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First month in New Ulm as exchange intern packed with new experiences

Columns

My name is Sam Blomberg, and I have the privilege of serving as the Hans Joohs representative for the New Ulm Sister Cities Commission. Over the course of twelve weeks, I am living and working in Germany. This letter highlights events from the first four weeks. Arriving in Ulm, Germany, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As the sister cities representative, I hoped to gain professional experience and learn about German culture. In Ulm, I found much more: a welcoming host family, an engaging work environment, and a city rich in tradition and culture. My first month has been packed with ...

Help ensure a healthy start to school year

Columns

It always seems like back-to-school time returns too quickly after the fun and freedom of summer. Yet now’s the time to begin looking toward this busy season when it comes to your family’s health care. Clinic appointments can get filled up, so call early to schedule back-to-school preventive checkups. Most health insurance plans cover an annual preventive visit for every member of your family. If you or your family members have not yet had this visit in 2026, consider scheduling now. This visit is an opportunity to check in with your provider on several points: • Current ...

The pain of painting

Columns

The joys of home ownership are infinite. And by “joys” I mean “pain-in-the-patootie maintenance issues.” If a wife says to her husband, “I’m thinking about painting the living room,” what she really means is, “I want you to paint the living room.” The husband might ...

Solve problems instead of fighting

Letters

When I was a young man, the company I worked for sent me to a seminar for people becoming job foreman. It included all trades (plumbers, carpenters, electricians, and others). The speaker instructed us on the duties of a foreman: keeping projects on schedule, working with other trades, evaluating fellow workers, identifying their strengths ...you get the picture. The best way to evaluate a person was to consider the work they did incorrectly or had to redo. That was called an “Oh-poop.” He used a different four-letter word, but it cannot be printed here. Work done correctly and ...

Minnesota’s clean water certification program helping farmers be good stewards

Columns

My family farms just under 1,000 acres near the headwaters of the Minnesota River and the Red River on the continental divide. The view out our window is an expanse of fields and sky that spans for miles. Water that comes to our farm through rain and snow eventually ends up in the Minnesota River, flowing into the Mississippi and finally into the Gulf of Mexico. We think a lot about how our farm management affects that water, and how to be the best stewards of that resource. That’s why we were eager to meet with our local Agriculture Water Quality Certification specialist, and ...

Saved by the Boys of Summer: Baseball to the Rescue, Again

Columns

Saved by the Boys of Summer: Baseball to the Rescue, Again At my age, I shouldn’t care so much whether the Boston Red Sox win or lose, let alone permit my daily mood to rise or fall accordingly.  It’s only a game. It’s supposed to be a pastime (according to AI, something that ...