Love of Country, Within Reason (and a Big Nutcracker)

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Brian H. Gill
Sarah Raza's photo: ribbon-cutting ceremony for Verne the Patriot in Luverne, Minnesota. (July 18, 2026) via Associated Press
“People gather for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Verne the Patriot in Luverne, Minn.”
(AP Photo/Sarah Raza (July 18, 2026))

“A Minnesota town now boasts the world’s tallest nutcracker“
Sarah Raza, AP (July 18, 2026)

“Crossing the open farmland of southwestern Minnesota, you’ll encounter an otherworldly sight: a massive head with a beard, mustache and red-striped top hat looming over the horizon.

Pull into the small town of Luverne and the figure — a nearly 66-foot (20-meter) tall nutcracker, decked out like Uncle Sam — comes into full view….”

I’ve never been to Luverne, Minnesota, and will probably never go there.

But I’ve seen other oversize statues in my home state: Rothsay’s prairie chicken, Alexandria’s viking, Paul Bunyan in Bemidji, Belgrade’s crow, and “Pelican Pete: World’s Largest Pelican” in Pelican Rapids.

One of these days I may talk about roadside attractions in the Midwest. But not today.

Uncle Sam, Roadside Attractions, and Love of Country

H.E. Fowler's 'Papal Octopus,' featured in Jeremiah J. Crowley's (1913) 'The Pope: Chief of White Slavers High Priest of Intrigue,' p. 430. (1913)
Jeremiah J. Crowley’s “The Pope: Chief of White Slavers High Priest of Intrigue”.

I enjoyed reading about Luverne’s new roadside attraction, but that’s not the only possible response to that statue of Uncle Sam in the form of a nutcracker.

Given a running start, I could rant about the crass commercialism displayed Luverne’s whacking great nutcracker — the AP article mentions a “quirky rock shop in the town’s center” — or denounce it as the abomination of desolation, a graven image defiling our fair land.

Now that I think about it, I don’t recall any rabid radio preacher of my youth calling on his followers to fear and revile roadside attractions.

Not sure why. Maybe because the things are deeply embedded in the regional culture, and that’s another topic or two.

Luverne’s new attraction doesn’t upset me, so I won’t rant or rave about it.

But I will admit that I like it; partly because I like kitsch, partly because I like memories associated with roadside attractions, and partly because I enjoy seeing this latest sign of at least latent patriotism.

About that: I like being an American, and love this country.

I’d better clarify that.

Honor, Affection, and Gratitude: Within Reason

Flag of the United States of America.

Loving my country doesn’t mean I think America can do no wrong, or that everyone who’s not American is out to get me. Life isn’t that simple

Loving my country doesn’t mean that I get warm fuzzies each time each time I see the colors red, white, and blue.

It does mean that I see my country with honor, affection, and gratitude: within reason. Since I’m a Catholic, I’d better. It’s part of my faith, an extension of sorts to my family obligations. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2199)

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Married is Married

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Brian H. Gill

This is going to be another comparatively-short one.

Today I’m focusing on part of another step in those family property/estate/whatever arrangements I mentioned last week.

Or, rather, on something that came up during the process.

But first, a little background.

I wasn’t a Catholic when my wife and I got married. That added a few steps, mainly involving making sure that I understood what being married meant.1

The priest we talked to asked me — it’s been decades, so this is a heavy paraphrase.

He asked me if I thought marriage was exclusive and permanent.

To me, it sounded like a trick question. I figured that when I married her, we’d be married: until one or the other or both died, and that while we were married I wouldn’t act as if I was a husband/boyfriend/whatever with anyone else.

Turns out that the question was just what it sounded like. I explained, briefly for me, that I thought being married was being married: that I’d be exclusively and permanently my wife’s husband.

Fast-forward several decades. My wife and I are still married, and I still think being married means being married. That’s no virtue on my part. From my viewpoint, it just makes sense.

Priorities

This week, the law firm that’s writing the document(s) needed for those arrangements sent us an “estate planning engagement agreement”. One paragraph started like this:

“…Dual Representation. Married spouses may, at times, have different heeds, objectives and interests for their estate plans. As a result, there may be a conflict of interest in our firm representing both of you….”

Okay, I get it. Being married doesn’t guarantee being on the same page with finances, which flavor of ice cream is best, or anything else.

But with something like this, if spouses don’t agree on how their family’s finances should work — their first job is figuring out what will work, and then getting the documents drawn up.

And if they can’t figure out how that part of their lives should work, they’ve got a bigger job: getting to a point where they can agree.

Books could be and have been written about this, but I’m calling it a day.

Somewhat-related posts:

Catholic marriage, a little background:

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Potpourri Post: Family Business and an Exoplanet With Air

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Brian H. Gill
Sauk Centre weather and forecast Wednesday, July 15, 2026: briefly, hot.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency / Current air quality conditions July 15, 2026: smoke at hazardous levels.

It’s been quite a week.

Smoke, probably from fires near the Minnesota-Canada border and elsewhere raised — or lowered — air quality here to hazardous levels. I’ve probably got the best respiratory system in the household, but even I was feeling less than perky.

On the ‘up’ side, our second-oldest daughter and granddaughter came visiting. Son-in-law stayed back in North Dakota, keeping things running there.

That two-day visit was a very good experience, and gave us a chance to have a video conference with a lawyer to sort out family property/estate/whatever arrangements for at least the next generation.

That was a very good experience, but it was also a lot of excitement; and I haven’t been a 40-year-old kid for decades. Between the heat, the smoke, and the excitement, I’ve been feeling — I’ll call it relaxed and call it a day. A week.

The visit’s main purpose was to sort out the financial side of this family.

The good news is that we’re a family, and all on the same page with what that means. What makes it a tad complicated is that we’ve been trying to find a way to define how that works in a way that the legal system we live with will recognize. That’s where the lawyer came in.

I may talk about that later, but not this week.

Let’s see, what else?

Right: during that conference, explaining how the land two of our daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter are living on relates to the family this way: we didn’t settle near Hillsboro. Hillsboro grew near us. I may talk about that another time. Probably will.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Finally, and skipping to a favorite topic of mine, a couple science news items:

Well, almost finally.

First: The Bright Side News is worth checking out. If, that is, you don’t mind reading news that isn’t drenched with anguish, angst, despair, anger, hatred and other currently-fashionable feelings.

Second, that ‘habitable zone’ planet’s atmosphere has at least a fair dollop of helium in it: so it’s another case where ‘habitable’ could be discussed.

But not by me, not this week. Besides, I’ve talked about that sort of thing before:

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250 Years: Choosing Law and a Light Yoke

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Fr. Mark Botzet

A tip of the hat to Father Mark Botzet for letting me post his homily from July 5, 2026.

I took the liberty of changing some punctuation so that it matches the style of this blog, then adding headings and paragraph breaks. Enough preface. Here’s Fr. Botzet’s homily.

Freedom and Focus

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Fr. Mark Botzet

This Weekend the United States of America celebrates 250 years as a Nation.

With the signing of the declaration of independence, our founding fathers established this great country with a focus on God. Let us not forget that.

A country whose people would experience great freedom.

That freedom came at a great price.

And is often challenged by other countries in the world.

Remembering Zarchariah

This challenge of freedom has been going on for a long time. The Prophet Zechariah would only have dreamed of living in a great nation like ours. You see, God’s people were under the control of a foreign nation for 250 years.

Think about that. It is as long as we have been a nation. First, it was the Babylonians, next it was the Persians, then followed by the Greeks. Zechariah prophesies that there will be no more war, No more destruction, And lastly, no more being exiled from an invading country.

Zechariah talks about a new king that will make a new kingdom. This king does not ride in on a horse, instead he rides in on a donkey.

Symbolism

There is a meaning behind the horse and the donkey.

If this new king arrived on a horse it would reveal to us that he comes to rule like a warrior, conqueror, and with war.

The donkey on the other hand reveals a leader who comes with a peaceful nature.

Jesus

We all know that Jesus rolled into Jerusalem not on a horse, but on a donkey.

In the end we know that Jesus conquered the Romans by his peaceful nature. Dying on the cross and rising from the dead in the resurrection. Jesus’ teachings were not embraced at first, but the Romans would later embrace it.

The United States in Context

For the last 250 years the United States of America has held elections every four years for its president. A president that will hold office for four or eight years. Our nation has had a president that held it for longer. Compared to other countries when we change leaders it is done by a peaceful nature as power is exchanged.

We have seen this peaceful exchange challenged, but compared to what happens in other countries it is relatively peaceful. Even though our country has endured a revolutionary war and civil war in its early years.

A war, or exile, does not occur every four to eight years that would suppress all of the people in this great nation. We do not experience an invasion, conquering or war every four to eight years. We are a peaceful nation.

That is what Zachariah is talking about: a peaceful nature behind a great world power that is what God reveals to us in the coming of our savior Jesus Christ.

A Burden, But an Easy One

Jesus tells us to take up the yoke, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. The burden that Jesus talks about is the Law. Jesus gives us the law that is to follow the ten commandments.

When we follow God’s rules and regulations they might at first appear as a burden.

But, when we obey the laws of the Lord we find the burden actually becomes light. We also find great peace. These laws and regulations opens us to experience our freedom. A freedom that comes at a price of being yoked to the law.

You see, when we do not follow the law we become enslaved and indebted to sin. Yet, if we hold on to our yoke we will live in the Spirit of God that gives us life.

Celebrating Our Liberty, Pursuing Happiness, Remembering God

Our freedom comes at a price. As we celebrate 250 years, let us remember that our founding fathers founded this nation on the principles that God gives us. Let us celebrate our freedom, our liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And may we remember that our independence is not independence from God.

But that our nation trusts and depends on God.

A God whose only Son came in riding on a donkey not a horse.

A Son who did not conquer by war, Jesus our savior came in peace. Conquering our slavery caused by sin.

Dying on the cross, he revealed the resurrection and that death is not the end to life.

Celebrate, and Remember Priorities

Let us take up our yokes, follow God and his commandments.

We must increase our faith in God and his Church, as we celebrate 250 years of being a free nation. And the prophecy of Zachariah of a king coming in peace to establish a kingdom.

I want to leave you with these words of one of the Bishops—”Governments have come and gone. Presidents have been elected and unelected. Kings and queens have taken the throne, and they have been dethroned. And throughout the history of the Church, many governments have tried their best to destroy the Church… But the Church survived.”

The Church survived. Why is that? Because it kept its faith and trust in God.

May the United State of America survive another 250 years by keeping our faith and trust in God.

Catholic in America: a Layman’s Perspective

I’ve talked about being a Catholic and an American before:

Posted in Being a Citizen, Being Catholic, Guest Posts, Series | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Something Different: Sharing Art and Experience

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Brian H. Gill

I keep meaning to get back to this, but haven’t. About six months back, I was introduced to an ‘art’ site:

It’s — no, you’re better off checking it out yourself.

You’ll find a small but varied set of pictures/paintings, videos, and an introduction to camera lucidia. That’s Latin for ‘light chamber/room’: a 19th-century gizmo that helped folks draw. Turns out there’s at least one way of using today’s tech and the 19th century principles to get similar results.

There. That’s pretty much all I’ve got to say about it today.

A big tip of the hat to Viral Vakil, for introducing me to this site, and for putting it together.

I’d say more, but seriously: check it out yourself.

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