Nielsens keep the flowers blooming until snow flies

Dear Shirley,

For years, I longed to have the Yard of the Week in Grand Forks. The problem was I always went out and hacked around the golf course and gave a lick and a promise to the yard. I moaned and groaned about it so long that the Board of Realtors finally awarded me an honorary Yard of the Week plaque. I guess they figured that would pacify me.

Then, something happened, and for a while, there was no Yard of the Week. This summer, they have resurrected the custom of recognizing people for nice yards. They make the announcement each week in the real estate guide that comes with the Herald. Well, I am older and wiser now, so I don't think I have anything too special here on Cottonwood Street. I am willing to congratulate those who are recognized.

That's why I was talking with Forrest "Frosty" Nielsen this week. He and his wife, Emily, spend countless hours in their yard at 3000 Belmont Road. And they won the Yard of the Week honors last time. They always welcome anyone who wants to stop by and get a close look at their flowers.

The Nielsens, who both work full time at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Grand Forks Human Nutrition Center, like to have flowers blooming from the time the snow melts until it flies again in the fall. They stick with the perennials, Shirley. They have several hundred tulips and 120 irises. The parade of blooms and blossoms continues through the summer until the sunflowers, mums and other fall flowers appear. The daylilies have been in their full glory recently.

All of this isn't easy, Shirley. They have to put up fences to foil the rabbits that are thick all over Grand Forks. They have a pair of Cooper's Hawks nesting nearby. The Nielsens spend about three hours in the yard each evening and five or six hours on weekends. In the winter they turn their attention to curling and hockey.

People can nominate their favorite yard by calling (701) 775-4231.

I tell you all of this because I don't have much to boast about during the cold days of winter when people would rather be in your city of Tucson than dealing with the cold in the Northern Plains.

I hope you are getting settled into your new home and forgetting about the house fire. I guess no matter what happens to us in life, we just move on. A friend told me to worry only about the things I can change and just deal with the others.

So, we just move along. We go with the flow. Tonight, there's the fifth-annual auction of the works of area artists at Third Street Gallery on Kittson, The art preview and social hours begin at 6 p.m. People have been dropping by the Myra Museum on Belmont Road to see the new summer exhibit titled "When the Chippewa Owned Grand Forks County."

On two Mondays in August, children can get the experience of attending an old-fashioned schoolhouse on the grounds of the museum. Space is still available for the class Monday morning and the class Aug. 9. The school marm is Bonnie Cameron, a well-known storyteller and a member of the North Dakota Teachers Hall of Fame. To register, people can call the Grand Forks County Historical Society at (701) 775-2216.

The City Band concerts are finished, Shirley, but they are gearing up for the sixth-annual History Rocks event at the Myra Museum grounds on the last Sunday of August.

Love from your sister Marilyn, waiting for Catfish Days this weekend on the west bank of the Red River of the North.

P.S. Do you remember those ferocious catfish they used to net out of the Missouri River down at Pierre, S.D.? Well, they bring in some monstrous fish out of the Red up here. You wouldn't think that murky stream had all those fish swimming around. It's fun to go down to the riverfront near Cabela's and watch the fish being weighed during Catfish Days.

Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or at (701) 772-1055.