Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
NOVEMBER 6, 2024 – Early this morning before the rest of the household was up, I quietly went downstairs, fixed myself my usual breakfast, then slipped out of the house and out of town. The election results had taken their emotional toll on us all, and for the sake of everyone’s blood pressure, I wanted …
NOVEMBER 5, 2024 – 7:10 a.m. – Today’s the day, the tipping point in our political history; the day we’ll all look back on as a turning point—one way or the other—in our individual lives and collectively. The stingy November light of daybreak is hampered further by a gray, low-slung sky. Rain pelts the windows …
NOVEMBER 4, 2024 – As an American I’m a product of our “make a quick buck” culture and have pursued a number of “get rich quick” schemes. My first was an attempt when I was five to sell my older sisters’ Jack and Jill magazines to the neighbors. I had no takers, but not for …
NOVEMBER 3, 2024 – (Cont.) Last Christmas our younger son and his wife gave us a gift certificate to a local swanky restaurant—sight unseen. Both son and daughter-in-law are foodies of the highest order, meaning both are experienced food critics. They’ve wined and dined in the finest eating establishments around the world, most particularly Paris …
NOVEMBER 2, 2024 – I’m no foodie; never was and probably never will be. In cooking up this restaurant review, I have to acknowledge my lack of culinary credentials. During my law school career, which coincided with the most intense phase of my competitive running career—I lived alone and cooked for myself. My daily diet …
NOVEMBER 1, 2024 – Allow me to kick back for a moment and savor the thought that not only will the Duly Defeated soon fade from the national consciousness, but for the first time America will elect a woman as president. As if that alone isn’t cause for celebration, we’ll be in bonus territory in …
OCTOBER 31, 2024 – Last Tuesday I completed the third and final phase of SIBS at the University of Minnesota (see 10/16/24 post). It was an in-person session consisting of an interview and compilation of IQ tests portrayed euphemistically as “brain teasers.” The tests or “teasers” were administered in a quiet and spacious room at …
OCTOBER 30, 2024 – Today I went to a doctor’s appointment. For the first time in a decade (when my parents were alive), it wasn’t on my own account. The patient was a severely ailing family member, however, and for months my wife and I had been working on getting him to today’s appointment. By …
OCTOBER 29, 2024 – After watching/listening to vice president’s uplifting campaign speech this evening, I was schooled by our older son, who also heard Harris’s rallying cry. Cory himself is not voting for Trump, but he understands why a lot of men—regardless of race—are Trump supporters. I realized that if I wanted to understand better, …
OCTOBER 28, 2024 – It’s no secret among people who know me that I see no redeeming trait in the Republican candidate for president. In fact, I see only a disposition and impulses that have already damaged our country and body politic. In the second go, if he wins or seizes power, he will do …
OCTOBER 27, 2024 -Today was Trump’s much publicized rally in Madison Square Garden. I was there . . . well, not exactly, but I watched a video of his complete appearance. The content and delivery inspired the title to this post. As Trump “speeches” go, a portion of it was actually a speech, but most …
OCTOBER 26, 2024 – With a few exceptions, my readers probably agree: there’s way too much big money in politics. At the time it was decided the 2010 landmark Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission got a lot of us all stirred up. The decision unleashed a wave of criticism and predictions …
OCTOBER 25, 2024 – When driving to the Red Cabin and reaching the point some 40 miles from my destination, I typically tune the radio to WOJB 88.9 FM, the public radio station broadcasting from the heart of the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. It’s a quirky little public radio station featuring an eclectic range of …
OCTOBER 24, 2024 – Today I exercised the franchise. For the past few election cycles I’ve cast my vote early. It’s become such an ingrained personal custom that waiting until Election Day itself seems almost negligent; similar to serving an Answer to a Complaint on the very last day before you’d be in default territory …
OCTOBER 23, 2024 – For book club this month—the month of Halloween—our group is reading Frankenstein by Mary Wollstoncraft Shelley. You all know the story[1]—man creates uncontrollable monster. Last summer the sequel was published under the title, Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, by one Ramin …
OCTOBER 22, 2024 – Yesterday evening I experienced local government at ground level. My overall reaction to the encounter was, “Where was Norman Rockwell?” The place was the Bass Lake Township Town Hall between Grindstone Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles in western Sawyer County, Wisconsin. As far as anyone knows, there is no “Bass Lake” …
OCTOBER 21, 2024 – This morning in these parts, the sun peeked above the distant eastern shore of the lake at precisely 7:32. A good 20 minutes before, I’d slipped the kayak into the water and paddled quietly, effortlessly along our shoreline. I still felt like a free-floating spirit in a dream, gliding magically past …
OCTOBER 20, 2024 – As Archimedes (circa 287 B.C.E. – circa 212 B.C.E.) famously said, “Give me a place to stand, and with a lever I will move the world.” Today I thought a lot about the Greek-Syracusan polymath, as I worked a lever repeatedly to move my sailboat lift from the lake up onto …
OCTOBER 19, 2024 – Yesterday I celebrated the complete take-out of lake cabin Dock No. 1. Today I failed in my attempt to de-install Dock No. 2. But it was not a total loss. First, I didn’t break any limbs—or worse—nor did I lose or damage any tools, accessories or the dock itself. Second, I …
OCTOBER 18, 2024 – Last spring in a three-part series—Zen and the Art of Dock Installation (See 5/12 through 5/14)—I described my engineering project up at the lake. Today I reverse-engineered it. That is, I took out the dock and staircase that I had so carefully installed last May. I’m 70, mind you, which means …
OCTOBER 17, 2024 – “Garden of Eden” is how I think of the 20-acre (or so) tree garden within the larger woods of Björnholm along the northwest shore of Grindstone Lake in northwestern Wisconsin. Perhaps I get carried away by the peak foliage and gorgeous weather that has prevailed since I arrived here Tuesday afternoon. …
OCTOBER 16, 2024 – This morning I completed the second of two remote, hours-long sessions with a researcher at the University of Minnesota. Our family had been recruited some 25 years ago to participate in the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (“SIBS”) of adoptive and non-adoptive families undertaken by the Minnesota Center for Twin and …
OCTOBER 15, 2024 – “Dear Diary, In many ways today brought a typical mixture of ebb and flow; tension and resolution; yin and yan. What was different about it all was my awareness, my perception of opposing forces coming together to provide a modicum of peace through balance. I started off in conflict—talking litigation strategy …
OCTOBER 14, 2024 – Each of us might well say that by a certain age, we’re “concerned about the current direction of the country.” The more you see and experience of this land of ours—the third most populous in the world—the more chronic dysfunctionality you’ll notice. Because of this, we’re naturally likely to conclude that …
OCTOBER 13, 2024 – Every good war movie—or just to be clear, “every war movie that’s a good movie”—winds up being an anti-war movie. Even a good movie about the “Good War” (WW II) is a reminder of the insanity and futility of war. By that I don’t mean that war is nugatory for the …