Every so often, Chairman Joe mentions his Bottle Run trips to Thief River Falls. I admire his environmental consciousness, and I smile when he describes the biscuit-and-gravy breakfasts he eats there with Steve, Joe, or whoever happens to be his latest partner in crime. Deep down, though, I cringe. When it comes to recyclable glassware, I have a complicated relationship. When I was little, I always loved the Zarex bottles—the clear ones with the inviting jug handle. One gracious pour of fruit syrup into a simple glass of water could transform a sweaty summer day. Another favorite was the Ovaltine jar. The cardboard carton of Nesquik—powdery and overly sweet—tried, but failed, to cure my aversion to milk. Because, in those days, children were required to drink it, my mother finally took a risk and bought the more expensive chocolate Ovaltine instead. The squat, brown jar that held those crunchy, malted granules delivered the heft of security, saving me—day after day—from standoffs over ...
The Palmville Globe Volume 2 Number 2 Man Covers Old Scar Joe McDonnell, 78 and residing in Palmville TWP, MN, recently repainted a corner of his TV room. "It's a small room," McDonnell tells the press. "It's really just a big bay window. The TV is at one end and there used to be a PC on a built-in desk at the other end. Once the PC was gone the desk became redundant so we ripped it out last summer and put a recliner in its place. We always planned to fill in the nail holes and repaint the wall where the desk had been and we found a couple of spare hours this weekend to do the job. The most difficult part was the heavy lines the carpenter had drawn on the wall to make sure the desk was level. He never foresaw that the lines would cause a problem 25 years down the line." McDonnell showed a reporter the faint lines that are still visible after painting. "I'll be putting another coat over those lines tomorrow," he says. Man Uses Ladder To G...