Sunday, August 23, 2026
1903 Sixth Zionist Congress: Theodor Herzl declared a Jewish state
1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact and secretly divided Poland between themselves, setting the stage for World War II
1943 Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, ends after 50 days as the Soviet Union defeats Germany; over 10,000 tanks take part, and nearly 250,000 combatants are killed
1946 Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constituted the German state of Schleswig-Holstein
1958 People's Republic of China resumed bombardment of the Quemoy and Matsu islands in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
1989 Two million people formed a human chain across Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania in a peaceful pro-independence demonstration against Soviet occupation
2005 Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas and later became a Category 5 hurricane
2020 Black man Jacob Blake was shot in the back by police in front of his children in Kenosha, prompting violent protests
2022 Two men were found guilty of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
In bed at 9:15, up at 5:40; 0600 203.2 120/75/63 116; 58/74/58, mostly sunny today.
Morning meds at 8:50 a.m. Entresto heart meds at 6:35 a.m. and 6:15 p.m.
I started the day visited by 3 wild turkey hens and their 16 youngsters on our front lawn, a sight that always gives me a boost. There are only one hen with about 5 chicks, or poults, or juveniles under our bird feeders; the rest are spread across the lawn, heading north. I've learned that the youngsters are called poults for their first 4 or 5 weeks of life, when they become "jakes" and "jennies" until they reach maturity, or hens and toms. Our youngsters are getting pretty big, so I could only guess their age, but they still hang out with their mother hens, so I'm guessing they are still poults, but wow, they grow fast. Once those visitors were gone, I saw a bit of a tiff under the feeders between a youngish bunny and a grey squirrel. The bunny is eating whatever seeds the turkeys left, plus some dew-wet grass, and the squirrel got too close. I would have thought the squirrel would chase away the bunny, but it was the other way around. Who knew? Meanwhile, life goes on as usual for our airborne visitors. This morning, I need to replace the remnant of suet cake, which is still providing some morning sustenance to a red-bellied woodpecker, and to add a couple of mealworm seedcakes to the other feeding stations. I'm surprised at how popular those seed cakes are. They don't last long.
Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson, and Water. My sister and her family lived for decades in the western suburbs of Phoenix. My niece and nephew still live there. Our good friends, David Lowe and his wife, Pip Powell Lowe, moved a couple of years ago to a new development north of Tucson. In 1964-65, Anne and I lived for 14 months in Yuma, in the southwest corner of the state on the border with California, just a few miles from the Mexican border, on the banks of the Colorado River. I should say, on the banks of the Colorado Puddles, because that's what the river was when we lived there, a series of puddles. By the time the river reaches Yuma, almost all of its water has been drained by upriver users in California, Nevada, and Arizona (the Lower Basin) and in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and even Wyoming (the Upper Basin). When we lived there, Yuma had a population of about 30,000, and 60,000 in the big county. Today, the city's population is 106, 923. The county's current population is just under 225,000. The water to take care of the city's municipal needs and the county's agricultural needs comes from the reservoir behind the Imperial Dam, 20 miles north of the city. The water that gets to that reservoir is what's left after satisfying the needs of upriver users in the Lower and Upper Colorado Basins, including Las Vegas, NV, Phoenix, and Tucson. Phoenix and Tucson divert their water from Lake Havasu behind the Parker Dam, 150 miles north of Yuma, and Las Vegas from Lake Mead behind the Hoover Dam.
I got into all this because of a story in this morning's New York Times about America’s Desert Metropolis Is on the Short List to Lose Water, that metropolis being Phoenix. More statistics: in the mid-1960s, the Phoenix metropolitan area had roughly 800,000–850,000 people. The Census Bureau estimated the Phoenix metropolitan population at 842,000 in 1966, up from 663,510 in 1960. Today, the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan area has about 5.23 million people. The latest Census Bureau estimate is 5,228,938 as of July 1, 2025. That's an increase of about 4.4 million people, or more than six times the metropolitan population I encountered in the mid-1960s. Phoenix is still growing rapidly, Tucson at a much slower pace. Their governments still encourage population and economic growth, notwithstanding their water supply challenges, and I've long wondered, WHY? Isn't this insane??? The issues are complicated, and the governments assure their residents that they have adequate plans to meet the water needs of the communities, even with the planned growth, but this old coot is skeptical. Let's see how the communities do in response to the planned federal cutback in Colorado River supplies. From today's story in the New York Times:
With the seven states that rely on the Colorado River deadlocked over how to split its diminishing supply, the Trump administration is pushing its own plan to divide the water. The three downriver states — Arizona, California and Nevada — would most likely shoulder the most pain, but no single user stands to lose more than the Central Arizona Project.
Short-term reductions, announced by the federal government on Friday, will cost Arizona roughly one-third of its share of river water over the next two years. But beyond that, a range of cutbacks remain possible.
Under the most severe outcome, the system would be cut off entirely during the driest years, setting off a social and economic meltdown Arizonans shudder to even imagine.
“They are threatening to shut down the Southwest,” said Brenda Burman, the project’s general manager. “It’s not possible to picture it.”
How long before the Southwest states look to the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes for water????
More old age problems. I'm wondering whether I may have agreed to the Honor Flight too soon. I'm wondering about my bowels and bladder, i.e., bathroom needs. It's a 15-hour day, with about 4 on the aircraft and 11 in D.C. Is this a reckless undertaking for me? Bathroom facilities at the Mall? Arlington?
The beer garden and picnic area overlooking Little Cedar Lake, between the little sand beach area and the piers and boat launch area.
A ride in the country. I took a ride in the countryside north of Milwaukee County early this afternoon, departing with no particular destination in mind, but ending up at Little Cedar Lake in Washington County, 30 miles northwest of Bayside. It would take me a good 45 minutes to get there by car, following the most direct route, but I took more than an hour via country roads. I realized as I drove those roads that this end-of-summer period is southeast Wisconsin's lushest season, unbelievably green, farm fields full of mature crops, mostly corn and soybeans, and roadsides almost overgrown. So beautiful. I happened upon Hidden Valley Drive in the Town of Cedarburg, 4 to 5 miles northwest of the City of Cedarburg, lined with new, very expensive, large, modern homes. It's just south of Hidden Valley Lake, which shows up on maps but isn't visible from the roads nearest it. The maps also don't show roads into it, a mystery lake, or perhaps an ephemeral lake??? While on Hidden Valley Drive, I saw a guy riding a motorcycle, standing fully upright with no hands on the handlebars and no helmet on his head. I wondered what he was trying to prove. I stopped at Little Cedar to use the public restroom, which overlooks the beer garden/picnic area. Most of the parking lots in what is now Ackerman Park were full. When I first started coming to Little Cedar Lake to fish with my old pal and fishing partner Doug Wenger or with my kids, the land belonged to Farmer Ackerman, who lived across Highway Z. We would stop at his house to pay the boat launching fee he charged for his lake access, $3 if I remember correctly. Now there is no separate fee for launching a boat onto the lake, but the land is owned by Washington County, which calls it Ackerman Park and charges a $7 daily entrance fee. I have so many memories of visits to Little Cedar with Doug Wenger, my kids, and my grandson Peter. Little Cedar is where Peter caught his first fish, a little perch maybe 4 inches long. The photo on my Facebook page is of Peter, me, and that little perch, taken right after the historic catch. My last fishing outing on my beloved Lund Mr. Pike 16-foot fishing boat was at Little Cedar with Sarah on a belated Father's Day outing. My recollection of that outing was me using oversized hooks because I didn't want to catch any of the abundant bluegills in the lake, and of Sarah catching a bluegill with every cast of her baited hook. We wondered whether she even needed to bait her hooks. Today I saw two guys in a Jon boat fishing the weed patch at the south end of the lake and 4 boys fishing off the pier where Peter caught his perch. On the way home, I drove up to West Bend and along Rustic Road 52, on Paradise Drive, a favorite drive of mine for the last 25 years since we lived in the Town of Saukville, and Maple Drive, north of Grafton, between Cedar Sauk and Cedar Creek Roads. Warm memories, an old man's sustenance.
Geri and I had a long, good schmooze about selling our house and buying a big bi-level condo down the street from us. More to say about that as developments warrant.
Email to Sarah. Hi, Sweetie. I was thinking of you warmly today on my drive through Wisconsin's beautiful late summer countryside, as reflected in one of my journal entries, which I have copied and pasted here:
A ride in the country. I took a ride in the countryside north of Milwaukee County early this afternoon, departing with no particular destination in mind, but ending up at Little Cedar Lake in Washington County, 30 miles northwest of Bayside. It would take me a good 45 minutes to get there by car, following the most direct route, but I took more than an hour via country roads. I realized as I drove those roads that this end-of-summer period is southeast Wisconsin's lushest season, unbelievably green, farm fields full of mature crops, mostly corn and soybeans, and roadsides almost overgrown. So beautiful. I happened upon Hidden Valley Drive in the Town of Cedarburg, 4 to 5 miles northwest of the City of Cedarburg, lined with new, very expensive, large, modern homes. It's just south of Hidden Valley Lake, which shows up on maps but isn't visible from the roads nearest it. The maps also don't show roads into it, a mystery lake, or perhaps an ephemeral lake??? While on Hidden Valley Drive, I saw a guy riding a motorcycle, standing fully upright with no hands on the handlebars and no helmet on his head. I wondered what he was trying to prove. I stopped at Little Cedar to use the public restroom, which overlooks the beer garden/picnic area. Indeed, most of the parking lots in what is now Ackerman Park were full. When I first started coming to Little Cedar Lake to fish with my old pal and fishing partner Doug Wenger or with my kids, the land belonged to Farmer Ackerman, who lived across Highway Z. We would stop in his house to pay the boat launching fee he charged for his lake access, $3 if I remember correctly. Now there is no separate fee for launching a boat onto the lake, but Washington County owns the land, which it calls Ackerman Park and charges a $7 daily entrance fee. I have so many memories of visits to Little Cedar with Doug Wenger, my kids, and with my grandson Peter. Little Cedar is where Peter caught his first fish, a little perch maybe 4 inches long. The photo on my Facebook page is of Peter, me, and that little perch, taken right after the historic catch. My last fishing outing on my beloved Lund Mr. Pike 16-foot fishing boat was at Little Cedar with Sarah on a belated Father's Day outing. My recollection of that outing was of me using oversized hooks because I didn't want to catch any of the abundant bluegills in the lake, and of Sarah catching a bluegill with every cast of her baited hook. We wondered whether she even needed to bait her hooks. Today I saw two guys in a Jon boat fishing the weed patch at the south end of the lake and 4 boys fishing off the pier where Peter caught his perch. On the way home, I drove up to West Bend and along Rustic Road 52, on Paradise Drive, a favorite drive of mine for the last 25 years since we lived in the Town of Saukville, and Maple Drive, north of Grafton, between Cedar Sauk and Cedar Creek Roads. Warm memories, an old man's sustenance.
On other news, I've been selected to fly on a Stars and Stripes Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. on October 10th, and Andy has agreed to be my escort/guardian for a day, a requirement for us old guys. I've read and been told that these charter flights are pretty special experiences, so I agreed to go despite my thoughts that my flying days are behind me. I still have some pretty serious misgivings, mostly bowel and bladder concerns, since it involves an out-and-back flights on one day (leave at 5 or 6 a.m. and get back at 8 or 9 p.m. It entails visits to the war memorials on the National Mall (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) and to Arlington National Cemetery, and the Iwo Jima memorial, which I've never been to, even though it sure has emotional significance for me. All expenses are paid by the Honor Flight folks, except for the parking fee at Mitchell Field. If I decide to back out, I want to do it quickly to give some other guy the seat. The biggest disappointment that I would have in cancelling would be on spending an entire day with Andy since I don't see much of him anymore. He's always been very involved in his kids after school extra-curricular activities, more so than Anh as far as I can tell, and I suspect his new job also keeps him plenty busy. When we do have a few minutes together, we're on the move, so this trip would be pretty special.
I hope you and Christian, Gerhard and Olga, and Marcus and Lizzie and the kids are all well. Geri and I are well.💗💗💗
Thoughts on the anniversary of Herzl's declaration of a Jewish state in 1903, from my journal entry two years ago this date:
Anti-semitism, Zionism, and Humpty Dumpty. From the September 2025 issue of Harper's Magazine, excerpts from "An Outrage to Common Sense: On the meanings of anti-Semitism," a review by Daniel May of Mark Mazower's ON ANTISEMITISM:
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
Mazower is the author of many books, including seminal works on the destruction of Salonica’s Jewish community and the infrastructure of Nazi imperial rule. He also happens to be on the faculty of Columbia University, which has been shaken by charges of anti-Semitism and the debate over what constitutes it. As he works to unravel how we arrived at such a state, he is guided by the intuition that Alice’s question cannot be answered without Humpty Dumpty’s. To understand how the meaning of “anti-Semitism” has changed, we need to look at how the word is used, by whom, and to what ends. Who or what gets called “anti-Semitic”? What are the consequences of the charge? How is it that the decline of anti-Semitism as a political force has given way to the fight against it becoming such a profoundly powerful one? We should, Mazower suggests in a characteristically measured tone, “view antisemitism in its historical context as a term that has been used to mean different things at different times.” This is hardly a radical proposition. But the effect of his rather modest aim is something close to revelatory.
As May's review is a distillation of Mazower's tome, it is itself revelatory. My old and feeble brain can't deal with all the issues involved in the terms antisemitism and anti-Zionism. I struggled with them when I read some of the writings of Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Who is a Jew? In what sense are 'Jews' a 'nation'? A people? Are my Jewish friends who are Reform Jews who do not practice Halakah really Jewish, or only Jew-ish? Today is the anniversary of Theodor Herzl declaring 'a Jewish state' in 1903. How is the state of Israel, made up of so many 'secular' Jews, atheists, agnostics, and other non-observant Jews, really a "Jewish" state and homeland? These issues aren't merely academic, intellectual, or theoretical, especially since the Six Day War and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the current issues about "the day after" the Gaza war ends. Also in terms of who is entitled to Israeli citizenship under the Right of Return. What is most troubling to me on a personal level is what appears to be widespread identifiction of opposition to a fascist government in the state of Israel with anti-semitism. Netanyahu always does it, treating opposition to him, and Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich with anti-semitism. The German Reichstag has done it by legislation. I can't help but believe that this arrogant attempt to broaden the meaning of anti-semitism will only increase anti-semitism.
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