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Road trip. Geezer style.
By Bob Ramsey
On a warm, sunny day last summer, four carloads of old men loaded up (bifocals, hearing aids, canes and all) and took off on a road trip across unsuspecting Minnesota. It sounds like the beginning of a bad movie. But it was really just members of the Wednesday morning Breakfast Brotherhood embarking on their annual motor trek.
These nomadic geezers are part of a larger group of retired St. Louis Park teachers—all male—who meet weekly for breakfast. This parent group consists of former junior and senior high teachers who have been meeting regularly for over 25 years. They are now on their third or fourth venue. At least two of their previous breakfast haunts have been closed permanently.
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A little extra care
By Patricia Carlson
It’s a fine line, to be sure, and one Minnesotans in particular have a hard time walking. This is the line known as ‘asking for help.’ After all, we are the people of Keillor’s Lake Woebegon—which is not just a fictional place of radio and the silver screen but also an “effect.” That’s right—the “Lake Woebegon effect” describes a genuine and persistent tendency people have to overestimate their capabilities in relation to others. “Ask for help? Not me! I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself!” Sound familiar?
And honestly…this doesn’t just apply to the generally stubborn or those who refuse to recognize they may have physical or cognitive needs. Listen up,
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threading the Sky
By Kathleen Stoehr
The annual sandhill crane migration is one of the last great natural wonders It’s mid-January in late 18th century California, and I am standing on the bow of a great ship, watching in awe as gray whales enter the area nearby, back from the food-rich waters of the Arctic Ocean to the warmer waters off the coast, where they will mate and raise their young. As far as my eye can see, there are distinctive V-shaped air-mixed waterspouts reaching heights of 15 feet, and 12-foot wide flukes slapping the water’s surface. The ocean is roiling with these magnificent mammals. At this time in our history, there were millions of whales. A century later, they will have been hunted to near extinction. KL It’s 1813 and I am standing on the banks of the Ohio
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Housing // First step to the move: Find a capable Realtor
By Lisa Dunn
Spring and summer are the most popular times for people to contemplate moving. Here are some tips on the all-important process of hiring a real estate agent to represent you in the sale of your home.
Hire a real estate agent who specializes in working with older adults.
When you’ve lived in your home for 20 or more years and you’re thinking about downsizing or moving to a senior housing community, there are challenges you may face that are very different from someone who is purchasing their first home. You’ll want someone who has the knowledge and skill set to ease this transition for you. There are three designations real estate agents can earn by investing time in a classroom to
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This month in Minnesota history // ‘Last of the logs’
By Jessica Kohen
For more than a half century, when the ice went out each spring, the St. Croix became a river of pine from its headwaters in Wisconsin to Stillwater. But on June 12, 1914, the last log arrived at the boom site north of Stillwater, marking the end of large-scale logging in the St. Croix Valley.
Commercial lumbering began in Minnesota in 1839 along the St. Croix. White pine, the preferred choice for construction, fueled the growth of towns along the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis and beyond.
Loggers, eager for prime stands, moved north, as far as the Canadian border. By 1900 Minnesota’s logging peaked, with more than 2.3 billion board feet of lumber produced from the state’s forests. “In 1900,
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Memories // The county fair
By Carol Hall
“Spend a dime! Throw a ball!” barked the shifty-eyed carnie, pointing at the rubes passing by on the Midway. “Hit the target and win a Cupie doll for your little lady!”
The county fair was in full swing. It was the biggest deal of summer in the southwestern Minnesota farm community where I grew up.
I became turned on to the fair in junior high when I was allowed to go on my own. Before then I’d tagged along with my mother, who came to find out who won blue ribbon for homemade jams and jellies. No more of that for me now. I was here for thrills and chills. The Joie Chitwood Auto Daredevils Show and the carnival rides provided both.
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Finance // Retirement strategies
By Skip Johnson
It used to be a given that you’d retire by age 60 or 65. By then you’d have your mortgage paid off, kids through college, and a stable pension plan to help bolster your finances. Today’s unfortunate reality is that a “retire by 65” dream is not possible for many people. In fact, a recent AARP study found that nearly 70 percent of Baby Boomers plan to work past the age of 65. Is retiring an outmoded idea?
For many Minnesotans at or near retirement age, the recession hit their retirement accounts hard. Those who faced either under- or unemployment had losses of income. Many relied on their savings to get by, depleting their retirement funds. To compound the problem, when they took money out of the stock market,
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My Turn // Celebrating June
By Dave Nimmer
When I think about it, June just may be the best month of the year. To me June spells freedom: from arctic blasts, growing boredom, heavy coats, lingering darkness, and cold ears. But that’s too negative—what June isn’t.
What it is makes me joyful and it starts with daylight and the longest day of the year. Whatever I’m doing outside, I can do it longer and later. On June 21 the sun rises at 5:26 a.m. and sets at 9:03 p.m. That’s almost seven hours more daylight compared to the short, dark days of December. That lack of light drags me down.
What picks me up is being out on the lake at 8:30 p.m. and realizing I have another hour of fishing before heading back to the dock. It’s
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From the Editor // Heading home
By Kathleen Stoehr
I am currently at T-minus two days until I hit the road with my husband and drive to Rochester, New York. Our car will be only moderately full; just a bag for the two of us, a small cooler perhaps, and a car top box affixed upon the roof.
The return trip however—that’s another story. I believe it will be somewhat akin to what the Beverly Hillbillies looked like in the opening credits of the TV show. Car so full, we will be hanging out of the windows. That’s right, we are moving our daughter home after a successful four years at college. The empty nest will be empty no more.
I have to say it: I am at odds with this change. I love my daughter with all of the fiery goodness a mother can love. She is the
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At odds with science & religion
By Kara Witt, PH.D.
The dysfunctional relationship between religion and science is a matter that has so gripped the attention of our collective consciousness that it has become almost impossible to ignore. Whether we identify as atheist, religious, or something else entirely, we cherish our worldviews. When others criticize them, we take it to heart.
Science, according to the late Sir Karl Popper, is a method that limits itself to testing falsifiable hypotheses. Spirituality, on the other hand, is something that gives us meaning, hope, strength, and integrity when fear fills our hearts; when moral dilemmas rob us of rest; and when the incremental losses and disappointments accumulate and interact as we approach life’s end. Why, then, is there conflict between them?
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