In my humble opinion - by Deb Bently

A glimpse at how things have changed

Along a gravel road not far from where I live, a field of contracted sweet corn has been growing gradually taller all summer. The field has had a tough go of it, especially the low-lying part which is right along Boot Creek. Somehow the crop managed to keep growing despite being repeatedly...

Each creature is specially engineered

I found a blue jay tail feather on the ground today. Its color and size identified what bird it came from. The white tip made it clear it was a tailfeather. Ever since I interviewed Waseca artist Dean Dykema, who paints on turkey feathers, I have had an increased appreciation for the...

Take notice and keep thinking

This past week has been one of “extremes” for me. Overnight into Thursday, my area seems to have gotten somewhere between four and six inches of rain, depending on whose rain gauge is regarded as the most reliable. I know I heard pounding rain on the roof through much of the night, and in...

Tadpoles are charming, interesting

My husband is working on an outdoor project for which he covered some of his materials with waterproof tarps. All this year’s rain has gradually been deposited on the tarps, bit by bit causing the fabric to form to the shape of what’s underneath it, creating some unintended pools of water....

Kudos to the county commissioners

I wish to take a moment—well, a column, really—to commend the leaders of our county government. I could joke that I am practically a member of the county board, since I spend about as much time at their meetings as the commissioners do. The one or two times in the past two years that I have...

Cleaning the car leads to reflections

Here I am again, about to begin the archaeological dig which, in other households, is known as cleaning the car. The process begins with moments of deep reflection. My inner adult looks disappointedly at my inner child and wags her finger as if to say, “I told you this would happen.” My...

Short hair: now a changed woman

I got my hair cut this week. The reason this may be worth mentioning is that my hair went from a shaggy cape that hung two-thirds of the way to my waist to a perky little cap that doesn’t quite reach my shoulders. I had been growing it for the past three years or so, always with the...

Share journal entries to understand

Thoughts are fleeting things. It happens to all of us–and to some of us more often–that we will walk into a nearby room and then try to remember why we did so. Sometimes, too, we will be going through some old papers or items and come across something which gives us pause: “Oh, I’d...

‘Invisible money’ caught my attention

A representative from Junior Achievement, Vanessa Jensen, came as a speaker to last week’s meeting of the Waseca Exchange Club. Either in this edition or in one to come, you will find an article that summarizes her full presentation, but in this column I feel inspired to talk about a term she...

An act of kindess or cruelty?

When my computer boots up, some ghost in the machine–I believe I’m referring to Microsoft–delivers a screen-sized photo which is usually striking both for its beauty and for some exotic quality. Sometimes it features land, sometimes water. On occasion I am greeted by man-made accomplishments,...