Jun 26, 2024
Like many, I was very surprised at Megan Smith’s resignation from her longtime position as Lake City’s Director of Planning and Community Development.
While I am not aware of Megan’s new position, I believe 2 things:
1. Lake City has benefited in several significant ways under her leadership.
2...
Jun 26, 2024
After finishing my 25th year as an educator, it is rewarding to look back on a quarter century of work dedicated to helping students grow into amazing people. Each year has been special, but my most recent year, as Lake City Schools superintendent, has been the best yet. As we send our 2024...
Jun 26, 2024
I had tears in my eyes but thankfully didn’t cry although I had cause to. Being hit in the shin by a 2.5 pound rolling, bouncing, out of control horseshoe is a painful experience. We had the shoes because dad played in a league in Tyler with the court alongside the Big Dipper. My brother and I were...
Jun 19, 2024
There I sat slunk down in my seat, knees up in a protective manner and my hands over my eyes afraid to look. Occasionally I would sneak a peek to see what was happening, but it wasn’t good, eyes covered again. I was at a movie theater watching a 1950s horror film. No, it obviously was not The...
Jun 19, 2024
On a Tour de Pepin I was thinking of Bill Carls as I pedaled my bike up to Mary Huselid at The Eagles Nest in Wabasha. I asked a young woman about the triskelion tattoo on her arm. “Yes,” she replied, “my parents are from the Isle of Man.” The TT on the Isle is a major enterprise. The best...
Jun 12, 2024
It isn’t enough that Lake City is about halfway back to Red Wing from Wabasha, or the presence of pretty Ohuta Park overlooking Lake Pepin as a locale to brew up a mug of tea, break out some pastries and cold cuts to strengthen us all for the afternoon’s ride to Old Frontenac and back to Red Wing;...
Jun 12, 2024
Have you ever picked up a grasshopper and had it “spit tobacco” on your finger? It usually was not actually tobacco, but it could be as they eat plant leaves and tobacco is a favorite. The spitting is a defense mechanism they use when feeling threatened as in being picked up. The brown liquid is a...
Jun 5, 2024
Seemed simple enough at the time, we’d take a couple of lawn chairs down to the shore of Lake Pepin and if some boats were out we’d watch them. We took books and if the boats weren’t out we’d read the books.
But as we settled in, I was immediately cast back to the Sunday in lllinois in July when...
Jun 5, 2024
Pat did not fall out of the golf cart gracefully, but who does? He did a hard face plant, then instinctively, to save himself, he desperately reached out and managed to snag the moving cart with one hand. After being dragged a short distance, he was forced to release his grip. But he continued...
Jun 5, 2024
It’s the time of year when cottonwood trees are shedding their seeds. With their tuft of cotton, they quietly drift in the wind. Each tiny seed must find its way to bare soil and sprout quickly, before the seed dries out. You see cottonwood seeds are born naked. They haven’t got a coat for...