Last week I purchased a new lawnmower at my son’s behest. The lithium battery-powered mower I had been using finally crapped out for good. I should have returned it the day I bought it because it never was worth a damn. It had some safety feature that killed the engine if you went over the … Continue reading No Mow May
Memoir
Minneapolis Skyline
I was very happy when I first moved to Minneapolis seventeen years ago. I recall a sense of elation as I stared at the distant cluster of downtown skyscrapers while running around what was then called Lake Calhoun. I had discovered a place that felt like home, a new home without all the baggage from … Continue reading Minneapolis Skyline
A Hole in the Ice (Part 1)
“A Hole in the Ice” is a short story I wrote before the pandemic started. I’m still ice fishing and in that time I’ve figured out some things. This season, I caught a lot of crappies out of Lake Nokomis that I filleted, fried and ate. It was a gratifying moment to see seven-year-old Theo … Continue reading A Hole in the Ice (Part 1)
Life on the Plains
Life on the plains can be very dull. You stare at the nothing sky, the nothing horizon, the nothing wind blowing in your face, and you wonder if anything can ever happen. You cannot imagine paradise because you were born into a wasteland. The land has been skinned like the exterminated bison left to rot, … Continue reading Life on the Plains
The Man of the House
My youngest son and I have a joke we share. Before I leave for work, I tell him he is the man of the house while I am gone. This started last spring when his kindergarten class was quarantined and his older brother still got to go to school. Now I say he’s the man … Continue reading The Man of the House
Dirty Money
My father kept essential personal items like his wallet and car keys on a shelf near the front door of the trailer. As a boy, my dad was something of a mystery to me and I was keenly interested in these things. He had a silver Timex watch. “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” … Continue reading Dirty Money
Hoop Medicine
My youngest son splashes in the lake with his mother as I anxiously pan the beach for Miles. At last, I feel a momentary pang of love as I recognize him among the frolicking, half-clad children. He is bent over, digging a hole in the sand with a shovel. Wait. I take a step closer … Continue reading Hoop Medicine
Trash Fishing
We celebrated my 49th birthday by dining at Al’s Breakfast in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis. My wife and kids feasted on pancakes while I enjoyed bacon and eggs with what might have been the most scrumptious wheat toast I’ve ever consumed. Amazingly, this hole-in-the-wall establishment has been in business since 1950. It has no … Continue reading Trash Fishing
The Bridge, the Bird, the River—a Triangle of Perception
I paused on my bicycle ride across the Franklin Bridge because I spotted a small patch of white in the bare trees that I immediately recognized as a bald eagle. Far below in the Mississippi River, teams of scullers rowed downstream toward the Short Line Bridge and the Lake Street Bridge beyond that. The eagle, … Continue reading The Bridge, the Bird, the River—a Triangle of Perception
Finding Bukowski
"What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love." Fyodor Dostoevsky I first encountered Charles Bukowski in a used bookstore, quite by accident, while browsing the stacks for William S. Burroughs. Notes of a Dirty Old Man? The title itself was enough to make me laugh. I paid the … Continue reading Finding Bukowski
Crow City 