The new Hawkeye Wave song will be decided by the kids, and it won’t be just a single song. According to a story in Iowa Now:
For every home game the Iowa football team plays inside Kinnick Stadium, the UI Department of Athletics, in coordination with the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital Kid Captain program, will ask that week’s Kid Captain to help select a new song to accompany the Hawkeye Wave.
It’s a great idea! Back in April, fans were asked to nominate a song to be played between the first and second quarters of the Iowa Hawkeye football games while the team members and fans wave to the kids watching from UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
We took a walk on Scott Boulevard on a gorgeous day. We said hello to the Sitting Man. And we found a new sculpture of a praying dog just inside the entrance to Harvest Preserve. It looks like a very pious Bassett Hound. We don’t know the significance of the piece. I did a quick google search and couldn’t find anything comparable although there were hits on praying dog sculptures.
The Sitting Man reminded me of a quote I thought was by Winston Churchill and it turns out it’s by Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Sena did a pretty good job of calling a Mourning Dove. However, we never got a reply.
Also, inside Harvest Preserve yet visible from Scott Boulevard, is a sculpture of a boy climbing out on a tree limb to catch a cat. I wondered whether there was ever a quote about going out on a limb. It turns out there is: “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb, that’s where all the fruit is.” There are variations of it and it’s often attributed to either Will Rogers or Mark Twain. Quote Investigator says it’s from a journalist named Frank Scully, who coined it in 1950.
I don’t know if we’ll ever find out what that praying Bassett Hound is all about.
We went for a walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail yesterday. It was a nice break from reading the news.
Sena wore her shirt which has printed on it, “be kind, be nice, be love.” She got a compliment about it.
We saw a lot of birds, including Tree Swallow nestlings in the nest boxes along the trail.
There were three in one of the boxes. They seemed to be doing well. I thought we saw a Gray Catbird, although it was singing a complex song at the top of its lungs—from a treetop. I guess I’m not sure what it was because Catbirds are usually secretive and makes sounds like a house cat’s mewing.
I guess all I know is that the bird looked gray.
Anyway, friendly people were out and we said hello to each other. Kindness was in the air.
Sena told me that Wendy’s will now be offering the strawberry Frosty, for which she and many others have been clamoring for years. The media announcements call it historic. Was there ever a strawberry shortage to explain the absence of a strawberry Frosty? It never seemed that way. It was predicted in December 2021, but now sources say we’re all good.
On the other hand, they tell us that my favorite, the vanilla Frosty, will be going away in order to make room for the strawberry. It turns out that vanilla is the base for the strawberry.
I understand the strawberry Frosty will be offered only through July 3. We had thought that it was nothing short of impossible for Wendy’s to make the strawberry dessert. Now we know different. Impossible is nothing.
Impossible quote mural on ICOR Boxing Iowa City, IA
On the other hand, why do they have to sacrifice the vanilla?
There can be no success without sacrifice.
John C. Maxwell
There must be another way. Maybe it involves too much sophisticated chemistry.
After we ordered, the cashier laughed and said she had at first thought the whole thing was a rumor.
It looked pink, tasted good but didn’t have quite as much strawberry flavor as we expected. Are there real strawberries in it? I couldn’t find that out just by googling it.
But even the chocolate Frosty is a combination of vanilla and chocolate. When Wendy’s first opened, it started with the chocolate Frosty, then in 2006, the vanilla was added. There were others that didn’t last (even a pickle Frosty, believe it or not), but the strawberry is finally here.
But it’ll go away July 3. It’s a just a summer fling. And here’s the thing—Sena still likes the chocolate best, and vanilla is still my favorite.
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics epidemiologist, Dr. Karen Brust, MD, provides essential information about Monkeypox, which has been in the news a lot lately.
The CDC Covid-19 transmission rate has changed to High. Accordingly, the recommendations include wearing a mask indoors in public, being up to date with vaccinations, and any others related to your relative risk for severe illness.
We took a walk this weekend on Scott Boulevard and eventually found our way to Fire Station No. 4. At first, we were struck by what looked like a real Dalmatian apparently sitting just inside the door. It was a pretty good sculpture. Just behind it was a large American Flag hanging on the wall. Below it was the title “Flag of Honor.”
One of the firefighters noticed us and welcomed us inside. He talked a long time about the Iowa City Fire Department and what they did. They responded to a lot of medical calls. In fact, those were the most frequent calls, fires not so much. He graciously answered our questions, including the one about The Flag of Honor on the wall. It’s to honor the victims and the heroes of the September 11, 2001 attack on America.
Later, I found out more on the web about the Flag of Honor. Over 800,000 Flags have been distributed across America. They’re in many places: public buildings, private homes, police and EMS stations, and firehouses.
I remember where I was on September 11, 2001. I was running up the stairs from the lower level to the first floor. I think I had just finished a psychiatric consultation and I was probably on my way to another one, or to my office. It was my usual routine. Like most general hospital psychiatric consultants, I was a lot like a firefighter, going from one urgent consultation to another, to the critical care unit, the emergency room, and others. My pager was like a fire alarm and off I would go.
I was on the stair landing just going up to the first floor. The stairs overlooked a lobby and the television on the wall was showing a video of one of New York City’s Twin Towers on fire, smoke all around it.
I stopped in my tracks and watched, not comprehending the scene. I can’t remember if the volume was high enough for me to hear the reporter. I don’t think it was. I just saw the fire and the smoke and at that moment I didn’t know what happened. That news I wouldn’t hear until later.
And then much later, in the summer of 2017, Sena and I took a vacation in New York City. Like many tourists, we saw the reflecting pools and Sena took a snapshot of me by the Callery Pear—the Survivor Tree.
The firefighter finally had to excuse himself, because there was somewhere he had to go, something he had to do.
He had probably been busy when we showed up, remarking on the Dalmatian which looked so lifelike, taking pictures of the Flag of Honor, asking questions about what Fire Station No. 4 does, listening to his answers, admiring his patience, his sense of humor, his sense of duty—and thanking him for all of it.
Recently, we took a walk on the Clear Creek Trail in Coralville. There are always a lot of birds out and they all have different songs. We hear more birds than we see because the trail is crowded with trees.
On the other hand, the highlight of the afternoon was stopping for lunch at the Wendy’s drive-thru. They’re selling that $5 Biggie Bag. We ordered a couple of those and the cashier who took the order asked what we kind of burgers we wanted. She rattled off the choices so fast.
I guess we weren’t listening. I think you get 3 choices for burgers (although I cheated for this post by googling it): junior bacon cheeseburger, crispy chicken BLT, or a double stack. You also get chicken nuggets, fries, and a drink.
Sena said, “I want a vegetable hamburger, two of them.” I had to laugh when the clerk was silent for a long moment—and repeated “vegetable hamburger” in a puzzled-sounding voice. But I give her credit; she made a quick recovery and said “Oh, do you mean you want the junior bacon cheeseburger?”
Sena just said, “Oh yeah!”
I’m pretty sure the cashier was having a moment about the “vegetable hamburger” bit. It’s likely a dated term and many younger people might think it means a meatless sandwich.
In fact, when I did a quick internet search asking “does anybody know what a vegetable hamburger is these days?” I got all kind of hits for plant-based burgers. No hits for a real meat hamburger with tomatoes, lettuce, onion, and pickles. A veggie burger nowadays is defined as a “burger patty that does not contain meat.”
And that reminded me of the Wendy’s 1980s ad campaign with the “Where’s the beef!” lady starring in the commercials, which I’m pretty sure nobody but baby boomers remember either.
And then there’s the Wendy’s new Biggie Bag commercial. It’s the one where a bunch of Wendy’s workers are singing about the Biggie Bag and a customer asks, “Is that a real song?”
I couldn’t understand the lyrics in the jingle and had to google the YouTube video. Only one of the commenters almost nailed it, but I think it’s:
“You got that bag; you got a biggie bag.”
People really want that jingle to be a real song.
Okay, so that’s a long way from the walk on the Clear Creek Trail. So be it.
We drove by Terry Trueblood Recreation Area today and were amazed by the big crowd of people. We found out about the NAMIWalkstoday because of the signage and people everywhere at the park.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has been around since 1979, and you can read more from the top fundraiser for today’s event, Margalea Warner!
Go Retire Psychiatrist 