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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

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.

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

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.

01/10/26 05:09 PM

#3686

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.

01/24/26 02:10 PM

#3687

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.

02/02/26 05:59 AM

#3688

Brrrr

02/03/26 01:33 PM

#3689

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!

02/03/26 04:52 PM

#3690

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.

02/04/26 03:24 PM

#3691

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.

02/04/26 04:30 PM

#3692

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Only 79

02/06/26 03:34 AM

#3693

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.

02/07/26 03:29 PM

#3694

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.

02/09/26 01:29 PM

#3695

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!

02/09/26 02:59 PM

#3696

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

02/10/26 02:31 PM

#3697

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.

02/10/26 03:59 PM

#3698