The Independent-News, Volume 108, Number 4, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 1 July 1982 — Page 5

Pheasant Claims Farmer as Friend...

“THIS has to be the wildest thing that I have ever seen,’’ says Daphne Kinzler of Oakes, North Dakota, who shot the photo at right for this story, which originally appeared in Country People magazine. What’s so wild? Well, have you ever heard of a wild pheasant flying in and assigning himself as a farmer’s pet, following the farmer everywhere like his favorite dog? Jim Arndt, the fellow in the photo, had never heard of such a thing either...until it happened to him. “That bird would follow me everywhere I’d go on our farm,’’ relates Jim, shaking his head. “It’s the oddest thing I’ve ever seen.’’

Sniff! Sniff! Do I Smell Cookies? PROBABLY. The unmatched aroma of fresh-baked cookies is wafting out of kitchen windows all across rural America these days—at least in the rural areas of our more than 800,000 Country EXTRA readers. It’s ail the result of our new Bar Cookie Bonanza recipe book, which contains the best 150 or more recipes entered in our “Bar Cookie Recipe Contest". We offered the new book in our June issue, and the response has been nearly as phenomenal as the contest itself was— hundreds of copies of the book have been ordered by mail, and hundreds of other copies have been purchased at the offices of some newspapers carrying Country EXTRA. If you haven’t ordered your copy as yet, you can do so on EXTRA page 4 of this issue. However, you might check first with the offices of the newspaper carrying this issue of Country EXTRA to see if they have copies available (if they do, you’ll save 75C for postage and handling). Either way, at just $3.95, this book offers you more than 150 really different bar cookie recipes for little more than 2C per recipe. GIVE US A HAND Nope, we re not looking for applause. But we would appreciate your giving us a hand in this fashion—if you enjoy the contents of this monthly Country EXTRA section in your newspaper, tell your local publisher about it. Your newspaper is the only paper in your entire area selected to carry this Country EXTRA section—you can't get it anywhere else but in your paper. But, the decision on whether your paper continues to use the EXTRA each month is up to your local publisher. So if you like it, let your publisher know it. That way we'll keep “cornin’ to visit” you through these pages every month.

Jim farms 2,OCX) acres near Fullerton, North Dakota, raising wheat, corn and sunflowers. He also has Hereford and Simmental cattle... and for quite a while last year, he had an apparently misguided ringneck pheasant, too. Only Liked Jim Jim’s friendship with the pheasant began last June when the bird simply flew up to Jim while he was at work on the farm and began following him around. At a time when most pheasants are wary of man—and his shotgun—Jim’s new friend wouldn’t let him out of sight. Jim says he has no idea why the

JULY 1982 uwhu Adding Extra Humor, Photos and Fun to Your Rural Newspaper A mJ ■ JL2^ 7 SINKS LIKE A DEERE? This photo from Farm & Ranch Living shows special humor of farm and ranch folks. Instead of bemoaning rains, these farmers milked it for laughs Hard Work But Worth the Laughs FEEL SORRY for the owner of that tractor above, who apparently sunk so deep in a wet spot he had to swim to safety? Don’t. The whole thing’s a “setup" contrived by three farmers who wanted to shock neighbors driving by on the road from which the picture was taken. The three Minnesota farmers—Aldean Luthi, Carl Batdorf and Dave Nichtern—obviously love a laugh, even if it involves hard work. After a heavy rain, they fixed up parts of three old tractors (those wheels you see aren’t even connected to the body!), then propped them up in this pond at midnight to amaze their neighbors. It worked. Passersby were so aghast they phoned and even stopped in to ask for details and whether they could help get the “tractor” out. Said one of the three pranksters, “It was a harder job than we thought it’d be. The mosquitoes were terrible —but it was all worth it!”

bird singled him out to be his friend. Yet the ringneck wouldn’t allow anyone else near him—just Jim. “It wasn't because 1 lured him with food," he notes. “Fact is, one day when I tried it, he wouldn’t take a tidbit from me. He didn’t seem to want anything but to follow me around.” And follow Jim around the bird did. Ihe two would often walk along and talk together... Talk together? “Oh, he talked to me all the time,” Jim says. “When (Continued on EXTRA page 2) PHRIENDLY PHEASANT flew in from nowhere to become "pet" of Jim Arndt's.

JULY 1, 1982 - THE INDEPENDENT-NEWS -

"Just a Minute!" FARM PEOPLE who live just outside a populated area sometimes have the problem of people throwing garbage on their property. This was happening on our farm, and my husband was angry. Then one day as he worked in a nearby field he saw a man stop at the side of the road, take out some boxes and start dumping the contents over our creek bank. Rushing down to the road, my husband demanded that the fellow get right down that creek bank and pick up everything he had dumped. The man turned and said, “1 can’t. It flew away.” Thinking he had some sort of “crackpot” to contend with, my husband again demanded that the fellow get going and pick up his rubbish. Again the man calmly answered, “I told you, 1 can’t.” After a slight pause he explained, “You see, I’m a conservation officer, and I just released some young pheasants—they flew away.” — By Mabel Wood, Horseheads, New York in current issue of Farm Wife News. She’ll run for groceries... Farmer’s Daughter Is Recipe Winner “YOU’RE KIDDING! Oh, I’m so excited? And nervous, t00...0h, gosh!" That was the response of 18-year-old Frances Louise Head of Springfield, Tennessee when we phoned to tell her that her “Cheesy Chef Salad" was the winner of Country EXTRA’s “Summer Salad Recipe Contest". (The winning recipe appears on EXTRA page 3.) Frances, the daughter of a tobacco grower, is the third lucky winner of our monthly recipe contest prize: A free 1-minute shopping spree at the local store of her choice! This “free spree" is supervised locally each time by the publisher of the newspaper carrying Country EXTRA, so Doug Lee, the pub(Continued on EXTRA page 2)

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