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Modern day veterans deserve sincere thanks and appreciation

We have a special holiday coming up next week, one that might be easy to overlook between the election aftermath and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I’m talking about Veterans Day. It’s a tradition that goes back to the World War I armistice. For more than a century, we’ve set aside a special day to recognize soldiers who sacrificed for our freedom. Each year I participate in a Veterans Day observance. I sing in the Boulder Estates choir, which performs several songs as part of a Veterans Day program. We currently have 17 veterans at Boulder Estates, fewer than in the ...

Raising lung cancer awareness during November

One of the best things you can do for overall good health is to quit smoking or never start in the first place. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and the Great American Smokeout is on the third Thursday of November each year – Nov. 19 in 2026. The good news is that cigarette smoking rates have been declining for decades. Yet lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., accounting for about one in five of all cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than colon, breast and prostate cancers ...

Braxton Seifert off and running in political career at age 21

Took a detour off of Main Street and headed down Highway 23 to Russell this week to check out the 130th annual Election Day Dinner at Grace First Parish church on Tuesday evening. Think about that for a second. For 130 years, the parish has hosted a dinner for voters. I was there for some ...

The hangover month

Of all the months of the year, November most closely resembles a hangover. This is not just because it follows the twin bacchanals of Oktoberfest and Halloween. It’s also due to the fact that here in the Northland average high temperatures are plummeting and days are growing shorter at a ...

Dealing with Global Darkening

We can’t deny it anymore. It’s getting darker. It’s darker earlier and longer. This weekend, with the time change, the darkening goes into hyper drive. It is Global Darkening. (I know. It’s half the globe. Work with me here.) There are Global Darkening deniers. They say it is scheme of left-wing woke socialists who want us to turn our lights on. I say the evidence is irrefutable. Look out the window, you darkening deniers. I guess this has happened before. That is little consolation. This plague of dimness seems oppressive even if it did happen a year ago and the year ...

Voting by mail serves as a good option for modern elections

My voting process was simpler in Election 2026 than in the past, thanks to services provided for absentee ballots. I filled out the application on Monday, and voted on Thursday at Boulder Estates when election officials came to assist us. It saves me a trip to the polls on Election Day. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if I’d have had to vote in person. I’m able bodied and still drive my car. It was just more convenient to vote early. It’s much more than a convenience for many of my neighbors. Some of them have physical health issues that would make it very ...