Fire at a Power Pole, Haiti Fundraiser, Webcam

Wednesday, January 27, 2010. That power outage Friday night affected quite an area. This week's Sauk Centre Herald says the lights were out from the north end of Sauk Lake to the Lynx golf course, south of town, and as far as West Union. All because of a fire at an XCEL Energy pole near mile marker 123 on I-94, between Sauk Centre and West Union.

What's still amazing to me is that there aren't more outages. The power grid is a finely-tuned, continent-wide system, and remarkably sensitive to problems like that fire. That far out of the way, I'm impressed that power came back on after no more than maybe an hour and a half. After reading the paper, I know why there was so much traffic here at South Ash and 9th. There was a boys basketball game at the school Friday night. And, a hockey game at the civic arena. I've yet to be in a public place when the emergency lighting kicks in: and don't mind a bit.


Jitters Java: new sign on the door. New hours, too, I think. At least, I don't remember their being open Sunday, 8:00 to 2:00. January 22, 2010.


Traffic at the corner of South Ash Street and 9th, around 8:50 p.m., Friday night. No street lights. January 22, 2010.

A column in Jitters Java serves as a bulletin board - one of several around town. If you've been meaning to donate to that Haiti fundraiser: there's still time. Here's what I wrote last week:

I see in the Sauk Centre Herald that First State Bank is offering $20,000 in matching funds. Here's what the Herald says, in part:

"To make a donation checks should be made payable to the American Red Cross and dropped off or mailed to First State Bank of Sauk Centre, PO Box 266, Sauk Centre, MN 56378. Contributions will be accepted until Feb. 15."

I'll admit that I'm emphasizing that Haiti fundraiser quite a bit. My household gave at the second collection at Our Lady of the Angels on Sunday. The folks in Haiti can use help.


Yoga and a weight loss program: and a desert display case in the background. January 22, 2010.


Main Street Coffee Company: with a new menu. Sauk Centre's other specialty coffee shop. January 22, 2010.

Again with what's in this week's Sauk Herald. There's a DVD available, "A Walk to Remember." Dr. Julian Dubois, Jr., walked around Main Street and Sinclair Lewis Avenue with a cassette tape recorder, talking as he went. Pretty good idea, actually. There's more about the DVD and the people who made it in the paper. I'm glad to see that folks are making records of what they remember about this town. It's sort of what I'm doing with this journal.


Wednesday afternoon, school bus, under-used bird feeder. January 27, 2010.

I took that photo this afternoon, out the north window where I do most of my work. That's also where my webcam is. It may be Sauk Centre's first on-the-street webcam. It's supposed to be on 24 hours a day, with a few minutes down time now and again. Key phrase here is "supposed to" - the thing was offline for quite a while today. I'd say "technical difficulties," but I may have hit the wrong button.

If you want to check out the view, streaming video from the webcam is at Small Town America: Minnesota, the webcam's blog.