October 25, 2009
Yesterday, under a sky more suited for November, volunteers cleaned up the Vermillion Community Garden. And they built a new tool shed!
Readying the plots for next year
Hammering duo
A young crew boss supervises
Cleaning up around the native flower beds
Racing the rain spatters to build the tool shed
Ad hoc lumber mill
October 18, 2009
Vermillion's newest weather station
As of yesterday, there is a new source on the Internet for real-time Vermillion, SD weather data.
The pic shows the weather station, which is located near Vermillion’s historic downtown. We’ve had it up a few days and started sending live data to Weather Underground yesterday.
Like all weather stations, it has accuracy limitations due to its physical placement. On really sunny days, the recorded temps may be slightly higher than actual air temperature. Because we couldn’t get it fully above the roofline, recorded wind speeds may be a little lower than reality.
We’re using a three-year-old La Crosse wireless weather station to collect the data.
October 11, 2009
No Vermillion parade is complete without kids grabbing candy
This weekend was Vermillion’s annual celebration of the University of South Dakota, Dakota Days. Political junkies may be amused by the varying levels of support for gubernatorial candidates, who were tucked in among the beauty queens and pirates in the Dakota Days parade.
Miss South Dakota 2009, Morgan Peck
Dennis Daugaard had the strongest show
Scott Heidepriem had a strong showing too
I’d say Heidepriem and Daugaard had about equal numbers of supporters in the parade, but Daugaard’s group made a stronger visual impression — although nobody except the children who were plastered with stickers by his supporters walked away with any idea of his last name if they didn’t already know it.
A sad showing for Scott Munsterman -- three people?
Is that Munsterman bringing up the rear? If so, there was nothing to indicate it except perhaps the banner holders looking back at him. In contrast, Daugaard and Heidepriem were each clearly identifiable as candidates walking behind their supporters because of the way they carried themselves. Heidepriem did the best job of darting into the crowd to mingle, perhaps because Vermillion is more friendly territory for a Democrat than a Republican. Daugaard took more of a royalty-waving-to-the-crowd approach.
Dave Knudson represented only by the local College Republicans
Dave Knudson didn’t have his own dedicated campaign presence in the parade. While a few College Republicans handed out his stickers to children, his campaign signs had to compete for attention on the College Republicans truck with the much larger one of Dan Lederman, a State Representative from Dakota Dunes.
Plenty of adorable kids
Did I mention that the temperature was just above freezing? First wintry day of the season.
A cold day to be a child pirate riding in an open car
More parade royalty?
Check out the blue cardboard cutout with the football
Pirates who have cut expenses by riding coolers instead of sailing ships
The student speech and language association promises, "We can fix your Arrrrs"
No, she wasn’t really showing quite that much bare skin in the cold. The midriff of the costume is tan fabric.
October 11, 2009
Pictures of last weekend’s Pumpkin Festival in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Painting a Celtic pumpkin
The finished product -- the legendary "Green Man"
Pumpkin loadin' in Rapid City
Who gave the bat signal?
Love child of the Tin Man and the Scarecrow
Halloween bison sighting
Not a tagger, "just some person"?
September 5, 2009
It was beautiful today out on the (restored) prairie.
A good day for wildflowers
Spirit Mound Prairie Trail
I tend to forget that Spirit Mound, a major landmark in these parts, is only few miles away from town. Funny, when I lived in a huge megalopolis, I had no problem driving 20 minutes nearly every day so I could hike up a somewhat larger hill. It’s easy to take natural beauty for granted here, without so much concrete and asphalt around.
Spirit Mound
No evidence of 18 inch devils today at the mound although at the nearby park a young man with a throwing disc certainly put a devilish spin on some of his tosses to his mother.
August 24, 2009
The weekend began with a local bar inviting passersby to get drunk. It ended with public sex.
Apparently college town bars in South Dakota are less afraid of a visit from the alcohol police than their counterparts in more urban states. Writing “Let’s get drunk” on sign on a bar?
Instead, I headed for the River (understood around these parts to be the Missouri).
Prairie sunflowers bloom along a quiet back channel
At Ponca State Park overlooking the Missouri River in Nebraska, there is much tent camping. But why do Midwestern state park designers think people want to camp on lawns?
If it's got a flagpole and mown grass, it's not really camping
I was vastly relieved when I saw the magic sign.
Adventure awaits!
And a path beckoning into the woods, leading to a truly private campsite.
Hiking to campsite = better, quieter sleep
The day at the River was beautiful, and the grasshoppers made love.
These insects have no shame
August 16, 2009
No chicken bingo. Yes, that’s right, the much-anticipated chicken bingo event at the Clay County Fair didn’t materialize. Others might have been sad that there were no carnival rides, but for me, heartbreak was the lack of chicken bingo. Think I’m joking? I was all set to compare South Dakota chicken bingo circa 2009 to Southern California chicken bingo circa 1970.
Never mind. There was plenty to see in the children and cattle category.
A young showman with his winning entry
The ones with pointy underbellies are steers?
The San Diego Sierra Club teaches a “Nature Knowledge” class for city people who don’t know anything about wildlife or native plants. As we move toward the day when our rural areas finally repopulate (as I believe they will, just not tomorrow), it’d be great to have a “Rural Knowledge” class with “steer? bull? heifer?” on the curriculum.
Hog heaven for some
Backstage at the beef ring
Is it me, or is the electricity shock dummy posed kind of like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever"?
So sorry I didn’t get to see the “stay away from power lines” demo. In the city, this would be a “don’t release metallic ballons near power lines” demo. I don’t think anyone expects city kids to get very near power lines and transformers.
4-H-ers are learning about alternative energy
Perhaps South Dakota’s Congresswoman needs to spend more time with the farm kids of Clay County. I’ve been told that at last week’s Midwest Rural Assembly in Sioux Falls, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin answered a question about South Dakota wind power by plugging nuclear and offshore drilling instead. Huh? Unless the cost of building new nuclear power plants becomes a fraction of what it is now or a catastrophic earthquake gives us access to an ocean, wind power looks a whole lot more likely in South Dakota. Unless the powers that be plan to stand in its way, that is.
August 14, 2009
Hedge balls (osage orange) are said to repel spiders and crickets
Natural food special?
Made with real sugar!
August 10, 2009
Went on Saturday to the Humboldt Threshing Show in the countryside near Sioux Falls. Missed most of the antique farm machinery demos, but got there in time to buy fantastic dill pickles and watch the horse pull.
The second place team
During a horse pull, a team of horses and its driver attempt to move a sled laden with heavy concrete blocks. The pull tests the team’s strength, training, and temperment. It can be dangerous.
Another contender - with a representative bystander
The winning team pulled more than 4,000 pounds
Better shot of the young woman who drove the winning team
A driver and his team await their next chance to pull
A well-deserved rest after the show
A machine from the old days
Some of South Dakota's immense sea of corn
P.S. I’ve finally figured out how to describe the size and population of South Dakota to west coasters. Here it is: South Dakota is about half the size of California, with the population of greater Bakersfield.
August 9, 2009
Vermillion, South Dakota is turning 150 years old and held a parade to celebrate.
Parades are better than Halloween. The candy comes to you
The dentists handing out toothbrushes came by later
How come I have to ride in this wagon and those kids get candy?
How the world sees South Dakota
How the world sees South Dakota, part 2
News boys and fire trucks
Run for your lives! The tractors are coming!
Yep, there were horses
The local Scouts lead the parade
It's not a small-town parade without the high school band
The Dept of Transportation pays its regards
University of South Dakota represented by its athletics department
It's all over when you see the street sweeper
