As most of you know, I don’t drink, which may make you think I’m a loser with a capital L. If that’s the case, that’s fine.

Remember when I mentioned my parents were getting a dog? Well, they did, and they are going on three weeks with their new family member. They have a nine-monthold Boston terrier named Redmond, which my mom has inexplicably nicknamed Tricky-Woo. Two years ago, my mom attended a volleyball tournament with me in Minot and fell in love with Jennifer Busse’s puppy, Emmy. My mom decided that she and my dad needed a puppy just like Emmy. Despite my warnings of the stress and expense of a puppy, my mom insisted it was just the thing she and my dad needed. She went on to make a down payment, and then I managed to talk her out of it. Fast forward two years and Redmond, aka Tricky-Woo, has entered the picture. I was given no warning and no opportunity to play mean cop again. Okay, dog lovers, I can practically hear you gasping in disgust and shock at my attitude, but hear me out. I was raised with no animals in the house. We had plenty of animals outside, but no animals were ever allowed inside. My sister snuck her favorite mangy momma barn cat inside one time, and it promptly pooped on her bedroom carpet. A few years later, my brother brought a new puppy home from the fair and let him sleep in his bed. The next morning, my brother woke up itchy and covered in fleas, and that was that. No more animals inside, ever. Now, my 75-year-old mom and my 81-year-old dad are the proud parents of an inside fur baby for the first time, ever. I’m sure you can see where this is going.

As I pen this week’s column, I just received a press release from North Dakota School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler regarding legislation to remove the use of cell phones by students while in class.

opportunity. By limiting access to personal electronic devices during school hours, with appropriate exceptions for medical and learning needs, we are giving our students the gift of attention, connection, and presence.

Last weekend we grabbed a couple grandkids and drove to Fargo to celebrate the 3rd birthday of Rosie Rae a few days early. I’m not kidding, this little girl smiled for 24 hours straight and had a great time opening gifts, surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins.

Spring, are you there? I’m getting antsy over here. This is evident in the couple corners of my house that are dedicated to seed starting.

By Sara Goodman If you are a parent of young children and are exhausted after being up all night with a colicky baby, are sick and tired of changing diapers, and can’t imagine one more round of Candy Land, hang in there because it gets worse. The worry and exhaustion never ends because all that happens as your kids get older is they simply go from being up all night with colic to being up all night with friends. You’re no longer changing diapers; you’re changing owns all the property and you’re broke. You question your answers to requests and then watch the fallout while holding your breath and a bottle of beer. The bottom line is you do the best you can and hope they turn out okay. If you’re looking for a “What to Expect When They’re Seventeen” type manual, there are probably thousands of them out there, but which one do you pick? How do you know what your parenting style is or what’s going to work the best? I thought I knew, and then technology reared its weird and confusing head, and I had to rethink things. We can’t raise our kids the way we were raised because we didn’t have the things our kids have now, and even if we don’t agree with them, they are almost impossible to avoid.

It’s time for ACTION, and I have a plan for the Cold War relic located at Nekoma, N.D. For anyone reading who isn’t familiar, Nekoma is home to the former Safeguard Missile Site that was active for a short period of time in the mid 1970s before it was mothballed. The facility is comprised of a number of buildings and what some might consider a true wonder on the prairie, an enor- concrete pyramid towering into the sky with four-foot thick concrete walls. The pyramid will likely be standing eons after our civilization has been wiped out by the next asteroid, gamma ray burst, pandemic, or most likely- A.I. takeover. There I said it...I predict A.I. will do us all in, but that’s not the topic of this week’s column.

With all the news about DEI these days, I have to wonder if people really understand what it stands for and the changes it has brought to our society. ‘Diversity, equity and inclusion’ programs and policies are all about access; to education, employment, credit and banking services, sports, public spaces and buildings, commercial businesses and medical facilities, family leave, protection against sexual harassment and bullying of any kind.

We’ve gone from one super busy week to another here in the offices at Simmons Multimedia. Last week, we worked hard to deliver you our annual Ag Outlook for 2025, making the paper a grand total of 30 PAGES.