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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Nancy, speaking of corn reminds me of a funny experience.  I grew up eating delicious sweet corn - in those childhood days, we had people coming to the door with things: the Fuller Brush man, the Avon lady, the ice man, and not to mention the all-important milkman. We also had Harold the egg man, who brought lovely fresh produce from his farm in season, Including sweet corn right off the stalk.. So when I moved to my first apartment on my own, it was right next to a huge cornfield. As soon as the corn was ready, I staged a nighttime raid, and came home with a bag full of corn. But after cooking my ill-gotten harvest, I realized there are two kinds of corn: Corn for people and corn for the animals. I had picked the latter.

Ronald Imig

Terri, When I was a kid my cousin's and I use to do a little "nighttime raiding" only we called it "cooning". Usually what ever we could get out somebody's garden and apple trees. 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Good one, Terri!

Yes, I remember all those who came to the door. Two items in particular had specific features of the old flat which accomodated delivery. One, so neat, was the little square "milk box" where those glass bottles were placed. The other, not so neat, was the the coal bin. Lucky we, who now have only to turn up the thermostat for heat, as opposed to going down to the basement to shovel coal. One aspect of the "good ol' days" that wasn't all that great.

Tom Burger

Jim, small world...after seeing your recent post regarding your son living in Norway I asked asked my stepson my stepson Jonathan Hartz who lives in Milwaukee the last name of the person that he stood up for in a recent wedding in Norway... and yes it was your son!!! 

Jim Cejka

OMG!!!

Cue the Twilight Zone music Tom. That's so incredible - that it should happen in the first place, and that you should notice my occasional ramblings, and respond. What's your son's name? I'll have to tell Josh.

Tom Burger

Yes Jim, it is time to cue the Twilight Zone music!  Some further info...During our recent family gathering for Thanksgiving my stepson Jon told everyone at the gathering that he had recently flown to Norway to stand up in a wedding for his very good friend Josh who recently moved to there.  We were all surprised to hear that.  Then, our daughter-in-law Kate (married to son Ryan) mentioned that she had been to Oslo many, many times because her husband in a previous marriage was Norwegian.  So there was much discussion about Norway.  

When I saw your brief mention of your son moving to Norway, I wondered...mmmm, could this be Jim's son?  I had met Josh many years ago at a gathering at Jon's house in Milwaukee.  Like most large gatherings,  Josh's last name was not mentioned.  As I remember I think Josh was living in the Madison area, not sure of that.  I was also wondering if you were at the wedding in Norway? 

Blessing to you, your family and all the 1962 Custer classmates (and families) throughout 2026! 

Ronald Imig

I did a trip to Norway and Sweden with the Conejo Ski Club that I belong to. One of the guy's "Syg" from Norway said to have a hot dog while there. The hot dog was about a foot long in a four inch bun. In one of the cities locals were costructing a wooden ship which I found interesting.

Jim Cejka

Yes Tom, 

Josh got quite a chuckle when I told him of our connection. He says Jon has been his best friend for the longest time. I'm really happy that he could make it over there and they could be together again. Friends like that are hard to come by. Good for them both. 

I've been kidding Josh about his "Norwegian" wedding. When I got the wedding pictures, I said I was expecting them wearing caribou vests and metal helmets with horns. He didn't even mention if they had raw beef and onions either. 

No, I didn't make the trip. I did some business in Sweden some years back and loved it, but I figured the wedding was for Josh, Trine's family, and those "young" people. The money we would have spent on the trip was a better wedding present than some old guy falling asleep in the corner. 

Besides, finding out that you and your family were also involved, and enjoyed it, was an extra good feeling.

Best wishes and a joyful and blessed new year to you too. 

Garry Sellers

I hope everyone dealing with truly crazy weather is staying safe and warm. It was minus 31 in Eagle River this morning, where my sister lives (she lives there every morning, but today it hurt more). Meanwhile, I was grumbling about a golf outing that started at 38 degrees—frost on the first fairway—until I remembered real cold. Years ago, one New Year’s Eve at a hotel party near Mitchell Field, it was minus five and none of our cars would start, so four couples spent the night crammed into one hotel room with the people smart enough to have a reservation. I know I paid a price moving away from family, but last year my wife, one of my sons, and I went back for a reunion and were welcomed like we’d never left—warm in every sense of the word. So wherever you are, stay safe and warm… just don’t expect me to be joining you in those temperatures.

Jim Cejka

Brrrr

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

These are the times I'm glad to be in California. We had a leak in our gas pipes, so needed to turn the furnace off for 3 days while we had to wait for the gas agent to turn it off, the repairs to be done, and the gas agent to return to certify and turn it back on again. We had to throw an extra blanket on at night, but in the daytime just went outside to the 70+ degree patio and soaked up the warmth! 

Jim Cejka

I'm Brrr-ing because it's 30ish degrees here in Florida, and it's raining iguanas down in Miami. It was -37 where we used to live in WI. Must be nice to be warm, Californians.

Ronald Imig

Suppose to get to 88 in Simi Valley Ca today but don't think it going to make it. It's 1:20 and only 79.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Only 79

William Nelson

I was heading to bed when I checked the email and saw your posts on the weather around the country. There wasn't any report from North Louisiana, so I put my 2-cents worth in. This has been the weirdest year for weather of the 55-years we've lived in the area. We went through a dry, blazing hot summer. Tonight's weather report said we'd still have to make up another 30% of rain just to officially end the drought. With week after week of 90+highs, we were having lots of humidity outside. The a/c was running >50% if the time and that was reflected in electric bills we'd never seen before. Autumn lasted a week or two, and the past week has been the worst on record for severa lmeasures. We've been seeing several weeks of freezing temperatures, but not as bad as the Milwaukee area. Our eldest son, who lives in Eagle said they've had layers of ice and snow, making it difficult to remove. Here, we had a new experience. I looked out to the back yard and out buildings and thought we'd accumulated about 3" of snow overnight. That's a lot for this area, but we've seen worse a couple of times iin the past. Mary said she saw some lights on in the shop. I got dressed and headed out to the shop, but didn't make it that far. It wasn't snow. It was frozen rain with ¼"cubes 3½" deep and very slick. I was able to grab the lower porch rail to avoid falling. I'm still recuperating from a fall in the bathroom on Christmas Eve. A magaziine rack broke my fall and nearly the ribs on my left side. It was a couple of days later when we made it to the ER. X-rays showed no rupture, but the ribs are still sore. Our GP has been after me to use a cane or walker when on uneven ground. There's a lot of that around here. The results of that storm will be remembered for quite a while. 3 o4 deaths due to hypothermia in our parish. One young linemen was electrocuted in a bucket truck while clearing off some downed lines. One guy, who rolled over his pickup when he slid off US-167 and wound up upside down with water filling the cab. There were two gaurdsmen coming the other way who began getting him out of the cab. The two cars behind him carried two doctors and two nurses. They resuscatated the driverwhile others called 911 and got the emergency crews to finish that procedure. The helicopter that arrived to take him to Shreveport couldn't land in the median, so the deputies found shovels and everyone there pitched in to make it usable. We hear he's in pretty bad shape, but the fellow who was electrocuted is in another Shreveport hospital and we're told he's doing better than any of the doctors figured he would. An Asplundh bucket truck showed up in our driveway this morning and cut off some big branches from over the road and power lines. We don't have much to pickup out there, but our neighbor across the road has a mountain of branches about 8' tall. hope they'll return with a chipper to clean up the mess. Our two Texas kids and their kids showed up after Christmas and our daughter, who lives in Wauwatosa told us she's coming down for a few days in mid-April to celebrate our birthdays. That's one advantage to getting old; they come to visit us now, instead of the 50+ times we made trips to Wisconsin. Our Generac ran for 37-hours and we've doubled our previous most expensive month, with the furnace fighting the cold temperatures, too.

Garry Sellers

We love to rave about California weather, and tomorrow you’ll probably see the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium glowing in sunshine in the middle of winter (and we’ll all be quietly happy when the visitors from other states head home and traffic returns to its normal level of bad). I live just a couple miles from the stadium, so yes—the weather here really is great.

The tradeoff? We let rain run into storm drains instead of storing it, then act shocked when wildfire season shows up every year. We throw a staggering amount of money at high-speed rail that’s perpetually “almost happening,” somehow always over budget, and still not carrying a single human being anywhere .. if it ever will. Meanwhile, houses cost Monopoly money, gas flirts with $5 a gallon, and property taxes make you feel like you’re renting your own home from the state.  We won't mention the fact that 45% of the nation's homeless, I mean unhoused, are located here because of our nice weather and generous social systems plus the $10 - $20 billion we gave away in unemployment benefits to unknown individuals during Covid. 

Sunshine is wonderful. The invoice comes later.

Garry Sellers

Well, at least the weather didn't disappoint for the Super Bowl, even if everything else about it did.  The game was horrible (both teams ...  with Seattle just a tad less horible than the Patriots), the ads were mystifying, and the halftime show was meant for the social media sycophants and political activists.  I guess the NFL sees them as their current target audience and to hell with the rest of you.   They must have more money than I thought.   I felt our age group was pretty marginalized.  Where's Frank Sinatra or Michael Buble' when you need them?  Next year let's try it in German and dance to the Liechtenstein polka!  And yes, the flyover did shake our house and every other house in Silicon Valley!

Jim Cejka

There was a game Sunday? Oops. I was watching the World Cup T20 Cricket matches. Exciting, and no half time show.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

During the Super Bowl, I was with two friends celebrating one of their birthdays. Honestly, after watching the movie "Concussion", it really bothers me to watch these young men giving each other potential brain damage, future mental illness, dementia, and early death. I can't see how any amount of money can compensate for that.

Jim Cejka

Cricket - a non-contact sport, almost continous action and suspense, and no screaming rock halftime show - they (and fans too) break for tea instead. And, in Test Cricket, you can read a good book over the 5-day match, and not miss much.

Jim Cejka

So, the Olympics are over. Anyone else enjoy them as I did? The athleticism is obviously spectacular, but I just enjoy seeing the spirit of the Olympics, the humanities in action, and the snowball's chance in Thailand of athletes giving it their all, for their country, and because they were an Olympian. And yes, Thailand had skiers in the alpine and cross-country events. So happy for those individuals who were there, and the individuals who won a medal, any color, for themselves and their country, for the first time, ever. Forget "the agony of defeat," they remember the elation of being there, and we, the joy of watching them. 

Jim Cejka

I finally broke down and talked to my car today. I just can’t get used to talking to an inanimate object and expect it to do what I ask or answer. C’mon, I remember back when radios and heaters were extra cost add-ons in automobiles. Now, you can talk to them and they not only do what you ask, they talk back. Around the house too, your phone doesn’t just talk to people, it talks back to you too. Besides missing the internal, emotional attachment you have when talking with a person, or even a dog, talking to a car, or a speaker thing on the counter, you can’t read the body language or other innuendos of a conversation. 

On the other hand, You probably get a more intelligent and understandable conversation than with some real people, so I there is something good about it. 

And, the car got me to my appointment, so I guess it did what I wanted. Something else for my old age to get used to. 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

OMG, Jim! Of all people, that you have fallen this low is a real disappointment. Luckily, you seem to have other admirable and redeeming qualities.

I refuse to talk to Alexa, or Siri, or anything else like that. Not sure how long I can hold out, but so far, I'd rather talk to the Christmas cactus on my desk.

Ronald Imig

 Jim,    
Now that the Olympics are over don't forget to reset your alarm
because you don't have to get up at 3am anymore to watch  curling.

Anybody have a Apple Watch? Just kind of hard to get use to answering
a phone call on your watch and talking to your wrist. 
I don't talk to my I phone for directions either. I still know where I'm going. 
On thing on my list that I don't have to worry about anymore is dying young. Haven't 

tried talking to my car yet. It has several  screens and

I''m still working on screen one.

Jim Cejka

Nancy, Ron

I don't have regular conversations with the car, I just tried it that one time. It's a new car, with all the latest safety stuff, and I found out that the only time you can do anything with the GPS is when it's in park. My last car, if you were navigating with GPS and got hungry, you could punch up "restaurants" and it would come up with places along the way. The new one, you'd have to pull off, park, and push the buttons to get something. Not cool on a freeway. 

The new car owner's manual says however, I can push a button on the steering wheel and tell the car what I want while I'm still driving, so I thought I'd try it. It worked. At least now we won't go hungry or wet our pants on trips. I suppose that's a good thing to concede to technology. 

And Ron, my watch has hands, and I only talk to my Iphone if there's a person on it that can talk back. (Well, I don't answer, but I do frequently say some Navy/Marine words at it, when I get those 3-4 calls a day from the anonymous "credit agency" telling me I'm approved for a super$K loan and asking me to call to complete my "loan process," but I don't expect an answer. )