columnists

When I grew up in McLean County, North Dakota, I had no confusion about directions. Everything was laid out north, south, east and west. When I stood on third base (after hitting a triple, of course), I looked at home plate and I was looking due north. When I drove out in my dad’s...

You know that part of your vacation where you hold your breath and hope for the best? It used to happen just before the plane landed, in that precarious moment between heaven and earth. But lately, it’s been taking place on terra firma, when you arrive at the airport and you’re...

Adulthood brings certain financial responsibilities like the building of budgets, bank accounts and proper insurance. It’s surprising how few consider a proper estate plan part of that essential mix. In fact, a recent ABCNews poll found that only about 50 percent of Americans have...

Plagued by poison ivy, poison oak, honeysuckle, buckthorn, garlic mustard, multiflora rose, bittersweet or other invasive species growing in impossible-to-reach-places where your machinery won’t go? Are you reluctant to use chemicals because they can contaminate the soil? Send in...

There is a fascination in Becker County (probably everywhere!) with what one might term an institution, the farm auction sale. There might be a bit of the chase in all of us; a hunt for a bargain, the chance to find something unique, or maybe just to see at what price a special item...

Whether you’re planning a future procedure or navigating care after a sudden illness or accident, smart consumers have a plan in place to avoid hidden costs and billing errors common to our ever-changing healthcare system. You should too. The Affordable Care Act made it possible...

Q: Can I restrict my Social Security application to apply only for spouse’s benefits and delay filing for my own retirement benefit to earn delayed retirement credits? A: Depending on your birthdate, this is possible. Parts of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 legislation, enacted...

With the weather we are having this weekend, it is a good time to discuss preparing properly to deal with extreme heat, especially when you are on the water. It is easy to lose touch sometimes with how hot it is if the wind is blowing a little when you are on the lake. Water temperatures...

When I was a young boy on the farm I often acquired and kept wild animals as pets. I had three raccoons, a gray squirrel, a skink, frogs, salamanders, snakes, turtles, pheasants, a mallard, and even a few northern pike, sunfish, and bullheads that I tried to keep alive in the livestock’s...

It was Karl Rahner, the German Jesuit Theologian, who said that here in the life, all symphonies are unfinished. There is no such thing as a fully consummate joy — we are always in some way frustrated. For that reason, no matter how much progress we make or how great our achievements...

As you may have read in in some of my other columns, like most teenagers, my life has brought me a lot of rejections recently. One of the more surprising ones I faced in the last year was through a faith community, and although I was shocked, I came through it stronger in my faith...

“I hate to pretend like everything is OK when it isn’t. And when I compare myself to others, I hate that my life is the roughest. I’m just so tired of it all.” Have you ever had those thoughts of comparison, thinking no one has it as bad as you, but still you work at coming...