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Last week, in the middle of our news meeting, I stood up and paced to the other side of the desk. “My Apple Watch told me it was time to stand,” I told my puzzled co-workers. “So, I stood.” I knew what they were thinking. “If your watch told you to jump off a cliff, would you?” I wouldn’t go that far, but I have become a slave of sorts to the demands of my wristwatch. It reminds me to take more…

I am learning that as you get older it’s not just your birthday that tells you and others that you’re getting older. While my birthday is down the road a bit and Mary’s is just around the corner, it seems the signs of our advancing ages are popping up all too often. Our middle child is turning 40 this month, and our oldest grandson is graduating from high school this year. After months of Joe…

Monday marked Betty White’s 100th birthday and the world waited to celebrate. Unfortunately, Betty had other ideas. The actress, comedian and animal lover died Dec. 31 at the age of 99, 17 days short of the century mark. My sister, Avis, would have been 64 on Monday. I wish she could have made that century mark. Instead, Dec. 24, 2021, marked a decade since her early and unexpected death. I…

I’m not a fashion diva, and never has that been made more clear than last week when I – like many in Rock County – slogged through the first week of 2022 with a case of the flu. I felt fine Sunday morning, but I opted not to attend church because my husband had been feeling poorly for a few days. Our community’s new-found sense of health caution made me decide against sharing the germs from our…

I finally became a Covid statistic just before the end of 2021 when I tested positive. Even though I was fully vaccinated, I still contracted the virus. I knew from the get-go that was a very strong possibility. The reason I went in for testing wasn’t because I was sick and had all the symptoms. It was more like I was a half a bubble off plumb on the feel-good level. Of course, Mary was…

The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on July 7, 1905. Was a Grand Success Such Was Luverne’s Celebration of the Glorious Fourth 6000 People Were in Attendance Notwithstanding Preceding Unfavorable Weather Conditions, Luverne Observes Our Nation’s Birthday With a Notable Successful Celebration—Occasion Graced by Presence of Governor John A. Johnson Who Delivers Inspiring Address—…

A young family stopped in the Star Herald office just after Christmas to inquire about a subscription to the newspaper. The newsroom was busy sending pages to press, so I didn’t greet them at the counter, as much as I would have liked to. From across the room, I could hear our front office staff take down their address and subscription information while small talk unfolded. “So, you’re new to…

I was sitting in my garage over the New Year’s weekend having a few adult beverages with my neighbor when an all too familiar topic was raised. He expressed his angst about the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — that they are just too powerful. I then prodded for some additional details. I asked him to give me an example of what he thought was too powerful. He came up with a very vague…

I have a habit of inserting unsolicited local history into conversations with my friends, co-workers and students.  Not helpful, insightful historical facts that people find interesting, but often random tidbits of how things used to be.  It’s perhaps an occupational hazard for a history teacher living in his hometown and working in the school he graduated from. But more than that, it’s human…

I have a great job as a self-employed, independent investment adviser, helping people try to get to a comfortable retirement. Saving money for your later years is not something that everybody is good at. I would like to think I have made a measurable difference in that regard for my clients over the past 33 years, but they still needed to participate in order to achieve success, and that takes…

My mom used to hide Christmas gifts in the closet under the stairs. I passed by that door every day as I went up to my bedroom. I never gave a thought to what was inside until one Christmas decades ago I just had to see if I was getting the gift I hoped for. As it turns out, I was. The gift was a Breyer horse. Two, actually, because the Clydesdale mare and her foal were a set. They each came with…

This is a year much like last in that there are more hunters afield later into the season than normal. If Mother Nature delivers like she normally does, there are only a few diehards still chasing what by now are the smartest remaining roosters in the state. This year and last year were very different. This is my hypothesis as to why. In a normal year there are thousands of bird hunters…

My dear husband has spent the past 35 years listening to me ask, “What is that smell?!”  But then, in late November, I got Covid 19 and lost my sense of smell. Along with the rest of the state of Minnesota, I came down with Covid 19 last month and, like 80 percent of Covid sufferers, my case was mild. I used (prescribed) ivermectin (for humans) and was symptom-free in three days.  The weird part…

No one has ranted more about the high cost of medical care and the cost of insurance to cover it than yours truly. You can ask my wife, my coffee group and my insurance guy for verification if you wish. The recent financial departure packages that Sanford has doled out to a few Sioux Falls doctors and executives has been in the news and the talk at the coffee shops. It’s difficult for many of us…

This has been a fabulous fall for conservation work, and I spent the last six to eight weeks with a variety of needed preparations for the coming spring. These include mowing fire breaks and seeding grasses. If you intend to do a prescribed fire in the spring, you need to do all of the preparations before the snow flies. I mowed about five miles of burn breaks so that when the temperatures warm…

Those who know me know I wear my Dutch heritage like a badge of honor. I’m frugal to the core in such a way that I’ve made a sport out of finding the best deals and recycling household items. Like plastic service ware. Most plastic forks, knives and spoons in my pantry have been used, washed in the dishwater and reused more times than I can count. I get laughed at, but no one knows the difference…