The Hunhoff family grew by one pretty little girl named Laura last night at 10:30. She's twenty inches tall and 7 lbs. 6 ozs. and she's been sleeping almost since she was born so we don't know yet if she can spell or write or perform other publishing duties, but we're hopeful because you can't get by on looks alone these days. This photo was taken within an hour after she was born.

Congratulations to our son Chris and his sweet wife Betsy. The happy threesome will be going home to Harrisburg on Wednesday.

Any South Dakotans who happen to be in Los Olivos, Calif., in August or September might want to have coffee at Patrick's Side Street Cafe (2375 Alamo Pintado) and enjoy the oil paintings, some of which will look like Potter County, South Dakota.

The oils are the work of Michael Moore -- not the controversial filmmaker but the professional poker player and artist who hangs out for much of the year on a small farm near Agar. Here's a link to his poker web page, where he admits that his real goal is to succeed as an artist. His paintings are good; they were displayed at the (former) Pierre Street Emporium.

Discover Magazine has a very good online article on one of South Dakota's most interesting and solitary citizens. For the last 10 years, Ron Dyvig has been watching the universe from the tiny Badlands town of Quinn, using very big telescopes to watch for asteroids that might hit earth.

Ron's operation, set up in an old hospital building, is rated 30th among 263 observatories worldwide. He has discovered several dozen asteroids, and in one instance he was given the honor of naming a two-mile wide chunk of space. He decided to call it South Dakota.

Let's hope the two South Dakotas never collide because an asteroid even the size of a football field would wipe out a major city. Think of the damage South Dakota would cause if it ever fell to earth.

Young sculptor John Lopez of the Black Hills country, perhaps best known these days for his part in the presidents' sculptures in downtown Rapid City, has expanded his repetoire to include scrap iron art. The inspiration came to him when his Aunt Effie Hunt died. He moved to the Hunt ranch to live with his Uncle Geno, and he started to experiment with some of the old scrap s and junk that lies around every farm and ranch. He made a beautiful sunburst for the gate to his aunt's cemetery. Buffalo, horses, eagles and cowboys soon sprang forth as well.

The Ironasasaraus (we named it so don't blame John) is actually a half-size T-rex he did for the unveiling of the Grand River Museum at Lemmon, which was dedicated July 13 at the city's centennial celebration.

You can learn more about John's art at www.lopez-ranch.com.

Wednesday's "whereizzit" contest fizzled with a quick winner so we thought we'd do it again. Here's a photo submitted by a reader. Guess where it's located in South Dakota and you'll win a hard cover first edition copy of the book South Dakota's Best Stories, autographed and everything.

As always, we prefer little or no cheating which means staff cannot win and if we know you have communicated with our staff during contest hours we may publically ridicule you as if you were an NBA ref or a dog-fighting quarterback.

Just guess the town (yes, it's in a town). And sometimes you might be seated and reading the JC Penney catalog or South Dakota Magazine and suddenly hear sweet music. That's the only tip you get 'till morning.

To submit your guess just hit "comment."

You can either be discouraged or encouraged about rural South Dakota when you go on the road. The other day I drove down I-90 and saw that motels are for sale in three towns in a row -- Kimball, Chamberlain and Presho. Sometimes it seems everybody's leaving and everything's closing down or being offered for sale.

Then you hit an area where rural people are starting wineries and re-designing their main street and rehabbing an old red barn for a B&B. So as always in life there are ebbs and flows.

But if it's encouragement you want, pay attention to Miner County (east of Huron) where an imaginative and energetic group of people have refused to surrender their little towns of Howard, Carthage, Fedora and Canova. They created the Miner County Community Revitalization and, led by former teacher/coach Randy Parry, they've truly made great strides. Their summer newsletter just arrived in our mailbox, and MCCR notes that the county's annual gross sales have grown forty-two percent in the last four years. The Howard school has gained 35 students and the poverty rate has dropped from 14.3 percent to 8.4 percent. Wages have increased twenty-five percent in the last five years. They have two wind energy companies, an organic beef plant and several other entreprenurial start-ups.

MCCR has recently adopted a new slogan, "Opportunity Lives Here."

The city of Carthage in northern Miner County will celebrate its one hundred and twenth-fifth anniversary August 3-5. The best news is that the city and county citizens now realizes that as civilizations go they are actually in their infancy -- not their declining years as previously feared. What a difference that makes in a man's outlook ... or a town's.

Be the first to guess where this giraffe is in South Dakota and win a one-year subscription (or renewal) to South Dakota Magazine. We'll give hints on the hour until her town is identified. As always, our magazine staff are prohibited from guessing unless they do so anonymously. You need only guess the town to win, but if you know any of the history we'd like to hear it. After all, it's not everyday you see a lifesize concrete giraffe in South Dakota.

Hit the comment button to make your guess. Don't worry if it doesn't register immediately. Comments are dated so we'll know who guessed it first.

Last month while traveling back to Yankton from Eureka, we stopped at Lassle's Main Street Cafe in Bowdle for some pancakes and coffee. We also got to see some great photos, thanks to Eloise Lassle, cook and owner of the cafe. Eloise has an interest in historic photos and has some hanging on the cafe walls, and others she'll bring out and show if you're interested. The photo above shows a hunter with his day's catch - three big coyotes and a large cat. It was taken in Le Beau, the town that was burned to the ground and now is completely underwater.

Eloise said the cafe has an even bigger draw than the photos - a Sunday German buffet, which is said to draw people from four hours away. German fare is sold throughout the week, including some to take home. A gallon of Knoepfla soup is $16 and a whole kuchen is just $6.