the night before payday.
----------------------
The current temperature is 53 degrees.
Yesterdays H/L temperature was 65/38
Normal H/L temp for this date is 64/38
It was 92 on this date in 1959 but by that time the glaciers were
already gone.
==============================
"Profanity makes ignorance audible."
==============================
L O C A L news & stuff,.. mostly stuff.
------------------------
Yesterday, I made my first trip of the year past the sugarbeet pile west
of Grafton. For some strange reason, I felt compelled to do so. Even
before I reached the site old memories started returning to me.
In general terms (Ag language) the pile didn't look all that bad.
Except for the trail groomer scraping the top layer of "less than pretty
good beets", and, the small pile of "less than fairly good beets" and
Kringstads sump-pumper sucking up a puddle of dark colored fluid topped
with foam, it didn't look to bad.
However, it would be disingenuous if I didn't admit thinking about some
of the "suggestions" I heard, and overheard, so many times last fall
when the decision was made to leave some of the crop in the field.
"Why 'THEY' should take 'em all and worry about discarding them in the
spring", I heard. "It's stupid to leave perfectly good beets in the
field", I heard. "You can sure tell the 'dummies' that made this
decision doesn't have to pay the bills" I heard. Then of course, there's
the one that really got my fruit-of-the-loomes in a bunch,... "Why in
hell,... just because we lost our butt (I cleaned that up a bit for the
clergy) in 81, doesn't mean it's gonna happen again this year."
Am I ever happy that the folks that made comments like those above in
1981 and again during the fall of 2006, didn't get their way, this time.
During one of the very first presentations I ever heard Al Bloomquist
make shortly after the formation of the co-operative, he said.
"Gentlemen, it's time to take the WE and THEY out of the Sugarbeet
business in the Red River Valley. It's time WE band together, as grower
owners, making this the best sugarbeet company in the country.
Thanks Al, American Crystal Sugar Company has in fact become the
largest sugarbeet company in the US, and, for the most part, the WE and
THEY has, in fact, diminished significantly. It's seems, to me at least,
THEY only show their belligerent ways when things start getting really
tough and WE don't know what to do.
Gosh I'm glad, after visiting the Grafton piling site yesterday, that
THEY knew what THEY were doing last fall. When THEY told us, WE needed
to leave a part of the crop in the field.
Or, so it seems to me.
-------------------------
Erick sent the following. Gary,
After reading about Wal-Mart and Grafton for several days in various
media, I did a little digging.
This read a 10 year study on Wal-Mart's effect on small towns in Iowa.
It shows both pro and con, as well as strategies for existing businesses
in a new Wal-Mart town. I guess to me, the report shows that it is the
communities around the Wal-Mart town that show greater change than the
Wal-Mart community itself. I know as an example, that even though My
Alltel phones and accessories as well as my office supplies are priced
below everyone in Grand Forks, I lose out on some sales because Grand
Forks is a "shopping destination" and it may be an impulse buy brought
on by the barrage of marketing of a bigger town. Perhaps a Wal-Mart
would be a great attraction. It may make Grafton more of a weekend
destination. It would certainly increase traffic. I could see many
businesses in town benefiting from it....sort of that "as long as we are
here, we might as well check out....." train of thought.....especially
for specialty businesses. I know in Oslo, we benefited greatly from
having both the huge assortment of furniture at Landowski's, as well as
Dahlstrom's. People would make Oslo a weekend destination to check out
Landowski's million dollar inventory of furniture, and while they were
there, most of them checked out vehicles at Dahlstroms and vice versa.
At this point, I am neither for, nor against it, but I can definitely
see some positives and not just the negatives that are easy to come up
with. I think in a town this size; we would still have our loyal
customers and regulars that would support their friends and neighbors. I
think we also have to remember that large "discount" stores are some
times higher priced on certain items and a lot of times cannot and will
not stock certain items. I know if I walk into True Value or Golden
Harvest (as examples), I can find some unique and reasonably priced
higher quality alternatives that few of the box stores would offer. It
is an interesting argument either way, and if the decision is made to
build one here, all the business owners can do is to educate themselves
on pricing, merchandising, and marketing strategies and perhaps offer
specials in conjunction with one another. These along with a trained and
helpful staff make a world of difference.
Thanks Erick <<< Thanks a million for caring and sharing Erick. I
probably should add that the Landowski's Fabulous Furniture Store has
since moved from Oslo to Grafton. And, they will not only bend over
backwards to serve their customers. They'll turn cartwheels if you ask
them to.
We have all made excuses to shop in the big cities. It's time we start
making excuses to shop at home.
-------------------------
Speaking of shopping at home. It was decided, in our house, that we
were in serious "need" of a specific item. Unfortunately, we were unable
to find it in Grafton. Actually, we even agreed that maybe every
business in every town shouldn't even be expected to handle our
particular item of "need".
Anyway, because we do, for the most part, make a serious effort to shop
locally. We (actually Pat) called Waynes Variety Store in Park River and
wouldn't you know it. Waynes had just what we "needed".
Now that I think about it. That was he very reason I ended up driving
by the sugarbeet pile west of Grafton in the first place.
As a matter of fact, there is a good possibility that the item we
"needed" couldn't be found at Wal-Marts either.
------------------------
I must admit, if I had only eaten the things I should have all my
life. I quite likely wouldn't need to be eating all the medications I do
now. Anyway, this one comes from Denise. She wrote >>> I was reading
your note about the Country Smokehouse and wanted to add my 2 cents.
(There is no bias here.... Dave is only my brother-in-law!). Did you
know that meat (livestock/chicken) that has been raised with antibiotics
can cause the human who consumes it to have antibiotic resistance? That
is pretty serious when you think about how many times in your lifetime
you will need antibiotics. So, in an effort to keep your subscribers
healthy, look for meats that have been raised WITHOUT antibiotics
(whether it be the Smokehouse or not). It's good for your health! Denise
<<< Thanks a million for caring and sharing Denise. Now,.. if I could
could just find someone willing take them dad-burn shots for me.
==============================
GOTTA - GO - WORK - ON - MY - DASH
==============================
Write if you can, call if you can't, and, tell your loved ones they are,
before it's too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment