Got Opinions?

Farm chores can yield surprises

We had a surprise in our barn this morning.

Our son’s two ewe’s spent last fall at another farm for breeding. The first ewe had a baby in late January. We figured that by now, with no sign of a birth, the second ewe wasn’t pregnant.

She delivered her little female lamb this morning and as with any new birth, we’re praying she makes it. Sheep can be pretty fragile sometimes.

We haven’t named her yet but since she arrived on tax day, maybe we should call her Income. Or since she was unexpected, we could name her Surprise. We’ll think about it. Perhaps there are better choices out there.

(In case you wonder, the average gestation for a ewe is 147 days or about 21 weeks.)

Here’s the new girl in the barn with her mama.

Progression of a tree branch in an ice storm

I took a photo of the same branch three days in the row mostly because the branch bonked me in the forehead.  While usually a twig, it had grown massively with ice and hung lower than I expected. Anyway, it got my attention.

So here’s the first shot when the ice was so thick.

And then it snowed.

But today, there is hope. It’s even hard to recognize the branch as the same one.

Why then does it feel like winter is having a do-over?

Country living hasn’t been so bad

Usually, with a major ice and snow storm, country life grinds to a halt.

Power is dicey. Snow-covered roads blend into ditches. Wind howls. We sit. And wait for people to clear the roads and restore normalcy to our way of life.

But with this storm, I feel lucky.

I think Sioux Falls has it worse. It seems like every single resident has had some major problem with either trees or power or ice.

That’s not to say that plenty of my neighbors in the rural areas suffered in the cold and dark without power. But my link to Sioux Valley Energy was broken only once or twice for a few minutes to an hour. And I made it to work in Sioux Falls every day.

I think I know the secret: This winter, my husband bought a gigantic generator that when hooked up is wired right into our house, just in case of a power outage. I said the expense was something we really didn’t need.

Who’s right? For now at least.

City’s tree losses weigh us down

As a young girl, my cousins and I turned a tree in my Grandma’s front yard into a horse, a house and a place to hang out.

“Climb Tree” we christened it and we spent hours being goofy and bonding as family in that tree. When it wasn’t that tree, we attacked her weeping willow like apes, gathering branches in our arms and swinging back and forth, until a sane adult scolded us that we would break the tree.

Both trees are gone from my grandparent’s former yard but the memories of our play stick with me.

Trees are a big deal in a prairie state like ours, where most have been planted by someone since we weren’t blessed with a natural wealth of trees. They say you plant tress for the next generation because that’s who will enjoy their maturity and shade.

At my acreage, we’ve planted dozens, including a tree for each of our three children when they were born. Planting trees represents our belief and hopes in the future.

The coolest tree by far on our more than 100-year-old place is a towering pine that points 40 or more feet into the air. During this storm the ice pelted and stuck to one side of the tree in particular and it started to sag to the ground with branches almost sweeping the snow below. Normally, the tree is a canopy to sit or walk under.

So far, we haven’t lost our tree. But most people in Sioux Falls have lost one or two or dozens of trees. Along the Russell Street boulevard, every single tree has a significant branch snapped off. There are countless examples of that throughout the city.

The ice storm has attacked and damaged the city’s trees far more harshly than any summer thunderstorm in years. Branches in some cases are encased in an inch of ice, weighing them down with the weight of the world or at least the shared sorrow over the city’s fallen trees.

When the ice melts and the branches and limbs and even trunks are cleaned up, it’s going to be time to plant some new trees.

We want to hear your tree stories. Did you lose a favorite tower in your yard, an autumn maple that provided a show each fall or a special tree planted in memory of someone? Share your stories and thoughts on our Argus Leader Facebook page or email me at bschmidt@argusleader.com.

Ice storm has flip side

Nothing like an old-fashioned ice storm to make you feel lucky.

Stick with me on this. I’m sick of winter like everyone else but with an April 9 storm, it’s like a last hurrah before winter says goodnight until late fall.

So to celebrate, there is a party today, complete with …

drunken trees taking it into the streets,

decorations on everything,

absolutely everything.

Seriously, just because I woke up during a power outage, couldn’t open my iced-shut front door, drove on crappy roads and had to cross the street at 10th and Minnesota without the help of a traffic light, it’s not the end of the world. And that’s something to keep in perspective.

Snow, mosquitoes don’t mix in April

One of the best press releases arrived today in advance of a pending winter storm.

The state Department of Heath had planned a mosquito control and West Nile Virus conference for Tuesday in Pierre. But organizers had to cancel it because in many places, the snow plow driver runs the mosquito control equipment, too.

Since it appears that places in the state could get between an inch and a billion inches of snow in the next couple days, those snow plow drivers will be busy.

So it goes in a state where some school superintendents also are activities directors, coaches and bus drivers.

You get the idea. We wear lots of different hats here. It’s just more difficult when you still have a stocking cap on.

Looking for an alternate route to work

They’re setting up the orange construction cones on Russell Street for road work next week.

There also is work planned for the Interstate 29 and 90 exchange where they will take traffic down to one lane each way at some point.

I’m not sure what all of that means other than both projects are along my direct route to work. Oh, and I can’t take an alternate route through Baltic and south on Highway 115 because the bridge is out at Baltic.

I’m thinking Monday might start out awfully slow.

Sioux Falls schools asking for higher taxes

The Sioux Falls School District wants to raise taxes 5.5.percent — the first significant hike in years — in order to pay for its reading program, computers for each child and better salaries.

The district released the numbers this week and plans to have the school board vote on it Monday night. For the owner of a $150,000 home, the tax increase would be about $69.

In addition to paying teachers more, the district wants to give substitute teachers an 11 percent increase if the budget passes.

So what do you think? Is Sioux Falls willing to pay more for education?

Join the conversation at the Argus Leader online poll or comment on our Facebook page. Here’s the link to the poll.

 <iframe src=”http://www.proconit.com/widget/should-taxes-be-raised-55-to-pay-for-the-districts-technology-and-reading-programs” width=”454” height=”360” frameborder=”0” title=”Should taxes be raised 5.5% to pay for the district’s technology and reading programs? - Yes, because:  - No, because:”></iframe>

It’s ok to dream, I guess

We have a non-working, bucket of rust at our house.

But the Chevy pickup truck is collectible, I’m told. And the efforts to fix it up has provided enough material to qualify for a reality TV show.

When the guys rescued this metal from some weeds and paid money for it recently, it was a dream come true for a 14-year-old. For me, it defined crazy.

So far there have been some father-son bonding over it, a small amount of shouting and a realization that this is not just a one weekend project.

All good lessons that maybe justify the cost of a collectible truck.

Signs of slow spring: Field work barely starting

Like seeing the first robin of the season, I got excited today when I saw spring field work starting on my neighbor’s land.

The two guys out there are wearing winter gear and there’s still snow in the ditch, obviously. But it’s a start.

An Associated Press this week on crop conditions, said below normal temperatures across South Dakota have meant that snow is not melting and soil temperatures still are below freezing. Even in Minnehaha County, where there really wasn’t much snow this winter, that’s the case.

The weekly crop report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers and ranchers have had 1.7 days suitable for field work and that mostly meant applying fertilizer.

I wonder if vegetable farmers were able to get their potatoes in by Good Friday? Probably not in many areas since it wouldn’t make sense to shovel snow to get to the garden.