for what it's worth

Last weekend The Blue Mounds State Park was closed to the public because of the annual youth deer hunt. Ten hunters between the ages of 12 and 15 spent the weekend trying to harvest a deer. Each of the hunters along with an adult mentor, generally a parent or grandparent, spent the time in pre-determined hunting zones. Only the youth hunters were allowed to harvest a deer. This will be the…

This Friday is opening night for the Green Earth Players’ musical production of “Little Shop of Horrors” under the direction of Shawn Kinsinger and Carol Ceynowa. There will be seven shows altogether: Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week and Thursday through Sunday next week. Show times are at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sundays. Ticket prices are $14 for adults and $7 for students…

My last couple of columns have been about things I love about this time of year. Well, here is one more. It’s not so much about what I love about this time of year, but more about the topic of conversation that really only happens this time of year. Pumpkins seem to be at the forefront of a lot of office conversation, as well at the Peterson household. Size, color, shape, how many and where to…

My last couple of columns have been about things I love about this time of year. The column from a couple of weeks ago was about my affection for all things football. Thanks to the Redwood Valley Cardinals, Luverne Cardinals, HB-C Patriots – so far, so good – but the Minnesota Gophers and Vikings, not so much. This week is about fall fashions and foods. First, we are all a bit reluctant to…

I can’t help myself this time of year, but all I think about is football. High school, college and the pros – I can’t get enough of it. I share my high school team loyalties between the Redwood Valley and the Luverne Cardinals. This year there isn’t a Peterson grandson on the Redwood varsity team, so the local Cards get all my support. That is subject to change next year, however. As a product…

August is a busy family celebration month at our household. We have three birthdays and two anniversaries on the calendar this month. One of the birthdays belongs to me, and one of the anniversaries reminds Mary and me it’s been 48 years since the “I do’s” were exchanged. Those of you who have 48 years or more of marriage under your belts probably already know there are only so many ways to…

The first week of August is in the books, and the back-to-school shopping season is well underway. It’s fair to say back-to-school shopping isn’t what it used to be. Granted, I am out of the loop when it comes to back-to-school shopping. For this column I reached out to my two granddaughters for their help with the “must have” back-to-school clothes, shoes and school supplies. Brooke is a soon-…

It is fair week – well, actually four days – but it has a week’s worth of fun and entertainment packed into those four days. If memory serves me right, the Minnesota State Fair’s slogan is the Great Minnesota Get-Together. I think that can be said about the Rock County Fair but on a smaller scale. My guess is that a very high percentage of the Rock County fairgoers are repeat visitors. I…

Is it just me, or are there a lot more distractions while driving on the city streets these days? I am not referring to texting while driving or fiddling with all the knobs, dials, buttons and switches that cars and trucks come with these days. What I am getting at is all the other modes of transportation vying for space on the streets. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds and UTVs all have to be…

At the time I am writing this column, the topic idea is just that – an  idea. With Hotdog Night just around the corner, some of the staff in our office had the brainy idea of putting together a short video centered around   tossing a hot dog and catching it with a bun. Two-person teams representing each department at The Star Herald have been established, and they are as follow: Our front…

This is the last of four columns about my take on the abundance of choices we have when it comes to selecting and purchasing a simple item. I wrote about the number of choices on the shelf for the perfect barbecue sauces at our local Sunshine Foods store, the plethora of paint colors and sheen to choose from at the Luverne ACE Hardware store, and the aisle after aisle of choices of dog food at…

This is the third installment in my series of columns about what I consider growing trends of having too many choices in making simple decisions. I so far covered barbecue sauces and paint, and now we’ll cover dog food. Pet food choices are off the charts, and for this column I am zeroing in on dog food. Our local Bomgaars is where I buy my dog food, so I did my research there on the plethora…

This is the second installment in my four-part series of columns on how I feel we have too many choices. My last column dealt with the onslaught of choices regarding barbecue sauces. This week I was overwhelmed by the choices in the world of paint. Our local Ace Hardware is ground zero when it comes to paint choices: brands, color, sheen, and now even texture. First, brands. At Ace you can pick…

Sometimes coming up with a topic for my column takes more time than actually typing it out. So the other day when I was throwing column ideas around in my head, I stumbled across writing a series of columns on how I think we have way too many choices. The first topic of overabundance of choices will focus on barbecue sauces to choose from. My area of research was conducted standing in front of…

It’s been 20 years since I started working here at the paper. To say things have changed a bit in the paper industry would be an understatement, considering computers, digital cameras, cell phones, internet and social media, not to mention the fax machine that came and went over a relatively short time. All of the afore-mentioned changes came about in the last 30 years or so. Twenty years in…

I never considered myself much of a hat guy. That was until I was searching for a column idea, and as I looked around in my garage, I counted 13 hats and four more in the house … 17 hats in all, so that might make me a hat guy. With the exception of a couple of those hats, I have worn the rest at least once this past year. Four of the hats are for cold weather use. My snowblowing hat is one of…