The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) reminds farmers and their families that the Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The service is free and confidential. The toll free number is (833) 600-2670.
“These are challenging times for growers who are facing a number of economic headwinds on the farm. And during harvest, that stress builds for a lot of farmers spending long hours in the combine,” said Minnesota Corn Growers Association President Brian Thalmann, who farms near Plato. “All farmers should know this number is available when outside help is needed.”
Farmers and rural communities face unique stresses and emotional situations, including financial challenges, unpredictable weather, and physically demanding work. Stress, anxiety, depression, financial burdens, and other mental and emotional challenges are common.
The Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline connects callers to financial help, mental health counselors, legal assistance, and more. Calls are confidential, but counselors may ask for a first name and phone number in case of a dropped call. Translation services are available in all languages.
The Helpline is also available to people who are worried about family or friends and aren’t sure how to help.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is investigating the source of a Palmer amaranth plant found growing in Jackson County.
Palmer Amaranth is popping up in southwestern Minnesota counties, including Redwood and Jackson. Keep an eye out for this in your fields. If you do find it, get out there and pull it out by hand, including the roots. Don’t let it multiply! (Photo from NRCS/Iowa)
In early September, a farmer noticed a suspicious weed in the first few rows of a soybean field adjacent to a utility field road. The weed survived a herbicide treatment. making initial identification difficult. The farmer then contacted the University of Minnesota Extension, which submitted the plant for genetic identification. The test has confirmed it was Palmer amaranth. MDA staff scouted fields in the area and have not found any other Palmer plants. The MDA is investigating where the Palmer amaranth seed came from.
“This is another case illustrating the effective collaborations established between the MDA, U of M Extension, crop consultants, and farmers throughout the state for locating and reporting Palmer amaranth,” said Mark Abrahamson, MDA’s Director of Plant Protection. “We continue to urge farmers and landowners to become familiar with what Palmer amaranth looks like and to immediately contact the MDA, Extension, or a crop consultant for help if they suspect Palmer amaranth on their property.”
Since 2016, the invasive weed has now been found in six Minnesota counties. In addition to this latest find in Jackson County, the MDA confirmed the weed in a Redwood County soybean field last week. It was also discovered in conservation plantings in Lyon and Yellow Medicine counties in 2016, and Todd and Douglas counties in 2017. However, after eradication treatments, Palmer has not been found at any sites in those four counties during 2018.
Palmer amaranth is listed as a Prohibited Weed Seed. This means it’s not allowed in any seed offered for sale in the state. It is also on Minnesota’s Prohibited Noxious Weed Eradicate List. All above and below ground parts of the plant must be destroyed. Also, no transportation, propagation, or sale of this plant is allowed.
If anyone suspects Palmer amaranth, they can contact the MDA through the Arrest the Pest line at 1-888-545-6684 or arrest.the.pest@state.mn.us.
Palmer amaranth is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It has been found in over half of the states, and along with Minnesota, it has been found in the neighboring states of Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
I’m from a town of less than a thousand and currently living in a city of almost 3.3 million people, so I’m naturally out of my comfort zone. However, it is getting easier. There’s sure a lot more to do here but why does it always have to be so expensive here in the big city? I work from home and have lots of time to read and think about things. I don’t share my inner thoughts easily with people I don’t know, but I’m already way out of my comfort zone here, so let’s give blogging a try.
I really don’t care that Nike has hired Colin Kaepernick. I just don’t. I’m physically and emotionally exhausted by the great American Flag/National Anthem debate. He’s got a God-given right to do what he believes is right, and more power to him. However, before the Kap supporters get too big for their britches, other people have a similar God-given right to not support it. That’s what true freedom of speech is. Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean either side is wrong. We’re all allowed to have different opinions.
That leads me to another point. Are you as exhausted as I am by the division being sown daily in this country? The United States aren’t quite as “United” as they used to be. Our political “leaders” are doing a great job of stirring up dissension in the country and then doing an equally great job of promising to “fix” it. We keep believing the promises and keep electing the same morons, over and over, expecting different results. How does that make sense? And, it’s not one side of the political aisle or the other. It’s both.
We’ve left two political parties in power for far too long. It’s time for new leadership and new blood in D.C. We have to start paying attention to the candidates running for office and the promises they make.
Please Minnesota, do some research on our state candidates. For example, don’t vote for Keith Ellison to be the state’s attorney general. The man’s law license is inactive. Maybe you should ask him why? Plus, he’s got domestic assault allegations to answer for. I cannot believe that his party is so quick to attack the president for the way he views women (which itself isn’t acceptable) but actually come out in support of someone with domestic issues of his own?
Oh, and before you get huffy and go on the attack, I didn’t vote for Trump. Didn’t vote for Clinton either. Voted for Gary Johnson, who I honestly thought was the best choice for the office. That’s all I’m hoping we do in Minnesota. Vote for the best possible candidate for each office. Is that too much to ask? Don’t vote for someone just because the media tells you too, either. Do your own research and make an informed choice, no matter who you choose.
Maple Grove is quite a place. I’ll never forget one of the first days here when I took the dog for a walk. No less than three neighbors actually waved to me as I walked by. That hasn’t happened since I lived in South Dakota, where everybody knows everyone else. I’m in the middle of a big city and a major metro area and people were waving at me? Was really caught by surprise.
My dog, Jazz, is a greyhound. A black one. She’s absolutely beautiful to look at. And absolutely lazy.
A funny thing happened to Dawson Dahl of Rushford during a family trip to the beach. It was a typical summer day and the family decided to go swimming. While walking through the sand, Dahl accidentally stubbed his toe. That painful moment led to a very interesting discovery for him and the rest of the family.
Dawson Dahl of Rushford, pictured here with the complete Bison skull he literally stubbed his toe on one day. The skull is estimated to be well over 100 years old. (Photo from the Tri-County Record/Scott Bestul)
“It was a hot day and we went down to the Point, which is what we call the spot where the crick and the River meet,” he recalled. “We were swimming while my mom sat on the bank and read a book. After getting out of the water, I stubbed my toe on something. I wanted to rip it out of there so no one else would get hurt. I didn’t know it at the time, but I stubbed my toe on the horn of a big Bison skull.”
Dahl grew more interested as he kept digging and saw that his find was something large. As he worked it out of the ground, his mom noticed all the digging and wanted to know what it was too. After finally working it free, Dahl said his mom wasn’t too thrilled by what he’d found.
“She kept saying ‘throw it away’ but I wasn’t going to,” he recalled. “I said ‘I’m keeping this thing.’ It was heavy. After we cleaned the sand out, I’m sure it was lighter. We took it home and hosed it off. We didn’t polish it or anything like that, but we sure did clean a lot of sand out of it.”
As some folks might imagine, he said it was obviously quite a shock to pull a full-sized, complete Bison skull out of the ground. Dahl dug to the point that he could yank the horn with both hands and finally pulled it up out of its resting place. His first reaction?
“Wow, what is this,” he said. “I literally sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out what it was that I had just pulled out of the creek.
“We live pretty close to the creek, so I just carried it home, and then we got it hosed off and cleaned up,” he recalled. “After that, we stuck it in a wheelbarrow and I guess it sat there for six months. Then, we got the idea to bring it to the family White Elephant gift exchange at Christmas.”
Dahl said he actually wanted to hang the skull on the wall, but his mom wasn’t really high on the idea. So, when Christmas rolled around, the Dahls wrapped it up in a box and decided to give it as a surprise gift to a family member. So, which extended family member got the ‘gift?’
“Of all people, my grandmother picked it out,” he said with a smile that was almost visible during a phone conversation. “She’s really not into that type of thing. She unwrapped the big box and opened the lid, jumped back in her chair and yelled. Everyone wanted to know what it was. She started laughing and said she wasn’t going to touch it.
“My great-uncle Larry walked in, saw what it was, and grabbed it by both horns to pull it up out of the box,” he added. “The whole room just exploded in surprise. He’s into that kind of thing and took it home from the family get-together. I’m pretty sure he actually had someone look at it and tell him the skull was actually from the 1800s.”
The skull actually has a hole in it near the brain and figured that’s where hunters shot and killed the bison. The people who dated the skull figured that the Point is where the skull had been buried before eventually working its way back to the surface, where Dahl literally bumped into it.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is asking farmers to fill out an online survey as they investigate alleged soybean damage caused by dicamba drift. (Photo from agfaxweedsolutions.com)
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is again gathering information on plant damage that may have been caused by the use of the herbicide dicamba. The MDA is encouraging anyone with damage in the 2018 growing season to complete a survey or register a formal complaint. The survey will be open until September 15.
Last year, the MDA received 253 complaints related to the use of dicamba in Minnesota. The complaints centered on off-target movement that impacted non-dicamba tolerant soybeans, other sensitive crops, as well as non-crop plants. The University of Minnesota estimates the damaged area totaled 265,000 acres across the state.
In an effort to prevent off-target movement incidents this year, the MDA added additional restrictions to the herbicide’s application: a June 20 cutoff date and an 85 degree Fahrenheit temperature cutoff. As of July 23, 2018, the MDA had received 30 reports of alleged dicamba damage. Not all of those reports requested an investigation.
“It is important that we continue to monitor the situation this year and gather as much data as we can,” said Assistant Commissioner Susan Stokes. “Last year’s survey gave us very valuable information, and this year’s survey will help the department as we look ahead to the 2019 growing season.”
Dicamba is an herbicide used to control broadleaf weeds in dicamba tolerant soybeans, corn and a variety of other food and feed crops, as well as in residential areas. Dicamba belongs to a class of herbicides that are volatile, and can drift and/or volatilize from the intended application area if not used according to the label. Off-target movement may cause unintended impacts such as serious damage to non-targeted crops.
If you believe dicamba was used in violation of the label or law, and you wish to request an MDA investigation, you will also need to complete the pesticide misuse complaint form or call the Pesticide Misuse Complaint line at 651-201-6333.
You can find more information on dicamba at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/dicamba.
Here’s a refresher from the North Carolina Soybean Association on spotting different levels of dicamba damage:
A Rushford veteran who was among the first sailors killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, is finally returning home for burial. Thanks to advances in DNA testing and a two-year-old government agency, the remains of Joe Johnson of Rushford are finally heading back to Minnesota. Dennis Rislove, a Rushford native who lives in Minneapolis, said he never got to know his uncle Joe personally but is glad he’s finally returning home once and for all.
Here’s a high school graduation picture of Rushford, Minnesota native Joe Johnson, who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were recently identified and are finally coming home to Rushford in 2018. (Photo by Chad Smith)
“I’m absolutely amazed at the science that allowed this to happen,” Rislove said. “It’s almost unbelievable that they’re able to do something like this.
“The fact is, I’m 74 years old and he died two-and-a-half years before I was born,” he recalled. “I never had any personal contact and never knew him. It’s kind of a distant relationship but it is still a family member. The government is returning him to me because I’m the oldest living direct relative.”
Rislove, a former Rushford-Peterson school superintendent, first found out about the possible return of Johnson to Rushford two years ago. The government agency, known as the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which reached out to him was just created in 2016. They tracked Rislove down and asked him for a DNA sample, which he submitted at a meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That’s where agency officials gave Rislove a rundown of the project they were undertaking to identify the remains of every veteran killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“In November of 2017, I got a call from the Navy that said they’d identified him (Johnson) and they’d eventually be returning the remains to me,” he said. “They sent a team from the Navy after that and they gave me a ton of information in a book of about 120 pages, and it’s all about uncle Joe. It included everything statistic from the battle, what happened, where the remains were temporarily buried, and how they were disinterred.”
Here’s a map of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The red arrow is pointing to the position of the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which was the first ship hit by torpedoes, killing Rushford, MN native Joe Johnson, who’s remains have been identified and are returning home this year. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The remains of the Rushford veteran were positively identified at a laboratory in Nebraska and the book walked Rislove through the process. The account in the book detailed the fact that the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which Johnson was serving on, was the first ship hit in the attack. It was hit by a total of six torpedoes, sinking the ship very quickly, which then rolled over and trapped 429 men.
“Some were killed in the explosions and fires,” he said, “and some of them drowned, of course. At the time, they didn’t have any way of identifying them. They ended up burying the dead in what amounted to mass graves. When the DNA science finally came along, they decided to try and identify and return the remains to each sailors’ family.
“In fact, they opened up the first casket and inside were the remains of 95 individuals,’ he said, “and that shows you the kind of challenge they faced in doing this project. The agency disinterred all the co-mingled caskets and separated the remains, such as the skulls in one place, the femurs in another, and so forth. They cleaned all the bones and began to DNA test every single one of them, with the goal of identifying every veteran possible.”
The agency informed each family’s of every veteran that they would help set up the burials, which would include full military honors. Joe Johnson’s remains will be back in Minnesota on Friday, July 6th, in Minneapolis, where the Navy will host a military ceremony. The remains will then be escorted down to Rushford for a memorial service on Saturday, July 7th, at 1:00 p.m. The remains will be buried in the Rushford Lutheran Cemetery with full military honors, in a plot that’s located next to his mother and father’s graves.
Workers stand on top of the overturned U.S.S. Oklahoma after the attack on Pearl Harbor, looking for dozens of sailors who were trapped underneath and died. (Contributed photo)
“While there’s not a great deal of emotional attachment for me just because I never got to know my uncle Joe,” he said, “it’s emotional because it certainly makes you more appreciate all the Joe’s.”
There is some regret that Joe Johnson had plenty of family members that never had closure after his death because most of those relatives have passed away. Johnson had two younger sisters and a younger brother that are deceased. In fact, there’s just one living family member that new Joe Johnson personally, and his name is Norm Ebner.
“He’s another uncle of mine,” Rislove said. “He actually married one of Joe’s sisters. Norm (Ebner) was in the same class as uncle Joe and they both graduated in 1939. Norm is now 99 years old and in an assisted living home. He’s the only living family member that ever knew Joe.
“His mother and two sisters absolutely adored Joe,” Rislove said, “and they talked about him all the time after his death. They did get notified relatively quickly that he was missing in action. However, it took many months before Joe was finally declared killed in action. His family was told his body was unrecoverable, and that whatever remains they found would be put into mass graves because they simply couldn’t identify each and every veteran.”
One of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s employees is a historian who studied the battle at Pearl Harbor in incredible detail. Rislove said the historian knows exactly where the torpedoes hit the Oklahoma and the exact time that they hit the ship. Because the attack occurred on a Sunday morning, most of the sailors were actually off the ship. Joe Johnson was on duty in the radio room.
“They know exactly where he was when the torpedoes hit,” Rislove said. “The historian told me he’s very confident that, based on where the torpedoes hit, that Joe was killed almost instantly, very early in the battle. I think he was trying to comfort me and help me realize Joe wasn’t one of the sailors trapped underneath when the ship overturned, and those sailors were stuck there for 48 hours before they all died.“
Rislove added, “World War Two was very short for uncle Joe.
“He enlisted in the Navy a year after graduation, in April of 1940,” he recalled. “He did basic training around the Great Lakes Training Station in Illinois. His first assignment with the Navy was on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, in Hawaii. Joe died the following year on December 7th, 1941.”
The DNA science had come so far that they could now identify mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the females in every family tree. Because Rislove’s mother was Joe Johnson’s sister, they could take a sample from Dennis and use it to identify his uncle Joe’s remains.
“I have to admit that I was skeptical that this would really happen a couple years ago when I got the call,” Rislove recalled. “But I then read up on some of the things they can do with DNA. I also saw a story about the U.S.S. Oklahoma and how the government had decided to disinter the bodies, so I knew that part of the story. I do wish that his immediate family members could have gotten this kind of closure too.”
Minnesota strawberries will be ready for picking soon. Growers across the state have reported fields full of blossoms and are expecting to be open for pick-your-own and pre-picked strawberries over the last two weeks of June.
The strawberry season is almost here in Minnesota! Almost time to get out and pick them fresh off the vine! (Photo from Facebook.com)
Berry season is short and sweet (literally!), with seasonal availability beginning in southern Minnesota and moving northward. The typical strawberry season is two-three weeks long but the length of harvest varies from farm to farm, depending on varieties planted, weather, and soil type. Mild temperatures in the 70s and 80s extend the season and allow berries to ripen at a steady pace, while excessive heat can cause berries to ripen more quickly and shorten the season.
Minnesota strawberry varieties are grown for their robust, juicy flavor, and not for long shelf life or shipping ability. John Jacobson of Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake gives tips on preserving Minnesota strawberries’ fresh taste.
“Leave the berries in their natural state until you are ready to use them,” said Jacobson, “then wash them up. Waiting to wash the berries will keep them fresher longer and will help them from going bad prematurely.”
Kevin Edberg of The Berry Patch in Forest Lake has grown berries for 41 years. Edberg recommends that visitors call the farm beforehand and properly plan visits.
“Call the farm before going and prepare for being outside,” said Edberg. “Bring things like hats, sunscreen, and a water bottle. Most farms these days provide containers, but verify if you need to bring your own.”
Edberg also recommends calling ahead for those wishing to place orders for pre-picked berries.
Danielle Daugaard of Minnesota Grown recommends on-the-farm berry picking as an educational family activity.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture wants you to know that it’s almost time to head out to your local produce grower and pick some fresh strawberries right off the vine. Bring the whole family and spend a couple hours together outdoors. (Photo from minnesotahauntedhouses.com)
“Picking your own berries is lots of fun and is a great way for kids to learn where their food comes from,” says Daugaard. “Minnesota Grown farmers are always happy to connect with their customers, and visiting their farms can give families a chance to ask questions about their food.”
The Minnesota Grown Directory, available in print or online, is a great place to find local pick-your-own berry operations or farmers market. The 2018 Directory includes 73 strawberry farms, 36 summer raspberry farms, 31 blueberry farms, and other specialty berry farms like elderberries, currants, honey berries, and aronia berries. Free, printed copies of the Directory may be ordered online or by calling 1-888-TOURISM (1-888-868-7476).
Southeast Minnesota is getting clobbered by excess rainfall this weekend. There are multiple reports of water flowing over the road, so please, be careful if you’re heading out and about. An even better idea is to just stay home, especially at night. It’s awful hard to see the water flowing over the road in the dark.
The excess rainfall in southeast Minnesota is making driving dangerous. Don’t try to drive through water flowing over the road. It’s always dangerous. Turn around and don’t drown. It’s cliche, for a good reason. This picture is on County Road 22 between Harmony and the junction of County Roads 15 and 22.(Contributed photo.
Here’s a update from Thomas Kaase, Fillmore County Sheriff, with the most up-to-date information.
As of 8:00 PM this evening, our Emergency Manager Don Kullot has been out and assessing the situation in Fillmore County. We are urging our citizens and people traveling in and through Fillmore County to use extreme caution, especially in low-lying areas that have rivers, creeks, or even just the potential of water flow. The areas that seem most affected are west of Preston, south of the Stewartville-Spring Valley-Wykoff areas, and in the Ostrander area too. We are working to get updates throughout the rest of our county.
The flooding situation in southeast Minnesota is making roads treacherous this weekend. Here’s a photo from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Department on County Road 15, south of 120th Street. (Contributed photo)
Since 6:00 this morning, some areas have received up to 6 inches of rain and some were getting blasted from 3:00 PM to 7:00 this evening. Some areas are expected to get an additional 1-2 inches more. At one time earlier this evening, we had a Fillmore County Deputy stranded between CR 30 and Klondike Road, moving to higher ground before finding a way out. It’s easier to see the water over our roadways during the daylight, but with darkness coming upon us, PLEASE USE CAUTION! Remember the saying….TURN AROUND AND DON’T DROWN!
*Update* The eastern side of our county also affected, southeastern area reported to have received up to 5 inches of rain. Hwy 43 north of Mabel is reported to have water over the roadway.
Again, please use caution if you’re driving in our area and don’t take any chances….turn around and don’t drown!
I expected controversial, but what I got was a delightful sports conversation. I was glad to be wrong. I caught up with Jim Souhan, the long-time sportswriter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, during an interview for a weekly podcast I co-host called Minnesota Sports Weekly. If the old saying is “never judge a book by its cover,” I get what that really means.
Jim Souhan, long-time sports writer and columnist, sat down with me to visit on our podcast, Minnesota Sports Weekly. (Photo from Twitter.com)
“I’ve been with the Star Tribune 28.5 years,” he said. “I was an Air Force brat growing up and moved all over the country, but I’d never visited Minnesota until I came here for a job interview in February of 1990. Back then, my industry was mobile, so I thought I’d be here for a bit and then head someplace else. Had kids and settled in, so, as I always tell people, I’ve been here 28-and-a-half years and, if I make it another 30, Minnesotans might almost think of me as a native.”
Souhan describes himself as a “geek” growing up, so he was an avid reader. He played Strat-O-Matic baseball, Sports Illustrated baseball, and was really into reading about sports, especially baseball (he’s a baseball guy, in case that hadn’t clicked yet). Souhan grew up in the Pennsylvania/Maryland area when the Baltimore Orioles were one of the best franchises in baseball. It was during the era of colorful characters like Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, and Jim Palmer.
“I have a thousand autographs from each of them,” Souhan said. “Going to big-league games wasn’t very expensive, so you could go to a lot of them. That was in my formative years. I loved reading and I loved sports. When I went to high school, I ran track and cross country. The student newspaper wasn’t covering it, so I volunteered to write about it myself. That was my introduction to getting published and I loved it. I was living in St. Louis at the time and went to college at the University of Missouri.”
During the early years of his career, Souhan described himself as a “grunt,” typing in box scores while making six dollars an hour with no benefits. After that, he was promoted to an assistant high school writer for ten dollars an hour with no benefits. Then, he became the primary high school sports writer for the Dallas Morning News. Souhan then took a big jump, getting promoted to the Dallas Cowboys beat writer position. After a year in that job, he said the Star Tribune came calling.
Souhan made the jump to become the Vikings beat writer for a few years. He’s also covered the Twins and was a roving feature writer for the Trib back when “budgets were a little bigger.” A column position came open in 2004 and he’s been doing that ever since. Souhan has even gotten into podcasting, starting his own company called Talk North. His early years in the beat writer position, combined with his experience writing columns has given him unique insights into the Minnesota sports market. A recent column on the Timberwolves dysfunctional situation, saying the NBA is a little bit more public than other leagues when it comes to this.
“I haven’t seen a winning team with this much dysfunction,” he recalled. “That’s where the NBA is different from other sports because it’s all about personalities, egos, money, and how all those things mesh together. I’ve really never seen anything like the last year in Timberwolves history. Here they go, winning close to 50 games, they go to the playoffs, they win a game against a very good team in the playoffs, they have loads of talent, and nobody is happy.”
It’s hard for anybody in the Wolves organization to know what will happen next. Souhan says it’s hard to know what (Head Coach/GM) Tom Thibodeaux is going to do, if it’s sustainable, and whether he can maintain relationships. He’s basically made star player Jimmy Butler a de facto assistant coach, who might be leaving after next season. And that’s not the only challenge ahead.
“Karl-Anthony Towns is said to be less-than-thrilled with the way things are going and I get that,” Souhan said. “He’s the most talented guy on the team and he’s not the focal point. You never know when Andrew Wiggins is going to play hard. Jamal Crawford came in eager to play with this team but couldn’t wait to leave after the season. It’s fascinating, but troubling, that two years ago, they looked like the most promising young team in the league. While they are still promising, there are some big decisions ahead.”
On a brighter note, the Minnesota Vikings are gearing up for a Super Bowl run after falling one game short of being the first team in history to host a Super Bowl. After signing quarterback Kirk Cousins away from Washington, Souhan said the Vikings season will be fun to watch because this team is loaded.
“This team looks really good on paper,” he said. “Cousins is going to do really well in this offense. (Running back) Dalvin Cook being back in this offense could make them really dynamic. You could even see (wide receiver) Laquan Treadwell finally emerge. Kendall Wright is a very good slot receiver. They are really loaded but keep in mind, so is the rest of the NFC.”
Looking into professional baseball, he said a lot of the Twins challenges this summer have been multiple injuries to several key players. Souhan said the team did a great job of building what may be the deepest pitching staff they’ve had in years, and that’s with Ervin Santana eventually coming back from an injury. There are some middle relief issues they need to figure out, but he said, “that’s not unusual for any team.”
Souhan offers some additional thoughts on the injury situations surrounding young Twins stars Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton:
Gary Woxland of Rushford recently went on a journey that very few people will ever have to make. Two years after having a pump put into his heart, which was weakening, he had a heart transplant operation at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. He went into the hospital on April 19, and after more than 12 hours on the operating table, Woxland is feeling good about the results of the procedure. The road to the transplant began just a couple years ago.
Glen Woxland of Rushford, Minnesota, recently underwent a successful heart transplant operation at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison., and says “I’d recommend that hospital to anyone!” (Photo by Kayla Thompson, Bluff Country News Group)
“My heart had gotten too weak,” he recalled, “so I had a heart pump put in to help it out two years ago. That did help, but I then decided it would actually be better for me if I could get a heart transplant. Heart pumps are only good for 15-18 years before they wear out. At that point, I’d be too old to put in a new one.”
He did his original “doctoring” at Mayo Clinic, but Mayo had an age-cutoff of 70 years old, at which they would no longer perform the operation. Woxland was just shy of 69 when he first broached the topic with doctors. He said the doctors in Rochester discouraged him from pursuing the option there but did encourage him to try the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. The Rochester doctors told him there was a bigger donor list in Arizona and he might have quicker results down there.
“We went through the hospital there and they felt the same as the Rochester clinic,” he said. “They said I was getting too old and didn’t want to risk it. Someone told me I should check with the hospital at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It turned out they were interested and put me through their tests. They had a similar age cutoff to Mayo Clinic, but it was more dependent on the overall health of each candidate.”
Woxland was actually still working up to that point and not “sitting in a chair somewhere every day.” The fact that he could do everything on his own before the surgery really helped out. In spite of that, it still took him a while to get on the transplant list. Four or five months later, he still hadn’t heard from anyone and was about to give up on the idea when the call finally came. Woxland felt it was a dream come true.
“I was down at the shop where I work and talking with my brother,” he recalled, “and I set my cell phone down in the shop and went into another room when they began trying to call me. They called two or three times there and then called my wife, but she didn’t have her cell phone with her. I left work at noon for lunch and when I got home, the phone was ringing. At the same time, they’d called Rushford Police Chief Adam Eide and asked him to come find me as well.”
After getting word that they’d found him a good heart, it was literally a mad dash to get to Madison, Wisconsin, as hospital staff wants the transplant patients there within four hours. Woxland had a smile you could hear in his voice when he said, “we thought we were ready to go, but we weren’t.” It was a bit of a challenging drive to Wisconsin through what was heavy snowfall, at times, but they did make it safely.
“We got there and found out the donor was actually still alive,” Woxland recalled, “and they weren’t going to harvest the heart until the next morning. It was a good opportunity for them to get me prepped. About 12 hours later, I was ready to go. My wife said I was in the operating room for 12 hours. I went in around 8:30 in the morning and got out around 9:00 that night.”
The doctor told the Woxlands that the surgery went great and there were no complications. He did ask who the donor was, and staff couldn’t tell him at that moment. All the doctor could say was the donor was male. There is a form that Woxland can send to the hospital to find out the name of the donor. Hospital staff told the Woxlands that they shouldn’t be in a hurry to find that out as the donor’s family is still grieving the loss.
He still has to go back to the doctor every two weeks for biopsies, but so far, so good. Woxland said the hardest challenge was being laid up on the operating table for 12 hours, and then not being able to get up and move for another three days. He’s lost a little bit of muscle in his legs and feels a little more tired but is otherwise in good shape. Woxland says hospitals perform transplants more often than most people realize.
“When I first was looking at a heart pump or a transplant,” he recalled, “I didn’t honestly think there was any way transplants would be worth it,” he remembered. “Then, I came to find out that hospitals do transplants every day, everywhere. The University of Wisconsin does a lot of transplants, including organs like hearts and lungs. They’ll even do double transplants, such as heart and lungs in one patient.”
His last thought on his amazing journey?
“I would recommend the University of Wisconsin to anyone who asks,” he said.
