These are the people I have to work with. Seriously, they aren't as bad as they look. Above (left to right) are Barb Hanson, Alma Korslund, Ruth Steil, Katie Hunhoff and Liz Gellerman. Below is Heidi Marsh (salt) and Andrea Maibaum (pepper). I don't know why all the guys took the day off? Oh, I did dress up but somebody had to snap the picture.

We all know South Dakota's population is aging. It's happening especially fast in rural communities. This morning I read the social news columns in the Wessington Springs True Dakotan. Here are some of the items (I'll omit last names):

Juanita received word that her brother, Cortiss, passed away Sunday ...

Buck and Doris have moved to the Aurora-Brule Nursing Home ....

The Coffee and Quilt Club at Huron held a farewell lunch for Doris who has moved to Watertown ...

Darleen took Howard for his appointment with Dr. Lim ...

Darryl surprised his mom and dad and visited Thursday. He stayed to watch the World Series wit them and honored their 57th anniversary ...

Yes, we're all getting older. The aging baby boom population is going to be a burden on health care services and Social Security. But once we're gone, it looks like the population trends will even out and a lot of our present day concerns will be solved. That's the good news for today.

South Dakota has some amazing buildings. Here's a shot of a wonderful structure that will hopefully be undergoing some renovation in the very near future. Be the first to guess the name of the building and the town where it's located and we'll give you a one-year subscription to South Dakota Magazine (or renew your current subscription). Click on the photo for a larger view.

As always, we'll give some hints if it proves to be too tough. No rules whatsoever. Just hit "comments" and make your guess. Don't worry if it doesn't show up right away; it will be timed.

4:30 p.m. clue: It's East River and has a health care connection.

Each fall as the holidays get closer we inevitably get several inquiries here at the magazine about where to find star quilts for gifts. While there are a couple of options, we would like to recommend buying one from the Sioux YMCA on the Cheyenne River Reservation.

The Sioux YMCA, founded in 1897, is one of the oldest in the nation and the only independent YMCA on a reservation. It has been a part of the reservation's culture since the Little Crow Wars. After the Lakota Sioux defeat, some young men were imprisoned. Many older warriors were put to death. During the men's seven-year incarceration, YMCA workers visited them, brought food and clothing and taught English. Today the YMCA continues to serve the families located on the 2.8 million acres of the Cheyenne River Reservation. About 10,000 people call the reservation home.

Judging by the number of calls we get about the quilts, it would seem they are only growing in popularity as a gift. The quilts symbolize a greeting to a new day and are given to honor the recipient. In the Lakota culture they are often given to families at funerals and for weddings, births and graduations.

Purchasing a quilt from the Sioux YMCA directly provides food, clothing and helps to pay utilities to reservation families. The quilts are made by Lakota women. Here's the link to the quilt order form, www.siouxymca.org

Since the gardening season is just about over, lots of South Dakotans have tomatoes that won’t have a chance to ripen. Try baking a green tomato pie. We did last week. The flavor is tart like rhubarb, but sweet and cinnamony like an apple pie. Served warm with a dollop of ice cream, it’s delicious. Here’s a recipe Delores Feilmeier of rural Yankton shared with us.

Green Tomato Pie

Pastry for two crust pie
Six cups sliced green tomatoes
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
¼ cup lemon juice

Line nine inch pie pan with pastry crust. Peel and thinly slice green tomatoes. Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, combine lemon peel (which she seldom uses) and lemon juice. Arrange tomatoes in layers in pie shell, sprinkling each layer with sugar and lemon mixtures. Dot with butter.

For top crust, roll reserved pastry dough on lightly floured surface ¼ inch thick. Cut into strips, 10 x ½ inch. Arrange in lattice pattern over filling, moisten edges to seal strips.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce oven to 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes until tomatoes are tender and crust is brown.

*Delores says she usually uses a crumb crust on top of the pie. We used a crumb crust and a refrigerated store crust. We also omitted the nutmeg and cloves and used a teaspoon of cinnamon instead.

Guess who gets to build the fourth-biggest baseball scoreboard in America? It will be part of the new Minnesota Twins stadium, now under construction. The name of the company won't come as a huge surprise to most South Dakotans, but we'll leave you guessing .....

Bird-watching is becoming one of Americans' most popular pastimes, and of course the internet is enabling birders to share tips on where to go and what to see. There's a neat little web site called South Dakota Birding where you can post and read about sightings in the state.

Several posters reported rare sightings of the scissor-tailed fly-catcher just north of Brookings, and Terry Sohl provided this photograph (via Grant Peterson of Depot Radio). The beautiful bird, which often measures a foot or so in length if you include the long tail, is known for its acrobatic sky dances. Click on the photo for a closeup view.

Though the bird is common to Nebraska, it's very seldom seen as far north as Brookings in east-central South Dakota — especially this late in the year.

Last winter I climbed Harney Peak and took some photographs that we'll show in our Jan/Feb 2009 issue. This week I visited with David Pickford, a ranger with the Black Hills National Forest to collect some information for the story.

He told me that about 41,000 people climb our tallest mountain every year, but the vast majority take the trek in the summer months. Only about 3,000 do so from November to March.

Considering that millions of people visit the Black Hills every year, and that more than 100,000 live within a few hours' drive of the peak, I would have thought the numbers would be higher.

David said Harney is busy on one particular winter's day: every January lst, about 200 hikers climb up the mountain. He thinks it's because a lot of people decide they want a fresh start for the new year, and what could be fresher than climbing 7,242 feet in the air?

How does David know how many people walk the mountain trails? Lo and behold, the place isn't as primitive as it appears; there are electronic counters hidden among the pines.