In part one, Tree grew tall and firm in the forest in the mid-1800s, only to be felled by a human and cut into boards used to build a house. While most would see boards and call them such, Tree continued to see itself as a tree, because one never travels far from ones roots. Whereas ...
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will relax the fishing regulations at Cherry Lake on the south side of the city of Tama starting September 15 to allow anglers to more freely harvest fish. Anglers with a valid sport fishing license may harvest all sizes and unlimited quantities ...
The yearly calendar tells us (or at the very least gives us clues) as to what we should dwell on - a.k.a. think about at any given time. We just passed the back-to-school, number-two pencil, don’t wear white after Labor Day stage and are entering the spooky, scary movie, costumized, ...
Regular readers of this column will attest to the fact that my summer has been defined by two words: home improvement. I was set to start the summer with a new storm door at the front of the house and a walk-in shower at the very back. Both are still undone. But fret not! I’ve ...
I just finished a visit with my littles, aka grands. They are five dollars, nearly three dollars and 25 cents, if we are counting in years. It was a giggly, playful, cuddly, I’m not hungry, I’m so hungry, I’m not tired, I just fell asleep sitting up, I don’t have to go, I have to ...
The hunting and trapping seasons will soon be upon us. Here are some highlights and changes for the upcoming 2023-24 seasons as listed on page 6 of the recently published 2023-24 Hunting Regulation Booklet. The Iowa Legislature passed a law allowing landowners or tenants to dispatch raccoons ...
This past session, we passed a bill to ensure that all books in Iowa school libraries are age appropriate. In recent years, Iowans have found examples of pornographic material in their children's school libraries. And shockingly, some Iowa school districts have been reluctant to remove them, ...
The 20th annual Project AWARE was held on the Iowa River July 9-14, 2023. AWARE is an acronym for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition. For each of the past 20 years a section of stream in this state has been cleaned through this project. This year, 315 volunteers cleaned 58 miles of ...
I’m “pro-life,” you could say. I was reared in a strictly Catholic household at 216 Geneseo St., and sent to St. Mary’s School in Storm Lake where that regimen was reinforced. I matriculated to an all-men’s college run by priests in the Twin Cities, where I was fully schooled in ...
In a book I’m reading, the author relates a lesson taught by one of his teachers, who told him, “You can’t shut other people’s mouths.” I found this thought to be genius. It’s a simple, but profound statement. You can’t control what other people say. You physically ...