25,000 visits

Shortly before midnight last night, someone made visit No. 25,000 to this site.
We're delighted to have the roughly 75 visits here each day, but we're sorry when we don't have something interesting for you to see when you get here.
To that end, please send something interesting about yourself sometime. We try to make this blog be about others as much as possible, but it is difficult when people are as shy as Norwegian bachelor farmers.
We know its hard to brag, but that's okay. We'll post your goof-ups too.
Thanks again for the visits.
The management.

http://korkowskifamily.blogspot.com

The latest entry into the blogsphere shows great promise. It's the Korkowski family blog, the brainchild of Stan's classmate, Bev Roers, who recently became Linda Letnes' Blaine area walking mate and lunch pal. Bev married into the Korkowski clan.

Al and Ruby Korkowski were surrogate parents for Stan (and sometimes Sosie) during his preschool years. They're gone now, but their Brandon area relations thrive throughout the country. This blog intends to bind them more closely and it will be fun to watch.

Here's a sample of a Korkowski farm wife's lament:

". . . I guess it was more of a job than one would think, because when I came home from work, there was a stand-up pair of pants full of cow doookie ( not to be confused with cowpie cookies) on the rug by the bed. A reminder to me of what I won't miss!!!! Oh, the dairy air!!!"

I don't know the writer, but she sounds just the way Ruby would talk, a couple generations ago. She teased Al a lot, and loved him very much. Al and Ruby sold off their entire dairy herd during my years with them.

We have added the new blog to the monitor list below.
Best of luck with your new blog, Korkowskis, as you use high tech to celebrate family ties.

Also below is Stan's favorite photo of his "mother," enthroned on the red hayrack. Stan and Al used it to gather bales; Stan carefully drove the red Farmall tractor in low gear from bale to bale in the stubble field as Al pitched the bales onto the rack. Once fully-loaded, Stan snuggled into Al's lap as they merrily sped off in high gear to the barn loft. Stan was four years old at the time.

When not in use, the hayrack served as a jungle gym. Its narrow doorway formed a set of parallel bars for swinging. They were happy days on the Korkowski farm.

Joey Came to Play

Our neighbor's grandson, Joey, met our granddaughter, Emily, recently for a brief playtime. They are one week apart in age and 28 months old in this video. Two fun minutes.

Autumnal Pas de Deux

Canada geese honked overhead under blue skies yesterday, gathering momentum for their southern journey. This morning heavy rains kept the ducks low. We heard booming shotguns, pulled up our covers and got a little extra fall snooze. October is a wonderful month.

(Photo by Stan Rolfsrud)

Goodbye to Grandma Blethen

Today, on a splashy October morning, the ashes of Jeanette Ritter Blethen, 94, were gently buried in a verdant Rochester, Minn., graveyard, joining little "Tinker," the five-year-old taken from her in a drowning 58 years ago.

(click to enlarge photo above)
Jeanette died March 12, 2008. She was Kathleen Rolfsrud's mother-in-law for nine short years, but the two never lost touch. Kathleen was always fond of her and the extended family she nurtured over the years.

Missy, Marcy and Jennifer Blethen loved their sweet grandmother as well. Jeanette had five grandchildren including brothers, Bobby and David Hagen, pictured with Missy, above, who were at the graveside today, along with Laurel and Vicky, their significant others. They now live in Savage and New Market, not far from Kathleen's home in Shakopee.

Jeanette adored her great-granddaughter, Emily Kathleen Blethen, who was among the celebrants today. Maxwell Harrison Tong, Marcy's son, is her only other great-grandchild.

A retired Lutheran minister conducted the open air memoriam for this devout Catholic woman. Attendees added their thoughts on her energetic, engaged, compassionate life. After the service, the assembly enjoyed lunch at Michael's in Rochester and each retold favorite stories of this beloved woman.

(All photos by Kathleen Rolfsrud - which is why she isn't in any of them.)

"Perfect Party" says birthday boy Max

Our daughter, Marcy, reports that her son's 14th Birthday Party was a success. She writes:

"The party was attended by both the "cooler" and more "creative" type boys. All the girls were very sweet. They ate Thai food, rollerskated at Rollergardens and then returned for Ice Cream Cake from the famous Izzy's Ice Cream in St. Paul.

"The drawing on the cake (right) was done by one of his best friends on a birthday card from last year and was transferred to this year's cake. (Clever, Marcy)

"The birthday boy graciously thanked his parents saying, 'It was a perfect party! Thanks, Mom; Thanks, Dad.' With hugs all around.

"It was nice to see his selection of friends and a 14-year-old that was happy. We're grateful too."

Our Grandson, Max, is 14 today

Happy Birthday, Max!

Max is enrolled in the eighth grade at Lake Country School in Minneapolis. He recently returned from an enjoyable school trip to study archeology in Colorado.

(Seems like yesterday he was splashing in our big tub on Canyon Ridge in Eden Prairie, but it was ten years ago. Here he is, almost four.)

Flare at the well head

Today we received three photographs from the oil production site on the Rolfsrud homestead near Keene. Our man on the scene, Cousin Harold, often is a man of few words. These digital photos arrived in our email box without explanation, other than it was the flare at the Rolfsrud oil well. (Click to enlarge them, they're well done, thank you Harold.)

Until we can fill in the blanks, enjoy these photos of the well head and surrounding country. The drilling rigs have moved on to other fields and we can only guess what comes next. The huge brilliant flare is burning off natural gas, which is a byproduct of the drilling process, and yes, is a waste, but there is nothing done about it until pipes can capture the resource. (Review what Harold had to say about this in the oil movie at left.)

As to the productivity of the well itself, this is typically an oil company secret until the state requires information for its tax and royalty purposes, usually six months after production begins, whenever that will be.

We don't know how much natural pressure there is here or if and when a pump will appear on the site. We note some sizeable storage tanks in the photo below that don't appear to be for soybeans. Perhaps someone will call.

Barely legal

Word has been received today from the St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland that Stan's USGA golf handicap is just under the cutoff allowed by the board to reserve a tee time there.
Stan plans to join a group of eight friends next March, playing five classic courses at the birthplace of golf, including the Jubilee and Carnoustie.
The Scots will take his money of course, but the starter does have his standards.
Phew.