the highway north of Winner.  So traffic was back to "normal".  I was driving right at speed limit or a bit more or less when I was passed like I was standing still.  Anyway, below is a photo of snow on cars this morning.

This snow brushed more or less right off with no difficulty.  The frozen stuff the day before was a whole 'nother can of worms however.

***Stay tuned for hopefully cheerier news...not too likely with Trump still in White House--- Doug Wiken

Obituary Pearle Mae (Dunkak) Janas Dec 7, 1925- Oct 11, 2017

My wife's sister Carol Jean, is deceased, but for years she was married to Gary Janas formerly of Gregory, SD.  Recently Gary's mother died.  I have her obituary posted at  Dakota Today Notebook Obituary Page .  Her funeral will be tomorrow in Gregory, SD --Monday, October 16   10:30 AM  United Methodist Church  506 Church Ave Gregory, SD 57533.  Our condolences to Gary Janas and the other friends and relatives of Pearle.  Source Koterba Funeral Home Gregory, SD

 

**Frontline, Luther, Trump, Tetzel

Frontline is now showing a program on Martin Luther and the Catholic Church selling of "indulgences" to escape purgatory.  Such indulgences were hawked by a priest named Tetzel.  Luther denounced the con which had more to do with raising money to build church facilities that it did with the Bible.  Tetzel was taking advantage of the peasant ignorance and fear.  A reader found this link on Johann Tetzel.

Luther's thesis aimed to fix problems with the Catholic Church.  But the church underestimating him was a major mistake.  Luther advocated free public education so everybody, including women, could read the Bible which he believed should be translated from Latin into local languages.  Not all those educated today read the Bible, but our whole society benefits greatly from the ideas of Martin Luther.

Now in an area having nearly nothing to with religion, Donald Trump has entered the world of politics and government.  It seems to me that Trump has much in common with the despised priest Tetzel.  Trump and his apostles are selling one false dogma after another.  Trickle-down economics, absurd tax proposals, etc.  He has suckered far too many people with his lies and distortions and false promises.

Perhaps this is one of those times when ignorance of the past dooms the US to molder in the same old disasters of the past.  

****Stay tuned but watch Frontline

 

***Photo of solar eclipse August 21, 2017 near Winner, SD by Jacob Clay

I had no luck getting a photo of the eclipse in Winner, SD.  The weather was dark enough here because of black storm clouds that some people thought the eclipse had happened at 10 AM.  I guess it was closer to noon, but because of clouds I never saw it let alone photographed it.

Today, I talked to Jeremy Clay at Winner Farmers Union Insurance office.  He gave me a copy of the photo his son Jacob Clay took yesterday with a cellphone.   I think it was taken near Colome which was apparently not quite as clouded up as was Winner.  In any case, below is a somewhat cropped copy of his image.

I have the Welding glass for a helmet in the right combination for my camera, but nothing could I find that would be relevant to the Solar Eclipse.  I guess the Winner Advocate may be here this afternoon.  Maybe somebody else got a photo.  Some days in the area, the difference between a good photo and a mediocre or uninteresting photo is just a matter of minutes as the light changes.  Anyway, hope you enjoyed this view of a little history in the Winner area even if I did not take the photo.

*** Stay tuned, maybe I will have better luck with a camera in the future.  In the meantime, Thanks to Jacob Clay---- Doug Wiken

***American as school in the Fall...or maybe not

Nearly every store of any kind is having "school" sales.  Backpacks, notepads, erasers, pencil boxes and pencils.  Good old black lead wood pencils and then some Crayola  (Division of Hallmark) brand colored pencils.  I use them to color in some enlargements of cartoons I find amusing or informative.  Today I looked at the fine type on the Crayola colored pencils.  I was a bit surprised.

Some good propaganda about reusing tons of plastic and how solar panels provide all the energy to make one billion crayons and a half billion markers "in the USA" each year.   But, in the really, really fine print is this "Made in Vietnam".  That got me wondering if the solar power being used was in Vietnam or in the US.  I don't really know, but it is a bit discouraging when plain old pencils churned out be the billion can not be made right here in the USA...especially when most of them will be sold to parents of American school kids.

*** Stay tuned even if you ALWAYS know what is on every label of every product--- Doug Wiken

 

 

*** Binders and bundles. . g history

 I woke up this morning  thinking about childhood days shocking grain that had been cut and bundled by a farm machine  I could not remember "binder" for anything.  Did a  Google search for "machine to make grain bundles.  That turned up a very interesting link with a pdf of  McCormick  1903 grain, hay and forgage machines. Sure enough, images of several of the old machines my father was still using.  One other memory from those days.   We had oat bundles shocked in the field.   Dad hired a  90 year old neighbor who knew how to stack bundles.  Jens Peter Jensen got it done as if he were a 30 year old.   Anyway, below is a link to the old machinery which will probably still work today if anybody held onto the antiques.

  University of Nebraska Digital Ag History 1903 McCormick Advertising Brochure     (Scroll down to get to the brochure. )    

 So much for old memories. At first I did not know how to save the ad brochure, but it is easy.  Right click on the brochure and select "download page".  It is fulltext.pdf and has about 35 pages.  Just takes seconds to download.  Worth having if you are at all interested in old farm equipment or had the misfortune of riding on the back of a binder or dump rake originally made to be pulled by horses.

****Stay tuned even if the information probably preceded the invention of radio--- Doug Wiken

                                      

*** Northwest Wood Turning ...Executive Desk Toys

I had a pleasant surprise a few days ago.  I got a package in the mail from a friend with a couple small surprises inside.  Chuck Noble is a retired Boeing engineer and usually returns to hometown Winner, SD every summer to the farm where high quality hay is raised.  He now spends more time with his wood-turning hobby after retirement from Boeing.  He does wood turning.  He made use of wood from an apple tree that died in his yard and made some small tops he calls executive desk toys.  Below is an image of a couple of the tops with a US Quarter included to give an idea of the size.

I slapped the text over the image and covered about half of the quarter.  The text includes: Chuck Noble, Bellevue, Washington. Northwest Woodturner.  Phone (425) 747-7092.  E-mail:  [email protected].

I have played a bit with them and noticed the coloring and the pattern in the paint.  I hope you can see that in the image.  He uses a technique I had never heard of before...chatter work.  The tool vibrates a bit like a tuning fork and leaves small indentations in the wood allowing the pattern in the ink or paint only on the surface and not in the indentations.

Well, if you have an executive in the family who needs a handmade toy or a youngster who wants to give a top a spin and maybe learn about rotational and maybe gyroscopic kinds of action, give Chuck a call.  I don't know what he is charging however.

*** Stay tuned for less fun--- Doug Wiken

 

***Rapid Weather Change near Winner

The clouds and wind rolled through the area.  Temperature dropped from around 107F down to 76F in a couple hours.  Wind was blowing 31mph and gusting toward 50.  Shook this big old farm house.  Rain came down in sheets for a few minutes, but apparently only about 0.06 inches.   Sky still looks rough off to the south and there was a brief partial rainbow.  First one of those I have seen for a few months.  More details at National Weather Wyly Field Winner, SD.

Below is an image of the rainbow.  Contrast has been increased.  Click on image for larger view.

Glad we got a little moisture with probably little damage from wind in immediate area.

***Stay tuned for perhaps something on the worthless Trump Administration--- Doug Wiken