Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MAY 16, 2025 -This evening Beth and I went out to dinner with my sister Jenny, still in town for her opera gig but with the night off. We ate at the 112 Eatery over in the North Loop of Minneapolis. Tucked into a long narrow space of a building from the late 1800s, the …
MAY 15, 2025 -Today on my way back from Little Switzerland, I noticed the playground rules—10, if you disregard the overlap between “Smoking is prohibited” and “Tobacco use is prohibited in the presence of youth”—posted at a local city playground. My personal opinion is that the 10 commandments could be conveyed far more effectively if …
MAY 14, 2025 – I might have one more tree-planting session this spring, but if I don’t I’m satisfied with this season’s effort: 190 trees, including 25 hemlocks, 30 Norway pines, and 135 white spruce. Moreover, I lugged over 30 gallons of water deep into the woods and up to the heights of Björnholm to …
MAY 13, 2025 – A few days ago I finally finished reading The Crimean War by the British historian, Orlando Figes. I’d mentioned this book several months ago on this blog and remarked that prior to “going back to college” to study Russian history, I was as ignorant as the next American about the Crimean …
MAY 12, 2025 – Publishing a book is not a casual undertaking. Writing the darned thing isn’t even the half of it. In the case of the all the histories I read, a vast amount of scholarship precedes the drafting. Before delving into each book, I check out the author’s bibliography, which reflects what kind …
MAY 11, 2025 – This morning my sister Jenny stopped by for coffee and conversation. Though she’s married to the official humorist of the family and our niece is the professional stand-up comedian of the clan (on occasion, the two have joined forces on the big stage), Jenny is the one who can guarantee occupational …
MAY 10, 2025 – Today my wealth—and that of my friends Matt and Ravi—increased beyond measure. By “wealth” I don’t mean how that term is typically defined and perceived in our society. I mean the sum of one’s hope, faith, love, and friendships. This remarkable increase in wealth was bestowed upon us by a most …
MAY 9, 2025 – Today’s plan required me to leave the Red Cabin first thing to be home by 11:30. I decided to take advantage of the chance for nearly three hours of “quiet time” in the car. No music, no phone calls (except three; one to leave a VM, two check-ins with “the boss”). …
MAY 8, 2025 – Although I’m a long-time “dirt” lawyer, as real estate attorneys call one another, eons have passed since I last did my own tract search of a piece of property. We dirt lawyers rely on title insurance companies to undertake that effort in conjunction with examination of title. But today I needed …
MAY 7, 2025 -Normally, Azerbaijan isn’t anywhere close to Falcon Heights, Minnesota, but this morning I encountered the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan (at one time part of Caucasian Albania[1]) at the geographic center of North America, a million miles from the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea, where you’d ordinarily find the modern …
MAY 6, 2025 – (Cont.) For the reader discouraged by the regular reminders of our collective dysfunctionality, I recommend planting a few conifer seedlings . . . or a few hundred if you’d like to contribute to the mission of this aging arborist. The reality of the matter is that it’s hard labor, at least …
MAY 5, 2025 – (Cont.) I started this season’s planting in the areas that last week Jeff Oppenheim had helped me clear of what I call “riff raff”—the variety of small bushes, the names of which I’ve never bothered to learn, since I’m way too focused on the overstory, namely the trees. These first sections …
MAY 4, 2025 – Everyone who knows our younger son Byron is familiar with his thoughtfulness. This attribute is manifest in all avenues of his life, but it’s most predictable on occasions accompanied by gift-giving. For Christmas last year, for example, he gave me a professional forester’s planting carrier. Coincidentally, in a YouTube forestry video …
MAY 3, 2025 – THE PADDLEBOAT (Cont.) Wednesday at noon, I told Jeff we’d need to start packing up no later than three o’clock. The plan was to arrive home in time for a late supper, visit with Beth and my sister Jenny for a while, then retire by ten or eleven o’clock. We’d set …
MAY 2, 2025 THE POT (Cont.) As we rounded the corner of the back deck off the cabin, Jeff called my attention to several rotting planks and the fact that the feet of the 20-ton (for effect, I exaggerate, but only slightly) cauldron repurposed as a planter and sitting on the corner of the deck …
MAY 1, 2025 – (Cont.) After a lunch conversation during which we traded accounts of various quandaries that we’d faced in our legal careers, Jeff cleared the table and directed me to get my “stuff together” so that we could hit the ground running after he finished washing the dishes. As he ran the water …
APRIL 30, 2025 – Over the years we’ve had many guests at the Red Cabin. Very nearly all have been model visitors, who are good sports about most things and contribute admirably to the common welfare. Above and beyond these social conventions, a significant number of people have shown surprising initiative regarding various cabin projects. …
APRIL 29, 2025 – Today was a red-letter day. By sun-up, yesterday’s disagreeable weather was a distant memory, as was the dock salvage operation conducted on the cusp of nightfall. The only downside to the morning was the temperature at a stubborn 39°F. The relatively chilly air, however, was calm, and as I remarked to …
APRIL 28, 2025 – Nothing takes your mind off other worries as completely as the weather can. Got work-related problems? Family problems? Upset with the wholesale unraveling of the United States of America? Go chase extreme weather—or let it come to you. Here I am at the Red Cabin again, this time with my good …
APRIL 27, 2025 – Yesterday I wrote about “extremist radical leftists” . . . and “rightists.” As I reflected on the qualities of “extremism” and “radicalism” as manifest in the first 100 days of the current regime, I began thinking more broadly. If the Republicans, formerly known for being “conservative,” are now perfectly comfortable throwing …
APRIL 26, 2025 – Anyone familiar with carpentry knows the adage, “Measure twice, cut once.” Based on personal experience, I’ve amended this to, “Measure thrice, cut once,” supplemented by, “When you measure, make sure the numbers on the tape measure are right-side up to your point of view so that you measure fractions to the …
APRIL 25, 2025 – The latest flashpoint in the regime’s continuing march toward authoritarianism was the FBI’s arrest of the Wisconsin judge for allegedly having assisted an undocumented alien in evading apprehension by ICE. The case has a legal element, of course—What exactly did the judge say or do that violated the law; what law?—but …
APRIL 24, 2024 – Among the mounting demerits and liabilities incurred by the Trump Administration, the most egregious—apart from the other most egregious—is the utter lack of accountability for the reckless behavior of Elon Musk, the self-appointed Darth Vader against government “waste, fraud, and abuse.” The president, of course, should be held to account for …
APRIL 23, 2025 – We go through life taking lots for granted. In many respects, that’s okay. If we stopped at every turn to take full stock of the miracles in our lives, we’d make little progress in compiling additional miracles to take for granted. Furthermore, if we shifted our attention from pressing challenges and …
APRIL 22, 2025 – I remember the first Earth Day—this day in 1970. I was in my sophomore year of high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, parked in the wilds of the northwest part of Michigan’s lower peninsula, 15 miles south of Traverse City. Across the highway that ran past the entrance to our campus …