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Be ruthless when decluttering

Dear Heloise: It’s the time of year when people start spring-cleaning and adding fresh touches to their homes. One of the best things that you can do to improve your home is to declutter. When I say “declutter,” I don’t mean throwing things out and replacing them with new clutter. I ...

Warning signs of undiagnosed dementia

Dear Annie: I’m writing in response to the letter from “Brokenhearted Grandma,” whose husband grew angry and controlling over time. Reading about what has happened in her family brought back memories of what happened in my own family. After 20 years of marriage, my husband also became ...

Drill pressed

I recently felt a pressing need to own a drill press. No farm shop is complete without one and a man isn’t any kind of man if he doesn’t have a drill press. An internet search yielded a perplexing panoply of choices. There are big ones, small ones, short ones, and tall ones. I was ...

Chores help kids in the long run

Dear Annie: I’m 74 years of age, and I rent a room from a lady who has a 15-year-old son. I pay $600 a month for rent. I pay her $350 in cash, and I work off the other $250 by cleaning and cooking. I vacuum and make her bed and clean the restrooms. I wash dishes and clean the kitchen. When I ...

A blast from the past — celebrating the big home run 50 years ago

This much is true. I hit a home run. For years, Kevin Sweeney, the retired editor of The New Ulm Journal, wrote up New Ulm’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. It was his way of poking fun at the dour Germans who surrounded him.  Kevin reported on true events, like New Ulm’s few Irish ...

Memoir writing: It should be part of everyone’s bucket list

Memoir writing is something most people don’t think about, but maybe they should. It’s always surprised me that writing isn’t popular. I remember back in junior high when writing was sometimes used as a punishment. It was often effective because classmates didn’t like it. I’ve ...