-
Excessive Heat Warning in the Iowa Desert Today
It got up to 110 degrees today and there was an Excessive Heat Warning. I hope everyone found a way to bear it or escape it. It reminds me of the Africa Sahara episode of the Silver Desert Ants.
-
Heat Advisory in Iowa
There is a heat advisory for Iowa today. Temperatures could reach as much as a 105 degrees. Please follow recommendations for preventing and managing heat-related illness and stay safe on this July 4th holiday!
-
Planet Pella
I thought I would bring readers up to date on what’s happening with our panel bottom of the door weatherstrip seal replacement. Notice how I’m picking up the vocabulary of Pella door and window replacement parts? I’ve concluded that the Pella corporation I’ve been dealing with over the telephone must be another planet. It’s probably…
-
UFO Sighted in Iowa So Break Out Your Tin Foil Hats!
Did you see the breaking news about a UFO sighting in Iowa in the last couple of days? You better get up to date because you don’t want to get caught in the tractor beam along with the cows. Get your tin foil hats. Sena and I are not sure what to make of the…
-
Update on James Alan McPherson Park Memorial Plaque
Sena suggested we send a message to Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague inquiring about the proposed memorial plaque to James Alan McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winning author and longtime Iowa Writers’ Workshop faculty member. I can remember only one other time in my life that I wrote a letter to an elected official. I wrote President…
-
Hickory Hill Park with Sena the Bigfoot Hunter
Because we found that tree structure in Hickory Hill Park recently, Sena led us on a Bigfoot hunt yesterday. At first all we saw were more dragonflies. One was a male Widow Skimmer. We knew it was a male because it had white patches on its wings. So the first one we saw the other…
-
Skimming the Parks
We took a walk on the Hickory Hill Park short Loop and the James Alan McPherson Park. We’ve lived in Iowa City for 34 years and walked only one other Hickory Hill Park trail. That was several years ago. Just before you start the short Loop, you can read a poem, The Morning by W.S.…
-
The Little Mundanities of Life
Sena says I need to write about some mundanities, so I will. She says the mundane things in life are important. She told me about an episode of The Waltons she saw years ago, which emphasized the importance of life’s little mundane things. I looked for the episode on the web, but couldn’t find it.…
-
The Cigarette Waltz
A couple of days ago we heard a ballet called The Cigarette Waltz by a French composer, Edouard Lalo, on one of the Iowa Public Radio (IPR) classical music programs. The announcer told a little anecdote (most of which I didn’t hear) about the saying “Smoke‘em if ya got’em” which he traced to the World…
-
Hammerhead Worm Invasion!
The other day Sena and I were talking with a landscaping consultant about a job we’d like done on our backyard patio. He uncovered a worm in the dirt, and it seemed to wriggle energetically. Jumping worms had been in the news a lot last month. The consultant picked it up and the worm seemed…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 