Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Snow Bowl!
Last Saturday, I went to the Minnesota-Wisconsin game. It snowed the whole time, the temperature was about 20, and people here seemed to love it (that's an actual picture I took partway through the game). It's a big rivalry game-- they play for "Paul Bunyan's Axe"-- and the crowd was really up for it; the great majority stayed to the end, which featured the Minnesota players and cheerleaders making snow angels after a 17-7 victory.
Yes, these people are crazy. But, I was one of those who stayed, so....
Monday, December 01, 2025
Recaps of the feast
It sounds like it was a good holiday for Razorites! For example, CraigA had a great day:
Broke bread with my big
Brother for first time in a
Year and a half, thanks!
Brother for first time in a
Year and a half, thanks!
Des had dog show near-misses:
Foxhound— runner up
at the dog show. So close! Pie
helps soften blow.
at the dog show. So close! Pie
helps soften blow.
Christine had a mistake that worked out:
Baked with wrong pan
A fabulous pumpkin cake
Whipped cream dallop.
A fabulous pumpkin cake
Whipped cream dallop.
And Anonymous had people people people!:
Saw so many friends!
They are what I'm grateful for
Joy for these moments.
They are what I'm grateful for
Joy for these moments.
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Sunday Reflection: The first Sunday of Advent
I love Thanksgiving. I love Christmas. But I also love the season between the two, which we enter today: Advent.
It's a season some Christians blow right past in the business that precedes Christmas, but is beloved by others. The essence of it is quiet anticipation, a rare thing for many of us.
One reason that I love it is that it is a challenge to me, personally. A lot of my life is about trying to complete tasks, create change, and get things done, all of which is antithetical to waiting patiently for something I have no control over.
And that's the beauty of it. We are so often told to "be ourselves," but sometimes it is wonderfully humbling to turn that off and listen to something greater than ourselves.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
The Remix
Friday, November 28, 2025
Haiku Friday: Thanksgiving Recap
I hope that everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving! It was quite a day here, full of family, football and food. Let's recap in haiku today; here, I will go first:
Opened the old wine
This was the moment, the time--
Waited thirty years.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern, and have some fun!
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Happy Thanksgiving!
I do love this holiday, even in difficult times for our country-- perhaps it is more important now than ever.
At my house, there will be two high-quality meals (I'm making my "famous chicken nachos" for lunch) and a lot of houseguests-- 14 for Thanksgiving dinner, followed by traditional Thanksgiving Kitchen Dancing.
There really is a way that a holiday that forces us to focus on the good is well-timed right now. I am convinced that our challenges are short-term, and that we have the capacity to do better. More importantly, I know that there are wonderful things right now if we choose to see them, too-- including those dancing houseguests and that beautiful turkey and maybe even my nachos.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
The day before...
Today is one of my favorite days of the year-- when people arrive from all directions for Thanksgiving. I have a bunch already here, a sister driving in today, and then at midnight a nephew flying in.
For thanksgiving dinner there will be people I have known my whole life and a few people I will be meeting for the first time-- which is just the way it is supposed to be.
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Thanksgiving Prep FAQ pt. 2
Dear Razor,
Last week, you told me to get a 45-pound turkey. I went to the store and the biggest one they had was 22 pounds. The butcher said that a 45 pound turkey would be a "freak of nature," and that I had my "head up my ass." What's the deal?
Confused
Dear Confused,
You obviously need to go to a different store. That store you went to both stocks tiny turkeys and they are pretty rude. If there is not another store available, buy two 22-pound turkeys and one one-pound turkey and tape them together before roasting.
Yours,
O. Razor
-----------------------------------------------
Dear Razor,
Our theme for Thanksgiving this year is "Harry Potter." Will it be too scary for small children if my husband dresses as Voldemort?
Hermione
Dear Hermione,
First of all, your name is ridiculous. If it wasn't for the movies, no one would ever know how to pronounce it. As it is, the nation now has suffered two generations of 11-year-olds blathering on about "Herm-ee-own-ee."
Second, Thanksgiving already has a theme! You don't need to give it another one. So sell the costumes. Also make sure to get a large enough turkey.
Yours,
O. Razor
Monday, November 24, 2025
Thankful
Three great poems this week. I love when Gavin stops by:
We live far from home.
Again, new friends take us in.
I give thanks for that.
Again, new friends take us in.
I give thanks for that.
And Christine has small big plans:
I set the table
Fine china, silver, crystal
Just dinner for two.
Fine china, silver, crystal
Just dinner for two.
And Jill Scoggins has a (logical) question:
Cornbread dressing is
my fave. So why don’t I make
it all year? Why??? Hmmmmm.
my fave. So why don’t I make
it all year? Why??? Hmmmmm.
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Sunday Reflection: Thankful
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Though it is a "secular" holiday, for me it has always had deep religious meaning.
Jesus's message was so often about humility and serving others, and I have long observed a strong correlation between humility and gratitude. It makes sense, of course; to be grateful requires a measure of humility, as we are crediting something or someone other than ourselves for what is good.
Those among us without humility rarely show humility. But this holiday turns us all in a good direction, and I love all of it.
Saturday, November 22, 2025
It's that day!
In honor of the Harvard-Yale game, here is my favorite video of the Yale Precision Marching Band. It's got everything: The mysterious dancing hippie girl, the catchphrase "Love Boat- no mercy!" the appearance out of nowhere of a twirler and get run off by the cops at the end:
Friday, November 21, 2025
Haiku Friday: Plans for the week?
This is just about my favorite week of the year. I have family coming in, food to prepare, er, consume, some time away from work. What are you up to? Let's haiku about that. Here, I will go first:
I do love the food
(But) that means I love the folks
Who eat it with me.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!
Thursday, November 20, 2025
PMT: More clemency blather
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
New writing!
If you want to know what I am thinking about clemency, I set it out in a substack here. Please do give it a read!
And yes, it does relate to the car above....
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Thanksgiving Prep FAQ
Dear Razor,
How do I know the right size turkey to buy for Thanksgiving? I am having 15 people over for dinner.
--Wondering
Dear Wondering,
There is a simple formula to figure out the right turkey for your group:
# of guests x 3. So for your group of 15, I suggest a 45 pound turkey.
O. Razor
_______________________
Dear Razor,
This year, we are having about 15 people for Thanksgiving dinner. How many pies should we have, and of what kind?
-- Pie Parent
Dear PP,
My simple rule is that one guest = one pie. So if your dinner will include you and 14 others, you will need 14 pies. My mandatory pies are pumpkin, cherry, apple, lemon meringue and pumpkin with a different kind of crust. Pie is good for you, too, as it contains high levels of both breadolin and smartonin!
O. Razor
______________________________
Dear Razor,
My cousins have starkly divergent political beliefs and always get in a big fight at Thanksgiving. What can I do to have some peace around here? There will be about 15 guests total.
-- Torn
Dear Torn,
If you serve a 45 pound turkey and 14 pies, you should have no problem with people staying awake.
O. Razor
Monday, November 17, 2025
On presidents....
I loved the haiku this week! Des brought up one of my favorites:
Peanut farmer put
solar on the White House; we
should follow his lead.
solar on the White House; we
should follow his lead.
And so did Craig:
Two term George Wash set
the anti-Trump precedent:
Country before ego!
Jill Scoggins is right about FDR:
Best prez: FDR
Didn’t wait for okays. Took
action! Helped people.
Showed that we should ask
forgiveness not permission.
Just do it! Today!
The old, young, sick and
forgotten – all citizens -
should give him their thanks.
This Hayes descendant isn't proud enough of the connect to not be anonymous (but I think I know who it is):
In my family tree
Rutherford B. Hayes. He too
Had some crazy hair!
While it is hard to argue with this anonymous entry:
Abraham Lincoln
Man from modest beginnings
Who saved a nation.
And finally, this gem brought us back to Fillmore!:
Too much partying
for Zach Taylor. Died. Next up:
It's Millard Fillmore.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Sunday Reflection: The clarity of late autumn
Yesterday was probably my last bike ride of the year. I was on the Dakota Trail west of St. Bonifacius, which I ride several times a year.
Because this is Minnesota, the trail is a little different every time as the seasons change. In the early spring, there is still snow along the edges of the trail and on the bridges. Then later in the spring there is a bright green emerging and a chorus of frogs all along the way, loud and bold. In early summer the trail is full of people and the trees are filling out. Late in the summer, there is the hum of crickets and a bounty of a deeper green all around. Then comes early fall and the hint of color giving way a few weeks later to this glorious crescendo of gold and maroon that just takes my breath away.
But late autumn is different. The leaves have fallen and layer the ground. Suddenly, you can see all the things that usually are hidden: a tiny secret lake with a single long-necked bird resting on its trip south; a junkyard of cars stretching back into the woods outside a small town; a creek wending between tall white reeds. All these things that were obscured!
It's a ride during and about the late autumn of life, when the opaque foliage of striving for success and meaning, convincing ourselves of who we are and the burdens that come with all of that have fallen away. What I can see now! The things that matter and the things that don't, the foolishness I fell prey to and the beauty that was always there.
What a great place, a great time, to be!
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Oops!
The introduction of Russia's first AI-powered humanoid robot did not go very well....
Friday, November 14, 2025
Haiku Friday: The Best/Worst/Most Interesting President
We spend a lot of effort in selecting our president-- and yet, we have made some pretty strange choices. Let's haiku about that this week! Here, I will go first:
It is hard to choose
But there ain't no hair like this
Millard Fillmore hair!
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!
Thursday, November 13, 2025
PMT: Education and politics
Most (though not all) Americans thing a college education is a good thing, and that an educated population is something we should strive for.
The above chart lists the percentage of people in each state who have a college education. It rolls pretty much the way you would expect, but there is something striking there once you look for it.
The left column (more educated) is almost all blue states. The right column (less educated) is almost all red states. The correlation is remarkable, to the point that it can't simply be coincidental.
This, I suspect, is an important driver of our national divisions.
