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A close encounter with an old razor

The medicine cabinet was crusty and rusty, much like me. And like me, it’s old enough to be a museum piece. The cabinet was installed in my parents’ bathroom when it was added onto their farmhouse more than 60 years ago. I was just a tyke at the time, and flushing the toilet was infinitely more interesting than a smallish cabinet that sported a mirrored door. Besides, we had another mirror in the house, so I already knew what I looked like. It was clear that the old medicine cabinet needed to be replaced or refurbished. Replacing it would cost money and I had a can of white spray ...

Nurses you don’t see often the ones who help you avoid bigger health crisis

When most of us think about nurses, we picture hospital hallways, clinics, and exam rooms. That image is real, and nurses working in those settings deserve enormous respect for working on the front lines of health care. But here is something many people do not realize. Some of the most important nursing work happens outside hospital walls. These nurses play a critical role in helping people stay healthier, avoid unnecessary complications, and reduce avoidable health care costs. We see this every day. It is a situation nurses encounter often: a member leaves the hospital with a ...

Kicking off a chorus line of musicals

NEW ULM – One of the oldest genres of film is the musical and New Ulm Film Society will be starting its new musical film series with genre standard, “42nd Street.” The film screening will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, at the New Ulm Public Library. The film was released in 1933 and is based on a novel by Bradford Ropes. Both the novel and the musical tell the story of what happens backstage as a theatre troupe plans a production of a  musical called “Pretty Lady.” The film is considered an ensemble story, with no main character. The story follows several different ...

Wacky weather

“Unusual weather we’re having, ain’t it?” – the Cowardly Lion, upon awakening to a snowstorm after a poppy party in the docudrama “The Wizard of Oz.” We denizens of the prairie know that you don’t have to go somewhere over the rainbow to enjoy — or endure, depending on your ...

Your sleep can impact your mood

Everyone knows that we need sleep. If we do not get enough sleep, we also know that it can have a variety of negative consequences. The same may be said of getting too much sleep. I suppose that. Too much, or too little, of anything can have consequences. One word for too little sleep is insomnia, while one word for too much sleep is hypersomnia. Either one can strongly impact your mood. What is mood? One mood analogy is that feelings like anxiety and depression are like the current weather. Mood is more like the climate. Mood is what psychologists call an affective state. ...

Sweeping up the ladybugs

Pam and I have a nice house. It’s one of those old farmhouses that’s been remodeled a hundred different ways. Since the kids left, it’s just Pam and me. And a few thousands of ladybugs. Several times a day, I go around the house sweeping ladybugs into a dustpan and tossing them outside. Depending on the time of day, they gather around different windows. The siege of ladybugs is worse in the country. Townie friends report that some of the little buggers make it to the big city. If you don’t have them, be thankful for avoiding this pestilence. In the fall, they are ...