Magazine readers Nick and LeAnn Kniffen of Tyndall sent this photo of horses grazing serenely in their snow covered pastures. While doing research for a recent magazine article, we found out that horses graze around 16 hours a day in winter. They also eat snow for hydration; and although we're sure horses (like the Kniffen's) like being pampered with fresh open water and daily grain and hay, we were surprised that horses got along just fine back when early settlers left them on their own to wander and either survive or surrender to the elements.

Steve Krogman, who has a couple hundred head of horses on a 35,000 acre ranch near White River, says he suspects they thrived without our help. "I think they got along better before we intervened, when they could travel a long ways. Fencing them into a certain area caused them to lose their instincts," Krogman says.

The South Dakota Retailers Association publishes a newsletter with lots of good information, including taxable sales figures for all our towns and cities.

The totals for 2007 are especially interesting because all of our major cities are working so hard these days to boost their economies and create jobs. Mitchell has enjoyed some good increases in recent years, thanks to Cabela's and other new stores on the south side of I-90.

But Mitchell lagged badly in 2007 sales — reporting only a 0.1% increase over 2006. Still, the Corn Palace City had $437 million in sales, far out-stripping Yankton, Pierre, Spearfish and Huron.

However, Huron did enjoy a 14.9% increase, rising to $248 million. Brookings had a whopping 14% increase ($492 million), despite a l4% decrease in the month of December.

Statewide, taxable sales increased 6% in 2007.

Here are other cities' results (all increases over 2006): Sioux Falls, 4.2%; Rapid City. 4.5%; Watertown, 3.7%; Yankton, 2.5%; Pierre, 2.8%; and Spearfish, 5.1%.

Some of our smaller cities registered impressive gains: Box Elder, 28.3%; Elk Point, 17.3%; Garrretson, 14.7%; Harrisburg, 15.8%; Highmore, 22.8%; Emery, 28.6%; Isabel, 49.2%; and the champ of the year is Volga, 67%.

Among small towns, the biggest declines were reported by: Big Stone City, 20.8%; Bryant, 29.4%; Clark, 16.1%; and Groton, 45.4%. In a smaller city, the opening or closing of one big store can make a huge difference in annual sales.

Noted author and poet Elizabeth Cook-Lynn of Rapid City spoke at Mount Marty College in Yankton last night, telling a crowd of students, faculty and others that Americans should know Native American history — not because they should know more about Indians but because they should know more about America and our country's disastrous habit of colonization.

Cook-Lynn was born on the Crow Creek Reservation. The land where she lived as a child is now beneath Lake Sharpe, thanks to the Missouri River dam at Fort Thompson. She says the Indian people were never consulted on the dams; they were just told to get out of the way of the water.

She connects the USA's colonization of Native Americans — the overall policy of military action, civilian casualties, cultural and religious suppression, etc. — has been repeated throughout history and is happening this moment in Iraq. She writes about that and other contemporary issues in her new book, "New Indians: Old Wars," just published by the University of Illinois Press. She recently spoke in Denver, expecting the dozen or so people that most authors get to meet at such events. Three hundred people showed up. She has been quite overwhelmed by the interest in the book, especially by the parallels to Iraq. It seems that people are trying to make sense of what went wrong there and why.

Her daughter, Marnie (below), also performed songs from her CD "Miles and Miles." Marnie is a KOTA news reporter and popular Black Hills musician. She plays at the Firehouse in downtown Rapid City, and other nightspots.

If you have an opportunity to hear either Elizabeth or Marnie, be sure to do so. They are talented South Dakotans.

Yankton County's three state lawmakers held a cracker barrel Saturday morning, and reported that guns and mountain lions are big "sleeper" issues in the state legislature this session. "I'll bet I've had 400 emails on guns," said Rep. Garry Moore, and the other legislators nodded in agreement.

Moore said the proposals vary from bills to create "Gun Free Zones" around public schools to bills prohibiting such zones. Lawmakers are also weighing in on mountain lion matters, even to the extent of urging GF&P to return a lion hide to Martha Smith of Custer, who shot a young lion when it threatened her dog. She wants to have it mounted.

Judging from citizen input, Moore said it appears that those types of issues far outweigh education funding and property tax reform in the eyes of citizens.

Guns lay deep in the South Dakota psyche. I'm not anti-gun. In fact, five hang on the wall of my basement and I have one or two others on loan to neighbors. It would take me two or three minutes to locate a bullet if a mountain lion showed up to wrestle with Yeller, but I do believe a guy should be able to hang a simple gun on his wall — and use it to protect his family and his dog and for lawful sport.

Many lawmakers' most passionate encounters are with gun advocates. When I was in the legislature, the NRA awarded me a "C" rating and my phone rang off the hook for days with angry callers. Later that year, some friends of mine arranged a lamb roast in Belle Fourche that was supposed to double as a "listening meeting." I thought we would be talking about rancher's taxes, rural economic development, the funding formula for small schools and meatpacker monopolies. I was wrong: it was guns, guns, and guns.

"Why do you want to take away my guns?" was the first and last question.

If you wish to successfully run for statewide office in South Dakota, you should raise a million dollars, don a bright orange vest and have your picture taken with some deer and pheasants. You don't need a policy on education or taxation. But try to get a faded orange vest because South Dakotans can tell if it just came off the rack at Cabela's.

Some days I miss the "give and take" of public policy, but today I thank Garry Moore for reminding me that there are also benefits to being home in Yankton during the legislative session.

The best line of the cracker barrel came from Pam Rezac, our local hospital administrator. She spoke in opposition to a bill that would allow "at home" lay midwifery in South Dakota. She acknowledged that it is wanted in rural areas where doctors and hospitals are not accessible, but she said health professionals still believe "that home delivery is for pizza."

I drove around Yankton on Thursday morning when it was -20 and about the only moving creature I could find was this yellow dog romping in the snow. Below, Capt. Grant Marsh, memorialized in a life-size statue in Riverside Park, seemed lonely in the fog that erupted from the Missouri River due to the cold temps. Today it is 50 degrees warmer, the sky is clear blue and people have returned to their normal comings and goings. What a difference a day makes in South Dakota.

If I were in the Black Hills this weekend, I'd surely head to Belle Fourche Saturday night (Jan. 26) for the Habitat for Humanity fundraiser.

Some of western South Dakota's favorite artists (including Sarah Rogers, pictured above, and Mick Harrison, Kathy Sigle, Lynn Thorpe and Jim Maher) have donated art to the cause and it will be auctioned. Here's a story from the Rapid City Journal with more details.

The artists are members of Artists of the Black Hills, a relatively new organization that has truly become a visible and busy group. We're living in a time when western South Dakota and Black Hills art is beginning to take on an identity not unlike the well-branded Pueblo/Navajo/Cowboy art of the Southwest. These are exciting times for artists and art-lovers, and the Belle Fourche event is a small sampling of the future.

Today the Sioux City Journal has a good article on the Anderson family's historic Ice House. It is one of the truly unique watering holes in all of America. Unlike most businesses, the Andersons have always been a tad publicity shy — partly because they are just unassuming regular "joes"and possibly because they operate under a grandfathered alcohol license that wouldn't be allowed today. So this article is somewhat rare.

South Dakota cattleman own a different bull for every 20 to 25 cows, and often times the neighbor's bull pays a visit. Consequently, we have great diversity in our beef gene pool. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Cloned livestock are probably an inevitable part of our future. But an article in the New York Times, of all places, suggests that the clones will probably not be friendly to family operations. Large meat-packing companies want total uniformity, and they can hardly wait. The USDA is asking them to be patient as the public grows accustomed to the idea.

Our South Dakota cattlemen like to think that the corporate honchos will never be able to hire laborers to endure what they do. "Hamburger would be $10 a pound if Tyson's employees had to check the cows every two hours in calving season," a fellow from Meade County once told me. I hope he's right, but history says he's wrong.

The day is probably coming when cows and calves will look as much alike as a flock of Tyson's chickens. Already, the Black Angus breed dominates cattle country. Cloning is just the next logical progression, say some experts.

I don't know if I like it. And the New York Times writer suggests that it could be dangerous to gene diversity. But there'll always be a few South Dakota cowboys raising some ugly longhorns for rodeoing — so they'll provide at least some diverse bloodlines. Wouldn't it be ironic if one day those rangy longhorns saved the beef industry?