Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
AUGUST 20, 2025 – Today “UB” would’ve turned 102. He didn’t do too bad in the longevity column, having lived just 44 days shy of 95. I remember exactly where I was when I received the call—walking down a broad corridor of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, awaiting a flight back to the U.S. A hospice …
AUGUST 19, 2025 – I grew up in a household that was unabashedly Republican and anti-government, which was a bit ironic, since my dad worked for . . . the government[1]. Given the amount of at-home political discussion, by osmosis I was politically aware from a very early age. By fifth grade and the 1964 …
AUGUST 18, 2025 – I wouldn’t have it any other way—a week-long visit by our out-of-town two-year-old grandson . . . and his parents. The little one was on hand for his second birthday, and every new word (e.g. “Gosh”) and attempt at a new phrase (e.g. “Geezlouise”) brought us one delight after another. Only …
AUGUST 16, 2025 – (Cont.) The more I read about apocryphal epochs in 20th century history, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Stalin and China under Mao, the more they seem to feature the same three aspects of the human condition. These have universal application, I think, and can be used as tools …
AUGUST 15, 2025 – (Cont.) The central thesis of Mao: The Unknown Story is that Mao Zedong was a monster. By comparison, Adolf Hitler was an elder statesman and Joseph Stalin, a venerable world leader. Chung and Halliday, the authors of Mao, portrayed him as the ultimate nihilist narcissist psychopath, who brought nothing but utter …
AUGUST 14, 2025 – If you’re feeling glum about our nation’s prospects, I invite you to take a close look at China from 1937 to the present. Why China and why during that period? For its extreme example of our resilience as a species. Many other examples exist, but none on the scale or to …
AUGUST 13, 2025 – Today (now yesterday) my wife and I spent in a kind of nirvana—otherwise the Red Cabin in the company of our younger son, his wife and their two-year-old son. For one more full day at the lake, we got to interact with the little guy and watch him absorb all that …
AUGUST 12, 2025 – The bald eagle holds a special place here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. This is befitting since back in the day, the eagle had no place here. Only after the total ban on DDT did this once endangered species return from the edge of extinction. Today bald eagles in these parts …
AUGUST 11, 2025 – Yesterday our grandson turned two. The occasion was celebrated by a crowd of well-wishers around the long table on the porch of the Red Cabin. He is of the fifth generation of Nilssons to enjoy the beauty of Grindstone Lake in northwest Wisconsin. Everyone showered him with smiles and attention as …
AUGUST 10, 2025 – Today our crew—Cory and family, Byron and family, Beth and I—took an extended lake cruise aboard Northern Comfort. After steaming the long diagonal from home port to the channel into Little Grindstone, thence west-southwest along what I call the “Barbary Coast,” I changed course toward the islands in the southwest. Very …
AUGUST 9, 2025 – The gathering had been in the works for a while. Our immediate family (and our sons’ families) would spend a few precious days this month at the Red Cabin on the northwest shore of Grindstone Lake in northwest Wisconsin. Joining us would be Kumar[1] and Emma, close friends of Byron and …
AUGUST 8, 2025 – Over the years our older son Cory has given my wife and me ample reason not to be judgmental of other people’s parenting. He’s been through a lot—as have we, his parents. Much of his struggles, one might say, is “self-inflicted,” but since I can’t walk in his shoes, I hesitate …
AUGUST 7, 2025 – Today I turned 71, an unremarkable age, perhaps, if you’re, say, 81 or 91. But if you are 70 when you go to bed, and you’re 71 when you get out of bed the next morning, this change in age is a noteworthy event, and so it was for me yesterday/today. …
AUGUST 6, 2025 – These are amazing times, quite apart from all the monkey-business in Washington. I realized this while waiting for a prescription to be filled at the CVS pharmacy inside our local Target store. The order was for a 90-day supply of “OYS-SHELL CAL – VIT D,” one part of the two-pronged remediation …
AUGUST 5, 2025 – Last week Trump’s impulsivity triggered the most emblematic move of his disastrous second administration. If anything—anything[1]—could give his Republican followers a reason to ditch him once and for all, this move would be it. But of course, it won’t be. The party is so far beyond self-redemption, nothing will derail the …
AUGUST 4, 2025 – In the thick of this morning’s Canadian smoke, I continued my work on the Pergola-on-a-Platform. Each phase of the project brings new challenges, as is often the case when putting theory into practice. I started by hiking over to Rustic John’s compound to help myself to a couple of five-gallon pails …
AUGUST 3, 2025 – Yesterday, our nearest neighbor, “Rustic John,” and his next door neighbor on the other side, “Arbor Steve,” paid me a visit. They arrived on one of John’s dozen (it seems, but who’s counting?) workhorse vehicles; in this case, his EV “Club Car” with a “workbox” behind the two open seats. The …
AUGUST 2, 2025 – Lately, I’ve been torn. In these troubled times . . . Do I climb onto the rooftop to shout “The sky is falling!” or do I crawl into the wine cellar to mumble, “Uh, um, there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ll just grab another bottle of grape sauce …
AUGUST 1, 2025 – Today I found amusement by being in two worlds at once on my way to the woods. Let me explain . . . Last week I’d arranged to meet with a Wisconsin DNR forester for an extended site visit of Björnholm, or at least a portion of it, to gain some …
JULY 31, 2025 – Partly by design but also by default, I’ve not read much lately that counts as news. Two, three times a day I scroll through a newsfeed, to see what’s happening, or more precisely, what’s being reported. As is so often the case, it’s what’s happening that we don’t hear or read …
JULY 30, 2025 – The time was exactly 5:00. I’d already been on the road for close to an hour, foiled by three long construction-related slowdowns on my way to a 5:00 dental cleaning appointment with Michelle, my über-hygienist at Boger Dental on the far side of town. The trip normally takes half an hour. …
JULY 29, 2025 – Today while waiting for an appointment, I was fully engaged in my principal distraction of late[1]—reading a 600-page biography of Mao Zedong, master of China from 1949 until his not-a-day-too-soon-death in 1976. When a younger person asked what I was reading, I held up the cover, which bears Mao’s portrait—and his …
JULY 28, 2025 – Late last summer, a tree along the shoreline in front of the Red Cabin got tired of standing—years after it had died. In fact, it had been dead so long that its identification might be difficult to someone unfamiliar with local arboreal species. It was a white pine. I knew this …
JULY 27, 2025 – Two days ago I skipped my daily (substantive) post. I was feeling terribly under the weather. With the aid of a single 500 mg Tylenol (equivalent) tablet each of the past two nights and a third today at noon today, I was able to hold discomfort at bay sufficiently to get …
JULY 26, 2025 – For the record, everything I know about the lurid tale of Jeffrey Epstein is derived from very cursory familiarity with reporting in mainstream media. This hardly qualifies me as an expert on the subject, but given the information I have encountered—correct, incorrect, and everything in between—I have no desire to be …