The biggest snowstorm of the season hit on Tuesday, February 28, and continued on through Leap Year Day, February 29, depositing about 11 inches of snow on Rutland and vicinity, according to the U. S. Weather Bureau. The snow was wet and heavy, and moving it was like shoveling wet cement. Most roads were opened by Wednesday evening, but, as usual, Mother Nature was not content with leaving the snow where it had fallen, and proceeded to rearrange it with a strong northwest wind on Friday. The blowing snow stuck to sun-warmed highways, making driving a hazardous undertaking on many roads. Another 3 inches of snow fell on Sunday morning, giving the area well over a foot of snow for the week, and the most winter weather we have seen all winter.
Daylight Savings Time resumes at 2:00 a.m.on Sunday, March 10, so can spring be far behind? Daylight Savings Time used to be the rule from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, but it now covers 8 months of the year, leaving only 4 months for Central Standard Time, and that makes some folks wonder why it is still called Standard Time since it is no longer standard. Also, some are wondering what is happening to all of the daylight that is supposedly saved during the 8 months from early March to mid-November. Saving daylight, it seems, is much like saving time. Despite the label, and despite good intentions, there is exactly the same amount of daylight and the same amount of time as there has always been, no matter how much effort is devoted to “saving” it. We do like to fool ourselves, though, and “Saving Daylight,” is a good example of the human capacity for self-deception. Anyway, don’t forget to turn your clocks and watches ahead an hour at2:00 o’clockon Sunday morning, or you’ll be walking into church when everyone else is walking out.
Despite wind, snow and slippery roads, the Rutland Sportsmen’s Club’s annual Fish Fry on Friday, March 2 drew a full house to the Rutland Town Hall. Five hundred three of 550 ticket holders made it to town and turned in their dinner tickets at the door of the RutlandTown Hall, reports Greg Donaldson. Sportsmen’s Club secretary/treasurer Travis Paeper reports that the raffle winners were: Gwinner native Chris Johnson, now a Bismarck resident – $100.00 cash; Brett Anderson of Forman – 10X50 Leupold binoculars; and, Matt McLaen of Forman – Apple I-Pad. Proceeds of the door prize raffle went to the Rutland-Cayuga Volunteer Firemen for equipment modernization. Once again the competition between the deep fried and pan fried fillets was fierce, with the deep fried fish taking an early lead as the favorite of the diners, but with the pan fried closing the gap by the end of the evening. The competition will resume on the first Friday in March 2013, so don’t miss it. Read More »
The Rooster Crows – March 23, 2012
Springtime came early to the prairie in 2012. With Winter still officially controlling the calendar, the Dakota plains has been basking in sunshine and warm temperatures more reminiscent of June than mid-March. The mercury hit 75 on Saturday, March 17, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and topped 80 on Sunday, March 18. Those local farmers who still plant wheat have been out checking fields, looking for the right place to start, and a few have pulled tillage and planting equipment out to the field, just to get the neighbors excited. If current conditions hold, or even drop back to normal for this time of year, look for planting to be under way before the end of the week.
Water was over County #10 north of Rutland last week, not because of this Spring’s snowmelt, but due to last year’s high water. A 10 inch tile that Rutland Township installed last Fall has allowed water to run out of Consolidated Lake, formerly known as Bill Erickson’s Slough, all Winter. It took most of the Winter for the water to make the journey from the middle of Rutland Township to the Wild Rice River just west of Cayuga, filling up every pothole in its path in the process, but Kurt Breker reports that it started running into the creek a couple of weeks ago. The water level north of Rutland had dropped enough so that the pavement was dry by mid-week, but it is expected that the water will continue to run for some time to come. The 10 inch pipe allows about 1 million gallons a day to drain out of consolidated Lake, a rate that could drop its level by a foot over the next 3 to 4 months, if no additional water ran into the Lake. At this time, though, water is still draining into Consolidated from the south and west, so don’t look to be hunting pheasants on the bottom any time soon. The Lake, which is now 20 to 30 feet deep in places, was a cattail slough that held a little water in the Spring and was dry by Fall from the 1930’s through the 1980’s, but filled up in the early 90’s and has been rising steadily ever since. In 2011 it finally ran over, connecting to another large slough to the east, and began its run to the Wild Rice.
All roads led to Rutland on Friday, March 16, for the annual Rutland Community Club supper and play. All 120 reserved seat dinner tickets were sold in advance, and those who only wished to see the performance purchased their tickets at the door to complete the standing room only crowd that filled the Rutland Town Hall to overflowing. Beginning at 6:00 p.m. diners enjoyed a fried chicken dinner prepared by members of the Rutland Community Club, headed up by Delores Lysne and Bert Siemieniewski. Following the supper, the curtain went up on the annual Rutland Community Club play, a musical entitled, “Lucky Dollar – Private Eye.” Read More »