Our Magic Circle

This holiday season I did it! I went into every store in town and found gifts for everyone on my gift list. I did not want to support Amazon, Walmart or any other big on-line business. I love to touch and see my gifts. Can't do that on-line. Secondly, I want the money I spend to support my community. I want those who live and work here to help their kids attend school. I want them to pay the city taxes that pay for everything we all use. I want the businesses to be able to support our local charities, such as our Boys and Girls Club, our museum, Mammoth Site, nursing home, food shelf, etc.

I published an editorial in our home town paper titled "The Magic Circle." Briefly I said if I spend money at a local restaurant, that person goes to another business to make a purchase. Later someone in the business eats at that restaurant. What goes around, comes around. I'm not sure how many will take heed. I know some want the packages dropped at their front door. They don't want to bother to go into our local stores, browse, touch, admire and maybe, just maybe, find a thoughtful gift for someone they love. Even if it is not the perfect gift, the purchase helps those who live among us and who spend some of their money in our town.

We are losing the small stores in our country and in the malls. They are disappearing to the on-line businesses. On-line is convenient, especially for those who cannot get to the stores to see the merchandise first-hand and examine it closely. I use it occasionally when I cannot find an item locally. On-line is convenient and easy, but for the most part, while I am able, I will struggle through the wet snow and sloppy streets to browse and enjoy visiting with those who are our neighbors and who spend their lives trying to share with us and make a living for themselves.

I do not want the small businesses to have to fold up and leave deserted store fronts. I do not want the malls to disappear from the city suburbs. It was a way of life that I long enjoyed when I lived in the Twin Cities, but for now, retired in a rural town, I will forgo convenience of the Internet in the hopes that the small stores will, perhaps with a struggle, remain to brighten the quiet streets of our peaceful community in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Here's to the small business owners everywhere. Long may they reign!

December in Hot Springs

Lights, lights, everywhere. In fact, it was so bright that one night as I was driving home from a meeting I was stopped by the police. "Was I going to slow?" I wondered.

I rolled down my window. "Sorry, officer. I did not see your lights until the truck flashed his lights at me."

"The reason he flashed his lights is because you were driving without your lights, "the officer told me.

No lights! I never noticed. I was too busy admiring the brightly lit store fronts and electric poles along River Street. I guess I saw no need to add my lights to the mix.

It is another December in our small town. We had a Christmas parade, concert and a cookie cruise. The town was filled with people watching, eating, shopping. Earlier in the day we had a meeting with folks of every political persuasion. All were gathered to listen to a common concern, "save our water." It is a good feeling to see those of opposing views on many issues be in agreement on protecting our water from contaminated dumping in our garbage sites and from fracking into our aquifers.

In the midst of the festivities we attended two meetings about and by the EIS regarding the on-going battle to save our VA. The battle continues but is somewhat on hold during the celebratory month of December. There is still some quiet planning on the side, but most of the room in our lives centers around the music and lights of the Christmas season.

Our local artisans have a holiday marketplace each December showing off their hand-crafted items, from homemade jams and jewelry to quilts, dolls and scarves and mittens. Admission into the market is a donation to our local food shelf. There are booths to visit, friends to greet, food to eat, charities selling goodies, music, sleigh rides and, of course, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.

Then there is a  Christmas play directed by a local writer and director and acted by local talent, both young and old. On and on it goes. The community is filled with the holiday spirit of sharing and giving. It is a feeling of warmth and few "bah, humbugs."

It is our sanctuary, for a time, a place of forgetting the stresses of much of the rest of the world. We have our spot of serenity. It is not that we are unaware of the tragedies unfolding each day. The news follows us, but for some time, during the month of December, we can forget for a while and enjoy the tranquility, friendliness and lights that brighten the early darkness of the season.

It is a time of renewal and hope. The shining lights are a reminder of that hope. "It is better to light one candle......." This is our reminder to remember, "better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."

It is the darkest of winter months, but we have lit the lights to help us remember. We are the heartland of America. We have the lights to hope.

A Trucker's Thanksgiving

Every year the American Legion in Hot Springs, SD, serves a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner to veterans and all town's people. This year they served 200 people, giving up their private Thanksgiving at home to wait on all of the people who were not able to cook, who did not want to cook or who had nowhere else to celebrate the holiday.

The Legion veterans asked for donations only, providing for those who could not afford to pay. It made no difference to the Hot Springs veterans who could afford to contribute and those who could not but equally partook of the feast and left the Legion hall with a full stomach and a warmed heart.

During the festivities an on-the-road trucker had stopped at our local Motel 6. The downtown was deserted late in the snowy, cold afternoon, restaurants closed, so the management at the desk of the motel suggested the trucker could get a filling holiday meal, complete with all the trimmings, at the local American Legion.

One problem: the trucker could not drive his huge vehicle and park at the parking lot of the Legion.

"No problem", said the worker at Motel 6. "Here are my car keys. Take my car and enjoy the holiday."

Oh, yes, Hot Springs is truly the Veteran's Town. The local American Legion of veterans who have made Hot Springs their home, embrace everyone.....veterans, locals, truckers and any who are fortunate enough to find themselves in this town during a holiday.

Tracking Time

Yesterday we had our first snowfall. It seemed a bit early, but the first thing I do in the morning is open the shades and look for tracks. Those tracks prove which visitors we had in our yard overnight. Usually the first ones I see are those of the cuddly, grey rabbits. Not this year. The neighbors let their dogs run at night and I have not seen a wild bunny in months.

There are dog tracks to be sure. No surprise to see them. They begin at the neighbor's house, circle our back yard and meander into the front, across to next door and end up back at the neighbors who prefer their dogs to relieve themselves somewhere else. How thoughtful, I muse to know one in particular.

Later in the morning I layer warmly and go out into the back yard to do the daily chicken chores. Surprise! As I enter the garden I see the tracks of a turkey. Now I know the turkey routine. One scouts out the neighborhood during the first snow to see where the rest of the flock can feed during the food scarcity in the snow-covered woods a block away. In the past I fed the birds and would see one or two turkeys enjoying the feed scattered under the feeder. No problem, but within a few more days the entire group would devour the food both under the feeder, and somehow would jump to knock the seed out of the feeder.

First I would pound on the window and the turkeys would scatter. It did not take many days before they became bolder and would ignore my noise and continue feasting. Between the wild scavengers and the stray cats that came around, I reluctantly ceased the bird banquet.

But lo and behold, there were turkey tracks in our fenced in garden, also home to our chickens. It must have flown over the fence. The tracks ran across the back of the garden and then, to my dismay, into the chicken pen! I followed them around the pen and into the coop entry where I am certain he indulged in the easy-picking chicken food.

And my chickens, where were they? They were roosting snuggly inside the coop, having ignored the turkey, or the cold or both. I did not know for certain, but when I opened the coop for cleaning they fluttered out, wandered around in the pen, and tip-toed gingerly through the snow on the shoveled path in the garden. They waited for their scratch food, picked quickly and promptly returned to snow less coop.

I knew the turkey routine....find the goodies and return with the others another day. No way! My chickens would not leave the pen, let alone the coop so I closed the gate to the pen. I refuse to pay for turkey food. When they return they will no longer have easy access to the food purchased for the hens.

Sorry, turkeys. I know your routine and the tracks in the freshly fallen snow gave me the upper hand.You will have to scavenge at someone else's feeders. Your tracks gave you away.

Paris Bleeding

Not again! Innocent lives wiped out by fanatics. We, in the States may be far removed from the horrors of the latest attacks but we are affected. We are moved, saddened, angered by the stupidity of extremists. These acts of terrorism in the name of a cause....??????  Life brings enough trials to everyone at one time or another, without the needless acts that affect not only the loved ones of those injured or killed, but also to those who share the faith of the radicals, but not the radicalism, and who by association are looked upon with a general hatred, fear and scorn by others not of their faith.

All of these acts against others are senseless, barbaric and loveless. Many are punished by the few who are filled with rage. Their fury takes over any compassion, love or hope in themselves and for others. All that is left is despair.

Today I fled to my haven of peace. I sat by our river....soothing, peaceful and restorative. We who live in the sanctuary of the beautiful Black Hills are fortunate, and during the shocking news the past two days, are grateful, ever so grateful to watch this latest tragedy unfold far away.

The First and the Last

Henny and Penny arrived in our lives early this summer. Penny is hyper, at times frantic. Her first night she flew up in a tree above the coop while Henny clucked worriedly below. Bob managed to pluck the elusive Penny down and into the safety of her new home in our backyard.

Surprisingly, the very next morning Penny thoughtfully laid a warm, bluish egg in the nest. It was our first and we were delighted to begin our egg-gathering adventure for the season. As many know, chickens stop laying come the shorter days of fall. They need about 14 hours of daylight to continue egg production. Some farmers place lights into the chicken coops so that there hens lay all through the winter. We chose not to use lights and let Henny and Penny follow the natural light of the changing seasons.

Henny and Penny laid faithfully six days a week throughout the summer, with no nod of superiority over our three young chicks we added to the coop in August. In late September there were no longer one or two eggs each day to enrich our breakfasts. Some days there were one and other days the nest box lay empty. By October we gathered only an occasional egg.

During the third week of October Penny stayed in the nest box longer than usual, remaining unusually silent while I cleaned the coop around her. Henny came to the entrance at the bottom, looking up into the box, fussing a bit with some concern. After cleaning the coop and pen I scattered the scratch food, but Penny did not fly out of her nest to bully her way with the new chicks for the treats. Finally, after hours in the nesting box, Penny flew out quickly and silently and went to work pecking over-looked scratch food in the pen long since abandoned by Henny and the young, non-laying birds.

I opened the box and there it was! The last blue egg of the season. Penny may be hyper and keep her distance but she did manage to lay the first and last egg. I guess she has earned her keep. Looking forward to next spring. Long may she lay!

The Fight is Not Over

Today there is hope. I have found out that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) made public last week by the VA used flawed data to come to its conclusion that our VA should close and our Save the VA committee in Hot Springs intends to fight their recommendations and they believe that they can win. Here are the feelings and views of some of our veterans:

"He's excited about taking on the VA lies through the court system and through public displays of solidarity among veterans and in communities like Hot Springs."

"Ackerman intends to take the VA on. He says they are such an easy target now that its like playing chess with a person who offers you checkmate in just two moves."

"We can win, unless we give up.....and we're going to win. They made it too easy with their lies. We're going to fight."

"I want to remind people that there's been no decision made and we need to stay engaged in this fight. We have 60 days to make comments about the EIS. It's not over till it's over."

These comment are from our veterans in Hot Springs. There is passion behind this battle, filled with fury and disappointment and sadness and mistrust. There are also many behind this battle for and by the veterans, from our local politicians and citizens to our national American Legion.

With such passion and concern for our veterans I believe that the battle is not yet over. My anger and sadness has once again turned to hope. For now I will trust in the Davids against Goliath.

It is back to the battle. Keep tuned in.