Stories of my late father continue to pop up decades after his death

 I received a message the other day from my brother-in-law's brother that led down a rabbit hole that ultimately concluded with a story about my dad, as so many do. Here it was:

"Mark, I was wondering if you wanted my Prince record collection? I’m not trying to sell it. I just want to give it to somebody that I think would like to listen to them."

Well, duh, of course I do. He sent me the covers of about 20 albums or singles, I'm not sure yet which are vinyl and which are CDs, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. The last of the attachments showed a silly picture of my dad with a "love poem" he'd written. The guy had worked a couple years with my dad at an alternative high school in Beresford. The poem read:

"I shake & shiver

stutter & quiver.

Is it Love

or only my liver?"

I asked him what the back-story was to that? He wrote:

"We had an "Artist's in Schools" artist (writer) for a week. It must have been late 90's. Your dad sat down with the group and the writer asked the group to submit poems. I am not sure if the poem was his original or one he heard. At the end of the week we submitted poems to Prairie Winds publication, but not sure if your dad's poem got in there or not. I think that photo of it was taken from the collection we made for all the students. Your dad was a good writer and joke teller. He'd say, "Wanna hear the shortest poem ever?" We'd say sure...He'd reply...."Fleas, Adam had'em"  LOL!"

Yesterday was my dad's birthday, so I thought it relevant to post "would've been more relevant to post it yesterday, but, hey, best laid plans ...). It's just one of a thousand stories told about that man. I need to make the effort to compile them. That's my New Year's resolution.

Reading gives life to your years

 My man, Mark Twain, once said that someone who can read but chooses not to has no advantage over an illiterate person. One can quibble over what constitutes "reading" - is it reading memes on your phone or Facebook? Since that wasn't an option back in Twain's day, I believe he was referring to reading novels, short stories, even newspapers and magazines. 

As the son of an English major, whose dad had a library filled with the classics and nonfiction shelves of John F. Kennedy assassination theories; and the grandson of a grandmother whose bookshelves I raided as a kid to get lost in Louis L'Amour westerns; I've consciously pushed reading onto my kids. Truth be known, J.K. Rowlings and Harry Potter did more for that effort than I ever could. But mission accomplished. Both daughters read a lot and my son is more particular and not as avid but does.

As such, I contribute to their habit whenever I can, as evidenced by the books I give them every Christmas - particularly curated for the their interests. This year's gifts:

For Katie - The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp

Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück still evokes horror for those with knowledge of this infamous all-women’s concentration camp, better known since it became the setting of Martha Hall Kelly’s bestselling novel, Lilac Girls. Particularly shocking were the medical experiments performed on some of the inmates. Ravensbrück was atypical in other ways as well, not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80 percent of its inmates were political prisoners, among them a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance.

Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazis in occupied France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep one another alive. The sisterhood’s members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany’s war effort by refusing to do assigned work. They risked death for any infraction, but that did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn—even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp.

After the war, when many in France wanted to focus only on the future, the women from Ravensbrück refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased. They banded together once more, first to support one another in healing their bodies and minds and then to continue their crusade for freedom and justice—an effort that would have repercussions for their country and the world into the twenty-first century.

For Rylee - A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream – as we all dream – of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away?

Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But in June 1972, Maurice and Maralyn set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves.

What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can’t run away from themselves.

Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage at Sea pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

For daughter-in-law Kayla - All the Other Mothers Hate Me, Sarah Harman

In this biting, satirical take on the domestic thriller, a failed pop star turned private school parent must clear her son’s name when his bully goes missing. Luckily, she’s just made a new friend—a lawyer who just happens to harbor dreams of private investigating. And her upstairs neighbor is a cop, although not a very useful one. Between the three of them, she’s sure she can track down the little shit precious angel child before her son’s reputation is forever tarnished. If you like quirky characters, scrappy fighters, and a high dose of hijinks, this is your cup of tea!

For Luke - The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for Every Hunter and Angler

When Steven Rinella hears from fans of his MeatEater show and podcast, it’s often requests for more recipes. One of the most respected and beloved hunters in America, Rinella is also an accomplished wild game cook, and he offers recipes here that range from his takes on favorite staples to more surprising and exotic meals.

• Big Game: Techniques and strategies for butchering and cooking all big game, from whitetail deer to moose, wild hogs, and black bear, and recipes for everything from shanks to tongue.

• Small Game: How to prepare appetizers and main courses using common small game species such as squirrels and rabbits as well as lesser-known culinary treats like muskrat and beaver.

• Waterfowl: How to make the most of available waterfowl, ranging from favorites like mallards and wood ducks to more challenging birds, such as wild geese and diving ducks.

• Upland Birds: A wide variety of butchering methods for all upland birds, plus recipes, including Thanksgiving wild turkey, grilled grouse, and a fresh take on jalapeño poppers made with mourning dove.

• Freshwater Fish: Best practices for cleaning and cooking virtually all varieties of freshwater fish, including trout, bass, catfish, walleye, suckers, northern pike, eels, carp, and salmon.

• Saltwater Fish: Handling methods and recipes for common and not-so-common species of saltwater fish encountered by anglers everywhere, from Maine to the Bahamas, and from Southern California to northern British Columbia.

• Everything else: How to prepare great meals from wild clams, crabs, crayfish, mussels, snapping turtles, bullfrogs, and even sea cucumbers and alligators.  

Whether you’re cooking outdoors or in the kitchen, at the campfire or on the grill, The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook is an indispensable guide for both novices and expert chefs.

For son-in-law Stetson - The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football

Winning isn’t a science. It’s an art. And it can be learned.

No one embodies winning more than Bill Belichick, the greatest football coach of all time. Over the past fifty years, Belichick has been a man of notoriously few words, believing that a coach should keep a low profile. After he left the Patriots in 2024, he briefly became a coach without a team. He spent that year writing down the principles he learned from his father, Navy football, and from his forty-nine-year coaching career.

Belichick’s philosophy goes far beyond football. He presents a whole-year, whole-life, whole-mindset approach to greatness that encompasses preparation, motivation, confidence, and leadership. The principles in this book are adaptable to wherever you work. No matter where you are on the ladder, they will help you think like a leader in anticipation of being one.

Drawing on decades of studying the greats of the game, handling colorful personalities and egos, and playing for the highest stakes in sports, Belichick shares memorable examples and practical takeaways from his lived experience. Winning is not about being perfect—it’s about growth. And you will improve only as much as you recognize where you’re weak. Belichick owns up to mistakes like deciding to go for it on 4th and 13 in the 2008 Super Bowl. Then he breaks down how to learn from your mistakes like a leader does—an approach that sustained him throughout his early career challenges and ultimately brought him to the top of the sport.

Belichick’s principles might surprise you at times. At other times, they might seem strangely obvious. (His rule for how to win football games? Score the most points.) Football is about strategy, human nature, and business. Your vision of success might involve breaking into a new, competitive market in your industry; seeing solid returns on a portfolio that you’ve carefully prepared; inspiring your students to earn the highest scores in the district; or raising up trainees to take over your job someday. Whatever the situation, your performance is up to you.

Practical, authoritative, and bursting with unforgettable inside stories, The Art of Winning is an indispensable guide to success from the greatest coach in NFL history.

Merry Christmas!

 It's that time of year for the annual Haugen Holiday parole status updates.

All things considered, this was one of our better years. We added one to the family, have another warming in the oven, and now have all the kids back in the 605, actually in the same county, within 20 minutes of each other. It's almost like high school again with kids coming in and out and lunches here and there and it's great, especially since they aren't asking for money as much.

Luke and Kayla moved back this spring. He's still writing parking tickets; spent many of his weekends chasing antelope and deer with his bow and arrows; and found time to knock up his wife. They are due with their first rugrat in March and this will be our third grand-daughter to spoil. Kayla got a job at Monument Health doing stuff I don't understand with cancer research, but fortunately she does. Big dog Klaus has a few more months of being #1 in their house and enjoys his visits to grandpa and grandma's to visit Finn.

Rylee and Stetson returned to the area this summer after she gave birth to Maye Marie. The little slobber monster is healthy and raring to go to keep up with her sister Josie Jayne, who is a three-year-old human tornado and apple of my eye. Rylee took a teaching job with Children's Home Society of the Black Hills; and Stetson with the Monument Health cardio center or something or other.

Katie and Kwinn are still doing their thing. Katie manages West River stuff for our current congressman and next governor Dusty Johnson; and Kwinn travels around the country from Utah to Idaho helping companies find precious minerals to keep your iPhones and electric cars running. They are remodeling their home in the Hills and try to keep up with their golden retriever Gilmore.

Nancy is still assisting the back-cracker and stays busy teaching Sunday school and on a board called Church Response, which helps the homeless in Rapid City. When not entertaining her grands, helping little old ladies cross the street and nursing abandoned kittens, she drinks a lot of Windsor and gambles excessively. (Don't want you thinking she's too good for me.)

Not a darn thing new with me. I might be a tad grumpier than last year but, jeesh, have you been around people lately? The Twins and Vikings sucked, my garden was nothing special, and the guys at poker have been picking on me, so can you blame me?

Finn's been living his best life. Lots of walks and jogs and ball chasing. He especially loves his visits from Klaus and Gilmore. Rumor has it he may be getting a brother sometime soon, as the boss lady is weakening from the basset hound puppy pictures I've been inundating her with (never end a sentence with a preposition).

Mom is still doing well at assisted living in Milbank. She had a slight scare, but no damage was done, when she took a spill when one of the wheels came off her walker during a race down the hall with Mildred Magilicutty. Worst of all is I lost 20 bucks on her. Check your equipment, Mom!

So there you have it. Hope all is well with you and your families. Have a Merry Christmas and may 2026 fill your dreams like Sydney Sweeney does her blue jeans.

Bookstores are back, baby!

 This guy, Ted Gioia, wins the prize for highest ratio of vowels-to-consonants in a last name, and also has a pretty good website: The Honest Broker.

Recently he wrote about The Surprising Return of the Bookstore and thanked the CEO of Barnes & Noble for leading the way with some outside-the-box(store) thinking.

And another ...

 Psycho-thrillers!

A good psychological thriller often feels like a sit-com set-up taken utterly seriously, where the circular paths of interior logic quickly lead to insidious derangement. They can also, like horror, provide a perfect vector for vengeance and schadenfreude, in which hypocrisy and small-mindedness always earn their comeuppance. And psychological thrillers can also be about exploring the enormous capacity of humans to surprise, in ways both awesome and terrible. Like the depth of human experience, the selections below hold multitudes, and you can see the breadth of the genre through the diversity of this single snapshot.

Another list - a deep one

 Here are 10 books I probably won't read but should if I wanted to get smarter. 

From Freud to Fellini and Catholicism to Islam, it has it all.

#1 is: Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America

See what I mean?

Best of 2025 lists beginning

 CrimeReads has their list of the best Crime Fiction, Mysteries and Thrillers.

The Glen Campbell coincidence

 It's a goofy thing but I like when goofy things happen.

I was reading a Glen Campbell autobiography the other night while watching baseball. The game finished so I flipped the station over to one of those music channels - classic country. I like a little background noise.

As luck would have it later in the evening, I was in the reading zone and finished the book, looked up at the TV and lo' and behold there was ol' Glen crooning away. Could've been anyone but had to be Glen. 

The book was okay. 

I especially enjoyed the insight into his relationship with Tanya Tucker and his recollections of filming True Grit with John Wayne.

Time to ban the "banned book" boondoggle

 One thing that won't go away is the banned book trope, also known as local schools deciding what is appropriate for its students.

Just three states are responsible for 80 percent of known school book bans.

If nothing else, concentrate on the three states most responsible. Stop trying to make this a national crisis just so you can sell more books.

I banned books all the time in my house. There's some stuff I wanted my 13-year-old son to read and some stuff I didn't. If he wanted to read Penthouse magazine, I wasn't going to leave it on the dining room table for him. It was banned. Make him steal one from the local drug store like a real underage horndog.

Again, repeat after me, if you can buy a book at your local bookstore, it's not a banned book! Or the people doing the banning are really bad at banning things.

Excuse my whining

 Much of my summer has been spent in the dentist chair. So that's given me time to think.

Think about all that money floating out the window so I can painlessly chew a steak. I don't begrudge paying my dentist for that privilege. She's great. I do begrudge paying my insurance company so much to cover so little of it.

Knowing I was going to be going under the pliers this year, I bumped up to the premium dental plan, outside of my regular health plan, which pays zero. Even that only results in 30 percent for this, 50 percent for that. At a couple thousand bucks for a root canal, and a couple more for some crowns, that adds up.

What I don't get, is when was it decided that teeth (and eyes, for that matter) were not going to be body parts covered by your basic Blue Cross Blue Shield plan? It'd be like somebody waking up some day and saying, "You know what, we're not going to cover elbows anymore."

It's not like they don't go in or around the mouth for other stuff. Sore throats, check; ear aches, check; glossitis of the tongue (look it up), check; busted lips, check.

But a sore tooth?  Oh, my, we're going to have to send you to a dentist who won't have an opening for two months, just live with it, buddy; and when she does we'll only pay thirty percent; and you'll like it! That's not a part of the body we'll cover.

Yet you will cover everything in all my other orifices though, right? Sure. Just not your mouth. Too dirty.

You covered my colonoscopy. Yes, we like butts, we cannot lie.

A list of the reading lists

 This writer did something pretty smart and curated 28 "best books of the fall" lists and broke them down into which books were named on the most lists. 

There were 466 books, with 95 books included on three or more. The most-often named book appeared on 15 of the lists and can be found here.

Still chasing the elusive butterfly

 Many things I enjoy as an adult, I didn't pay attention to as a kid, like: sunsets, landscapes, good food and string bikinis. But one thing I remember always intriguing me from youth to now was butterflies.

We chased them with little nets, put them in jars or coffee cans. Watched caterpillars turn into butterflies. Studied them in grade school classrooms. I still have an affinity for them. I'm not an expert by any means, but as a gardener I know they are good. So I've done what I can to attract them to my little plot in the West River countryside - particularly monarchs.

From the maps I've seen we are on the outer western edge of their migration pattern. Much like our airport, we're not O'Hare, we're Rapid City Regional. Occasionally see one, but I haven't for several years.

I try to plant native flowers and have even gone so far as to actually plant milkweeds, the bane of my existence as a youth when myself and friends would walk soybean field after soybean field chopping down those dastardly weeds. Now Roundup does that work. It's done the job too well and milkweeds, which monarchs love, are not as plentiful.

But lo and behold, last week my granddaughter and I spotted a monarch butterfly flitting around my garden. I was a little embarrassed at how excited I was to see one. Then I started checking out my milkweeds a little closer and there were the striped little caterpillars I'd been trying to cultivate for years.

They've arrived, finally, and I hope they know they have a place to call home and will return. I've chopped my last milkweed and will keep the birdbath full of fresh water. 

A joyful moment for sure that is much appreciated these days.

Grumpy old man remarks about TIME list

 TIME magazine has an article detailing 24 books you'll want to add to your fall reading list. It might better be called "24 books you don't want to add to your fall reading list", but that's just me judging a book by its cover. It's mostly chick-lit and some niche stuff.

The yawn-inducing list includes Patti Smith's FOURTH autobiography. Maybe she's just living a lot longer than she thought, but I'm thinking by the fourth autobiography you're starting to get into "and for lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" territory. You need to really be somebody, or apparently really think you are, to write four books about your life. 

She's a 78-year-old former punk rocker from the seventies whose biggest hit, I use the term loosely, reached number 13. If she can do four autobiographies, then Carl Douglas is certainly worth five. Who is Carl, you ask? Only the Jamaican writer and performer of one of the best-selling songs of all time - Kung Fu Fighting in 1974. 

The only book on the list that really caught my eye was by Salmon Rushdie, a collection of five stories - three novellas and two shorter tales. But I probably wouldn't get to it until the fall of 2065, good Lord willing.

The Gemini book looks interesting if you're into space travel and such. I'm not.

TIME snobs snub their noses at mystery and crime writers with books coming out this Fall, like: Dan Brown, John Grisham, Walter Mosley, David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich, James Patterson, C.J. Box, Don Winslow and my latest obsession, Ian Rankin. 

With all those possibilities I think I'll just wait for Patti Smith's fifth autobiography. I hear hip replacements are exciting reads.

Been a while, eh?

 A lot of life has been lived the past few months; fortunately, a few books were read too. Let me hit ya with the highlights.

-- Stephen Hunter's Front Sight -- You should know Hunter from the Bob Lee Swagger series and movie, Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg. His books are excellent.

Front Sight is a series of semi-connected novellas that feature three generations of Swaggers solving murders: Grandfather, Charles; father, Earl; and son, Bob Lee. They are bloody, not for the feint of heart and titled: City of Meat, Johnny Tuesday; and Five Dolls for the Gut Hook. 

I really like novellas, 150-200 pages each, because they fit my attention span and not just because most of what I've published are novellas. They get to the point, not a lot of fluff, and tell an interesting story relatively quickly.

Amazonians give it a 4.6 of 5 rating. The Haugenometer lands at an 8+ of 10.

-- I also ran across a new author (to me), Scottish writer Ian Rankin. I can't recall how I stumbled across him and his series of 25 novels that feature Inspector Rebus, but it coincidentally happened after I visited Edinburgh, Scotland, in March. That's where Rankin lives. 

I started the series from the beginning, have read the first three and have the fourth on my TBR pile. I really enjoy them but we'll see how it goes if I make it through all 25.

The books I read were: Knots and Crosses, Hide and Seek, and Tooth and Nail. I ranked them all in the 7-8 range, otherwise I wouldn't be continuing.

-- Oddly, and unfortunately, one clunker I read came from my fave author, Dean Koontz. Going Home in the Dark. I struggled to finish it but did. Probably would've quit but just couldn't do it to ol' Dean. After reading 80 or so of his novels, I felt I owed it to him.

The themes were similar for him - the supernatural, good vs. evil - but the new thing that threw me off was throughout the book he'd talk to the reader. Trying to be funny but seldom was. Koontz has a monthly email newsletter that is very clever and funny and it seemed like he tried to incorporate that into this book. It didn't work for me.

And apparently not for many others either as it garnered only a 3.8 of 5 from Amazon readers. I gave it a 5.

Other books I finished included:

-- Transgressions, which featured two novellas, Keller's Adjustment by Lawrence Block, and Forever by Jeffery Deaver.

-- The Crash by Freida McFadden.

-- Lethal Prey by John Sandford

-- A Purple Place for Dying by John D. MacDonald.

My chair, my pillow, my wife - til death do us part

 In its usual stroke of cleverness and whimsy the U.S. government has an agency named the General Accounting Office. Generally speaking, it’s an office that accounts for stuff.

Every year or so a very nice lady comes to our office and counts stuff. She’s very thorough. So far she’s kept us on the straight and narrow and nobody has absconded with any of the 30-year-old file cabinets or desks or the fax machine, which I imagine would be very valuable on the black market.

On her most recent visit she poked her head in my office and read the serial numbers on the back of various stuff and checked them off her list and said to me: “Would you like a new chair?”

I said: “No, thanks. I like my chair.”

She persisted: “Really, we could get you a new chair.”

“Thanks, but I really like it.”

“But it has duct tape wrapped around the arms and you have a pillow on the seat.”

It occurred to me I might have committed a federal crime by bringing duct tape from home and wrapping the arms of the chair because it was cracked and the stuffing was coming through. But, I thought, the government wouldn’t be that stupid would it?

I explained: “It took me years to get a chair I liked, that fit my skinny butt and doesn’t hurt my back. It’s perfect.”

“Okay, fine,” she rolled her eyes, “but here’s my card if you ever want one.”

I lost her card, but I still have my chair.

See, when I find something I like I keep it. Like the pillow on my bed.

I think I’ve written about it before, but my wife keeps threatening to throw it away. Sure, she puts a new pillow case on it every week or so, and I will grant her that the pillow may be an actual government threat due to its toxicity. 

It’s yellow from drool and snot and sweat. It’s actually damp, all the time. I put it out on the deck one super hot, windy summer day last summer to dry it out, and it didn’t. I think it actually seeded the clouds and we got some rain that night.

But, now it’s starting to leak stuffing. Its days are numbered. I keep stuffing the stuffing back into the pillow and fold the pillow case over the end at night so the stuffing doesn’t come out all over the bed and encourage my wife’s anti-pillow attitude.

I’ve come to accept that soon I’ll have to relent and I’ll have to replace it.

But it’s like I told my wife of 37 years, you should be happy that when I find something I like a lot, I keep it around. I don’t trade it in for a younger model. That’s bought me some time.

And the lady from GAO just sent our office an email announcing her retirement. My chair dodged that bullet. We outlasted her.

I don’t think the same will be said for my pillow.

Books for the kiddos

 Per usual, I gifted books to the kids this year. I try to tailor them to their interest, some of which may be of interest to the fine readers of this blog. Or not.

For my son-in-law Stetson:

Greenlights by MatthewMcConaughey

“I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

“Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”

“So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops. 

“Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

“It’s a love letter. To life. It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights—and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too. Good luck.”

 For daughter Rylee:

The Boys ofRiverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory

“In November 2021, an obscure email from the California Department of Education landed in New York Times reporter, Thomas Fuller’s, inbox. The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, was having an undefeated season. After years of covering war, wildfires, pandemic, and mass shootings, Fuller was captivated by the story of this group of high school boys. It was uplifting. During the gloom of the pandemic, it was a happy story. It was a sports story but not an ordinary one, built on the chemistry between a group of underestimated boys and their superhero advocate coach, Keith Adams, a deaf former athlete himself. The team, and Adams, tackled the many stereotypes and seemed to be succeeding. Fuller packed his bags and drove seven hours to the Riverside campus.

 “The Boys of Riverside looks back at the historic 2021 and 2022 seasons in which the California School for the Deaf chased history. It follows the personal journeys of their dynamic deaf head coach, and a student who spent the majority of the season sleeping in his father’s car in the Target parking lot. It tells the story of a fiercely committed player who literally played through a broken leg in order not to miss a crucial game, as well as myriad other heart-wrenching and uplifting narratives of players who found common purpose. Through their eyes, Fuller reveals a portrait of high school athletics, inspiring camaraderie, and deafness in America.”

 For daughter-in-law Kayla:

Buffalo Girls byLarry McMurtry

“A strange old woman caked in Montana mud pens a letter to her darling daughter back East—the writer's name is Martha Jane, but her friends call her Calamity... I am the Wild West, no show about it. I was one of the people who kept it wild.

 “Larry McMurtry returns to the territory of his Pulitzer Prize–winning masterwork, Lonesome Dove, to sing the song of Calamity Jane's last ride. In a letter to her daughter back East, Martha Jane is not shy about her own importance. Martha Jane—better known as Calamity—is just one of the handful of aging legends who travel to London as part of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in Buffalo Girls. As he describes the insatiable curiosity of Calamity's Indian friend No Ears, Annie Oakley's shooting match with Lord Windhouveren, and other highlights of the tour, McMurtry turns the story of a band of hardy, irrepressible survivors into an unforgettable portrait of love, fellowship, dreams, and heartbreak.”

 For my son Luke:

A Field Guide toWhisky: An Expert Compendium to Take Your Passion and Knowledge to the NextLevel

“A Field Guide to Whisky is a one-stop guide for all the information a whisky enthusiast needs. With the whisky market booming all over the world, now is a perfect time for a comprehensive guide to this popular brown spirit. What are the basic ingredients in all whiskies? How does it get its flavor? Which big-name brands truly deserve their reputation? What are the current whisky trends around the world? And who was Jack Daniel, anyway? This abundance of information is distilled(!) into 324 short entries covering basic whisky literacy, production methods, consumption tips, trends, trivia, geographical maps and lists of distilleries, whisky trails, bars, hotels, and festivals by an industry insider. Boasting 230 color photographs and a beautiful package to boot, A Field Guide to Whisky will make a whisky expert out of anyone.”

 For my daughter Katie: 

Like Mother, Like Daughterby Kimberly McReight

“When Cleo, a student at NYU, arrives late for dinner at her childhood home in Brooklyn, she finds food burning in the oven and no sign of her mother, Kat. Then Cleo discovers her mom’s bloody shoe under the sofa. Something terrible has happened.

 “But what? The polar opposite of Cleo, whose “out of control” emotions and “unsafe” behavior have created a seemingly unbridgeable rift between mother and daughter, Kat is the essence of Park Slope perfection: a happily married, successful corporate lawyer. Or so Cleo thinks.

 “Kat has been lying. She’s not just a lawyer; she’s her firm’s fixer. She’s damn good at it, too. Growing up in a dangerous group home taught her how to think fast, stay calm under pressure, and recognize a real threat when she sees one. And in the days leading up her disappearance, Kat has become aware of multiple threats: demands for money from her unfaithful soon-to-be ex-husband; evidence that Cleo has slipped back into a relationship that’s far riskier than she understands; and menacing anonymous messages from her past—all of which she’s kept hidden from Cleo …”

For my son-in-law Kwinn:

Bad Boys of the BlackHills … And Some Wild Women, Too by Barbara Fifer

“The lively romp details some of the Wild West's most engaging stories, specifically in the Black Hills and Deadwood, home to prostitutes and poets, desperados and dancehall girls, fortune tellers and fugitives. Readers will meet a host of rowdies ranging from madams to stagecoach robbers, from tall-tale tellers to killers.

- Profiles more than 95 bad boys, wild women, and engaging events from the 1870s Black Hills

- Features foreword by Jerry Bryant, research curator and historical archaeologist, Adams Museum and House, Black Hills, South Dakota”

 For granddaughter Josie:

Sesame Street ElmoManners Books for Kids

“Featuring Elmo and friends in 8 different storybooks that teach manners. Colorfully illustrated Sesame Street Elmo Manners Books join Elmo as he teaches sharing and caring.

“The perfect books to teach the concept of manners. Includes the following titles: (1) Let's Share; (2) Be Polite; (3) Please and Thank You; (4) Good for You; (5) Taking Turns; (6) Be a Friend; (7) All About Feelings; (8) Working Together.

“Sesame Street Elmo manners books for toddlers and kids are 16 pages each and measure 5x5 inches, soft cover. This Sesame Street manners books set for kids is durable and high quality.”

 

The Christmas Letter

 Having survived two assassination attempts, four federal lawsuits and never-ending criticism from the ladies on The View this past year, I'm still around to deliver the annual, free-of-charge, organic, free-range Haugen Christmas letter. It is not, however, hormone free. So, like sand through an hourglass, these are the days of our lives, the 2024 edition:

First, the bad news. Nancy's mom, Monica, passed away last February. It left a big hole in the heart of Nancy and all the family. While I was the leader of the mother-in-law jokes, I think about her often. She was a force of nature. My favorite, most-recent memory of her was during a visit and we attended Mass in Hermosa. During the Lord's Prayer at our church it is common to hold hands with your neighboring family member. On that day it was Monica. On the drive home she told me: "You have the softest hands I've ever held." I took it as a compliment, a result of my life-long quest to avoid manual labor, and a reminder that real men moisturize.

On the brighter side of things, we gained a son-in-law in March, when Katie married Kwinn in a beautiful ceremony on the beach in Clearwater, FL. He's a great guy, treats her like a queen, and is a handy guy to have around when I need some manual labor done. They live just outside Keystone, where he is president of the S.D. Mining Association, and she continues to direct things west of The River for our state's lone congressman. They soon there-after added a member to their family (scandal! not) by the name of Gilmore, a Golden Retriever puppy, who is turning into a good friend for Finn.

Rylee and Stetson relocated to Redding in northern California, where she teaches fifth grade and he took a job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Rylee and daughter Josie visited us for a couple weeks last summer, where Josie once again proved to be in the 99th percentile of cuteness. They'll do Christmas here in early January.

Luke and Kayla are still in northern Virginia, where both work in DC - Luke catching bad guys and Kayla keeping people from catching food-borne pathogens. Their German Shepard, Klaus, continues to keep an eye on them and pity the fool who crosses them. I visited them during a work trip in March and Nancy and her sister, Pam, visited a few months later. They're doing well.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning our other foreign "daughter", Burcu, who we hadn't seen since she returned home to Turkey twenty-some years ago. But she flew in for Katie's wedding and brought tears to everyone's eyes. All the family has stayed in touch with her over the years and she fit back in with the gang like she'd never left. She's a jewel of a young woman.

Nancy continues working for the back-cracker. She's teaching Sunday school and other stuff at our church (I'm not really sure what-all, but it frees up the TV for my football watching on Sunday afternoons). Speaking of, how about them Vikings?! I've been around long enough to know they'll eventually break my heart but it's been fun so far.

I'm coming up on 20 years with the now Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. That far exceeds my previous long of five years at the same job. Of note for me this past year, I visited Las Vegas for the first time (with Nancy and my in-laws Jay and Pam). I'm pretty sure God said: "Okay, you're 60 now, how much trouble can you get in?" This summer my tomato crop was unsatisfactory, but like the Twins, there's always next year.

My mom is doing well at the assisted living center in Milbank. She watches a lot of football, enjoys her BINGO nights and wine Wednesdays. Send her a note or give her a call, she'd love it.

And, lastly, we had to put down ol' Huckleberry the Basset Hound a few weeks ago. His antics are missed, but none more-so than during Vikings games when it's been my habit to holler "Touchdown!" when they score. Then he would "woof! woof! woof!" along as I got him a treat. Now I holler "Touchdown!" and Finn just looks at me. No replacement is imminent (on orders of the boss lady), but I'm a weak man and don't always listen well (hey, I'm 60, the ears ain't what they used to be); so in a moment of weakness I may surprise her. If you don't get one of these updates next year, you'll know why.

Anyway, thank you to all my rag-tag friends and family who provided the good moments of 2024. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of ya.

Mark

The best-of lists coming in hot

 The best crime novels of 2024 from CrimeReads.

Another terrible year for the world and another great year for books! While we have plenty of spinoff lists to come before the end of the year, it’s time to share the CrimeReads editors’ picks for the best crime and mystery novels of the year, full stop.

Brit Lit

 I suppose the Brits know a thing or two about literature, so here's a Telegraph story with their 50 best book recommendations for holiday gift-giving.

Looking for a literary Christmas present? Our critics pick the perfect gift for every reader, from page-turners to politics

Haven't done a "Link-Oh-Rama" for a while

 Let's change that:

** I like this quote (which sometimes applies to me as well) from a story about Taylor Swift moving into the book publishing biz:

“People often greatly underestimate me on how much I’ll inconvenience myself to prove a point.”

** Here's a long but fascinating story about online sports betting, which the author claims may have about run it's course. 

The repeal of PASPA made it possible for people in America to make money taking bets, but they turned around and made it nearly impossible for anyone to make money placing bets. If anything, they made it easier than ever to lose. 

** This falls under the category I like to espouse: "Relax, everything will be okay." Also: "Things seldom are as bad as they say, or as good." Here's WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan from before the election with: "The U.S. Can Take a Tough Election"

** Anyone know where I can get a dynamometer to measure my grip strength? "It’s one of the most underrated predictors of longevity." 15 Mobility Tests to Make Sure You’re Aging A-Okay

** I had not heard of this dude. Have you? Maybe I'll check out his newsletter. The Most Opinionated Man in America

** Farmers and ranchers often get a bad rap (incorrectly) for not taking care of the environment. They, in most instances, are the best stewards of their land. Here's a story about my friend near Newell, SD, and what he does to take care of his land and the wildlife that inhabit it.