Sweatin' to the oldies

Old memories, that is...


Tamping the dirt back into the post holes reminded me of when we built fence at my grandfather's farm in Henry county when I was in my early teens. He had a knack for tamping all of the dirt back into the hole regardless of the size of the post. Using a hedge pole, he tamped so well that most of the time we could have put more dirt in.

I'm not that good.

The cicadas calling and red-wing blackbirds song bring back a flood of memories from that farm and the summers I spent there building fence, cultivating or baling hay. I also worked for a neighbor of his and I miss that character.

Nostalgia lane has been interrupted with my work Blackberry chirping at me with another request (even though I'm supposed to have time off) and I've been tempted to throw it into the pond. But then I would have missed my boss thanking a coworker for something I found and a few other curious happenings in my absence.

With the progress we made this week (albeit slow), I recalled the one compliment that my father shared with me. He told me I would have made a good farmer.

Even as a part-time farmer, I hope I can be a good one.

Morning news drive-by

If we all paid attention to just "Good Morning America," we'd know that a British singer dying earlier this week is more important news than the ATF facilitating guns into Mexico.

Just a thought.

For coverage of the ATF Gunwalker "perfect storm of idiocy" go to:
War on Guns
National Gun Rights Examiner
Sipsey Street Irregulars

Iowahawk has a few ideas of what will happen after the default

Among his ideas:

Beltway policy experts begin living by own wits; after 45 minutes there are no survivors.

Sesame Street descends into Mad Maxian anarchy; Oscar the Grouch fashions shivs out the letter J and the number 4

Find more at Default, Dear Brutus, Is Not In Our Stars, But In Ourselves

I must be crazy (or stupid)

I hadn't had an official time off from my work since I started there in May of 2009. All that changed this week (sort of) as I decided to take a few days off for a "vacation." (I still answer emails and log in to do requests.)

Did we go to Disneyland? - No

The Riviera or a Caribbean cruise? Nope

This Iowa boy decided to put some work into Camp Stranded and build a small storage shed. The crazy part being that I picked the hottest time of the year to do this which has turned into a corn-belt weight reduction plan. Better than Jenny Craig!

Tools of the trade.

Nothing fancy since I've don't have the skill set of a professional carpenter and nothing big since I don't have the tools required.

But a couple of mistakes: being an inch and a half longer than I first measured and I had to dig a hole twice. But it wouldn't be a Certified Stranded-In-Iowa fiasco without something going wrong.

Progress has been slow, what with the heat, humidity and general lack of knowledge of what I'm doing. That's really hampering productivity.

A positive since we started working on the acreage has been the Tick Twisters recommended by True Blue Sam. These things work because DEET doesn't repel them all.

One thing that has been nagging at me is whether we did the right thing getting this piece of ground. Equipment issues, can we afford it, etc...

But when my son and I stood over-looking the pond and felt the cool breeze while we watch swallows skim the water feeding off insects, for that brief moment in time, I think of nothing. No work, economy, statehouse bills... I'm at that point in time appreciating the variety of nature while trying to identify the different bird calls or remembering the name of a particular weed species. (Funny how I used to know that stuff long ago.)

That's when I become re-convinced that it we did something right.

Out of steam, 7/24/11

I've been slacking off lately, what with server crashes, network upgrades and general spinning of wheels, I've left many things undone. Not much has been posted, including today's Sunday (not so) funnies.

I even missed out on this:
The Iowa Interstate 6988 steam locomotive cruises through corn fields in Oxford on Saturday, July 23, 2011. The excursion was part of a trip from Rock Island, Ill. that provied [sic] passengers with a seven hour trip through various towns in Iowa, before returning to Rock Island. (David Scrivner/SourceMedia Group)

Steam locomotive chuggs through Eastern Iowa, train lovers give chase

Iowa Interstate Railroad was born out of the ashes of the Rock Island Line and is building a new shop facility west of Homestead, Iowa without public assistance.

If the passenger rail line between Iowa City and Chicago returns, it would be on this track. It would be great if they would reject the public assistance money that has been floating around for that project.

This day in 1933, Clyde Barrow gun battle

Clyde Barrow escaped a posse after a machine gun "battle" near Dexter, Iowa.

"Notorious Bandit in Gun Battle"

New carry law in Wisconsin has some side effects

For one, it's helping the economy.

Concealed carry law boosts Green Bay area gun sales

Area firearm instructors and gun dealers are seeing a steady increase in business since the concealed carry bill was signed into law.

Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation July 8 that will allow Wisconsin residents to apply for a permit to carry concealed weapons.

The law doesn't go into effect until November, but John Pratt, owner of Pratt Security and Investigations in Green Bay, said there has been a "marked increase in people wanting training" for handguns.

And I'm sure guns sales throughout the state of Wisconsin have increased as well.

Congressman's home defended with a gun

Boswell 'doing well' after scuffle with armed intruder

U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell scuffled with an armed intruder at his southern Iowa farmhouse late Saturday night before his grandson pointed a gun at the intruder, who then fled, Boswell's staff said.

Congressman Who Defended Daughter Against Home Invader 'Did What Every Father Would Do'

Rep. Leonard Boswell said Monday his instincts as a father led him to try to tackle an armed man who burst into his home and attacked his daughter.

Boswell says the man wearing a ski mask burst into the home near Lamoni late Saturday, grabbed his daughter and demanded money.

Jim, over at Travis McGee Reader has some thoughts on the Boswell Break-in:

Decatur County Sheriff Herbert Muir said Sunday night that he doesn’t think Boswell’s house was targeted, either because of his job or for another reason. He said it was probably a random attempted robbery thwarted in part because the robber didn’t realize how many people were in the house.

Come on, Herb. There were three people in the farmhouse -- two of them aged -- and one young man. The thug had a gun, so we presume he was prepared to deal with people. He wasn't at all thwarted until he he found himself eyeball to muzzle with the owners' shotgun. Then he was thwarted

Could not have said it better.

After suffering a broken rib, I hope Rep Boswell and his family are doing well and the law catches up with the crook.

Sunday (not so) funnies, 7/17/11

And a BTR commissioned cartoon:


Bernanke's plan is called Quantitative Easing, which is now into phase three because the first two worked so well.

The term quantitative easing (QE) describes a form of monetary policy used by central banks to increase the supply of money in an economy when the bank interest rate, discount rate and/or interbank interest rate are either at, or close to, zero.

What Is Quantitative Easing?

For another explanation:



I always thought increasing the money supply devalued the dollar, as a result causing more dollars to be needed to purchase the same goods and services. AKA inflation.

But then I received A's in my college economics classes.

And unlike our current Treasury secretary, I pay my taxes.

Former Iowa first lady to run for Congress

Against Steve King - good luck with that.

Carpet-bagger, Christie Vilsack, who took up "residency" in Ames so she could have a shot at Congress, apparently has come up with some money during a "listening tour" for the newly formed 4th District. Her opponent will be the formidable Steve King.

She's picked up almost a half a million dollars from poor, hard-working Iowans in the last quarter.

I don't know what kind of congress-critter she would be but I suppose she Congress could use more comic relief.

Before we go too far, I'm reminded of a State29 post regarding a column Vilsack wrote. He linked to a Boston Herald article that was none too flattering that now has a broken link. But here are a couple of classy lines from an op ed that Vilsack wrote in 1994:

"I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires," Vilsack wrote in a 1994 column in the Mount Pleasant News, while her husband, Tom, was a state senator....

Vilsack wrote that southerners seem to have "slurred speech," wrote that she'd rather learn Polish than try to speak like people from New Jersey, and wrote that a West Virginian waitress once offered her friend a "side saddle" instead of a "side salad."...

I'm hoping that she brings her husband and current Ag secretary, Tom Vilsack on the campaign trail.