By Bernie Hunhoff

A few weeks ago I was deep in the Black Hills, about 30 miles due west of Rapid City as the crow flies. But mountain roads don't go in straight lines, so I got to Deerfield by driving southwest to Hill City, then northwest. Down below Hat Mountain, in the valley of Castle Creek, I found the sole survivor of the little town of Deerfield. I wonder how many of our readers have ever been up in that country? Unless you like to fish or hunt, it's probable you haven't been there. Deerfield Lake was created by a dam on the creek that is 171 feet high. The lake is about 100 feet in depth; record-setting trout are caught there.

The last resident is Tom Sawyer, a kindly old fellow who ran a store there with his family since the early 1940s. The store is closed; it's where Tom lives today with a tabby-colored tomcat.

We'll tell you more about Tom and his little town in an upcoming issue.

Deerfield wasn't called Deerfield in its early days. Does anybody know its first name?

We're honored that Seattle artist Don Zimmerman found inspiration from a photograph in the July/August issue of our magazine. Zimmerman liked a photo of two old cowboys visiting at the Platte Livestock Auction Barn, and he used one of them as a model for his latest painting. The painting is shown above. The subject is Bruce Pranger, a regular at the sale barn.

This picture has nothing to do with anything. In my travels around the state, I shoot a lot of stuff -- much of which never makes it in the magazine. But I'm sitting in the office on a cold October morning, and this photo is on my computer desktop, and it reminded me of a warm summer day in Mission when I ran came across this steel elephant. It's what's called "found art," made from junk by handyman George Heinert. The pachyderm is across the road from the Mission swimming pool so I persuaded nine-year-old Nile Stone to give it a ride. Yes, winter's coming. Savor those memories of summer.

Well, we don't expect you to be as excited as us .... but our 20th anniversary photo book has arrived. We've worked on it for nearly a year, so you can imagine how it feels to unload 417 boxes of them off a truck. A little scary in part (will anybody want them?) but it's also exciting to collect 20 years of colorful photos between the covers of one book.

Last year we printed a book of favorite stories. The photo book is a companion to that ... same size but a visual feast of our mountains, prairies, people, rivers and towns.

You'll see ads for the book in our next issue. If you can't wait, give us a call at 800-456-5117. It's just $24.95.

By Bernie Hunhoff

I'm off today (Thursday) to search for Public Enemy Number One. Well, that's what they called a Beadle County farm about 70 years ago. We hope to get some photos for an upcoming story on this unusual place. If we find it, we'll share a photo and tell you more about it next week on this blog.

Our publishing office looks like Santa's workshop in November and December. In fact, the busy season is already beginning. We process about 10,000 orders for gift subscriptions. If you give gift subscriptions, you may receive a letter from us within the next few days. We love the season because, though hectic, it gives us so many opportunities to visit with our readers. And we know that without you, the readers, there'd be no magazine for South Dakota. So thanks for your support. We look forward to serving you in the upcoming holiday season. Call us at 800-456-5117 if you have any questions about your orders.

By Bernie Hunhoff

Colder weather is hurrying here, and we are in the mood. We're trying to collect some good ice fishing stories for our Jan/Feb issue. If you know of anyone who has a good anecdote -- funny, sad or otherwise -- about a winter experience on the ice, please let us know. You can call us at 800-456-5117 or leave a comment on this post.

I know some Texans who loved to fish. But they grew weary of fishing in the gulf. I told them that ice fishing was popular around here, so one winter they came to Yankton and they went out on the Nebraska side of Lewis and Clark Lake in the morning. They tried all morning and nothing bit. Then they saw a lot of action on the South Dakota side of the lake, so one of the Texans decided to go see how they were catching the fish. Pretty soon he came running back to his friend, yelling at the top of his lungs, "THEY CUT A HOLE IN THE ICE"

By Katie Hunhoff

Every season of the year is celebrated with gusto in our towns and cities, but there's something about Autumn that South Dakotans really seem to love. I'm guessing it's tied to our agrarian heritage: We celebrate because we reap the harvest.

For several years, we've heard of this jolly fellow in Watertown by the name of Don Brosz (known by Codington County kids as simply The Pumpkin Man). He plants a huge field of pumpkins, and on October weekends he welcomes children to come and take their pick. We took some pictures last weekend, and we'll probably use them in our Sept/Oct 2005 issue. Here's a sampling.

What is your favorite fall festival in South Dakota?