An Important Birthday

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70 years ago today, one of the greatest musician/songwriters of all time was born.  Happy Birthday, John.  Thank you for the eternal gift of your music.

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Our New Neighbor

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I've talked about this dude before on my blog, but on Friday he really gave us a show.  He perched himself above the bird feeders in our back yard and waited for (I imagine) an unsuspecting squirrel to come along.  He eventually flew away with an amazingly huge wingspan... but here he is, our new neighbor, "Oscar" the Barred Owl.  I originally thought he was a Great Horned Owl, but this picture I snapped out our living room window makes it very obvious that Oscar does not have tufts or "horns" on top of his head.  His head is nice and round and he has the most incredible eyes.  Beth looked it up in our handy Birds of Minnesota handbook written by my friend Stan Tekiela, and he is undoubtedly a Barred Owl. The only other choice of owl in Minnesota (after Great Horned and Barred) is the Screech Owl, but that species of owl stands only 9 inches tall.  Oscar was an easy two feet from head to toe.  The only word I can think of to describe him is "majes...
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Goodbye to Facebook

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Today I finally did something which I've been thinking about doing for months now. I've finally logged off Facebook and washed my hands of it. I call Facebook "The Great Experiment Gone Terribly Wrong." It is one of those ideas which seemed great in theory: keeping connected with friends and family you don't get to see often. What a great way to stay in touch! Sounds nice. But something happened on the way to heaven, as Phil Collins would say. At some point Facebook got ugly. It got gross. It happened about four years ago, toward the dawn of the presidential election of 2016. A line was drawn in the sand. It became the MAGA cult (by definition, that's what it is) on the attack and on the defense, against the rest of the world. Democrat versus Republican. It quickly dissolved into a perceived Good versus Evil. So-called Patriots versus Snowflakes. And there it has remained. Civilized discourse was severed like a head in a guillotine. Friends started fighting wi...
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Whole lot of nothing

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It's been a while since I've updated, but there's not an awful lot happening these days.  Summer projects are done, fall is here, and it's time to start getting things ready for winter.  They say this winter is going to be cold with lots of snow.  Really?  Minnesota winter.... cold?  Snow?  Who knew? I got my flu shot today.  My arm is stiff and sore.  I've got a problem with knowingly introducing a virus into my body, but our pediatrician recommended we get vaccinated because Neil is too young for a flu shot.  If we get vaccinated, there's a lesser chance he'll be exposed.   Obviously Beth and I are at a much higher risk of bringing home germs and bugs than your average person, although we do have a little "home from work" routine involving removing scrubs and getting in the shower before any children are allowed to touch us.  We (health care workers) are supposed to get the H1N1 shot in early October and it will be available to ...
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