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The burden of hoarding

Many of us have things that we like and enjoy so much that we collect them. When we collect something, we acquire it, accumulate it, display it and store any extras. For some of us, collecting and accumulating things develops into an irrational and uncontrollable urge that is overwhelming. It is much, much more than collecting. It can grow to the point where the accumulation of possessions takes over the home, preventing the use of living areas in the home. This outcome is more common than you might think, and can be quite serious. Psychologists call this extreme problem Hoarding. ...

Horsing around in Sioux Falls

My wife and I recently went horsing around. And no, it didn’t involve traveling to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. We are much too cheap to make a special trip like that. Some years ago, when we were in Kentucky for business, my wife and I visited Churchill Downs. There weren’t any races that day, and the joint was as quiet as a Monday morning church. I walked into one of the high rollers’ suites just so that I could say that I did it. The view from up there wasn’t any better than what you see on TV. Sportscasters have labeled the Kentucky Derby “The Most Exciting Two ...

Ending the era of unchecked fraud in Minnesota

Minnesotans have always taken pride in our work ethic and our commitment to looking out for our neighbors. We pay our taxes with the understanding that those hard-earned dollars will be used to build our roads, defend our borders, and provide a hand up for the most vulnerable among us. But lately, Minnesotans have watched in disbelief as hard-earned tax dollars have been treated like a playground for fraudulent activity. The scale of corruption is groundbreaking. At least $9 billion in taxpayer money has been stolen from Minnesota’s social service programs under the watch of Gov. Tim ...

Alcohol and the teen brain

The importance of the brain cannot be overstated. Without it, we would just be lumps of flesh. Damage it, and we malfunction. It determines everything we do, keeps us alive by monitoring and running our body, stores our memories, triggers our emotions, allows us to speak, determines how smart we are, and so much more. This critical organ needs to be protected and never abused in any way. A common way that our brains get abused is through the use of alcohol and street drugs. The focus here is on alcohol and the developing teenage brain. The fragile developing brain goes through ...

Working on the waterworks

The word “plumbing” comes from “plumbum,” the Latin word for lead. That’s a load of hooey. “Plumbum” clearly denotes someone who has a bum crack that is precisely vertical. If you’re the type of person who enjoys perpetual torment, then repairing the plumbing in an old farmhouse is a gift that keeps on giving. After my brother Les and his son Dustin installed new sewer lines in our family’s ancestral farmhouse, I thought that everything was both hunky and dory. Wrong-o, moose face! The house’s plumbing seemed to work as intended. Nothing leaked, including ...

Just another ‘left-wing farmer’ with Trump derangement

Last October, we were into soybean harvest, when I got a call from Fritz Busch. Fritz is a friend and a reporter for The Journal. Every so often he calls to see what’s going on with farmers. Right then, the destruction of our soybean market by the Trump administration was newsy. Fritz came out, we talked, and he took picture of me unloading beans. Next day that was on the front page under a headline, “Farmers fear they have soybeans nobody wants.” I thought I looked rather jaunty in the picture leaning against a tire. Fritz talked to a few other farmers for the article who had ...