Tolna, ND

Long awaited Spring has sprung. The snow is melting, the geese are flying overhead and the baseball diamond is clearing with the help of sunshine and volunteers. 

The Dakota Prairie High School Baseball team begins practice this upcoming Monday, March 22nd.  The high school games will be held in Tolna this spring. The first scheduled game is Friday, April 9th.  Come out and cheer on our team. Lunch will be served out of the newly erected concession stand. Go Knights!!

About a month ago, a 17-year old student from the area, Brennan Ehlers, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  An donor account was immediately opened up at the Farmers and Merchants Bank, Tolna, to help pay for the medical expenses.

Today I heard about several other fundraising efforts.  On the counter at the beauty salon in Binford, were several pint-sized jars of mini-chocolate chip cookies.  The sign said, “Cookies for Brennan, $5, all proceeds will be donated to Brennan Ehlers”.    I was hungry; yes, I bought a jar of cookies and had my first one before I even left the salon.

Then, while visiting with some ladies at the cafe, they mentioned a generous donation toward the Fund by, Sami Ceroll,  the local owner of the Hair Oasis Salon. 

Sami attended a couple of Dakota Prairie basketball games on a recent weekend where she offered to add a streak of the team color into the hair of willing participants.  At only $5 each, her efforts amounted to over $1000 at the two basketball games with all proceeds going to the Ehlers Fund.  The cost of the colored dye was donated by the Dakota Prairie Principal, Janet Edlund.

A flat screen TV was donated by some people in South Dakota and a raffle board was made.  Tickets were sold at some basketball games and at the Friends and Neighbors Cafe bringing another $1690 into the Ehlers Fund.

Way to go Tolna Community! 

Today I stopped in the Tolna Friends and Neighbors Cafe to hang up a flier and ended up spending an hour.  That place was hopping!

This community-owned cafe, that was established only a few years ago, is going through a major  kitchen expansion.  When finished, the kitchen will be more than doubled in size and will be much more efficient with lots more work space and storage. 

Even though a long wall has been installed across one side of the building, no seating space will be lost because the freezers and refrigerators that were scattered in various parts of the dining area will now be housed within the kitchen. 

The cafe employees are excited about this change as it will make for less steps as everything will be more conveniently situated.

Esther Bjorlie, employee and chef, stated, “We will now have a professional kitchen in which to work instead of one that was more like a home kitchen”.

Some sizable donations have been received to help pay for the remodel and, as usual in this community, volunteers are doing much of the labor.

I also noticed some new wall decorations and Diane Poehls, general manager and faithful volunteer, said, “Just wait; there is more to come!”

The cafe will need to be closed from Friday, February 26, to Tuesday, March 2, for the final stages of this remodel; can’t wait to go back on Wednesday morning to see the finished product.  Let’s meet there for a cup of coffee, okay?

Ahhh . . . . . free food. 

So, by now you have guessed that there must be an important event going on in the community since free food has come to be the pattern.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 2, 6:30 p.m. at the American Lutheran Church, Tolna, as there is a combined meeting of Community Club and Horizons following a tasty meal.

The Tolna Community Goals will be reviewed and progress reports will be presented.

It’s exciting to be planning and preparing for Tolna to be established as a thriving recreational/resort town with high goals of someday having a campground near the dock and possibly a nice recreational area for family-oriented activitied.

Other ideas to reduce poverty, improve and strengthen our quality of life are in the works.  You are invited to attend and participate. 

“A community is like a ship.  Everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm,” Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian dramatist, 1828-1906

I read in the Fargo Forum yesterday that the snowfall is now in excess of 23″.  My hubby thinks that we have had at least that here on our farm in the Tolna area.  Our deck was shoveled off once and the snow is up to the window sill again.

On February 5 I flew my mother to Mesa, AZ, to celebrate her 90th birthday.  Many friends and family members helped us celebrate at a hotel lobby on the 6th of February.  Mom and I stayed in that beautiful, warm city for a week.  That trip will certainly shorten the winter for me but ever since I came home, I have had the winter doldrums.  All that I want to do is sleep, surf and read my books.

I did go to New Life Fellowship yesterday afternoon and evening. 

For the past several months I’ve been teaching some quilting techniques to some youth (mostly girls but there is one brave young man in the class) and adults at our church.  One young lady has now finished a baby-sized quilt and a senior citizen is nearly done with a table centerpiece.  This class has been a very rewarding adventure for both myself and my students.  In fact, once they finish a project, they are ready to start something new. 

I am very thankful that I don’t have go out in the cold, scrape my windows and go to work every day.  Been there; done that!  Am glad I can now stay home and sew, read and surf. 

Spring is right around the corner.

Keep up the good work ladies.  Dakota Prairie Lady Knights will play in the District 3 championship game Monday, February 15th against the Thompson Tommies.  GOOD LUCK Ladies!  GO KNIGHTS!

Once again the teens at New Life Fellowship, rural Hamar,  will be serving a Valentine’s Day banquet for couples and single adults.  It will take place on Saturday, February 13, at 6 p.m. 

Call Karol Kapelle, 262-4446, with your choice of entree — prime rib or chicken breast.  There will be fresh flowers and other festive effects.

The movie, No Greater Love, will be shown after the meal.  If you loved Fireproof, you will enjoy this movie even more. 

Three of the Dakota Prairie girls basketball team recently had the honor of having their Great Grandmas cheer them on.  Shelby Gillett and Tory Engen of Tolna and Amy Rorvig of Mcville all had their proud and greatest fans at the last home game.  Thank you Grandmas for cheering on the team!

I have a few required activities when it gets this frigid, freezing, frostbitey cold…

Crank the heat in the morning.  My first stumbling, yawning steps from bed are made straight to Mr. Thermostat to turn that dial right up!  I do turn it back down as I leave the house to help conserve, but getting me outta bed when it is 30 below “without” the windchill requires more heat!

Flannel Lined Jeans.  This invention is the sliced bread version of North Dakota winter apparel! I picked up my most recent pair at Eddie Bauer on an after Christmas Sale. Yes!  L.L. Bean carries them also per catalog mail-order.  Say goodbye to bunchy, scrunchy, hike up, pull down long johns

Lather on the chapstick.  Not enough can be said about the healing qualities of lip balm during this dry, chapped season.  And pass me the hand lotion.  Double squirt please. I rely on Avon’s Moisture Therapy lotion. Give Bonnie Gillett a call to try some!

One other thing I do, when possible, during the cold snap, arctic blast season is make myself get out at least once a week to visit with friends and family.  Nothing warms better than good conversation and a steaming cup of coffee.

Take care and Take precautions during these frozen times. 

As I sit here at my kitchen table this morning reading the forecast on the Internet, I think it would be fun to have some sharing on what you do when the temperatures drop to this degree.

You know, this site is interactive.  You can leave comments. 

When the snow is deep, the winds kick up and the temperatures drop, my first thought is, “No problem, we have lots of food in the house”.   And, you probably do, too.  Rural people just do!  We probably all have freezers and a stash of canned goods.

So, back to what do I do?  My first thought is to make a big pot of soup, then I find a good book. 

I am so spoiled as I never shovel snow (maybe I should start as I hear it is great exercise and I’m short of that).  That’s probably why I don’t mind winter. 

Did I say that I was so spoiled?  Yes, I am. 

We don’t have an attached garage; the car goes in the quonset across the yard.  So, when I am going somewhere, Lyle warms up the car and brings it to the house for me.

Yes, I am so spoiled.

This afternoon I am meeting a lady in Jamestown as we are riding together for a meeting in Bismarck.  Because of the forecasted low temps, my awesome husband is driving me to Jamestown so I don’t have to deal with a cold car when we come back to Jamestown tomorrow.

So, now it’s your turn.  What do you do when the temperatures drop?