I got to help a son through a major life stage the other day. His first car. Gaelan Smith chose an ’02 Red Pontiac Grand Prix GTX. Got it with only 170,000 miles on it. I haven’t car shopped in a long time and forgot how much work it is. However, I also forgot how rewarding it is for a kid to have his first car.
Gaelan’s first car is a 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GTX. It’s got a few things to work on as far as the outside appearance but she’s solid where it counts!
I offer this as an example. Gaelan and I work out regularly
at Planet Fitness up in Brooklyn Park. Got out of the car and he hit the lock
button. In the short walk from the car to the front door, I watched in the
windows along the front of the gym and saw him turn around and look back at the
car three times. No reason to. Just wanted to turn and look back at his car. Adorable!
Took me back to getting my 1969 sky blue Chevy Nova when I was his age. Good
memories. Good times!
You really do forget just how much fun it’s NOT to get
insurance on cars for kids. Especially teenage boys in red cars.
In other random thoughts, go see the new Aquaman movie. Dang. With all the (well-deserved) guff that DC has taken for its previous movies, they hit a serious home run with this one. I’d say it’s okay to say that, even if you don’t like superhero movies, you will love this one! Comedy. Lots of action. Eye candy for the boys and girls. Heck, even my mother-in-law, Debby Bourgond, wants to go see it. 4.5 out of 5 stars!
Aquaman. Go see it. (Photo from Variety.com)
Speaking of fun things to do, made my first trip to Dave and
Buster’s yesterday. When the kids were younger, I thought Chuckie Cheese was
game-playing nirvana. Well, D and B up the ante when it comes to video games
and food. First of all, the chicken fingers were fantastic. And it only got
better from there.
Anyone close to me knows how much I love the superhero games Injustice and Injustice 2. They’re console games for the Xbox One. I had no idea they made Injustice into an arcade game! Braedan Smith was standing next to me when I made my discovery. Turned to him and said, “I think I just cheated on my wife.” I was pretty excited. Highly recommend a family trip to Dave and Buster’s if you have one nearby.
I really tried hard to think of a way to bring this game home with me from Dave and Busters. Didn’t figure it out in time.
Final thought: Just started reading a Stephen King book called
Sleeping Beauties. All of the women in the world fall asleep, webbing appears
around their heads, and they’re trapped in a coma. Just think about that,
fellas. All the women in the world in a coma. Makes me shudder just thinking
about it. If you have to ask why, you might wanna try fifth-grade health class
all over again.
It’s been quite the run of wet weather across a good chunk of rural America. The stretch of rainfall ran for days on end before finally coming to an end. Harvest has slowed to a crawl, approaching the snail’s pace the country saw back in 2009. Bryce Anderson, Senior Ag Meteorologist with DTN, says there are still a lot of commodities to bring in out of the fields.
DTN Senior Ag Meteorologist Bryce Anderson speaking at a National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo from farmweeknow.com)
“There certainly are a lot of crops that need to be brought in,” Anderson said. “There’s no doubt about it. The scenario is probably the slowest from what I’ve been able to gather in checking with producers since 2009, nine years ago.
“The good thing about this year, relative to what we saw back then, is that corn still in the field is drier than what we had back then. So, we have that going on in favor of when we’ll be able to resume harvest. As far as this week is concerned, it’s drier than what we’ve seen.”
There’s an upper-level air pattern that contains high pressure focused over the plains and the Midwest. While the trend is drier, the temps are still going to be cooler, with no warmup on the way to dry things out quickly. Anderson said it’s going to be difficult to get out of the much-below-normal temperature track that the nation is on until at least the end of this week.
“The 6-10-day forecast trends near to slightly below normal from then on,” he said. “The good news is thing will be drier and that should help out harvest progress, but it will still be slow.
“I put the wettest conditions in a number of different areas,” Anderson added. “Parts of central and north-central Kansas are wet, much of Iowa has a pretty wet pattern to get out of, as do Minnesota and Wisconsin. Eastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota are also quite wet.”
The looming trade war between China and America over tariffs is getting ever closer. (Photo from bryantarchway.com)
I don’t think anyone in agriculture is saying that Chinese theft of American intellectual property doesn’t need to be dealt with. It does. But America isn’t the only country China is doing this to. So, why do we have to do this whole back-and-forth trade tariff threat thing all by ourselves? This is going to fall right on the backs of American agriculture and Washington doesn’t seem to realize how much of the fabric of the country would be destroyed by a long-term trade war? Here’s some reaction from various groups, including a podcast I put together on Friday afternoon.
Podcast:
U.S. Grains Council:
“The farmers and exporters we represent have been here before regarding China and they are well aware of what it’s like to deal with tariffs, counter-tariffs and policy restrictions. Since 2010, we have been adversely impacted by trade policy actions by China against U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), sorghum, ethanol and corn. China is a very important market for U.S. coarse grains and their co-products, but so too is the rest of the world. We will stay closely engaged with the China market and its importance to U.S. agriculture, but we will also redouble our efforts in the rest of the world to expand demand.
“We are concerned any tariff opens this market to our competitors and locking out U.S. products doesn’t mean trade stops – it means other partners will take our place. Bottom line: tariff battles are never productive.
American Soybean Association:
The American Soybean Association (ASA), on behalf of all U.S. soy growers, is disappointed in the Administration’s decision, which follows weeks of imploring the President and his team to find non-tariff solutions to address Chinese intellectual property theft and not place American farmers in harm’s way. ASA has twice requested a meeting with President Trump to discuss how increasing soy exports to China can be a part of the solution to the U.S. trade deficit without resorting to devastating tariffs.
Chinese government officials have announced that their response to Trump’s widespread trade tax on Chinese goods will be quick and certain, which is bad news for soybeans farmers. A study by Purdue University economists predicts that soybean exports to China could drop by as much as 65 percent if China imposes a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans.
National Farmers Union:
“Farmers Union fully supports strong trade enforcement to achieve fair and balanced trade markets. We also support the administration’s goal of reducing the enormous U.S. trade deficit. But our organization grows increasingly concerned that this administration does not have a plan to ensure family farmers and ranchers aren’t thrown under the bus for the sake of these goals.
“None of the trade market disruption occurring presently should be looked at in isolation. The administration must work with Congress to develop a comprehensive solution to ensure family farmers can continue to provide for the nation.
Southeast Minnesota is getting clobbered by excess rainfall this weekend. There are multiple reports of water flowing over the road, so please, be careful if you’re heading out and about. An even better idea is to just stay home, especially at night. It’s awful hard to see the water flowing over the road in the dark.
The excess rainfall in southeast Minnesota is making driving dangerous. Don’t try to drive through water flowing over the road. It’s always dangerous. Turn around and don’t drown. It’s cliche, for a good reason. This picture is on County Road 22 between Harmony and the junction of County Roads 15 and 22.(Contributed photo.
Here’s a update from Thomas Kaase, Fillmore County Sheriff, with the most up-to-date information.
As of 8:00 PM this evening, our Emergency Manager Don Kullot has been out and assessing the situation in Fillmore County. We are urging our citizens and people traveling in and through Fillmore County to use extreme caution, especially in low-lying areas that have rivers, creeks, or even just the potential of water flow. The areas that seem most affected are west of Preston, south of the Stewartville-Spring Valley-Wykoff areas, and in the Ostrander area too. We are working to get updates throughout the rest of our county.
The flooding situation in southeast Minnesota is making roads treacherous this weekend. Here’s a photo from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Department on County Road 15, south of 120th Street. (Contributed photo)
Since 6:00 this morning, some areas have received up to 6 inches of rain and some were getting blasted from 3:00 PM to 7:00 this evening. Some areas are expected to get an additional 1-2 inches more. At one time earlier this evening, we had a Fillmore County Deputy stranded between CR 30 and Klondike Road, moving to higher ground before finding a way out. It’s easier to see the water over our roadways during the daylight, but with darkness coming upon us, PLEASE USE CAUTION! Remember the saying….TURN AROUND AND DON’T DROWN!
*Update* The eastern side of our county also affected, southeastern area reported to have received up to 5 inches of rain. Hwy 43 north of Mabel is reported to have water over the roadway.
Again, please use caution if you’re driving in our area and don’t take any chances….turn around and don’t drown!
I expected controversial, but what I got was a delightful sports conversation. I was glad to be wrong. I caught up with Jim Souhan, the long-time sportswriter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, during an interview for a weekly podcast I co-host called Minnesota Sports Weekly. If the old saying is “never judge a book by its cover,” I get what that really means.
Jim Souhan, long-time sports writer and columnist, sat down with me to visit on our podcast, Minnesota Sports Weekly. (Photo from Twitter.com)
“I’ve been with the Star Tribune 28.5 years,” he said. “I was an Air Force brat growing up and moved all over the country, but I’d never visited Minnesota until I came here for a job interview in February of 1990. Back then, my industry was mobile, so I thought I’d be here for a bit and then head someplace else. Had kids and settled in, so, as I always tell people, I’ve been here 28-and-a-half years and, if I make it another 30, Minnesotans might almost think of me as a native.”
Souhan describes himself as a “geek” growing up, so he was an avid reader. He played Strat-O-Matic baseball, Sports Illustrated baseball, and was really into reading about sports, especially baseball (he’s a baseball guy, in case that hadn’t clicked yet). Souhan grew up in the Pennsylvania/Maryland area when the Baltimore Orioles were one of the best franchises in baseball. It was during the era of colorful characters like Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, and Jim Palmer.
“I have a thousand autographs from each of them,” Souhan said. “Going to big-league games wasn’t very expensive, so you could go to a lot of them. That was in my formative years. I loved reading and I loved sports. When I went to high school, I ran track and cross country. The student newspaper wasn’t covering it, so I volunteered to write about it myself. That was my introduction to getting published and I loved it. I was living in St. Louis at the time and went to college at the University of Missouri.”
During the early years of his career, Souhan described himself as a “grunt,” typing in box scores while making six dollars an hour with no benefits. After that, he was promoted to an assistant high school writer for ten dollars an hour with no benefits. Then, he became the primary high school sports writer for the Dallas Morning News. Souhan then took a big jump, getting promoted to the Dallas Cowboys beat writer position. After a year in that job, he said the Star Tribune came calling.
Souhan made the jump to become the Vikings beat writer for a few years. He’s also covered the Twins and was a roving feature writer for the Trib back when “budgets were a little bigger.” A column position came open in 2004 and he’s been doing that ever since. Souhan has even gotten into podcasting, starting his own company called Talk North. His early years in the beat writer position, combined with his experience writing columns has given him unique insights into the Minnesota sports market. A recent column on the Timberwolves dysfunctional situation, saying the NBA is a little bit more public than other leagues when it comes to this.
“I haven’t seen a winning team with this much dysfunction,” he recalled. “That’s where the NBA is different from other sports because it’s all about personalities, egos, money, and how all those things mesh together. I’ve really never seen anything like the last year in Timberwolves history. Here they go, winning close to 50 games, they go to the playoffs, they win a game against a very good team in the playoffs, they have loads of talent, and nobody is happy.”
It’s hard for anybody in the Wolves organization to know what will happen next. Souhan says it’s hard to know what (Head Coach/GM) Tom Thibodeaux is going to do, if it’s sustainable, and whether he can maintain relationships. He’s basically made star player Jimmy Butler a de facto assistant coach, who might be leaving after next season. And that’s not the only challenge ahead.
“Karl-Anthony Towns is said to be less-than-thrilled with the way things are going and I get that,” Souhan said. “He’s the most talented guy on the team and he’s not the focal point. You never know when Andrew Wiggins is going to play hard. Jamal Crawford came in eager to play with this team but couldn’t wait to leave after the season. It’s fascinating, but troubling, that two years ago, they looked like the most promising young team in the league. While they are still promising, there are some big decisions ahead.”
On a brighter note, the Minnesota Vikings are gearing up for a Super Bowl run after falling one game short of being the first team in history to host a Super Bowl. After signing quarterback Kirk Cousins away from Washington, Souhan said the Vikings season will be fun to watch because this team is loaded.
“This team looks really good on paper,” he said. “Cousins is going to do really well in this offense. (Running back) Dalvin Cook being back in this offense could make them really dynamic. You could even see (wide receiver) Laquan Treadwell finally emerge. Kendall Wright is a very good slot receiver. They are really loaded but keep in mind, so is the rest of the NFC.”
Looking into professional baseball, he said a lot of the Twins challenges this summer have been multiple injuries to several key players. Souhan said the team did a great job of building what may be the deepest pitching staff they’ve had in years, and that’s with Ervin Santana eventually coming back from an injury. There are some middle relief issues they need to figure out, but he said, “that’s not unusual for any team.”
Souhan offers some additional thoughts on the injury situations surrounding young Twins stars Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton:
This makes me very angry. Evidently, the anti-veteran sentiment is alive and well in rural Fillmore County of Southeast Minnesota. Seriously… you spray-painted graffiti ON a horse? A living thing? And not only was this moron evidently anti-veteran, he (or she) was also anti-women. Dear God, what are we coming to?
Press Release from Sheriff Tom Kaase:
On Thursday May 31, at approximately 1:17 AM, the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Emergency Communications Center (911) received a report of criminal damage to property in the 14000 block of 171st Ave., in section 7 of the York Township, in Fillmore County. The home owner was alerted by a driveway sensor that someone was in the area of his residence at about 11:30 PM. He went outside to see who was there and didn’t find anyone. He began looking around his property and found serious vandalism. He found vulgar, disparaging remarks spray painted on his building, a horse trailer, and also on a horse located on his property. Some of the disparaging messages were against our veterans. There were also disparaging remarks made against women. The property owner and victim is a veteran of the United States Air Force. In addition to the spray painted vandalism, the victim’s United States Flag flown in his yard was stolen. A horse also received a minor injury and it is unknown if that was self-inflicted or caused by the suspect(s). The Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this crime and asks anyone with any possible information to please contact our office at 507-765-3874. People with information may remain anonymous.
I cannot believe someone would actually spray graffiti on one of these magnificent animals, but that’s precisely what happened on June 1 in SE MN. (Photo from sprucepets.com)
Thank you.
Sheriff Tom Kaase
If you know anything about this, please drop a dime and call the police. Let’s get this taken care of!
This makes me very angry. Evidently, the anti-veteran sentiment is alive and well in rural Fillmore County of Southeast Minnesota. Seriously… you spray-painted graffiti ON a horse? A living thing? And not only was this moron evidently anti-veteran, he (or she) was also anti-women. Dear God, what are we coming to?