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Recovery turns to screen addiction

Dear Annie: Several years ago, my wife suffered a stroke. As part of her recovery, her doctor recommended a video game to help improve her hand-eye coordination. At first, it seemed like a great idea; it gave her a sense of accomplishment and helped in her healing. But over time, this once-helpful activity has grown into a serious phone addiction. She now spends close to eight hours a day on her phone, playing games and scrolling endlessly. She eats her meals with the phone right in front of her, hardly noticing me or anything else around her. I try to engage her in conversation, but ...

House keys might be outdated

Dear Heloise: There has been quite a bit of discussion regarding lost house keys. The easiest way to avoid losing your keys is not having keys in the first place! You can get around this by buying a deadbolt lock for your house that has a combination pad. If you have one, all you have to do to unlock your door is enter a four- to six-digit code, and the door unlocks.There is still a key hole for folks who feel like they have to carry a key. But I have not carried a house key in 20 years. In fact, I don’t even know where my house key is! These locks are available at any hardware ...

Looking back at the harvest

It’s time for the annual Krzmarzick Farms Post Harvest Update. A lot of readers look forward to that. Well, that’s not true. But here it is anyway. These are thoughts that have been sloshing around in my head. Sometimes those spill out on the keyboard. It’s kind of unsightly. I try to clean it up before Pam sees it. Anyway, 2024, what can we say about you? A year to remember. Like how you remember banging your head on a pipe. We had a winter that wasn’t a winter. Then there was record rain from April to July. Then came the warmest, driest fall ever. “Is it dry? No, ...

Shorts and sweatshirt weather: a comfortable time of year

I have seasons of the year when it comes to clothes, seasons that coincide with weather trends. I have sweater season in the winter, shorts and short sleeved shirts in the summer. In between I have shorts and sweatshirt weather. It’s perfect for the in between times of the spring and fall. The spring season is usually fairly short. It takes a long time to warm up. By the time it does, it’s almost summer-like. In the fall shorts and sweatshirts stretch out for a longer amount of time, usually at least a month. This year it continued for almost six weeks. We had a beautiful ...

NU Film Society screens musical ‘1776’

NEW ULM — Modern American politics rarely inspires anyone to sing, but in 1972, one musical film found the inspiration with the nations founding document. The film is called “1776” and it was adapted from the 1969 Broadway musical of the same name. The musical revolves around the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This unusual film will serve as the start of the New Ulm Film Society’s America at War series. The screening begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12 at the New Ulm Public Library. From the early days of filmmaking, war has been a popular topic in cinema. Some ...

Am I to blame for my in-laws’ family drift?

Dear Annie: I find myself questioning everything. I grew up in a very dysfunctional home. I have known this since I was 13, living on the streets and trying to figure out life. As an adult, my goal has been to not push my childhood trauma onto my relationships. I have been married to my amazing husband for almost 20 years. Together we share three children. My question starts with this. Two years ago, during a family outing, my husband’s only sister told me the only reason she and I have a relationship is because I invite her to things. During this same trip, she told me my ...