Photography by Jon M. Sailer

I post quite a few of my photos on my Unsplash page and are Free to download.

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Mountain View Cemetery

Mountain View Cemetery

The Mountain View Cemetery in Keystone is the only cemetery in the world with a view of Mount Rushmore. The original land was part of the Harney National Forest and was originally deeded to the Modern Woodman of America, a fraternal lodge, and was signed by President...

Remember Mr. Cronkite

Remember Mr. Cronkite

Younger Americans will have trouble believing this, but there was once this guy named Walter Cronkite, who would read the news on television every week night. He didn't seem to have an agenda, or try to make anybody look bad, or good. He would just read the news, and...

Medicare in South Dakota

Medicare in South Dakota

Medicare is a federal health care program for individuals aged 65 and older, younger residents with specific disabilities and people with end-stage renal disease. Most beneficiaries don’t have to pay for Part A, which provides essential services, such as emergency...

Biggest opossum either of us had ever seen

Biggest opossum either of us had ever seen

The late Jack Higgins had a warm heart and a willingness to help out whenever he was needed. Consequently, when a farmer friend asked him to tend his horses and chickens while he went on vacation, Jack readily agreed. There was one problem. The farmer’s chickens were...

Blush a bit from embarrassment

Blush a bit from embarrassment

The appearance of a Townsend solitaire at Schramm State Park last fall caused me to blush a bit from embarrassment. Townsends are western birds. They love mountain regions that are coated with pine, fir and spruce forests. I photographed a Townsend in a nearly...

Easily Flim-Flammed

Easily Flim-Flammed

Eastern towhees are easily flim-flammed. It’s too bad they don’t have the Sherlock Holmes type of guile that a woman bowler used to catch a thief. The woman bowled weekly in a league with two other women on her team. On this particular bowling night she put $40 in her...

Sometimes you learn the darndest things.

Sometimes you learn the darndest things.

For instance, birds can see ultraviolet light. That’s bad new for a vole, a mouselike rodent that is a common food item for predator birds such as American kestrels. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, voles leave trails of urine as they run along the ground....

Sea Ducks

Sea Ducks

A sea duck made a rare appearance on the Great Plains this past week. The long-tailed duck, a hen, was among a flock of ruddy ducks that popped in for a visit at Capitol Beach Lake in Lincoln. I’m confident the longtail didn’t choose the 300-acre private lake because...

Fish Ducks

Fish Ducks

Ask an aquafarmer or a duck hunter what they think about mergansers and the reply might be so frosty that a hooded parka would be required to continue the conversation. Fish ducks specialize in eating fish and are so horrid on a dinner plate that few are shot...

Bald Eagle on the Prowl

Bald Eagle on the Prowl

Coots are quite common on Midlands lakes—large or small—this spring. It was an overcast afternoon, and a large number of coots were lounging on or near a mud flat at Lincoln’s Holmes Lake as I drove through the suburban park. Flying is not a coot’s strong point. They...

Red-Necked Grebe

Red-Necked Grebe

Steve Kruse wore a huge smile beneath his cold-weather hoodie when we met in a parking area near the dam at Stagecoach Lake near Hickman, Nebraska, last week. The mid-April temperature was in the high 20s, a thick layer of clouds produced a gray morning and a stiff...

Great Egrets

Great Egrets

As the father of three daughters and the grandfather of six, I’ve seen my share of primping. But not even preparation for a prom rivals the preening carried on by great egrets during the spring. Great egrets grow long plumes that flow from their backs like fine, lacey...

Vol. 20, No. 41; Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024

Vol. 20, No. 33; Thursday, May 9, 2024

THOUGHT FOR TODAY Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. PIERRE GOVERNORS SPORTS ROUNDUP This week's schedules: --- FRIDAY Girls golf: at Mitchell invitational, 10 a.m. Softball: home vs. Sioux Falls Jefferson, 4 p.m. Baseball: home vs. Sioux Falls O'Gorman,...

Haunted Bullock Hotel in Deadwood

Haunted Bullock Hotel in Deadwood

Thank you to Remembering The Old West https://www.facebook.com/RememberTheWest for this story. 1876 saw the arrival of Seth Bullock and Sol Star to Deadwood, South Dakota. Moving their hardware store from Helena, Montana, they came in a an ox-drawn wagon piled high...

Haunted History Walking Tour in Deadwood

Haunted History Walking Tour in Deadwood

Discover the Legends & Lore of Deadwood's Haunted History Owned and operated by a local, long term resident historian, with an expertise in the history and ghostly happenings of Deadwood Gulch. Tour Information Tours start inside the left entry of the Old Style...

Jack O’Lanterns and The Tale Of Stingy Jack

Jack O’Lanterns and The Tale Of Stingy Jack

The Irish brought the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin. Pumpkins did not exist in Ireland. Ancient Celtic cultures in Ireland carved turnips on All Hallow's Eve, and placed an ember in...

Haunted Fort, Fort Sisseton Historic State Park

Haunted Fort, Fort Sisseton Historic State Park

There are two sides of the Haunted Fort Sisseston - A Night of Scares and Terrors, and Kid Friendly and non-Scary for kids. See below for more information. Hosted by Roy Lake State Park, Sica Hollow State Park, and Fort Sisseton Historic State Park. A night of scares...