In my humble opinion - by Deb Bently

The Eclipse did not go according to plan

As always, it’s good to be home again.. But, boy, am I glad I took a trip to see the eclipse “in totality” off to the east. As is almost always the way with trips, especially ones which must be monitored and adjusted along the way, things did not go perfectly. But they went well–very well...

The anatomical position of their feet...

I am pleased to report I saw a Loon on Waseca’s Loon Lake this past week. I know this happens only in spring and fall, during migration, so I was happy to be in the right place at the right time. I went online to see how far our state bird travels and came across a whole bunch of “I had no idea...

The words I'm looking for are 'thank you'

Someone close to me ended up in the emergency room this past weekend, then needed to be admitted to the hospital. But it wasn’t “the” hospital, it was “a” hospital. When my family member experienced unexplained pain and was taken into the Waseca Hospital emergency room, it required a number...

Unexpectedly crystallized honey

It might be said I owe the members of NRHEG’s culinary competition teams an apology. I went along last week as 10 “ProStart” students took part in state-level competition. ProStart is a program sponsored by the National Restaurant Association. It creates opportunities for students who enjoy...

Two Minnesota swans

A pair of irritated swans

No one should ever be bored. Me, I’ve been entranced twice in the past few days. The first time was during a drive I took in the direction of Moorhead. As a member of a fishin’ family, I’m very interested in how much ice remains on our lakes–especially in this year of weather curiosities. ...

Appreciation for democracy enhanced

As I write this, I am sitting in the hallways of the Waseca County Courthouse outside the Office of Property and Election Services. People are bustling back and forth as election results arrive. Thanks to the voting machines, department head Tammy Spooner tells me, it could be less than half an...

How quickly things can happen

My secret is out. In his column last week, Eli let the whole world know that I am hesitant to write a weekly column because I sometimes have trouble finding a topic I feel inspired to write about. I am occasionally approached by folks who say they follow my column–I bet those people can easily...

An interesting story about tulips

Along the south wall of my house, I have one-inch tall green plants. I can easily recognize the tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils, some of which have been there for decades, others of which I planted last year. Of course we can speculate until the cows come home about how our strange non-winter...

A space outside of time

As I write this, I am on an escape trip to our family cabin in northern Minnesota. There is only a coating of snow on the ground. The temperature is slightly above freezing. There are 13 inches of ice on the lake. But most importantly, it’s a space outside of time. Perhaps Dave Zika, who has...

A severe case of early onset spring

The warm weather has given me a severe case of wanderlust. Deep in my soul I know it’s not spring, but boy…it sure looks and feels as if it is. Geese are in the air, the lakes and rivers have open places, the temperatures are in the range we expect in April. The grass is turning green. What’s...