We sprayed, chopped, mowed and spaded milkweed whenever we saw it on the farm in my younger days. But I took a new view of the "weed" a few years ago when one of our readers begged me to send her some pods of seeds so she could grow them in her garden in an Eastern state (which I won't divulge because it is illegal to send noxious weeds across state lines and as far as I know the penalties may have increased under the Patriot Act).

I shipped her the illegal weed, and ever since I've looked at milkweed differently. There's a fine specimen growing in my ditch that I admired just last night.

Now, I see that Black Hills gardener Cathy Draine has an article in the Rapid City Journal about the glories of milkweed. She says they (the milkweed) even have a fantastic sex life? It has something to do with butterflies I think. Read the article.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Mattie Goff Newcomb, South Dakota's famed trick rider, has died at age 98. We've had several articles about her in the magazine. She was a world champ rider in the 1920s and performed for lots of dignitaries, including Pres. Calvin Coolidge when he visited the Black Hills in 1927. She admitted to butterflies, but said she always felt comfortable once she was on her horse. She was a beautiful woman, a foxy dresser and a showgirl –– and that's how people described her in her 90s! Wish we could have known her in the Roaring Twenties.

And You Consider Yourself A Baseball Fan?




Diehard Pittsburg Pirates fans claim Deacon Phillippe as their own, but he’s hardly remembered in his home state of South Dakota. One of our East Coast readers, Steve Olsen, brought him to my attention this week. Deacon's story is fascinating. Clearly he should be ranked among South Dakota's greatest athletes.

He was born in Minnesota but he moved with his family to Athol, a little town in Spink County (south of Aberdeen) at age 3 and it's there he learned baseball. As a kid, he was a good hitter and a superb pitcher. He played on the town teams in northeast South Dakota. By 1896, he headed back into Minnesota to play semi-pro ball for Mankato. He drifted around the minor leagues for several years, then got his chance in 1898 when he was drafted by Louisville. On May 29, 1899 he pitched a no-hitter against the Giants in only his seventh major league game. He was among the Louisville stars who moved to Pittsburgh in 1900.

A six-footer, he was described as a "handsome man with a sturdy, oval face, a lantern jaw, dark hair parted a shade left of center." His friends called him Charlie but he got the "Deacon" nickname due to his humility and easy demeanor.

The Pirates had a great pitching staff, and he was regarded as the best. He beat Cy Young in the very first World Series game, winning 7-3 in 1903. He pitched five games in that historic series and won three.

In all, he pitched for 13 years in the majors and had a solid win-loss record and outstanding ERA, even in his later years. He holds the MLB record today for walks per nine innings (1.25). Think of it. The kid from Athol has a record that has stood for a century, despite the likes of Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson.

He was modest and quiet, but outspoken enough to diss Babe Ruth. He called Babe the biggest drawback to baseball the game has ever known. "Teams quit playing smart baseball and went in for slugging," he explained in the 1940s. "I think that's what's wrong with baseball today. Everybody is aiming for the fences."

I know how he feels. Here in South Dakota we appreciate finesse.

One of the neatest sites you'll find online


The Smithsonian owns a number of old Lakota winter counts (pictoral journals on deer or buffalo hide of Indian life in the 18th and 19th centuries). Several years ago, they asked Lakota leaders how they might best share the rare exhibits. They anticipated that the Lakota would say, "Put them in a box and ship it right back."

But the Lakota leaders instead said, "Put it on the Web." So that's what they did, creating this Lakota Winter Count Web Exhibit that would be fun to visit even if the material wasn't fascinating. Your kids would love it ... you can zoom, pan, rotate and reverse your way through it. There is sound and music and narration. But even with all that high tech stuff, the 200 year old drawings take center stage. You'll be sad to see the smallpox drawings, and enchanted by the Lakota's travel and adventure. The rough drawings tell the story of a culture that our white ancestors failed to see or chose to ignore when they first arrived on the northern plains.

I bought a 14' Laser sailboat from a fellow by Omaha over the weekend. It fits in the back of a pickup, although this is probably not the best way to carry it. It's a one-man sailboat. Katie and I just returned from seeing if it will float on Lewis and Clark Lake and it will. It is designed to really fly along, but today with hardly any wind it carried itself pretty nicely with two people. You can rig it in about 15 minutes or less.

I'm thinking it might be fun to try to sail it from Yankton to Vermillion, along the last natural stretch of the Missouri. There are a fair number of sailors in Yankton but I can't find anyone who has done that, nor anyone with a really good reason why you shouldn't be able to do so? If you have any experience with that, email or call the magazine. We'll give you a report if we try it.

One thing's apparent. You can't take a camera .... or at least not a good one. This sailboat is almost designed to put you in the water once in awhile.

Fridays I have lunch with a two priests and some assorted other fellows in Yankton. One of the priests recently came back from a week-long conference on alcohol counseling, which has been part of his life's work. I asked him what was new in the field and he replied that while genetic predisposition heavily influences who becomes addicted, new studies show that children ages two and under who suffer a traumatic event in the relationship with their same sex parent (abandonment, abuse, alcoholism, etc.) are much more prone to addiction problems in adulthood.

That, then, might explain why males are seem more likely to be alcoholics. Mothers are less likely to abandon an infant, so daughters are less likely to be affected by the "absent same sex parent" syndrome.

This comes in the wake of numerous stats showing South Dakotans' predisposition for alcohol. We rank among the top fifth of states in people who need addiction treatments but don't get the help. (Neighboring rural states are also in that category, which cancels out the common "but that includes the reservations" argument.) Twenty-eight percent of South Dakotans report a binge drinking episode within the last week (binge being 5 drinks or more in single episode). Forty-eight percent of our traffic deaths are alcohol-related.

This isn't our usual fare but sadly it is part of life in South Dakota.

Only a life lived for others is the life worth while. (Einstein)

It's Monday morning, a good time to ponder the true meaning of life. Isn't it to just serve the best you can as long as you can manage -- making the world a little smoother and more beautiful for those around you? If that's the ticket to contentment and peace of mind, then Norma Mills deserves some rest in the southern Black Hills.

For the past 60 years, she has tended to the hair styles of customers and friends in Huron at her La Beautique Beauty Salon. I noticed the salon's name on several occasions, and always thought the lady behind it must be interesting. The Huron Daily Plainsman has an on-line story on Norma's deserved retirement at age 77 that you'll like.

She's made Huron a prettier and happier place, one head of hair at a time, since the 1940s.

Many South Dakotans listened and danced to the music of Wessington Springs' Kyle Evans, who died way too young in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. Kyle was named ours state's centennial troubador in 1989. He was a former rodeo contestant who liked to perform at rodeoes, or any other venue where country fans congregated. Now his son Dustin Evans is making a name for himself in country music. Kyle never wanted to leave his beloved South Dakota, and that probably didn't help him professionally. Dustin has that same affection for South Dakota, but he has journeyed to Nashville to launch his career and from all reports he's doing pretty well. He'll be something to watch. He plays a lot in South Dakota, so catch him while you can.