Month: October 2023

An Unexpected Encounter with Bigfoot on the Clear Creek Trail

The other day we put in about a 2.5 mile walk on the Clear Creek Trail in Coralville. We haven’t been there in a long while. It gets really quiet along the wooded trail. Sometimes even the birds don’t sing.

It was pretty quiet except for some strange knocking noises. You know, Sena has taken the lead in spotting Bigfoot in our walks in three parks, counting our latest trek. She saw Bigfoot in Hickory Hill Park, Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, and now again on the Clear Creek Trail.

She’s a Bigfoot hunter, there’s no doubt. This Bigfoot we saw a couple days ago was different. It obviously was interested in helping the Hawkeye football team with their offense. It eats plant-based cheese for some reason. I always thought it preferred beef jerky.

Did you know Bigfoot plays guitar?

Decision Time on Flipped Drain Tile Lids

OK, today another drain tile lid flip. We made a decision yesterday on this. We’re going to have the installers return and screw down all seven lids. Sure, it’ll mean I have to unscrew them to clear out the debris. Whatever.

The guy we called said this is happening because of an over-eager squirrel. That may be the case.

Let’s see if squirrels carry screwdrivers.

I have searched the internet for a solution to this problem. All I ever find are links to my blog posts about it.

Door Painter Dad Joke

We just got our upstairs doors picked up by the painters yesterday. They took all the doors off the hinges and taped numbers on them to keep track. They’ll probably finish them and return them by the end of the week. Two guys removed the doors and one of them had a dad joke for me:

“A man was driving along the motorway when he noticed a chicken running alongside his car. He was amazed to see the chicken keeping up with him, as he was doing 60 mph. He accelerated to 70, and the chicken stayed right next to him. He sped up to 75 mph, but the chicken overtook him.

Then the man noticed that the chicken had three legs. So, he followed the chicken, speeding all the way, and ended up at a farm. He got out of his car and saw that all the chickens on the farm had three legs.

When he spotted the farmer he asked him, “Where did you get these chickens?”

The farmer replied “Well, everybody likes chicken legs, so I bred a three-legged bird. I’m going to be a millionaire.”

The man was impressed and asked him how they tasted. The farmer said, “Don’t know, I haven’t caught one yet.”

Now, he didn’t tell it exactly that way, but it was just as funny. It was the first time I heard the 3-legged chicken story. Of course, as with any sort of hairy dog (hairy chicken?) story, there are different versions of it.  I looked this up on the internet and Ronald Reagan told it. It was posted 12 years ago, has 2 million views, 32,000 likes, and about 1800 comments.

I wonder if that painter will tell me the 3-legged pig joke when he comes back?

150 Years of Coralville and Iowa River Flathead Catfish as Big as Your Leg!

We found out we missed the wheat paste murals posted on various buildings in Coralville this past summer. It’s the 150th anniversary of the city of Coralville in Iowa this year. You can find out more about it on the Coralville Public Library web site.

We drove around and found some of the murals were still up. They generally last about 2-3 months. There were murals on West Music and the Coralville Recreation Center, but they were gone.

In our YouTube, the murals we found are in order of appearance on the video:

The ice block mural is on Randy’s Flooring on 2nd Street. It’s a picture of the Jacob C. Hotz Ice Company Employees circa 1900s-1910s. They’re on the Iowa River. Workers were paid 10 cents an hour. Talk about your minimum wage.

The mural of 3 ladies who we don’t know anything about and the “Watch It Grow” image are on the Coralville Public Library in the 5th St. Plaza.

The long timeline mural is on the Coralville Community Food Pantry on 13th Avenue.

The Blue Top Motel mural is on Chong’s Supermarket on 2nd Street. According to the Coralville Public Library, the Blue Top motor court was built in the 1940s. No mention whether lodgers were abducted by extraterrestrials.

The mural of two fishermen with the two huge flathead catfish as big as a man’s leg they landed in the 1920s in the Iowa River is on the Iowa River Power Restaurant on 1st Avenue. This is my personal favorite. All I ever caught in my wasted childhood were bullhead as big as my fist.

You can see fishline and bobbers floating in the Iowa River. You can even see a handsome sculpture of a dragonfly sitting on a bobber on one side of the river. We saw one guy with at least three fishing poles rushing around to different spots next to the Iowa River Power Restaurant. I think he was hoping to land a big flathead—but all we saw him catch was a snag.

Happy 150th birthday, Coralville!

Thankful for Peaceful Fall Days

The other day we took a walk in a different direction on Scott Boulevard. Sometimes the scenery is just as beautiful in the west as it is in the east.

There were three trees turning a bright red. Maybe there were maples. The birch trees are pretty any time of the year, but for some reason they’re majestic in the fall.

I don’t know what kind of birds those were soaring in the sky, but they were magical.

And Then There Were Four Drain Tile Lids Flipped

Now there are 4 tile drain lids that have been flipped. A couple of others were flipped last night. Sena put them back on and put a rock on one of them. The two others with rocks on top of them were undisturbed.

Four of the seven lids have now been flipped this season. We still don’t know what causes this. I suspect it’s an extraterrestrial playing a prank on us.

The Screaming Barn of Iowa City Rises Again

Harvest Preserve made the Screaming Barn of Iowa City rise from the grave only a couple of days after I mentioned it after our autumn walk on October 2 (Monday). Halloween is the inspiration!

It looks great!  There were enhancements in addition to the returning theme of grisly epitaph dad jokes.

It should be visible to a lot more drivers on Scott Boulevard in that area, mainly because of traffic detours from street construction.

What’s also different is a safety barricade which is for the safety of walkers. It stretches across the street entrance to the barn from Scott Boulevard. You can get great pictures from across the street near the Harvest Preserve entrance gate.

Drain Tile Grate Lids Flipped Again!

Well, a couple of our drain tile lids were flipped last night. I don’t know how it happened. One of them was flipped and landed right side up and the other was upside down. The posts beside them were also out of place. The worm gear clamp obviously didn’t work on the one, so probably it doesn’t make sense to keep trying those.

Sena put the lids back on and put rocks on top of them. This is the second season for this mystery. It always happens at night and during the fall.

I still think some animal is responsible—and that includes human suspects. I doubt I’d catch anything on the critter cam, but I’m tempted.

FEMA Emergency Alert Test Today

I just found out that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct a routine Emergency Alert Test around 2:20 p.m. ET today.

According to FEMA, “The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level.”

You can ignore the misinformation on social media about conspiracy theories regarding the test.