Golf Courses, Toppling Trees, and Chow Mein

Sunday, October 27, 2013. The Sauk Centre Country Club's changing hands. An article on WJON-AM's website says that a developer bought the Country Club property and plans to build homes along the 9-hole golf course, and a marina on Sauk Lake.

I drove by the Country Club Wednesday afternoon, to see what was happening.


Sauk Centre Country Club's southeast corner, Main Street and Country Club Road. October 23, 2013.


The Country Club's east side. October 23, 2013.


North side of Sauk Centre Country Club. Those trees have already been toppled. October 23, 2013.


A crew was pushing trees over on the west side of the golf course Wednesday afternoon. October 23, 2013.


Sauk Centre Country Club's clubhouse, and birdhouse. October 23, 2013.


Sauk Centre Country Club's current course layout, from the Sauk Centre Country Club's scorecard. Used w/o permission.

My guess is that the new owners looked at those trees, saw how old they are, and decided to push them over before one fell on someone. That makes sense, but I'll miss them.
aThat article says that the folks who owned Sauk Centre Country Club bought GreyStone Golf Course. Apparently folks who like to golf on that 18-hole course won't notice much difference, since the place will still be open to the public.

Assuming that the developer keeps a 9-hole golf course there on the north side of Sauk Centre, that'll make two 18-hole courses and a 9-hole course in or near Sauk Centre. Folks who like to play golf may have trouble deciding where to go, but I don't think they'll mind having options.

I did a little checking, and all three golf courses have websites, or are supposed to. I'd provide a link to the GreyStone course, but when I tried using their Internet address, the website's software started doing very odd things to my browser. It's probably a technical problem, related to the place changing hands. Searching Google or another search site for GreyStone Golf Course should give you some information about that place.

Here's where to find the other two online:

• Sauk Centre Country Club
  (www.saukcentrecountryclub.com)
• Lynx National Golf Course
  (www.lynxnationalgolf.com)

Finally, my parish's chow mein fundraiser went well: and Fr. Statz said that, contrary to what someone heard someone else say, he's not retired, semi- or otherwise. Today was one of those beautiful October days that poets and writers get excited over, and I'll be back next week. That's the plan, anyway.

Fractured Concrete, Faux Football Field

Sunday, October 7, 2012. It's time for me to get my annual flu shot. But since I've got a cold, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, 'now' is not a good time for that inoculation. Looking on the bright side, if I get the flu first: I won't have to take that flu shot.

Marc'ette Floral had a "retirement liquidation" sign up this week. I'm sure there's been more happening in Sauk Centre, but I'm still catching up on September:


Fractured concrete and assorted debris from utility work on Sauk Centre's east side. I haven't checked to see how this is progressing. September 8, 2012.

That football field should keep looking green, no matter what sort of drought we have. September 8, 2012.
Sauk Centre High School's new football field cost more to install than laying down sod. But the Sauk Centre Herald said that in the long run the FieldTurf will be less expensive to maintain. I'm inclined to believe that.

• Turf Football Field Closer to Reality
  Bryan Zollman, Sauk Centre Herald (August 8, 2012)

According to the folks who make FieldTurf, it's the best thing since green asphalt:

• FieldTurf (http://www.fieldturf.com/)
  A Tarkett Sports Company

From a distance, the material looks like beautifully manicured, perfectly watered, real grass. And it doesn't need to be mowed.

Sauk Centre Streeters, Spring, and Tom Sawyer Clones

Wednesday, March 24, 2010. Okay, so the Streeters didn't come out first at state. I wasn't there, so what I know is what I read in the papers. If you live in Sauk Centre, you've probably read what the Sauk Centre Herald had to say. There's a pretty good write-up in the St. Cloud Times, too, dated March 18, 2010.

Sure, it would have been nice to come out first in the Class 2A state tournament. But in my book, getting from the gym at Sauk Centre High School to Williams Arena? For the first time? Yeah, I'd say that was a big deal.


Let's take a closer look at that sign. March 24, 2010.


I like that. March 24, 2010.

Meanwhile, winter has been melting. The flowers in one yard on the north side are already in full bloom. Of course, they were all winter, too. They're "permanent" flowers. That kind I think even I could take care of.

This is one of my favorite front yards: it's enthusiastic. March 24, 2010.

At least one household is going through the annual rite of putting screens on the windows.


Sure sign of spring: screens propped against the wall. March 24, 2010.

Last week I wrote about small town America's image as a sort of Brigadoon, idyllic islands untouched by reality. There's a sort of flip side of that stereotype: Small town America as cesspools of hatred, ignorance, prejudice, and inadequate dental hygiene.

Mayberry, RFD and Harper Valley PTA are pretty good examples of those two views of the sort of place I call home. Do I really need to say it? Neither one is particularly accurate.

I've written about this before: "Small Town America: Beyond the Tom Sawyer Clones" (December 10, 2009) and "Thucydides, Al Tingley, Myth and Me" (September 2, 2009).


I don't know about 'gritty reality,' but we do have large pressure tanks in odd places. That's somebody's house, behind the tank. March 24, 2010.

Also a week ago, I wrote about contemporary technology and small town America. We're fairly up-to-speed, actually, when it comes to our infrastructure. What we don't have, generally, is Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, or Von Maur stores. I suppose that contributes to the impression some folks have, of small towns being backward.

Sauk Centre, however, does have a WalMart supercenter. Which isn't quite the same thing. And Meads, downtown, is a pretty good clothing store.


Marian garden, Our Lady of the Angels church. March 24, 2010.

Technology is important: but I think the folks who live in towns are what make the difference. We're not Tom Sawyer clones, here in small town America: which is just as well. He wasn't real.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Happy St. Patrick's Day! And a fine one it was: only a few wisps of cloud in the sky, snow gone (for the most part), and it may be my imagination, but I think there was a bit of spring in the air.

I've heard that the Streeter girls' basketball team is going to state. And read about it in this week's Sauk Centre Herald. The headline was at the top of the front page, with a photo going across about three quarters of the paper. The Herald explains why this is such a big deal:

They did it. The Streeter girls' basketball team made it through the section
playoffs with wins over New London-Spicer and Staples-Motley last week to
advance to their first state tournament in the school's history.

That's the first paragraph of the store. There's a bit more online, and the whole thing in the print edition.

Daylight Saving Time struck again this weekend. The 'jet lag' aspect of it hit me particularly hard this time: it may have been more than just the time change. I've wondered if the 'spring forward, fall back' thing is still done because 'we've always done it this way.' I harangued about that in one of my blogs: "I'm Blaming Daylight Saving Time: or, Not," Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (March 17, 2010).

I didn't do a thorough survey of Sauk Centre this week, but the places I did see were snow-free. Judging from past experience, there's probably still snow in a sheltered spot or three on the north side of buildings - or, outside Sauk Centre, on the north side of stream banks.


Looking east across the Sauk River. Snow, no. Water, yes. March 17, 2010.

Quite a lot of the snow is still around, disguised as water. Happily, we haven't had flooding problems yet. That I've heard of.


A mess, definitely. Toxic? Good question. March 17, 2010.

On the whole, I like the way Sauk Centre looks. It's not one of those picture-postcard museum towns, where everything looks just like it did in the 'good old days:' Which is just as well: since we're in the 21st century; and the good old days weren't all that hot.

I'd probably be more nostalgic if my memory was worse.

One lot on south Birch Street is a bit of an eyesore, even by my flexible standards. It's the place where a house burned last year. (February 10, 2010, November 25, 2009 and September 20, 2009) With the snow cover off, you can see the debris. The last I heard, one of the neighbors there wanted the mess cleaned up. She apparently was concerned about asbestos wafting over from the wreckage.

I think she may very well have a point.

There are pretty good aesthetic reasons for cleaning that lot up, too. I doubt anybody really wants the piles of stuff to be left there: the question is probably who's going to pay to get the job done.


Old-fashioned? Actually, yes. March 17, 2010.

I've written before, about the impression some folks seem to have about 'small town America:' a sort of Brigadoon, cut off from the world, where the kids are clones of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and everything is just the way it was in the late 19th century.

Well, there's something to it. Quite a few of the buildings downtown date from around 1900. And look the part, now that we've had restoration work done. They do what buildings are supposed to do: keep rain and snow out, comfortable air in, and be a reasonably safe and comfortable place
for folks to live and work.

I suppose it's the principle of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' at work. We don't have all-new buildings downtown because the ones we have get the job done. Besides, the way I see it, with late-19th-century commercial buildings and an Art Deco theater, we've got the best that the last century-plus had to offer.

And it is sort of nice to see 'the way it was.'

It'll be a while before people get nostalgic about antenna farms like the one behind Mainstreet Communications, but I think folks may: after that technology is replaced by whatever comes next. And others will heave a sigh of relief that the things are gone, at last.

Me? I rather like the look of them.