Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 – Thanks to the confluence of a host of factors, we’re a nation whose hair is on fire. I’m in the camp that . . . well, anyone who’s followed my blog for long knows which camp I’m in, or maybe the better way to put it is, “which camp I’m definitely …
SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 – “That’s why . . .” I said to our granddaughter while in the car on the way home today, “we shouldn’t take anyone for granted.” I’d just told her the real-life story below. “What does ‘take for granted mean’?” she asked. When I explained the idiom, she easily grasped the concept. …
SEPTEMBER 16, 2025 – Israel’s IDF (or has it by now earned the label, “IWF,” for “Israeli War Force”?) is at it again. Strike that (pun fully intended). “The IDF (IWF) is at it still. I just don’t “get it.” Well, okay, on one level, I understand some of the dynamics at play, particularly the …
SEPTEMBER 15, 2025 – This morning brought ideal weather to the shores of Grindstone Lake. For a good two hours, I was in my Zen zone, working on the 2 x 12 x 81-inch reclaimed stringers that will be incorporated into my “Pergola-on-a-Platform” high up in the tree garden. After many weeks of sketching, measuring, …
SEPTEMBER 24, 2924 – If I were Gilgamesh or Noah and knew the big flood was coming, I wouldn’t limit my response to construction of one ark and restrict access to passengers from the animal kingdom plus my wife, sons and their wives. I’d build a whole fleet of arks, and when God asked, “What …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2025 – Today I was an observer at the Chequamegon 40, the mountain trail bike race I mentioned in yesterday’s post. The experience brought back many pleasant memories that kept at bay all current woes of the world. In the first place, the race reminded me closely of the American Birkebeiner Ski Race, …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2025 – My wife was in a funk today, mostly over the state of the country. She’d been in funksville—as many of us were—even before the shooting(s), but gun violence in America is a chronic condition for which an antidote eludes us. I managed to escape funksville today, thanks to some random encounters …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2025 – I’d like to travel across the country, that is, through the countryside, small towns, medium-size communities, and big cities. I’d like to go up and down the coasts, the Northeast, the Northwest, the Southeast, the Southwest, the Deep South, the Midwest, the West, plus the great outlier states, Alaska and Hawaii. …
SEPTEMBER 10, 2025 – This morning I glanced at the usual news from crazy town and immediately deflected it by resuming work on my latest in-town construction project: a giant mobile easel for our oldest son’s vehicular window tinting business. He hopes to resume the enterprise after a long hiatus due to health concerns. He …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2025 – Today’s edition of the NYT included an eye-grabbing article, “Reading Skills of 12th Graders Hits New Low.” The second sentence in the article was, “Their math scores fell as well.” Given the critical importance of reading and math skills to . . . well . . . a healthy democracy and …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 – This morning I watched the full hour-plus-long video of a media Q and A session with John Shin, a free-lance violinist, his wife, also a musician, and his attorney in the attorney’s office in Utah. Based on this stunning, revelatory presentation, I concluded that what we’re all witnessing is “the Mephisto …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 – Today I enjoyed three disparate experiences that suggest our ship isn’t listing quite as fast or dramatically as it seemed to me after reading this morning’s headlines. Mind you, this doesn’t mean that the ship is free of serious problems below the waterline or that the furniture on the Lido deck …
SEPTEMBER 6, 2025 – The regular follower of this blog might sense a pattern of incongruity. In many posts I convey genuine optimism about life. Other posts signal deep concern about the current state of affairs afflicting our country and pessimism about our social, political, economic, and most critical, environmental prospects. How, you might ask, …
SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 – One common phenomenon among us “older folks” is being continually awestruck by the sheer volume of knowledge that lies beyond our capacity to encounter, let alone absorb. This sounds naively quaint. It’s the same order of naiveté as entering the Library of Congress and saying (out loud), “Geez Louise but this …
SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 – This evening I listened to snippets of the Senate hearing today during which RFK, Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was grilled by Democrats and Republicans—as well he should be until he resigns or his boss decides to fire him. One can hope. But just as Trump …
SEPTEMBER 3, 2025 – At the lake the other evening we had a clear view of the waxing gibbous moon. Our vantage point was the end of our dock, facing south over the water. The Moon occupied center stage in the darkening sky, and we watched in awe its brilliant performance. Of course, we’d attended …
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 – When I stumbled into the (warm, dry) cabin out of the rain at 9:35 this morning, I announced to my wife that before the rains had cut short my all too brief work session up on “Mount Pergola,” I’d accomplished three things: 1.With no effort whatsoever I’d found the Lutz screwdriver …
SEPTEMBER 1, 2025 – Whether or not we acknowledge our circumstances, we are always and in all places part of nature. That is, we’re captive to the immutable laws of physics, the infinite range of chemical reactions, the irresistible forces of geophysics, and the unending wonders of biological processes. It matters not whether we’re glued …
AUGUST 31, 2025 – (Cont.) My third example of a false assumption—memorable because it occurred just a few days ago—involved our granddaughter. The catalyst was her favorite Japanese animation character. Allow me to explain . . . Last Monday evening Illiana stayed overnight with us so we could take her to the Minnesota State Fair …
AUGUST 30, 2025 – (Cont.) My second memorable experience with an invalid assumption occurred two years later. By way of background . . . I was still very much embattled over the violin: my parents wanted me to study it seriously, whereas I wanted nothing to do with it. But by now things had gotten …
AUGUST 29, 2025 – Life nowadays, it seems, is a grand tour through the land of false assumptions, from RFK, Jr’s nonsense science to the Pyrite President’s belief that all that glitters is gold, even if it’s not even fool’s gold but painted plastic and marked “Made in China.” But I must say that my …
AUGUST 28, 2025 – Today I’d wanted to write about the horrific evil that tore into Annunciation Catholic Church and School across town yesterday. But what could I . . . what could anyone . . . possibly say about such an affront? The tragedy is beyond words, and even to try to say something …
AUGUST 27, 2025 – Theories abound about the Pyrite President’s persistent grip on a sizable chunk of the American electorate. In my opinion no single theory is the Holy Grail. After all, we’re a country of nearly 340 million souls under the influence of trillions of algorithms that we’ve unwittingly self-tailored to our individual preferences. …
AUGUST 26, 2025 – As is the case with many of my fellow members of the species, I am a person of episodic obsession. When we were building the Red Cabin and in the market for a wood-burning stove, about all I could think about during waking hours and in my dreams was . . …
AUGUST 25, 2025 – Those of us who were scandalized by Trump from his earliest days as a self-promoter were plenty put-off by his “birther campaign” against President Obama. Ludicrous on its face, the effort to question Obama’s citizenship was little more than a cheap circus act conducted by an amateur clown. Little could we …