By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia Following our Florida vacation, I was back in the office at Bob Simmons World Headquarters where I spent the day getting caught up on paperwork. The next day – Thursday, March 19 – I was to head over to our Grafton radio stations to do some work at the transmitter site.

I was recently rummaging through a box of items my mom saved from my high school days. As much as I used to roll my eyes at her for keeping “too much stuff,” I have to admit — I loved it.

“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May.” — Smokey Robinson Did you sing that in your head? If not, please go back and redo it — and put a little shimmy into it.

Multimedia I left you last week as the Simmons family was enjoying an afternoon outing on a private tour boat charter in the local waters near Anna Maria Island on the Gulf side of the Florida coast. Our boat captain and tour guide, all rolled into one, was the af- interest. One was a cabin cruiser that had run aground on a sandbar, abandoned by the owner and stuck there for more than a year. Local legend has it the boat was abandoned by cartel members running drugs from Mexico. It has since been stripped of everything of value, leaving only an empty hull.

Out of desperation to get the kids outside, the track team attended back-to-back track meets last week. On Wednesday, we left at 7 a.m., bound for Fessenden with its sunny, warm weather and dry track. It was a small meet with only six teams, which made the day go fast. Everyone soaked up the glorious sunshine and then got fried to a crisp after a few hours in the 70-degree weather. The coaches realized a day late and a dollar short that the sunscreen bottle was never taken out of the kit. We could have filmed an episode of VeggieTales hauling fresh, ripe, red tomato-faced kids back to Langdon that night. Even though I had put sunscreen on my face that morning, I never reapplied, so I had a Rudolph nose just like everyone else. Three athletes qualified for state that day- Caleb McDonald in high jump, Taya Feist in high jump and Fenja Lawson in shot put. That alone made the 5-hour round trip drive well worth it.

It’s finally here – grass. That means no matter how hard Mother Nature tries to stop it, summer is here! Everyone is racing to get their seeders out, getting to their campers to see the mice damage, or just racing to get outside and throw the football around for a little sanity. This year is also an election year, so folks are racing to get their signs out, as mail-in ballots start getting sent in pretty soon.

I hope you’re following spring sports in our area. Track is coming up on state competition.

One thing I’ve learned pretty quickly in this role—this paper depends on you, the readers. I can go to events and follow leads, but the stories people really connect with? Those almost always come from someone reaching out and saying, “Hey, I don’t know if this is anything…” And almost every time—it is.

When the bill for our annual dues from the Red Willow Cabin Owners Association shows up in the mail, I know it’s almost “go” time. I also know better than to get too excited until the calendar page turns one more time.

The dreaded holidays of Memorial Day and Labor Day — also known as the ones farmers’ wives don’t really get to celebrate. First of all, I am impatiently waiting for my favorite time of the year: outdoor track season.