Various Victoria

During the summer of 2013, the editor’s camera popped up in various other places of Victoria — for example, on the farm of Jerry and Jane Michel who live on one of the few agricultural pieces of land left in the city limits of Victoria.  It was back on September 5th that I stopped by, at their invitation, to pick up a bag of their delicious sweet corn, when I saw the haybaling operation in full steam.

The End

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Baling hay in Victoria, only one mile from the down intersection, Jerry is inside the cab, driving the tractor, and that’s son Joe playing with the bales on the hayrack as they slide out of the baler in front of him.  In the background, you can see the campus of the Holy Family High School in Victoria.

Jerry, 81, wears a brace to protect his back and says that compared to the two fusions he had in January, the hip replacement in August was “a piece of cake.”  Jerry farms 20 acres today, part alfalfa and part soybeans.  Last year the land was in alfalfa and corn.

Jane washes the eggs and puts them in cartons for themselves, family, and friends.  There’s nothing like a farm fresh fried egg.  The Michels have about 50 chickens, 8 cattle, and a garden that’s not quite as big this year as in past years. 

Jerry’s wife Jane bags much of their delicious sweet corn for family and friends.  Thank you, Jane and Jerry.  The husks are fed to their cattle. 

Back to work, Jerry is driving a 200 Allis Chalmers that’s about 10 years old, and pulling a New Holland baler that’s about 4 years old.  Said Jerry, “We keep busy.  Tomorrow I don’t have anything to do and by noon I should be half done.”

It was Wednesday, September 18th, the final evening of the 2013 season of Classic Car Nights in Victoria.  The temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees.  As usual, the streets were lined with cars . . .

. . . and the sidewalks were lined with classic people, all of it better than reality TV, although Wednesday evenings also feature Duck Dynasty.

Darryl Wrolson poses here with his 1976 BMW 2002, which was the first high volume car exported from BMW to the USA.  He started racing BMW’s a few years ago and loves how well they drive at the limit and give feedback to the driver.  His favorite drives are around Lake Minnetonka.

A couple Victoria couples enjoying the evening:  Tim and Judy Forcier on the left, Brian and Sandy Krause on the right.

Victoria neighbors Sue and Wayne Chapman, Steve Fuchs, and Mark and Lori Jesberg.

Randy Miller, member of the Classic Car Committee, said that one Wednesday evening there were 121 classic cars in Victoria.  He estimated the total number in Victoria for the eight 2013 events was around 750, bringing close to 4,000 participants and guests to downtown Victoria this summer.

While I was doing Classic Car Nights and visiting other parts of Victoria, Allan was fishing up north on the Canadian side of Lake of the Woods.  Their cabin sleeps eight fishermen.

The dinner table at Witch Bay Camp included (l-r):  Dr. Bill Payne, Billy Erickson, Gary Killian, Mike Sulser, Allan, Joe Sturk, Randy Marris, Ken Jullian.

Fishing partners, Mike Sulser of Plymouth, Allan, and Ken Jullian of Chicago.

The big catch of the party was a 34-inch northern caught by Allan.  Many of the walleyes were in the 15 to 24-inch range.  Many of the small mouth bass were in the 15 to 20-inch range.