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The Groundhog Effect
Last year, we noticed a groundhog waking up and bulldozing our back yard, even though snow was forecast that day. It’s pretty good at just putting its head down and pushing through almost anything in its path including leaves, sticks, small rocks, flowers, and so on. Their single-minded digging has helped uncover bones and pottery…
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What’s Up with the Birds?
Since my last post about our birds, we’ve had some new developments. The robins actually have a pretty fine nest now under our deck. I managed to get a blurry snapshot of mama robin actually sitting in the nest. I’ve also caught sight of a portly male cavorting with her on our porch rail. Early…
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Spring
I’m coming up on my last 3 days for the academic year and reflecting now that my favorite season is upon us. Spring does that to me, especially now that I’ve been in the phased retirement contract for the last 2 years. I’ll be going into the 3rd and final year as of July. I…
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Oops, We Missed Earth Day 2019
Well, we missed Earth Day this year, which fell on April 22nd. The theme was to protect threatened and endangered species. One excuse is that we’ve been too focused on the cardinals building a nest in our back yard this spring. They are neither threatened nor endangered. I would call them fussy, especially when we…
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They Work Here Too
The cardinal nest is pretty much done—no eggs yet, though. At least we think it’s a cardinal nest. It looks typical according to experts; loosely woven of twigs, leaves, stucco, and ponderosa pine accents. They’re pretty fussy about us snooping around the backyard evergreen tree they chose to build a home in. Any day now,…
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The Last White Coat I’ll Ever Wear
I’m a big fan of the Men in Black movies. I’m not going to tell you how many times I’ve watched them on TV (78 million and if that number reminds you of a scene from Men in Black, you’re just as much a fan as I am, if not worse). One of my favorite…
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Gauging My Readiness for Retirement
I’m noticing something about my readiness for retirement. Certain activities are starting to be at least as interesting as my work as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist at the hospital—maybe even more so. For example, my wife and I are hoping that the cardinals will come back to our backyard evergreen tree. They were building a Hoorah’s…
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Remembering My Calling
Back when I had the blog The Practical C-L Psychiatrist, I wrote a post about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observation in 2015. It was published in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on January 19, 2015 under the title “Remembering our calling: MLK Day 2015.” I have a small legacy as a teacher. As I…
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I’ll Have to Make Time
I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve been saying that my wife has got me this or that item, like the pink dumbbells and whatnot. She also got me an extra yoga mat. Part of the explanation is that I’ve recently had a birthday, which reminds me of the importance of time in my life–mainly because…
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Talk About Change
Let’s talk about change. I’ve had a couple of brand-new tie bars (gifts from my wife) in my dresser drawer for a couple of months now. I’d forgotten them until last night. I used to wear a tie bar many years ago. I’m discovering that I probably wore it wrong, according to fashion experts who…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 