Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2026 – Remember when the war in Iran was all over the news? Until recently, I thought we were never going to hear the end of it . . . the war—er, military conflict or military operation or whatever else the Administration calls (a) large scale depletion of our munitions arsenal, (b) the …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2026 – If a toad diverted me temporarily (see yesterday’s post), I’m now back on track with my “pontification” about AI. I was kidding, of course, when I intimated that I possess any particular expertise on the subject. Yet, what’s revealed in various recent mainstream media articles and discussions (The Wall Street Journal; …
SEPTEMBER 12, 2026 – After reading several articles on AI and considering myself a complete expert, I was fully prepared to dash off a comprehensive pontificating post on the subject. You know—something extolling the oft-repeated far-flung benefits of AI, then turning a sharp corner and joining the fire drill over the hack of Hugging Face …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 – Years from now, scholars—perhaps in the form of AI, while the would-have-been-scholars, on GMI along with all other human beings, are sipping piña coladas on the beaches of southern Georgia (which, before a two-foot rise in seawater, was the Florida border)—will have provided the world with a definitive history of the …
SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 – I’m an optimist. And perhaps an unrealistic one: I keep hoping that by hanging out with real writers, I stand a better chance of becoming one myself. Okay, okay—in part I jest: My writing buddy, Erik Hansen, would be my friend even if he weren’t one of the finest writers I’ve …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2026 – Though music defines many people in our family, many are also defined by writing. Take my parents, for example. My mother, it seemed, was always writing up a storm, and during the eight years I was away at school, she dashed off several hundred letters. Each was a mix of advice, …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 – Today our 10- almost 11-year-old granddaughter attended her first day of fifth grade. Beth and I were eager to hear Illiana’s report but also anxious about it. What if she didn’t want to talk about it? Or worse, what if she did talk about it, but it was negative? Over our …
SEPTEMBER 7, 2026 – Today we rushed home from the cabin to attend the welcoming reception for this year’s crop of WPI Fellows—“WPI” being shorthand for “World Press Institute.” Founded over 60 years ago here in St. Paul, WPI produces an annual fellowship program for foreign journalists interested in learning about American news media and …
SEPTEMBER 6, 2026 – (Cont.) Among the top 10 maintenance challenges of a lake cabin owner, I must now include “preventing damage to young white pine from rutting deer.” For days now, I’ve been searching online for advice, insights, information on how to deter deer from rutting white pine saplings: what techniques work and which …
SEPTEMBER 5, 2026 – The doggone deer in these parts have transformed me into a character. No, not the sort with a bow or rifle out to shoot the deer, but as a self-styled arborist and protector of pinus strobus, the white pine that are the signature tree on our land on the shore of …
SEPTEMBER 4, 2026 – In tomorrow’s post, I’ll describe in spellbinding detail, the latest cabin-project that gave impetus to my reluctantly but fortunately executed trek into town yesterday. It was that short journey, however, that led to interactions providing material for this post. We’ve all heard people say, “Things happen for a reason.” I’m not …
SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 – Over my lifetime, I’ve shaken hands with several non-famous super-geniuses, though I can’t say I seized on the opportunity to procure their autographs. Given the relative obscurity of these individuals, there’s no monetary value in their John or Johanna Hancocks. I’ve heard of a good many more super-geniuses, the names of …
SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 – Friends and acquaintances who know where we live often ask us—particularly around the time of the Minnesota State Fair—how we in “the heights” adapt to traffic at fair time. Our response is that it’s not all that bad—though this year, while crossing the street at the end of our typically quiet …
SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 – Invariably, our monthly book club meetings start not with the book of the month but with an in-depth discussion of politics. Our members are well informed; after all, every one of them is a reader. Given the nexus between politics and economics, naturally our exchanges over the former also involve the …
AUGUST 31, 2026 – The other day while our son’s family was visiting from out of town, my son, grandson and I were left to our own devices. I was about to suggest an outing to Como Zoo and Conservatory, but Byron beat me to it. “Dad, how ’bout we go to the zoo?” he …
AUGUST 30, 2026 – We’re now in the middle of “State Fair Season” in our small town—Falcon Heights, Minnesota, population, 5,369. Every year, the “heights,” as I sometimes call it (tongue in cheek), is at the height of its powers from the 12th day before Labor Day through that holiday, when around two million people …
AUGUST 29, 2026 – (Cont.) The pinnacle of my fishing career, as it were, occurred during my Grand Odyssey around the globe in 1981—a journey on which I was fishing for an answer to the ultimate question in life: What should I be when I grow up? One of my side trips took me to …
AUGUST 28, 2026 – (Cont.) To replace the broken handle, a whole new rod had to be purchased. What would have to suffice was an inexpensive, one-piece yellow rod with an attached handle. We bought it at the local Erickson gas station back in Anoka. As far as I was concerned, this substitute rod was …
AUGUST 27, 2026 – (Cont.) Finally, the big day arrived. We were up at the cabin, and after blowing out the candles on the birthday cake that my grandmother had baked for the celebration after supper, Dad presented the two boxes that I’d espied earlier on the hat shelf in his closet back home. First, …
AUGUST 26, 2026 – (Cont.) During the next summer was my second fishing expedition on Round Lake. Coincidentally, the trip didn’t involve the Roeckers but the Ridges, who had been the previous residents of the house where Roeckers now lived. Ridges had moved to St. Cloud, then Minneapolis, but remained friends of our family and …
AUGUST 25, 2026 – (Cont.) My earliest memory of fishing dates back to the Franklin Elementary School annual carnival. I wasn’t yet in school, but my two older sisters were, and they knew their way around the highlights of the carnival—the cake walk, the ring toss, the balloon darts, and . . . the fish …
AUGUST 24, 2026 – As I begin this post, the sun is sliding toward the horizon with a landing spot just under a month shy of the equinox. I’m seated at the end of the dock in the company of spouse and half of our company, admiring a sky filled with pastels in search of …
AUGUST 23, 2026 – As a daily blogger of a site featuring “[o]riginal anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification,” I’m always on the lookout for subject matter, but sometimes the subject matter finds me. Today was one of those occasions—inside a Walmart store, no less. At a little past three this afternoon, it was announced …
AUGUST 22, 2026 – My dad once said of Björnholm, “It gives me great satisfaction knowing it exists, even when I’m not able to be there.” Today, I recalled that statement while I worked in my makeshift “shipyard” on shore and Beth, Byron’s family, our guests, and Jenny and my niece, who’d wandered over from …
AUGUST 21, 2026 – Today at 10:00 I was left in sole charge of our three-year-old grandson . . . at the Red Cabin. “Will you be home before lunch?” I asked, as my wife, daughter-in-law and infant granddaughter exited the back of the cabin to head for town. (Byron had departed yesterday to ferry …