The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings where local staff provide updates on recently completed hunting seasons, discuss possible changes to hunting rules and regulations, and address other topics as requested. Locally, the Iowa DNR will ...
I feel like I know quite a few people. I've seen quite a few things. But the things that happen to me, I happen to feel, and I've said this before, happen to no one else. If divine destiny is a thing or everything that happens to us is just fate, then somewhere along the way, someone started to ...
Back in the 50's and 60's "snow days" were not as quickly accessible as they are today. Maybe, just maybe, after an 8-12 inch snowfall with hurricane type winds, school was canceled — finally. However, you had to get up and sit through the local news as schools announced the school day off. ...
A few weeks ago, after reading my column, my Dad came up to me and said, "Can ya ever write about somethin' good I did?" Joking, I said, "When ya do somethin' good, I'll write about it." And, well, if you're reading this old man, let's just say this story ain't gonna earn ya a gold star, but ...
Tiptoe is too great a phrase for it, and step is just an over exaggeration. My feet move forward, one then the other, a centimeter at a time, barely leaving the ground. My hands are out at my sides like a circus performer traveling across a wire. I think this helps, but in reality, it just ...
One of the great passages of generation to generation is the ago-old statement, "Why, boy, I remember when I was a kid, I had to walk five miles to school every day, uphill both ways." Or how about this one, "Listen boy, it was so cold when I was a kid that when I milked the cows, ice cream ...
Remember getting an “F” in school? Ok, you didn’t study and deserved the failing grade. But what about when you studied and got an “F” anyway? Oddly, bad grades stick in our minds more than good grades. In high school, my physics teacher had multiple-choice questions on quizzes and ...
It was around two in the morning. I was sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. My father suddenly appeared. He had on slippers and a pair of underwear that should have been put out of their misery in the mid-nineties. He walked past me, out the front door, out the porch, and into ...
Every year over a hundred volunteers and DNR staff head out to spy on Iowa's Bald Eagles. Thankfully the eagles usually don't mind and we get valuable data that helps us to evaluate how these birds are doing in the state. Volunteers help with two surveys: The Bald Eagle Midwinter Survey and ...
I’ve always been skeptical of dreams and dreamers. Personal experience tells me that when my mind is thrown into neutral as my head hits the bedtime pillow, bizarre dreams erupt. One dream had me “running” on a treadmill down an interstate highway in my robe. In another dream, I hosted a ...