There was an article in the July 19 Minneapolis Star Tribune titled “Solar power glows in Minnesota.” The article discussed solar power becoming an increasingly important part of Minnesota’s growing renewable energy mix. There are many benefits from the growing solar power industry.
Here we are already in mid July. Summer is half over and many changes have occurred since last July. I like to focus on the good ones.
The wide diversity of birds on earth should be a reminder to us all that the natural world is a place where life takes all shapes, colors and forms.
Our recent affair with pandemic isolation yielded fresh awareness of the condition we colloquially describe as “feeling cooped up.” What relief to shed the restraints of quarantine as we frolic about these balmy summer days!
Do you have a stubborn streak? What is the thing that you will do, no matter the obstacle, that is so important to your character and well-being that you plan for it, make time for it, spend money and energy to get it, defy the odds and make it happen?
Here’s something to think about: You could spend two, or even three, decades in retirement. To meet your income needs for all those years, you’ll generally need a sizable amount of retirement assets. How will Social Security fit into the picture?
We are a generation reconsidering its past. It is not something many of us know how or even want to do. But the past has a way of catching up to us, and that is exactly what is happening.
Amid the fireworks and the parades of our recent Fourth of July, I was thinking about our country’s history — not only our Declaration of Independence, but other less glorious stories about unpleasant events that journalist Dan Rather calls “holes in our history.”
Baseball is a game of numbers. And as an enthusiastic fan, the numbers, when you hope for average or better, will bring smiles and cheers when greater than average, or grimaces or boos when below average.
I moved to Beijing in 1996 with my family for a 4.5 year work assignment. Since China has lately been in the news, I thought I’d share some observations and perspectives from that experience.
The complexity of nature is sometimes hard to understand and even harder to justify or feel good about, especially when seen through the human lens. I was reminded of this the other day while filming a family of American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) that is nesting on my property.
Promise yourself to think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
How confident are you feeling? Before the pandemic, the answer to this question might have been different than it is today. Our lives are getting back to normal, but many people are realizing they do not want the same life as they had before. Perhaps saying no to obligations was difficult, m…
The key to escaping a dangerous situation is to find a pathway of possibility through peril, summon up enough courage, and move swiftly in that direction. It takes faith and strength to push through fears. Sometimes we make it, and sometimes we find ourselves further in the proverbial pit.
When I was in the U.S. Air Force, my Air Force compatriots and I received a whole series of shots and vaccines to protect ourselves and others as we went about performing our military duties. I never saw combat when I was in the military, but COVID-19 really reminds me of a book called “Comb…
I know we are used to hypocrisy in Washington, but this is ridiculous. Voting against a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol seems un-American no matter how you look at it. What could be more important than getting to the bottom of an armed attack on the very…
A gaggle of over-stimulated PETA members recently pressed the city of Ham Lake to change its name to Yam Lake. It seems they were serious — serious enough to offer payment for the resultant signage updates (Pioneer Press, June 3, 2021). I must warn my friends Joe and Tracy: suffice it to say…
During COVID-19, sentences like “Everything is OK!” “Look on the bright side!” and the infamous “Everything happens for a reason,” have been more prominent. Especially since we have been unable to see people in person, these messages have swarmed social media and have increased how much we h…
The 2021 Legislative Session convened in the midst of a global pandemic that has affected and disrupted the daily lives of people in every corner of our state. Many Minnesotans were unable to work and earn a steady paycheck, childcare became even more scarce, and stability was difficult to find.
When you give to your church, where does your money go? For generations, American churches have amassed enormous assets in the form of land, buildings and cash investments. It began early in the nation’s history with the simple human desire to have a place to gather, to sing, pray, educate a…
One of my fears about emerging from the pandemic is that I’ve lost my sense of humor. I’ll be forced to get together with friends and family whose eccentricities used to be mildly entertaining, but after the last year, I’ve lost my patience for conspiracy theories and other nutty beliefs.
As an engineering intern in mid-1979, I took a top-loader to a South Dakota farm for tests. As we unloaded the Bobcat, the farmer and his 7-year-old boy came out to see us. I turned around, smiled, stretched out my hand for a handshake, and said to the boy, “Hi, what’s your name?” The boy re…
Spring is a wonderful time of year. Especially right after the thick ice of winter melts off the ponds and small lakes.
I woke up early this morning to birds joyfully singing outside my window.
The most fascinating stories to me are the ones that tell me about what inspired or influenced them to become the people they did. I just recently picked up the book "In My Own Words," a story about the life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. As I read that book, it made me think about the people and e…
If you have children or grandchildren, you may already be somewhat familiar with the 529 plan, a popular education savings vehicle. But you may not have kept up with some recent changes in the plan’s capabilities and in the educational environment in which the plan might be used.
In my mind, bags are packed for a summer trek to the northeast with my five sisters. One year ago we set dates for a summer sister week during an online happy hour with no guarantee it would ever happen.
The other night my wife Katie and I were out walking our dog. We were not alone. It was a beautiful evening and many people filled the park near our house.
Each spring in nature there is a lot of tragedy and triumph. Heartbreak and happiness. Success and failure.
In the predawn hours of June 7, 2020, city employees in Bristol, England fished a strange catch out of the harbor. Lassoed by the feet and hoisted head down from the murky waters, engineers and divers collaborated to crane out the larger-than-life, bronze statue of James Colston (1636-1721),…
At Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, feedback from staff, parents, students and our community is a critical part of our continuous improvement efforts. Our annual stakeholder survey responses help to identify strengths and set goals for areas in need of improvement at both the district and ind…
For the first time in Minnesota history, a white police officer has been found guilty on three counts of murder of a Black man. The killing of George Floyd, captured on video, ignited a year of protests and riots, memorials, local distress and international outrage, all during a historic wor…
As spring arrives in Minnesota, I feel like good news is returning with the warmer weather and greening grass. Yesterday I saw my first hummingbird in the metro area and this morning, the crabapple tree in my neighbor’s yard is in full bloom. It’s hard to be grumpy when these signs of resili…
A wise business mentor once taught me that what you do every day is more important than what you do once in a while. I have found that this advice is the most important and valuable piece of information I have received to making lasting change.
I am always interested in the unsung hero or the rulebreakers of nature. The kind of critter that is common, yet no one seems to pay any attention to them. Or the bird who is so common throughout the U.S., yet no one seems to notice them.
It was probably 1998 when my cab pulled up to a hotel in Missouri and I was wondering how I was ever going to sleep under these buzzing power lines. Usually, my company put us up in nice hotels for business meetings, but this was ridiculous. The electric noise was deafening.
Standing on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on March 25, 1965, American hero and civil rights icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr delivered a speech that would become known as “How Long, Not Long.”
The vaccine rollout is showing light at the end of the COVID tunnel. The 567,000 COVID deaths to date have irreparably altered the plans and dreams of innumerous families. Nothing can minimize that or magically wash away the pain and suffering. I see a rich tapestry of events and happenings …
The rites of spring are particularly interesting, especially in the bird world.
At Prior Lake-Savage Area schools we transitioned our secondary students back to in-person learning on April 15 so now all students, E-12, have the opportunity to be back learning in our schools. We also continue to provide distance learning for families who choose that model.
A tuft of chives is suddenly thriving in the backyard garden along with crocus and the onset of daffodils. The snow, dare I say, is all but gone, lingering only in deeply shaded nooks. Spring seems to have arrived, though I hesitate to say it loudly. It is Minnesota, after all, and snow is n…
On the gate at the road of the family farm my father had crafted a sign from old wood that read “Consider the Lilies.” As a young adult who frequently visited the homestead, I assumed the sign’s intent was to inform all who drove through to not drive over the ditch lilies that anchored the gate.
Spring is here. Crocuses are blooming in my front yard, cardinals are building their nest in my ornamental lilac bushes and I put my ice cleats away until next winter.
Do elections have consequences? Please look at some major economic legislation passed or proposed in the last few years.
Abraham Lincoln’s famous words from the Gettysburg Address seem particularly apt these days, “...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
2020 was arduous in many ways for everyone. People were in lockdown with limited interactions and getting daily necessities was laborious. For those children and families who were already facing financial and food insecurities, this scenario was even more difficult.
Did Jesus of Nazareth rise from the dead? Sunday is Easter and Christians worldwide will sing in joyful affirmation.
The COVID-19 pandemic may end up changing our lives in some significant ways. To cite one example, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more people continue to work remotely, now that they’ve seen the effectiveness of tools such as video conferencing. Education, too, may be forever changed in some wa…
During my childhood, I lived for a brief time in New Hampshire where the state motto, proudly displayed on every license plate, is the famous phrase, “Live free or die.” It seems to capture the attitude of many of the people I met in that rural state: independent, certain, resolute. I recall…
When people tell me what they believe about themselves or circumstances in their life, I never doubt them. I have learned that whatever they believe is the absolute truth to them, knowing that if they think they can do something, they do. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. If you do n…
