In my humble opinion - by Deb Bently

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,...

More blue jays this year than in the past

I’ve mentioned more than once, I believe, how much I enjoy roller coaster rides, and how I travel to Six Flags Great America in Illinois because my sister-in-law lives near that park and we enjoy riding together. These past few weeks, however, have let me know there are plenty of “roller...

I can see all the way to the bottom

It had been awhile since I had gone ice fishing. And truth be told, I wasn’t truly “fishing” when I stepped into the portable fish house last weekend: My motive was to get some pictures–see how well I could record the surreal circumstance of standing in the dark and looking down into the brighter...