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Forty-five years on

My wife and I recently marked our 45th wedding anniversary. This is a mathematical impossibility as I feel as though I’m not a day over 40. But maybe that’s just my intractable immaturity talking. My wife was 22 and I was 23 when we were wed. Knowing what we know now, we know that we were too young to know what we didn’t know. Plus, it means that we’ve been married for two-thirds of our lives. Will that fraction keep creeping upward until it reaches 100%? Time will tell. I can’t help but feel that my wife and I are hopelessly out of style. Why? I’m ashamed to admit ...

I like words

When you write an occasional column, you think about words. I like words. I try to find the right ones whether I’m talking or writing. Sometimes I succeed. In my last piece, there was this line. “It is fast time our nation binds our wounds and heals.” The day it came out, a friend said there was a misprint. She thought it was supposed to be “It is past time.” No, I meant “It is fast time.” The nearest equivalent to saying, “It is fast time for something to happen” is “It is high time for that to happen.” In other words, it is due. That is slightly different than ...

Humble pennies had value that’s now a distant memory

If we had a conversation about things that get no respect, one of the first items that should be mentioned is the good old copper penny. Federal officials recently announced that they’ll no longer issue new pennies. We’ll just use the ones that are already in circulation. Eventually they’re likely to fade away. We’ve reached a point where the penny is almost worthless. Someone who works for minimum wage makes hundreds of pennies every hour. Many people don’t even pick up a penny if they see one on a sidewalk or in a parking lot. It’s almost insult to tell someone the ...

Minnesota’s election process basics

What follows is a brief outline of the election and voting rules used in Minnesota. For more specific information, go to the Secretary of State’s website www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/Each state establishes its own election and voting rules. Here are some ways in which Minnesota differs from some other states. Minnesota only uses paper ballots which are counted by vote tabulating machines. Those machines are tested for accuracy before and again after each election. In Minnesota there are no “Registered Republicans” or “Registered Democrats.” Citizens who ...

Forged in frustration

None of this would have happened were it not for cable TV. Like many guys, I’m a skilled — one might even say professional — channel surfer. I’m not interested in what’s on so much as what else is on. Some years ago, during one of my surfing sessions, I stumbled across a show called “Forged in Fire.” The show immediately caught my attention, mainly because it involved fire. A quartet of blacksmiths take such things as a pound of steel ball bearings or random car parts and forge them into a type of blade that had been chosen by a trio of judges. I found the process ...

Thumps Up/Thumbs Down

Thumbs up A well attended public hearing on counties “shotgun-only” status On Wednesday, the Brown County Law Enforcement Center training room was full of firearm enthusiasts sharing their opinions on the “shotgun-only” status of Brown County at public hearing. The Minnesota Legislature repealed the “shotgun-only” zone for deer hunting in the state. The change allows hunters to use rifles statewide, but counties have the right to remain shotgun-only by passing an ordinance. Based on the high interest on this issue, Brown County Commission held the public hearing to hear ...