Say What?

In aviation, one of the more dire circumstances a pilot can find themselves in is what's referred to as a flat spin. A flat spin is where the nose of the aircraft is in a more level position (rather than pointed downward), placing the aircraft's center of gravity closer to the spin axis, rendering the rudder and elevators ineffective in breaking the perilous spin. More often than not, it's an unrecoverable situation. We, in America, are in a flat spin—I'm speaking of our democracy. Fascism and authoritarianism are taking root here at the top while a solid 38% of the country doesn't seem to notice or maybe they don't mind because it's their guy who is leading the revolution—if you can call it that. I'm saddened by the fact that I have two siblings and many other relatives, friends, and neighbors who are caught up in the madness and continue to support the imbecile in the Oval Office. You don't tear gas peaceful protesters to clear a park for a p...

Lately, I find myself gauging the passing of time and the seasons by the growth in our gardens. In the spring, young chutes of leatrice rise out of the ground reaching full bloom by mid-July, enticing bumble bees that bumble from one flowery chute to the next, so loaded down with pollen it's a wonder they can make the return trip home. Within a couple more weeks some of our hostas will take their turn at sending up their flowering risers. Before too long I'll begin to notice glimpses of color among the sumac patches along the roadside on my rides. The chill in the air that's sure to follow will be a welcome relief from the hot, humid few weeks that precede it. And so it goes. So many mile-markers of summer have been sidelined this year: the Edina Art Fair; the Uptown Art Fair (as well as several other art fairs); the Dakota County Fair, and the State Fair—they've all been canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Surprisingly, I'm still getting emails...

I'd planned to be out riding early this morning but my legs insisted I take a day off, or at least the morning. Between golfing and yard work, I was on them all day yesterday and they're tired. I hate to let a beautiful day go by without taking advantage of it but perhaps I'll feel up to a late afternoon ride instead. I was thinking of seeing if Tammy would like to go for a drive in the country today as our schedules have been more miss than hit lately and that's mostly my fault. We had Pepper Jack spend last weekend with us. He's about as rambunctious and adorable as a pup can be and we totally fell in love with him during our few days together. He's a handful! He kept trying to get Charlie to warm up to him but Charlie is hesitant. PJ was both persistent and submissive in his attempts and it was cute to watch him try. I hope he'll find more success in future visits. And he's a little biter! Not at all in a mean way—he's just playing but with his...

When I was stationed in San Diego in the mid '70s, I strolled into a 7/11 one night and purchased The Memoirs of Richard Nixon . I wasn't into politics but considering how Nixon had been forced to resign just a few years earlier, the book intrigued me. I brought it home with me while on leave and my dad noticed it. "What are you reading that for?" he queried. I actually thought he'd be impressed because I believed he was more conservative than not , being a financial manager and subscribing to the Wall Street Journal. I didn't give it much more thought. Years later I was driving in my car with my dad on our way to the driving range at Southern Hills Golf Course when I excitedly told him about a new guy I was listening to on the radio: Rush Limbaugh. I tuned into Rush's program and was somewhat surprised again that my dad wasn't showing any interest in something I thought would appeal to him. My dad may have at some point been a conservative but those...

I read a book a couple of years ago titled Waking Up White by Debbie Irving where she writes about her life of privilege that allowed her to ignore the hardships of others different than herself. Once realizing that she was indeed privileged, she set out to try and more clearly understand the ways in which her privilege manifested itself in her life while at the same time helping her to gain a better understanding of the struggles of others who don't share a similar privilege because of their skin color. It was eye-opening for me and dovetailed well with what has been an ongoing effort in my own life over the past dozen years or more to try and see the world through eyes other than my own. A practice that has revealed in me my own tendency to be ignorant of others' struggles. I'm a work in progress. Before reading Waking Up White , I already understood that my life was one of privilege but I had never taken the time to try and put myself in the shoes of someone who was...

I was up early last Saturday to participate in a ride out of Northfield (25 miles south of me), trying to get a jump on the day with hopes of completing the ride before forecast rains arrived in the afternoon. I tuned to the '70s music station on Sirius XM for the drive, curious to see if I could guess the month and year of Casey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown rebroadcast that was playing ('70's music will always have a special place in my heart). The first song I heard was "Wildfire" by Michael Murphy, number 29 of the countdown. I guessed the rebroadcast to be from either April or May of 1975 because that song (as songs sometimes do) always takes me back to a memory of sitting on the bus for the ride to school from my apartment in the spring of that year, my senior year. It's also a favorite song of mine. Sure enough, the show was from May 17th, 1975. The number 22 song on the countdown was "The Immigrant" by Neil Sedaka—a song I hadn't heard i...

Our home has become a no-kill place for mice. We'll occasionally catch a mouse in one of our traps down in the utility room or in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. I always feel bad that the only solution seemed to be to kill them to rid our home of them. I found a no-kill trap online a month ago and it appears to work really well. I've caught two mice so far. The only improvement I'd like to see with it is an ability for the trap to send a notification to my phone when a mouse has been caught. I doubt there's much of a demand for a feature such as that but I'd pay extra for it. I try and check our traps twice each day. Our spring season seems slow to get off the ground this year. We've had a smattering of warm days but nothing sustained. It looks like our warmer temps will arrive on Thursday for an extended stay. I made two trips to Gertens this morning to buy some hanging baskets and a few flats of flowers. I had to bring them inside due to one last night...