Squirrels are circling the magazine office!

Believe it or not, it's true. The day after I cracked the walnuts, squirrels were everywhere outside that very window – like the birds in that Alfred Hitchcock movie. Our staff are checking to see if squirrel attacks are covered under Workmen's Compensation.

The odor of the wild black walnut must be pretty strong. And those squirrels must have strong noses. Come to think of it, their jaws and teeth must be amazingly powerful if they can crack open those walnuts. A hard blow with a hammer won't crack them.

Now the squirirels are knocking at the window again this morning, looking in with their dark, beady eyes. I think several are by the door. I hear a thumping on the ceiling. So far we feel safe, we've kept them at bay but asa xm/axjn x/z/ne@2222 222222@*!. z..zzzzz.......................................

Shells from a cup of black walnuts.

Certain jobs naturally get shoved to the end of the year at our magazine office: I'm referring to W-2s, pension reports, postal statements and shelling the black walnuts.

Guess which task is the hardest?

Well, I guess I'm not a good one to answer that because I'm only responsible for the walnuts. I picked a box of them off the ground last September, and I've been preparing them for shelling ever since. First you husk them. Then you soak them. Then you dry them. Then, according to our page designer Andrea Maibaum, you soak them again and freeze them for 36 hours.

Then you forget them in the freezer for three weeks.

Then, when you're too full of Christmas turkey and ham to do anything else you spend a half a day shelling them. I started with a regular nut cracker. It was like cracking a rock. I got a big red hammer and pounded on them but the table nearly broke.

Fortunately, our circulation director's dad has a heavy-duty, factory made walnut cracker that worked like a charm. In just two or three hours of work, I soon had a cupfull of black walnuts. I know that some people think running a magazine is so easy and fun. It's hard and complicated and messy; the walnut stain will be on my fingers for weeks.

The shelling job has been hanging over me for four months. Now I can move onto something fresh in the New Year.

10 TOP NEWS STORIES IN 2006 (Assoc. Press)
l) Abortion Ban
2) Elijah Page Execution
3) Ballot Issues
4) Schools Sue State
5) Sen. Dan Sutton & Page
6) Drought
6) DM&E Railroad Stymied
8) Denny Stanford promises to give $70 mill for lab
9) Ellsworth AFB Gets New Center
10) Gov. Rounds Wins Re-election

10 BOLD PREDICTIONS of ISSUES IN 2007
l) Abortion Ban
2) Elijah Page Execution
3) Ballot Issues
4) Schools Sue State
5) Sen. Dan Sutton & Page
6) Drought
6) DM&E Railroad Stymied
8) Denny Stanford promises to give $70 mill for lab
9) Ellsworth AFB Gets Something New
10) Gov. Rounds Is Still Governor

Even before there was a South Dakota, Dakotans felt a kinship with the coyote. In territorial days, our people have occasionally been referred to as "coyotes" or "kiotes" or "yotes."

So it was not that surprising when the University of South Dakota yearbook of 1902 took the name "Coyote." Soon, the wild and wily dog was being used as a mascot for the athletic teams (see Bim above).



Real, live coyotes have occassionally been recruited as mascots. The most recent was a big grey called "Snoopy" in the 1960s.



After "Snoopy's" demise, a Coyote uniform became the norm around campus. Soon, he was nicknamed "Charlie" and the name has stuck. Through the years, Charlie was always a friendly and happy-go-lucky creature – but now the university has redrawn him as angrier and more aggressive. The Argus Leader's Patrick Lalley writes today that this seems to be a trend on campuses. He's against the change. "Unless there's a clear need to upgrade the old images, why mess with them?" he asks. "There's a reason why the Yankees (still) wear pinstripes."

Traditionalists will be even more shocked to know that South Dakota State University is thinking about dropping the Jackrabbit mascot altogether – even though the first "Jack" appeared on a yearbook cover exactly 100 years ago. What could they possibly change to? A mountain lion or buffalo? Or is the idea to move away from the animal mascot to something more high tech like a Sky Force?

We have a lot of smart people in our universities. (Have you ever noticed how they congregate there?) So I'm sure they're making good decisions. But this is all quite hard to swallow for us traditionalists.

Will it rain? Will cattle prices stay up? Can our school stay open? Who should we elect to the county commission?

Those are the questions you'd think we should be asking when we ponder the futures of our rural communities. Sadly, the most important question facing us in 2007 is "What will the 2007 Farm Bill look like in Washington?"

And here's an even sadder truth: the authors of the Farm Bill will probably have the best interests of rural America at heart, but what they do (if history is an indicator) will probably hurt more than help.

The Washington Post has a good article today on that very subject. Several articulate farmers make the point that grain subsidies have actually accelerated the decline of rural communities. Though they'd rather not have the "help," they admit they must take it or they are at a competitive disadvantage because the marketplace is often affected by the subsidies.

The article also makes the point that small farms are not necessarily backwards; it can be a lifestyle choice to stay small ... just as you might like to run just one bakery rather than a chain of bakeries. But, again, well-meaning government policies have definitely rewarded those who want to farm everything that connects with their land.

I will always remember the hard-working, good-natured farmer who testified at a hearing in Pierre in the 1990s. He was making the point that his small farm wasn't necessarily inefficient, and he explained his thinking this way: "I'd rather have my neighbor than my neighbor's farm."

Not that many years ago, you couldn't travel a mile in eastern South Dakota without seeing hogs lazing in a farmer's yard. But when the price plummeted to a dime a pound in the 1990s, it became more common to see bald eagles than piglets.

Hogs then concentrated on a few confinement farms, and the price has been quite stable in recent years. Supposedly, a corporation from England is now planning an operation with 3,000 sows and 30,000 feeder pigs in Campbell County. Neighbors are being asked not to raise any pigs of their own within 10 miles of the facility, probably to prevent any spread of disease.

I haven't seen anything about this in the "normal" media; maybe it's just rumor and scuttlebut. Anybody know for sure? Or are we just adding to the rumors? It seems like a strange situation for independent-minded northern South Dakotans.

Cattle have always outnumbered hogs in Campbell County (which borders the Missouri River and the North Dakota border), but if you told people there they can't raise hogs I would think they might rush out and buy the first sow they see.

Maybe this is really Ag Secretary Larry Gabriel's new plan to increase hog numbers. Tell 'em they can't raise they anymore and they'll be building woven wire fences on every quarter-section again.

2006 has been another wild and crazy year. Here in South Dakota, we've sent our neighbors off to fight in a war half-a-world away, and some didn't come back alive. Our friendly senior U.S. senator lies quietly in a hospital bed at Walter Reed Hospital. Our state government intended to execute a man with premeditation (he would have been our first in 58 years) but the governor gave him a last minute reprieve on a technicality and now he and we have six months to think about it.

Washington had a page scandal, but so does South Dakota. Or is it a page scandal? Again, we'll find out in the New Year. Or maybe we'll never know.

Our farmers and ranchers enjoyed record high prices; but a lack of rain meant some had less to sell.

Every one among us also has their own personal problems and challenges: illnesses, conflicts and shortfalls of one kind or another.

In the little Catholic church I attend north of Yankton (St. Agnes of Sigel), we light an advent wreath every Sunday. As I understand the ancient tradition, the candles symbolize hope for the future. I always thought the wreath should stay up year-around.

Hope is the best friend a man can have at his side. Why limit it to the Christmas season?

We have much to think about as 2006 closes ... best of all, we have hope that we can carry forward. Who cares what the church year says.

Castlewood is a pretty little place between Lake Poinsett and Watertown in northeast South Dakota. It has a lot of history. You can find buffalo rings, and Indian legends and pioneer remnants everywhere. We know of a spot near town where a pioneer buried his wife and little child. He didn't have money for a gravestone so he planted blue flag (iris) flowers on the graves. Today, more than 100 years later, those blue flowers bloom in a rectangle above the graves every May.

The town will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year. A big bash is planned for June 22-25 and a native son, USA Today writer Chuck Raasch, will be the guest speaker. Lest he get a big head, however, the another headline event is a lawnmower poker run.

Seriously, Chuck is a fine expatriate and his involvement is something to look forward to. If you're interested in more info on the Castlewood shindig call Cliff Ruesink at (605) 793-2375.