Most places I go anymore people ask about one thing: Dixie. Our new dog. So, I thought I’d give a small update. Dixie has settled into the house like the Queen in Buckingham Palace. She has made it hers, and she is spoiled. Not only does she have her favorite spot, sitting in the window ...
In my life as both a college student and a part-time community journalist, I often find myself at the whims of everything around me. This week, college has been a blur of finals, finals, and more finals—deadlines, expectations, and the constant feeling of being pushed from one thing to the ...
Last week I made a grave mistake. In my Magic Mike from last week, I told a story about my Ma mistaking a dog for a deer. My Father has joked about and brought this up every day since its publication. Ma walks into the house, and my Father would go, “See any deer wearing collars?” My Ma, ...
Happy Spring! The month of March was filled with weekly budget sessions as well as union negotiations for Tama County. This takes several hours of time but is critical to ensure the best decisions are made with Tama County taxpayer dollars. The County has been discussing the possibility of ...
Alan Shepard, first American to travel into space, made that astute comment, “It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract!” Not to be outdone, Elon Musk made the brilliant observation, ...
You know how you’re going along, and then you have a pulsing black bump on your body that is leaking some unidentifiable fluid? No? Just me? Well, this year started out with a bang, or should I say a bump. I’m going along, and I notice a bump on my leg. A bump’s a bump, right? No big ...
As time continues to pass, my curiosity about Tama-Toledo continues to develop. Thoughts ranging from “How about this new roundabout?” to “I wonder what downtown looked like one hundred years ago?” keep filling my head and occupy my psyche. While a more random entry into the series, I ...
So much of my life has come down to pure chance—and I’m sure you can relate. Opportunities appear out of nowhere, often because of a connection or relationship formed years earlier. If life really is that random, then I’d argue the people we meet and the way we interact with them matter ...
I want to shout out to the Board of Supervisors as they work through this year’s and last year’s budget. It is not an easy job. There are a lot of moving parts and no perfect answers. From our side, we understand the reality. Budgets are tight everywhere, and we are not any different. At ...
It goes without saying that our lives change. I recall the way my life changed six years ago when a little virus upended our sense of normalcy. I recall the change in my life as I graduated high school and went to work for the first time. Or when I decided to go to college. Regardless of ...