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Ron, l When I first wore my Apple Watch, I didn't know you could get phone calls on them. I was walking down the hallway when it started buzzing. I pushed the green button And I couldn't believe it was my sister calling me! I felt like a character out of Get Smart - except he talked into his shoe, I believe. But the watch is good because it keeps me motivated to get in my steps, especially when my grandson asks me if I closed my rings today.

12/13/25 07:04 PM

#3664

Hey, I got one of those new watches last year. My old one had hands that pointed to the time, my new one actually shows the time in numbers.

12/17/25 09:21 PM

#3665

My watch has Minnie Mouse with her hands pointing to the numbers. When you press it she announces the time in her Minnie voice. My grandkids love "touching Minnie". So much that I can use it as a reward!

12/25/25 06:48 PM

#3666

And a Merry Christmas to you all!

12/26/25 12:58 PM

#3667

Thanks, Jim! I hope everyone's being warm and cozy Is having a nice relaxing Christmas!

12/26/25 01:17 PM

#3668

Garry Sellers

Wasn’t there an important birthday that some of us may have overlooked yesterday, the 25th? 🤔Oh jawohl — it vas Herr Karsten Boerger’s birthday! Our fearless trailblazer when it comes to the art of aging gracefully. How could we forget?

Nachträglich alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Karsten! 🎉
You don’t look a day older than… ummm… Methuselah. 😄

Seriously though, I’ve always felt a little sorry for people born around Christmas. You know they grew up opening gifts labeled, “This is for Christmas and your birthday.” My only remaining sibling out of nine, my sister in Eagle River, has her birthday today—the 26th. My wife’s is on the 31st, so she gets w triple whammy!

On the bright side, their birthdays are rarely forgotten… they’re just never allowed to stand alone! 😆

12/26/25 03:50 PM

#3669

I purchased a Chevy Equinox EV. It's pretty slick. Seat vibrates if in reverse and anything moving on the side or back. Brake comes on if I get to close. Pretty much the same for the front. I have solar panels on my roof. My electric meter is has three different rates . So when charging 10 pm to 6am at lowest rate. Works out to about 34 cents to 35 miles . So with solar panels can get all electric I need to charge the car. That is like buying the gas pump at gas station then getting all the gas you want for nothing. That is why a electric car makes a lot of sense to me.

12/27/25 10:51 AM

#3670

Karsten Boerger

Karsten's personal secreatary taking dictation:

Many thanks for wishing me a happy birthday, celebrating my 84th, the oldest in the '62 class. This Christmas could have been a bit better. After 65 years of tennis, I've just had a total shoulder replacement, which makes one chairbound for most of the day. We're always happy to hear from you, and thank you for maintaining this web page. Viele Gruesse, Karsten.

12/27/25 02:39 PM

#3671

Ron, I also bought an EV - a used Nisssan Leaf - a few years ago and it's been perfect! Doesn't have all your advanced technology, but it does have a backup camera. With solar panels on the roof of my house, very little cost. It is old, so doesn't have a big range, but it gets me to where I need to go, and I just plug it in when I get home. And - What's a gas station? When I was using my sister's gas-powered car, I almost had forgotten how to use the pump! I will have to replace that Very Expensive Battery soon, but around now, I might have been looking to get a new car anyway. This one will go on forever! I have to take it in once in awhile to get the brakes checked, and they kindly fill the window washer fluid for me, and take a look at the wiper blades and tire treads. I can see how the auto mechanics might be dreading an increase in EVs! AND Happy belated birthday, Karsten. Best wishes for your shoulder recovery!

12/30/25 05:56 PM

#3672

Trying to think of what to bring for the New Year Eve's party. Guess I will go with Wisconsin Sushi. A slice of deli ham sladered in cream cheese, wrapped around a dill pickle, cut into bite size pieces and held together with toothpicks. As a backup makings for a cannibal sandwich. Small slices of rye bread, sliced onions and raw ground round. To top it off a jar of pickled herring with some crackers.

12/31/25 08:17 PM

#3673

Garry,

Are you now admitting (bragging) that you wear diapers? (TMI)

And Happy New Year folks.

01/01/26 09:42 AM

#3674

Garry Sellers

You know Jim, that scene was meant to be a joke on the New Year's baby but then I thought ... for some of our classmates it might not be so funny. And the last thing I want to do is make anybody feel self conscious about things they had no vote on! So the best I can do is say ... Wishing you strength for the hard days, joy where it finds you, and new adventures ahead in the year to come.

01/01/26 08:54 PM

#3675

Garry, that all Depends.

01/03/26 12:08 AM

#3676

Oh Ron! I could just taste that New Year's Eve meal from the ground beef and onions on rye to the herring on a cracker. My parents insisted that everybody eat the herring for good luck, And I gagged it down as long as I was living at home, and as soon I was on my own, I was glad to stop - especially having noted that it didn't bring me any good luck at all! But my siblings still eat the herring on New Year's Eve, and feel something horrible is going to happen to me because I don't.

01/04/26 08:20 AM

#3677

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Hi Terri,

About the herring....I hear you. Karsten loves it, all year. I can't imagine how close to starvation I would have to be before eating it. He also loves to go to Hamburg in spring and eat Matches, which is "virgin" herring, raw. Blecccccch!

Raw beef and onions slightly less objectionalbe, and always available at a little butcher shop 23 miles north of us in Rogers City. Polish, as are so many in that area, which is just north of Posen (great Potato Festival there in fall). I do remember that in the 60's, a wedding reception in Milwaukee wasn't complete without raw beef and onions.

Big difference in taste to what I grew up on.....lots of peanut butter. Some Europeans seem to feel about peanut butter the way we feel about Vegemite. Another item is corn, which Karsten now loves in season. His grandfather called it "swine fudder", or pig food, which is what corn was in Germany. That's because they don't have that tender, sweet, drenched in butter, Midwest corn on the cob we look forward to every year. Sad for them.

On the other hand, go to Germany in spring for the fattest, sweetest white asparagus ( "spargel" ) you've ever tasted.

Every place has its specialty, and to everything there is a season.

01/04/26 03:42 PM

#3678

OK class gor-mets, at least none of this is making me hungry reading it.

Fortunately, herring was never a tradition in our family, so I was spared that. And you're right Nancy, I don't think you could even get a marriage license in Milwaukee then if you didn't have raw beef and onions on the menu. And, it was raw beef and onions, not "cannibal sandwiches." And Terri, did you ever try to serve raw beef and onions to anyone in California, that wasn't from Wisconsin? No matter what you called it, you were the "cannibal," in the land that has raw sushi bars on every corner.

I was spared the herring, but our family did have friends and relatives that were into Norwegian " Lutefisk." That had all the attributes of herring, plus an odor that could peel paint off the walls. It was usually, literally, given a room by itself. Fortunately, it wasn't a steeped tradition, so participation was voluntary. (And, it didn't deter my son from moving to Norway.)

Pheeew (x2).

01/05/26 02:11 PM

#3679

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.

01/06/26 01:27 AM

#3680

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.

01/06/26 12:50 PM

#3681

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.

01/08/26 10:52 AM

#3682

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!!!

01/08/26 06:21 PM

#3683

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.

01/09/26 01:36 PM

#3684

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!

01/09/26 05:27 PM

#3685

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.

01/10/26 05:09 PM

#3686