January 2021—My great uncle Clint Whetter farmed a mile up the back road from our farm in southwest Manitoba. He was the youngest of four sons, a U of M Aggie and World War II veteran. He was on a bomber crew that flew 58 operations over Germany. Having to protect his stuff from three older...
Read More November 2020—We must respond posthaste. Must we? The word posthaste, a synonym for urgently, has its origins in communications. It literally means to send a letter quickly. It stems from a time when letters were delivered by foot or horse, and truly urgent messages were labeled “posthaste”. Now all of our posts are haste. Email, Facebook...
Read More September 2020—My canola colleague and friend Rick Taillieu, manager of grower relations and extension with Alberta Canola, sometimes sends me lyrics from The Tragically Hip songs that fit with whatever is going on that day. Here’s a line for the times from “Three Pistols”, a song from the Hip’s 1991 Road Apples album: “Bring on a...
Read More March 2020—I am in my chair looking at the table in our living room when what did I notice? Square pegs in round holes! We all know that a ‘square peg in a round hole’ is a person who doesn’t fit into a role or social expectation. A misfit. Yet, here is a table with square...
Read More January 2020—I traveled to India with my dad in November. It was like Jack Whitehall’s “Travels with My Father” except with less sarcasm and humiliation. However, while my dad is not curmudgeonly like Jack’s dad, his palate is perhaps somewhat elder-Whitehallian: My dad would have been happy to spend two weeks in India just eating frozen...
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