After 50 years of writing, columnist signing off

For the past 50 years I’ve been facing a deadline and now it’s time for me to move on while I’m still able to move. Putting it in blunt words, this will be the final issue of my Around the Square column.

How many times a day do adults pretend?

A close friend Minnesota journalist Gerrie Anderson wrote a scrapbook of life in 1999 that contained over 50 years of her columns. She is now deceased, but her book, My Say,  brought me lots of smiles.

Sixty-three years and still counting with my gal

You know you are in trouble when you answer the phone to an early morning call from your son in Texas and you answer , “What’s  going on?” The son’s  answer: “Just wanted to tell you and mom,  ‘Happy wedding anniversary.’” Oops. . . I didn’t realize this was Aug.

Clothing of future may soon be wired to help wearer

Just when we thought we were keeping up with a changing world  it again jumped out ahead of us.  We had come to accept such things as a robotic vacuum cleaner, etc. and a future where robots have begun to replace some us in the repetitive job workforce.

The mail gets delivered, with help from a friend

While vacationing and visiting our oldest son in Minnesota, we came across an interesting story in a neighboring small town.

Monkeypox means yet another shot, or does it?

Well, here we go again. This time we’re being frequently told in reports from national news media that we may need still another vaccination. This time Monkeypox is the culprit.  In our mind we’re beginning to wonder just how many shots can a person’s body handle.

Missing out on ‘roughin it’ trips actually a blessing

A senior couple came off a camping trip and reported their campground featured sleeping in tepees. They were “wowed’ when they found the campground had tepees even with wooden slat floors. So much for roughing it.

Don’t take community’s positive actions for granted

Sometimes it’s difficult to start our day after reading or hearing of violence in communities throughout the world.

Money talks now more than ever in college sports

Just as I was getting accustomed to the Big Ten having more than 10 teams they did it again.  The Big Ten Conference added two more -- UCLA   and Southern California.

Might we be flushing away two precious resources?

As our home’s collection box for recyclables seems to fill faster every week I begin to wonder when we’re going to be asked to recycle everything. That question was reinforced recently when a New York Times story written by Catrin Einhorn emphasized my concern. We warn you.