June 30th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
“Put your John Hancock here.” Next week these `United States of America’ will celebrate a 247th birthday. Fifty-six men, members of the Second Continental Congress, signed `The Declaration of Independence’ on July 4, 1776. The largest signature on the `Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America’ was that of John Hancock. Hence the idea that “Your John Hancock” means your signature.
The final paragraph of The Declaration of Independence reads: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.” A signed copy is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. May we all pledge to do the same this coming Tuesday as we celebrate “Independence Day”.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Thomas Jefferson.
June 23rd, 2023 by Gary Osberg
“Happiness is a warm puppy”. Charles Schulz. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The Constitution of the United States of America.
In the February 27, 2006 issue of The New Yorker there was an article on pursuing happiness. It turns out that by nature we have been hardwired to emphasize the negative. Survival depended on being wary. The curious and unwary could be eaten by bears or tigers. “Call no man happy until he is dead” was a popular Greek saying. According to many psychologists, once we are out of poverty, the most important determinant of happiness is our “set point”, our natural level of happiness, which is largely inherited.
Of course, we have no control over our set point. Those of you who have more than one child know that children do seem to be wired differently. Same parents, same conditions and yet so different. However, we can control our attitude. “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen made quite the impact on me. We also can decide if and how much volunteer work we will do.
Ready for the secret to happiness? Here it is: “Happiness is equal to your set point S, plus your life conditions C, plus a bit of volunteer work, V. H = S + C + V”. If you want a copy of the article, let me know.
In January of 2021 I posted this note and mentioned that during the pandemic, it was hard to do much volunteer work. The executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters responded to my email declaring that it was possible to be a Big Brother using Zoom. In May of 2021, I met with my “Little”. On our first outing I told the young man, “I suppose you were hoping for a 27 year old Big Brother, not a 77 year old one.” He simply smiled in response. On June 4th I attended his high school graduation party and his mother gave me a big hug. It was a very gratifying experience. Maybe you should check out www.bigdefenders.org
“Happiness is hard to put into words. It’s also harder to source, much more mysterious than anger or sorrow, which come to me promptly, whenever I summon them, and remain long after I’ve begged them to leave.” David Sedaris
June 16th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
The Osberg Men’s Annual Fishing Trip was awesome. Just like last year, I stayed in the cabin until Monday afternoon. Then our guide Randin Olson, my son Erik, his son Walleye Willie and I headed for the secret lake. One of 1,048 lakes in Otter Tail County. It wasn’t long before I had a bite and I managed to reel in a 27” walleye. Up until then the biggest fish caught belonged to Cousin John, but now I was in the lead. Shortly thereafter, 14 year old Walleye Willie landed a 28 ¾ walleye. Now his name goes on the trophy.
On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Texas proclaiming that enslaved Black people were free. More than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was supposed to end slavery in the United States. Now Juneteenth is a National Holiday.
Later today, Higher Works Collaborative will celebrate the African American Male Forum 26th Annual Juneteenth Event at Lake George Municipal Park in downtown St. Cloud. The event is from 3 pm until 9pm. More detailed information is available online at H W C M N dot org. I hope to see you there.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.” Martin Luther King Jr.
June 9th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
The second weekend in June is always reserved for a fishing trip with my four brothers, my son Erik, and my grandson “Walleye Willie” plus brother Craig’s son Grayson. This year, Grayson will not be able to be with us. There is a total of 8 Osberg men ages 14 to 79. Cousin John and my great nephew Adam will also join us.
Sometime in the nineties, my youngest brother Craig was invited by his father-in-law, Jim Keeler, to go along on a fly-in fishing trip to Trout Lake in Canada. Over time, my other brothers, who were into fishing, were invited to go along. In 2003 brother Bill offered to pay the way for my son Erik, so I decided to go along.
I am the oldest of five Osberg brothers and it was a wonderful bonding time. I told the camp host, Murdoch, that I would be back every year for the next 20 years. The next year we went to brother Brian’s cabin near Aitkin instead. The year after that we went to Rainy Lake. Erik was working as a weekend sportscaster on WDIO Channel 10/13 in Duluth and he did a story on fishing with the guide and resort owner Woody for his TV show. Erik suggested that we try Woody’s instead of the fly-in in 2005. We had a great time and the greatest part was that Woody had a wonderful pub filled with memorabilia from his hockey days. For many years we went back to Woody’s. We never did do the fly-in again. You can check out Woody’s at www.fairlyreliable.com It is worth the drive just to meet Woody. In 2011 we switched to Brindley’s Resort on Leach Lake. A large home across the road from the marina worked well for the whole gang, but fishing was tough.
In 2017 we decided to try Holly’s Resort on Otter Tail Lake. Erik is an ambassador for Otter Tail County and we reasoned that we would have a better chance to find the elusive walleye. We had a great time. One of the cabins is right on the lake. Brother Bill is the chief cook and bottle washer, so we put him in that cabin along with brother Geoff from Chicago. There is a traveling trophy and the Walleye that I caught last year measured 28 inches. Now the trophy is on my wall and the fish that I caught is the largest one on the trophy. This year I am hiring the same guide, Randin Olson, and going to the same lake to try and retain the trophy.
“Dost thou love Life? Then do not squander Time; for that’s the stuff Life is made of.” Benjamin Franklin
June 1st, 2023 by Gary Osberg
Next Tuesday is the 79th anniversary of “D Day”. If you have seen the movie “Saving Private Ryan”, you have some idea of how bad it was. It is hard to imagine that anyone who lived through that experience would ever be the same. If you survived, the many years of living with those memories had to be tough ones.
Aymer Nelson, a farm boy from Upsala, was there. Aymer was also at “The Battle of the Bulge”, one of the bloodiest of the war. I asked him if he had been wounded in the war and he told me that a 88 mil shell landed next to him in his fox hole, but it was a dud. He lived to the ripe old age of 104. He was truly one of “The Greatest Generation”.
It will also be the 34th anniversary of the day that my son packed all of his worldly goods into his rust free 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and headed back to Minnesota from Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1988 I had taken a position as General Manager of an office furniture dealership in Charlotte and it turned out to be a not so fun experience for my family. Erik had worked many late evenings with an office cleaning service, owned by a woman from Minnesota, to save the $1,000 needed to purchase the vintage Olds. School was out at 2:30 in the afternoon and he headed north at 5 PM. The battery was weak, so I told him to not shut the engine off if he expected to start it up soon after stopping.
Early the next morning he ran over a dead deer and when he was pulling the carcass out from under the car, he heard a knock in the engine. He made it to the Big Foot Gas Station in Shelbyville, Indiana and called me at 6 AM. He ended up finding a backyard mechanic who changed the timing gear for $400. It was the one and only time I have had to use Western Union to wire money. The mechanic fed him supper and allowed him to sleep on the couch. If I remember correctly, he went fishing with the mechanic’s son. They fed him breakfast the next morning and sent him on his way to Chicago to have lunch at Denny’s with my brother Geoff and his wife Susan. Quite the experience.
“Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known is private.” Allen Ginsberg
May 26th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
When I was a youngster in Upsala, we always had a Memorial Day service in the school gym, followed by a parade down Main Street. Sometime after I graduated Upsala High School in 1961, the practice died out.
Then in the 80’s, Lorna Koehn, a member of the Upsala American Legion Auxiliary brought back the Memorial Day Celebration in Upsala. I can still picture her marching in front of a group of children, each holding a bunch of lilac flowers.
The Memorial Day celebration in Upsala will start with a program at 10am in the school gym. Following the indoor ceremony, the celebration will proceed to the Veterans Memorial Park directly across the street for ceremony. The Upsala American Legion has constructed a monument to the Veterans from the Upsala area. This year they have added a building that will serve as a museum displaying military artifacts. At the end of another short ceremony, the children will wait in anticipation for the chance to collect the spent brass shells after the 21 gun salute. They make good whistles.
After that, there will be a parade through Upsala, ending at the City Recreation Building where the `Upsala First Responders’ will serve a picnic lunch. Hopefully, there will be some “Bee Bop A Ree Bop Rhubarb Pie”. Whenever you meet a veteran or a service member, simply say “Thank you for serving”. They each deserve our respect.
“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 19th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
Last night I attended a board meeting of the Upsala Area Historical Society. We are making plans for an open house at the Borgstrom House on August 12th during the annual Upsala Heritage Days celebration.
Part of the history of the Upsala area is the story of “The Lost Children of Two Rivers”. Late in the autumn of 1870, Maria age 10 and Christian age 8 had gone out one evening to bring in the cows. They did not return. Family and friends searched for weeks, but no trace was found of them. At one time there were over 100 men and women engaged in the search.
In the middle of December, a Native American Indian who was hunting, saw some tracks in the snow and he found the girl. She had been dead less than a day. He fellow went to a farmhouse nearby and despite some difficulty with language, he was able to communicate that he had found the body of a girl. The body of the boy was found nearby.
The poem “Babes in the Woods” was written to reflect the tragedy of the story. My grandmother Laura used to sing it to her children. My mother hated the song. In May of 2006, a beautiful granite marker was placed on the farmstead of the children’s family. Thanks to John and Ruth Heisick, Peg and Brad Bellamy, Dan Hovland and the Morrison County Historical Society for making this possible.
“Hold a true friend with both hands.” A Nigerian proverb
May 12th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
The Minnesota fishing opener is tomorrow, and I will not participate. I have never been one for getting up early and getting out there before the sun comes up. I prefer to fish in the late afternoon and early evening.
My interest in fishing is only because of my son Erik and his son Walleye Willie. When we purchased a lake place 50 years ago, I got a fishing license for the first time in my life. I still have the fishing pole that I bought. Erik was not even two years old that first summer. His Uncle Duaine made a special short fishing rod for him and soon we were casting for Bass from our sailboat.
Earl Benson, the warehouse manager at General Office Products, was the one that taught me how to fish for Bass. Erik hated the process of putting a live frog on a number 2 hook with a slip sinker, but it did produce fish. Today it is almost impossible to find frogs anywhere . Minnows, leeches and night crawlers seem to work best for Walleye.
When Erik was 15 years old, our next-door neighbor, Obie, took Erik to Canada and Erik caught not one, but two 9 pound 15 ounce Walleye. He brought one of them home and we had it mounted.
Erik is an “ambassador” for Otter Tail County, which has more lakes than any other county in Minnesota. One thousand forty-eight at the last count. He has volunteered to be a host at the Governor’s Fishing Opener in Mankato tomorrow. It looks like he and his guests will be fishing in the rain.
“Arrange whatever pieces come your way.” Virginia Woolf
May 5th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
Today is Cinco de Mayo, the Fifth of May, commemorating the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, when 8,000 well-armed French troops were routed by 4,000 ill-equipped Mexican soldiers. And a beautiful day it is.
Years ago, I got interested in gardening because of my brother-in-law, Jackie Rudie. Jackie grew up on a farm and gardening was not a hobby, it was a matter of survival. In 1970, Jackie’s grandmother Mary Heisick died and my mother-in-law Irene Rudie inherited the old parsonage that had been built in 1892 by members of the Swedish Mission Church in Upsala. When they sold the farm in 1971 and moved to town, Jackie convinced the members of the church next door to let him till up a plot of ground west of the old parsonage so he and his parents could continue growing the fresh vegetables that they were used to enjoying.
Jackie had bad knees and so he bought a Yamaha three-wheeler and he did his gardening from that. By June, his garden was overrun with weeds, but it still produced. As his arthritis got worse, I offered to do some tilling for him on a weekend. The next time I came by, he growled something about how many vegetable seedlings I had destroyed. My only defense was that the rows were not straight and as a “town kid”, I was not schooled in knowing which were weeds and which were plants. The next spring, I introduced the idea of planting stakes spaced three feet apart and using string between the stakes.
Soon, my daughter, who now owns the parsonage, will plant the first two rows in the garden with Yukon Gold potatoes. Love those Yukon Golds, in rows exactly three feet apart.
“You will never find a better sparring partner than adversity” Golda Meir
April 28th, 2023 by Gary Osberg
The High School Juried Art Exhibition is held each year at the Paramount Center for the Arts. The closing reception and Awards Ceremony is tonight. If you have not already seen the great artwork created by high school students, hopefully, you will get a chance to attend tonight. The reception starts at 5:30. The Awards Ceremony is at 6:30. Light refreshments are provided.
For over 40 years the High School Art show was presented by Visual Arts Minnesota. My daughter, Kerry Osberg, was the Executive Director for many years and so there is a lot of history with our family with this wonderful event. Over the years I was able to purchase a number of very special pieces at the show. It is not often that the artist is willing to sell their work, but you may find something tonight that you will love.
Tomorrow evening, the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra is performing “Struggle and Triumph” in Ritsche Auditorium on the campus of St. Cloud State University. There is a pre-concert discussion at 6:30. The concert starts at 7:30. Tickets are available at www.stcloudsymphony.com
Singer song-writer Chasity Brown is performing at The Paramount Center for the Arts tomorrow evening at 7:30. I do have two free tickets in row G for the first person to respond to this email. I can leave the tickets at Will Call. www.paramountarts.org
Finally, on Sunday afternoon at 4pm, Great River Chorale is performing “Alway Something Sings” ,a celebration of song, love and hope, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Cloud. Tickets at www.greatriverchorale.org
“Caution! The left-brained world wants you to “be realistic, quit dreaming, be more like us, get your head out of the clouds and your feet on the ground.” To advance and prosper, steadfastly ignore that advice.” Marilyn Grey
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