POSTVILLE HERALD-LEADER • WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008 • PAGE 5
Area www.postvillenewspaper.com
Hello, again, from Luana
where a week has made an
amazing difference. We have
literally enjoyed a mostly dry
week. This was especially
true, given the fact that the
week’s forecast had called for
at least a chance of rain most
every day.
We did experience a few
sprinkles, but not enough to
put much of a damper on the
all-out assault on area fi elds
by planters. The readings that
were recorded this past week
in Luana are as follows: Mon-day,
34-62; Tuesday, 46-65;
Wednesday, 44-64; Thursday,
41-68; Friday, 44-74; Satur-day,
44-73; Sunday, 40-72.
The week to come looks
to begin on the cooler side,
but end with a fl ourish. Tem-peratures
should range from
lows around 40 the begin-ning
of the week to lower
50’s by the week’s end. Highs
are forecast to warm up a bit
each day, beginning at 64
and making it nearly to 80
by Sunday. A small chance of
rain is found for almost every
day, with the greatest chance
Monday evening.
Longer range forecasts
show that we are in area that
is expected to see ‘above nor-mal’
precipitation for the re-mainder
of this month, and
then ‘much above normal’
precipitation for the month of
June. Remember, it isn’t po-lite
to shoot the messenger.
I mentioned last week,
that the average soil tempera-ture
was hovering around 53
degrees, but in just a week’s
time, that number has shot
up to 62 degrees. That said,
it should be only a matter of
days before the gold mine of
seeds that have been planted
in the soil should begin to
make its presence known
to watchful eyes. And then,
once the planting is complete,
the machinery and the labor-ers
can breathe a huge sigh of
relief, and maybe even stop
worrying for a day or two.
The break in the weather,
though, was not the topic of
most conversations this week.
What had people talking was
all the goings on in Postville
that began on Monday. I had
received a phone call that
morning describing circling
helicopters and a much larger
than usual police presence,
so wasn’t surprised when I
fi nally heard the offi cial re-ports
later of the raid there
by federal offi cials. There
was a fair amount of ambiva-lence
of those I have visited,
heartened that the law was
being enforced, but on the
other hand troubled at the
‘collateral damage’ of those
caught by circumstances, es-pecially
the children. What
the long-term effects will be
cannot be known at this time.
And another question that is
yet unanswered is how much
blame will be shouldered by
those who were complicit in
the law-breaking by hiring
the ‘illegal’ workers.
Work has been on-going
on the railroad tracks that
travel through Luana. A num-ber
of rotted ties have been
replaced over the past couple
weeks, with numerous spe-cialized
machines occupying
the tracks at times. Even so,
railroad traffi c through town
has been traveling very slow-ly.
A couple weeks earlier, I
had seen quite a long line of
rail cars that were parked on
the stretch of track between
McGregor and Marquette.
These cars held what ap-peared
to be miles and miles
of new rails. I would guess
that the number of derailments
over the past several years on
those tracks from Marquette
all the way to Calmar is the
cause for the company’s need
to do some major repairs.
Work is also being done
at the former co-op in town.
Most recently, moving vans
have been seen there, appar-ently
emptying the buildings
of their current content in or-der
that the new owners can
begin using them. I see that it
was a little more than seven
years ago when the United
Co-Op vacated the premises.
On Tuesday when I was
visiting Norma Riveland, I
learned that she had become
a Great-Grandmother recent-ly.
Eden Marsh-Rhodes was
born on Sunday, April 6, in
Bend, Oregon. Eden’s par-ents
are Perry & Cara Marsh-
Rhodes, and her grandparents
are Tom & Lynn Bellinger of
Salem, Oregon.
A couple Luanans have
spent some time in the hospi-tal.
Ricky Lenth was again a
patient at Gunderson Luther-an
in LaCrosse, while Don
Baade spent a few days at the
hospital in Decorah.
On Sunday, three graduat-ing
seniors were honored at
St. John Lutheran in Luana:
Tina Baade, Cody Bachman,
and Drew Pape. First, the
Worship Committee served
a breakfast to them and their
parents. At the worship ser-vice,
Sunday School students
presented each with a hand-made
quilt which they had
helped make. Each was given
a chance to describe their fu-ture
plans. Tina plans to at-tend
the University of Iowa,
and then continue her school-ing
in the fi eld of chiropractic
medicine. Cody plans to at-tend
Upper Iowa University.
And Drew will continue his
employment at Monona Wire
while also taking classes at
NICC in Calmar. Finally, the
winner of this year’s St. John
Scholarship was announced:
Tina Baade.
Don’t forget that on
Sunday, June 1, the annual
Grilled Chicken Dinner will
be held at St. John Lutheran
in Luana. The dinner will be
served from 10:30 - 1:30 at Send us your news!
the church. Carry outs will
be available. The cost of the
meal is a free-will offering.
“Hospitality is treat-ing
others as if they were at
home, even when you wish
they were.”
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Debuhr & Casper
Plumbing & Heating, LLC
20 East Main St., Waukon • (563) 568-2784
RURAL SPRING GROVE HOME FOR SALE BY SEALED BID
This house to be moved
The house to be moved
is located at 15370 Coun-ty
27, Spring Grove, MN.
This house was the home
of Raymond & Ethel Ol-son
since 1977. It is a
one owner home. A steel
roof and vinyl siding were
installed in 2000.
The house is 26’x 44’
with two bedrooms and a
7’x8’ enclosed porch. In-cludes
all plumbing, elec-trical,
stove, refrigerator, washer,
dryer, water heater, and softener.
Bids shall be made in writing,
enclosed in a sealed envelope
and plainly marked Olson Home
Bid on the exterior. Bids shall
contain the name, address and
phone numbers of the bidder.
Bids should be mailed to Adrian
Olson, 22195 CR 135, Deer-wood,
MN 56444. Bids shall be
deemed received on the date
the bid arrives. All bids timely
received will be opened on June
10, 2008 at 4:00 p.m.
Initial sealed bids shall be ac-companied
by a cashier’s check
made payable to the Olson Trust
Account for ve percent (5%) of
the bid as an earnest money de-posit.
SELLER RESERVES THE RIGHT
TO REJECT ANY AND ALL BIDS
AND TO NEGOTIATE WITH
BIDDERS, AND FURTHER RE-SERVES
THE RIGHT TO CON-DUCT
A BID-OFF BETWEEN
THE TOP FOUR (4) BIDDERS.
If seller exercises his
right to conduct a bid-off,
the bid-off shall oc-cur
on Saturday, June
14, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. at
15370 County 27, Spring
Grove, MN. Noti ca-tion
of any bid-off will be
given to quali ed bidders
by Wednesday, June 11,
2008. The successful
bidder will be required
to enter into a Standard
Minnesota Purchase Agreement.
The closing date to be July 1,
2008. The house is sold “AS IS”
and must be moved by Septem-ber
1, 2008.
To view the house, please call
Jim/Faith Normann at 507-498-
3883. If you should have any
questions regarding the house,
the bid procedure or any other
questions, please contact Adrian
Olson at 22195 CR 135, Deer-wood,
MN 56444. 218-546-5497
or 218-838-4700.
Sealed bids will be received until June 10,
2008 by Adrian Olson, 22195 CR 135,
Deerwood, MN 56444
Real Estate, Household & Tools
AUCTION
Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 11 A.M.
Location:
104
Cheryl St.,
Postville,
Iowa
Darlene
Nuehring
1267 Sq. Ft. 3 Bedroom Home
Kitchen, dining & living rooms, full bath and utility room on
main fl oor. Includes stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer &
dryer. Full basement with half bath. 200 sq. ft. framed porch
and 561 sq. ft. attached garage.
Terms: 10% down payment day of sale with balance due
upon possession at closing, approx. 30 days.
Legal description, Lot 3 in 25 SW SW; Lot 3 in 7 SE SW.
Closing Attorney
Matt Erickson
Announcement day of auction
takes precedence over any
advertised or preprinted
materials. Owner reserves the
right to accept or refuse any
and all bids.
To view, contact Darlene at (563) 864-7186.
MONROE
AUCTION SERVICE
Any type of Auction, Call Auctioneers:
Mike Monroe (563) 864-7346, Postville, IA.
Member of IA & WI Auctioneer Assoc.
OR Glen Monroe (563) 568-5391, Waukon, IA
Duane Scheffert, Broker
510 Franklin St., Monona, IA 52159
Phone 563-539-4222
Fax 563-539-2870
For more information, Call Duane Scheffert
Offi ce: 563-539-4222, Cell 563-380-4707, Home 563-864-3608
For more listings log on to: www.genoskeystonerealestate.com
3 bedroom ranch located on the South edge of Postville.
Kitchen plus larger dining area, living room. Lower level has
fi nished family room and tuck under two-car garage.
Maintenance free brick exterior. Concrete patio off dining area.
Just
Listed
12392
Springfi eld Dr.,
Postville
Duane Scheffert, Broker
510 Franklin St., Monona, IA 52159
Phone 563-539-4222
Fax 563-539-2870
For more information, Call Duane Scheffert
Offi ce: 563-539-4222, Cell 563-380-4707, Home 563-864-3608
For more listings log on to: www.genoskeystonerealestate.com
Immaculate &
Spacious - Best described
this split foyer home at 513
Lybrand Street, Postville.
Upper level has kitchen,
dining area w/adjoining 4 season sun porch, living room, 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath. Lower
level has large bedroom, family room, laundry, and space for a 5th bedroom. Lover level
leads to a 2 car garage w/opener - and out to a large level lot. Must see this one to
appreciate - Call Duane for a private showing at 563-380-4707.
ACCEPTED OFFER
Factory Built Modular Homes
State & Federal HUD Code
Horkheimer Homes
3 Bedroom, 2 Baths,
On Your Foundation
ONLY - $39,980
Hwy 150 S., Hazleton, IA 1-800-632-5985
also 6 mi. S. of Prairie du Chien, WI on Hwy 18/35 1-888-467-5434
Home of the
Best Deal!
Across the Director’s Desk: Furry, brown friends
Furry, Brown Friends
If they are small, brown,
furry and crawl on the
ground, most people tend to
lump these mammal species
under “gopher” or some other
all-encompassing name. Dif-ferent
species have different
requirements for food and
shelter. Understanding those
differences can help you
manage their populations.
Ground Squirrels
The 13-lined ground
squirrels are those six-inch
long (plus about three to
four inches of tail) critters of
open grassland areas. Once
uncommon in Iowa, they
are now abundant across
the state as we have created
“short-grass prairie” areas in
the form of mowed lawns,
pastures, golf courses and
cemeteries. They like the
changes we’ve brought to
the landscape. They hiber-nate
for about fi ve winter
months, emerging in March
to early April. They burrow
in the ground in open, short-grass
areas, leaving little vis-ible
dirt and holes the size of
50-cent pieces.
Chipmunks
The eastern chipmunk is
the same size as the ground
squirrel, but is found in more
woodland or woodland edge
habitat and has only two
light stripes. Absent only
from the northwest corner of
Iowa, they inhabit neighbor-hoods
with mature trees and
shrubs, rock and wood piles
and retaining walls. While
they may live in holes dug
in the ground, they are more
likely to live in the retaining
walls, beneath decks or even
in holes in trees. They do not
hibernate in the winter and,
though they sleep for days at
a time, can be seen raiding
bird feeders on warm winter
days.
Ground hogs, also known as
woodchucks or whistle pigs
The ground hog is really
a large ground squirrel. Like
the 13-lined, it hibernates
through the winter, living in
torpor (with body tempera-tures
below 40 F) below the
frost line. Adults can range
from 24-30 inches long plus
a three- to four-inch furry
tail and weigh from nine to
14 pounds. They inhabit a
wide range of habitat, from
woodland (yes, they can
climb trees) to grassland.
Most typically, they live in
holes in the ground, often
below decks and outbuild-ings.
Their holes are round
and vary from seven to 10
inches in diameter. Mounds
of dirt outside the main en-trance
are often large and
obvious. Like ground squir-rel
and chipmunk dens, how-ever,
there are usually other,
more hidden entrances.
All three of these spe-cies
have diets of plants
(grasses, leaves, seeds, nuts,
berries, fruits, bulbs) though
they are known to occasion-ally
supplement their diet
with animal protein (ground
nesting birds, eggs). All are
ecologically important and
interesting to watch, but can
be nuisances depending on
location. Reduce summer
bird feeding of large seeds
(sunfl ower, saffl ower, pea-nuts)
to reduce attracting
these mammals.
Trapping better than poi-soning
Live traps baited with
peanuts (or fresh-cut apples
for ground hogs) and sub-sequent
release at least fi ve
miles distant can be success-ful.
Rat-sized snap traps bait-ed
with peanut butter (can be
covered with boxes with the
ends cut out to be sure birds
don’t get caught) and placed
outside main entrance holes
can quickly reduce a local
population.
Poisons that contain zinc
phosphide as the active in-gredient
are available, but
must be very carefully used
to avoid non-target species.
Poisonous gas cartridges
may be appropriate for some
limited circumstances, but
kill everything in the bur-row,
including toads, turtles
and other species that may
be co-habitating with the
digging mammal. For this
reason, trapping is preferred
over poisoning.
This article is from the
May 2008 issue of Acre-age
Living Online (www.
extension.iastate.edu/acre-age).
Other articles in this
month’s issue: Spring Flood
Preparedness, Grazing Man-agement
for Improved Pas-ture
Production and Aquatic
Vegetation Control.
BY TERESA WIEMERSLAGE
Allamakee County
ISU Extension Director
888-737-6430
Jim Bunting & Neil Brandenburg
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Clermont’s Montauk is
set to open this weekend for
the 2008 season. Starting on
Saturday, May 24, the histori-cal
site will be open for daily
tours from noon until 4:30
p.m.
There are also a number
of special events planned for
the site throughout the season.
Upcoming events include:
• June 28: Clermont Brick
City Days parade
• June 29: Organ Recital
at Union Sunday School, 2:30
p.m. - Dr. Leon Couch, Spar-tanburg,
S.C.
• July 19 and 20: Festival
of Arts, time to be announced
• July 27: Organ Recital at
Union Sunday School, 2:30
p.m. - Marvin Kerr, North
Liberty
• August 17: Old Fash-ioned
Picnic and Awards Pro-gram,
5 p.m.
• August 31: Organ Recital
at Union Sunday School, 2:30
p.m. - Steve Story, Hawkeye
• Month of September:
Month long exhibit on Mills
in Northeast Iowa
• September 28: Organ
Recital at Union Sunday
School, 2:30 p.m. - Dr. Greg-ory
Peterson, Decorah
• October 25: Monster/
Ghost Party at Montauk, 4:30
p.m.
• October 26: Organ Re-cital
at Union Sunday School,
2:30 p.m. - August Knoll,
Wheatland
• December 7: Christ-mas
Open House, 1-4 p.m. at
Montauk; Vesper Service at
Union Sunday School, 2 p.m.
For more information
about upcoming events at
Montauk or to schedule
group tours, please contact
Nadine West, site manager, at
563-423-7173 or email Mon
tauk@acegroup.cc.
Montauk set to open this
weekend for 2008 season
The Veterans Memorial
Hospital “In Step with VMH”
Community Wellness Chal-lenge
has come to an end. In
order to keep up the good hab-its
you have formed during the
program, you may have great-er
success, and a lot more fun,
if you muster support from
those around you. At one time
or another, we all need some-body
to help keep us on track,
and a kindred soul to work
alongside you might be just
what you need to help develop
and maintain healthier living
habits. You’ll be able to cele-brate
your achievements, give
each other moral support dur-ing
times of temptation, and
share the fun of trying new
foods and recipes together.
The workplace is often a
perfect setting to build enthu-siasm
for healthy eating and
exercise since you and your
colleagues can share the ben-efi
ts of mutual support and en-couragement
on a daily basis.
Try taking brief, ten-min-ute
“walk” breaks with a co-worker,
as this can often be a
better stress reducer and reju-venator
than coffee or a donut.
Decide together that you will
use the stairs instead of the
Teaming up with colleagues
can make shaping up easier
elevator whenever possible
throughout the day. Or try ex-ercising
with a colleague after
work—this may be a perfect
solution for those who can’t
fi nd the time or motivation
once they get home.
Remember to have a back-up
activity plan in case your
“shape-up” partner is unable
to participate that day because
of a late meeting, out-of-town
business, etc. This way, you
can avoid making excuses for
not exercising.
You’ll also fi nd it’s easier
to make nutritious lunch time
menu choices when eating
out with someone who shares
your commitment to good
health. Try taking turns bring-ing
healthful snacks or lunch-es
to work to share with each
other, and you’ll most likely
spend less money on vending
machine snacks which gener-ally
provide little, if any, nutri-tion
and lots of fat.
As long as you pick a
shape-up partner who is just as
committed as you are to living
healthier, simple changes like
those mentioned here can be-come
easier when you keep in
mind that you’re not alone.