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Dealing with girlfriend grief

I was beset with numerous challenges back when I was a beginning dairy farmer. There were the ho-hum things such as wrestling with finances and farming with rickety, worn-out machinery. But there were also some really important issues like formulating the precise mixture of junk to haul around in the box of my pickup. All of those pale in comparison to the biggest challenge I faced as young farmer: procuring a girlfriend. My procurement system worked like this: I would saunter up to a pair of Possible Future Girlfriend candidates and dazzle them with my smooth banter. “Hi,” I ...

Assisted Living Week emphasizes importance of senior housing

Next week is National Assisted Living Week, a time to recognize the importance of senior citizen assisted living facilities. It’s an occasion that has personal meaning. I moved last month from a house to an apartment at Boulder Estates. I decided it was time. I put my name on the Boulder Estates list a year ago when I was preparing for hip surgery and when my mother entered hospice care. I wasn’t sure at the time that I wanted to move. I just felt that I should get on the list and make a decision when my name came up. As the year went along I began to lean toward moving. Events ...

You can help save a life by asking the question

Saving lives may sound like the job of first responders or emergency room clinicians. Yet saving a life from suicide can begin with a caring conversation. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and the courage you show when you talk to someone who’s struggling might be lifesaving to a friend or family member. Many people think about suicide; in fact around 12.8 million people report having seriously thought about suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Close to 50,000 people die by suicide in the U.S. every year. Professionals in behavioral ...

Salsa time

“Your everlasting summer you can see it fading fast / So you grab a piece of something that you think is gonna last.” — Steely Dan, “Reeling in the Years”, 1972 My wife and I have been doing a bit of salsa recently. I mean the sauce, not the dance. Her new titanium knee is much better than her original one, but not to the point where she’s ready to sashay to the beat of a peppery Latin tune. Turning our homegrown tomatoes, peppers and onions into salsa is a way to preserve a smidgen of summertime. In my imagination, we’ll open a jar of salsa on a subzero winter day, ...

Is there trouble ahead for farmers?

I’ve had conversations with farmers this summer that include, “This is the best crop I’ve ever seen.” Then we quickly remind each other that nothing is in the bin yet. Farmers can never appear to be exuberant. Restraint must be shown. Being a farmer means you are an odd mix of hopefulness yet filled with dread. You plant a crop or buy some feeder cattle. In either case, you’ve gone long in the market. You hope for the best. All the while, you’re aware of a hundred things that can go wrong. While there is time for harmful weather, pestilence, disease, terrorism, ...

Marshall and meaning of community

These past few months, through celebration, and even sometimes challenge, Marshall has been an example of what makes a great community. In June, the city sponsored, for the second year, the celebration of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War. The date and meaning of Juneteenth are relatively new to some of us since it has only been a federal and state holiday since 2021 and 2023 respectively. Even so, it was an opportunity to bring people together with food and music in hopes of creating a new community of people honoring a time in ...